It’s been a while, but I am still here.
As my last posts indicated, both the kids were sick last week. I was really worried that I was going to get it, but I escaped, thank goodness. I had some mild gastrointestinal issues, along with a general feeling of queasiness, Wednesday-Friday, but that was it. It felt like morning sickness, quite honestly–just that all day feeling of ick. Fortunately, it was over after Friday.
This week I’ve been trying to catch up on everything I missed last week, between the kids’ illness, being under the weather myself, and the IPFW network being down for most of the week as well. M’s rehearsals for the Nutcracker have also started and are gaining in frequency and intensity, so I’ve been gone more in the evenings. Due to all of those reasons, it’s been quiet on the blog.
In fun news, I’m seeing Part I of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in about two hours. I absolutely cannot wait! We allowed M to watch the very first Harry Potter movie when she was sick, and the very next morning she sat down and read the first 100 pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I couldn’t believe it! I, of all people, know how well she reads, but even I was shocked that she could read it and understand it; right now her reading level is at P/Q (roughly equivalent to the first couple months of fourth grade), and that book is at the V level (roughly equivalent to the first couple months of fifth grade). But when I asked her about the plot of the book, she clearly explained it to me, and she kept cackling as she read it. She loved how Hagrid took Harry away from the Dursleys, and the Weasley twins’ exploits cracked her up. I suspect watching the movie first helped her understand the book more easily. Usually I insist that she reads a book before seeing the movie based on it, but in this case, I think seeing the movie helped her comprehend it.
It’s fun for me to see how excited she is about Harry Potter and the sense of accomplishment she feels in reading what is a challenging book for her. I don’t think she’s ready yet for the rest of the series; the Chamber of Secrets book would probably be OK, but I think the movie would scare her. Those of you who are Harry Potter fans will recall that Voldemort basically possesses Ginny Potter in that book/movie. Ginny isn’t that much older than M, and M really liked Ginny even in the small amount of time she appeared in Sorcerer’s Stone. Given all of that, I think that movie would be rather frightening for her, so we’ll hold off on that for a bit yet. The book might be okay, since it doesn’t have the strong visual element of film, but even then, I’d want to read it with/to her.
She’s also into the Harry Potter Legos now. My parents are giving her Hagrid’s Hut and the Freeing Dobby set for Christmas; we’re giving her the Harry Potter Lego game. I am excited for her to receive these gifts. I think she’ll love them and have great fun playing with them, and I’ll be honest: I think they look really cool, too! G and I will have fun helping her set them up and playing with them as well.
Hmm, most of this post has been about Harry Potter. I guess you can tell that I really am excited to see the movie today. 
