I remember just like it was yesterday, I was bringing her home from the hospital, all five pounds and 10 ounces of her. My third born … I was much more relaxed and at ease, compared to my actions after the birth of my first daughter. I was responsible for another human being, one that would depend on me for her every need, and would always be precious to my heart. I knew more about child rearing at this point, but what if I ended up scarring her for life? Could I protect her from all the bad in this world? I was still learning how to be a good parent, but I was no where near perfect.
The first few days, Christine battled jaundiced, so she spent most of her time lying in the cradle, which was in placed in the front door to catch the sunlight streaming in. She would sleep naked on top of a diaper so that the majority of her skin surface was exposed to the sun. Sunlight breaks down the bilirubin in the bloodstream and effectively does the same job as the “bili lights” found in hospital nurseries. That first week, we had to take Christine to the hospital every day to have her bilirubin checked, and then we went to Dr. Pam Johnson’s office for a weight check. As long as Christine’s bilirubin remained below a certain level, we could continue to keep her at home and I could continue to breastfeed. Many times, a jaundiced baby who is breastfed must be supplemented with formula to help remove the bilirubin – sunlight breaks down the bilirubin and the body's fluids help flush it out of the body through the bowels.
Needless to say, the first few weeks went by in a blur of eating, lab tests, and checking for stool consistency. She was so fragile and tiny, but she wanted to eat every few sours. Of course, one of the downsides of breastfeeding is I couldn’t be out of her sight for very long. Eat, diaper change, eat, rock, eat, sing, eat … days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and before I could stop to catch my breath, she was one-year-old. Planning that first birthday party was pure joy – Barney and Baby Bop. It seems so long ago.
The next thing I knew, she was in kindergarten. Where did the time go? I was so unprepared for helping her to learn to read and write. Amber and Marie learned to read and write quickly, but it soon became apparent that Christine was having difficulty learning to read. She was unable to sound out words phonetically; therefore she memorized all the words. When she would be reading and come to a word she didn’t know, you could watch her stop, look at the ceiling and mentally go through the files in her head. She would eventually come up with the word. But try and have her sound out the word, and she would be in tears within minutes.
Lucky for Christine, she had two wonderful teachers who helped us through kindergarten and first grade, Marsha Durr and Kay Mayes, respectively. Mrs. Durr was actually the one who thought that Christine’s lack of large motor skills was connected with her reading difficulties. Christine was very adapt at playing video games and using the computer, both of which involve fine motor skills, but she had difficulty jumping rope or pushing herself in a swing, both involving large motor skills.
So in addition to reading and writing homework, we began working with Christine to learn to jump rope, ride a bike, climb a tree, and push herself in a swing. As her large motor skills increased to the level of her fine motor skills, her reading and writing began to improve. By second grade, Christine had caught up with the other kids in her class and she was reading on a fifth grade level. She has never stopped and she is now in the top 10th percentile of her graduating class.
Just when I was certain Christine would remain 8 years old forever, she was preparing to attend the middle school. Now her friends were taking up a large chunk of her time. “Mom’s Taxi Service” was officially back into business again, and I began hauling her and her friends all over God’s green earth. Whereas, Amber and Marie wanted me to be silent and unseen, Christine welcomed my conversation in the car, and she and her friends enjoyed listening to the 80s music I was know for. It is kind of twilight zonish to have 12 year old singing to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, or Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell.
The day I had to help her decide on her class schedule for her first year in high school, I, of course, cried. She thought this was funny – “M … om get a grip!” But I couldn’t help it, my baby was growing up. She was a teenager with a mind, and strong will, of her own. No longer content to accept my suggestions on faith, everything had to be researched and one her way. Her freshman year was my first step at letting go. The school newspaper and year book took up a large chunk of her time. Working on the internet and listening to her music began to take presidency in her life.
In two weeks, my first born child will turn sixteen. I’m crying already, and each passing day just gets worse. Stuffed animals have been stashed away, Disney movies replaced with independent film, and musical taste now run to German and Swedish music. Riding bicycles has given way to her driver’s permit and the summer vacation is spent researching college options and working to build her savings account. These are things adults do and I am extremely proud of her, but I would love to keep her wings tethered a little longer.
We just recently completed her class schedule for her junior year of high school and she is looking forward to being in the new high school after fall break. I’m trying to be strong; I don’t want her to see me cry. I’m taking things one day at a time. This is the nature of things – you give them life, you raise them the best you know how, and then they are gone. All I can pray is that she will be healthy and happy and come home to visit every once in a while. In the mean time, I plan to spend as much time with this youngest child as possible before she heads into the great adventure that will be her life.
Happy Birthday Sweet 16, Christine Nicole Rightmyer – July 22, 2008.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, July 2008
Showing posts with label Christine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christine. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Everyday First Responder
You know the old saying, “everything happens for a reason?” Well, I’m a true believer in this proverb because I have lived long enough to see the consequence of actions. My youngest daughter, Christine, has recently come to believe in this too, after our dog, Bubby sustained a serious laceration to his front leg.
For the past year, Christine has been seriously thinking about her future and the career opportunities open to young people. She is excellent in academics and she has a curiosity about different job perspectives. In contemplating her course curriculum for her junior year of high school, she has decided to pursue the medical program at the Harrodsburg Area Vocational School. Her reasoning behind this is because she wants to help people.
She has toyed with the idea of being an emergency medical technician, a paramedic or a firefighter, and she has also researched the Peace Corp and the National Guard. She really wants to be involved with the Peace Corp and she feels that medical training, in addition to a college degree, will help advance her down this pathway. She is excited about getting her certified nursing assistant license so she can work with patients to see if she would enjoy being a nurse, but she doesn’t feel like nursing is the exact medical field she wants to follow. She does like the idea of being a first responder and administering help in emergency situations.
To help further her interest in healthcare, I pulled out several of my old nursing books and she has already been reading up on the systems of the body and the diseases connected to them. She already knows much of the terminology, picking up many things from me when I talk about medical procedures, but she has never really had any first hand experience with illnesses or trauma. The day Bubby cut his leg, this all changed.
It happened on a Wednesday afternoon and it was a beautiful outside. I had come home for lunch at noon and after feeding and walking Bubby, I chained him outside to enjoy the afternoon. I knew Christine would be getting home early and she could take him for another walk.
I was sitting at my desk writing when I heard Bubby give a couple of yelps. When I looked at the clock, I saw it was two o’clock, so I assumed Bubby was barking a greeting to Christine. You know what they say about people who assume things. Christine came in the house and dropped her backpack by the front door, then called for Bubby. She is used to him running up to her the minute she walks in the door, so she asked me where he was. I told her he was out in the front yard.
“He didn’t bark at me – usually if he is outside, he barks when I walk up.” We both headed for the front door. My first thought was he had broken free and run down the road; this is something he has done before. When Christine got to him, she noticed his left front leg was dripping blood.
Near my front porch, I have a small garden that is planted in and around and old glass water jug. This jug had its top broken off last year and I hated to trash it, so I turned it into a mini greenhouse to use as a focal point near the porch. Bubby had gotten into the flower garden and stepped on this glass jug, breaking off a large chunk of glass that sliced open his foreleg.
When Christine yelled Bubby was bleeding, I grabbed a roll of paper towels and headed out to see what the problem was. When I saw blood squirting from his leg, I knew we were in trouble. The paper towels quickly proved to be inadequate and I sent Christine after old towels. Applying pressure, we both tried to calm the dog and prayed for the bleeding to slow down. After ten minutes, with towels duct taped around his leg, we loaded Bubby into the car and headed to the veterinarian.
On the way into town, Christine kept Bubby calm and helped hold pressure on the wound. The first thing the vet tech did was weigh Bubby, but we tried twice before getting an accurate weight. He was becoming agitated and this only caused the blood to flow more freely. As a nurse, blood doesn’t bother me, but there was a tremendous amount splattered all over the white floor. Christine turned pale and I had her sit down, afraid she might pass out. My husband gets light headed with just a few drops of blood, and I became concerned Christine might be the same way, but she was fine after sitting down.
Bubby ended up having to stay over night at the vets. He was sedated, the wound was cleaned and then repaired; the artery had been cut, as well as the muscle, tendon and ligaments. Fortunately, he will make a full recovery.
So this was Christine’s first foray into emergency medicine. I think she did good keeping Bubby calm and helping to apply pressure; she doesn’t think she did well, mainly because the blood really scared her. I tried to explain that emergency situations are different when they concern your family, and Bubby is a member of our family.
Christine is more eager now than ever about entering the medical field. She’s not sure if this will be her major area of study, but she’s thinking ahead to the future. She has heard the stories of how I had to struggle to raise her two older sisters when I was a single mother, so she feels the medical training will be something she can fall back.
“Mom, I can always get a job as a nurse if I have to, but I don’t want this to be the only thing that defines me.” She looks at healthcare as an insurance policy for the future. Sometimes it scares me to think I have a child who is wise beyond her years.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, May 2008
For the past year, Christine has been seriously thinking about her future and the career opportunities open to young people. She is excellent in academics and she has a curiosity about different job perspectives. In contemplating her course curriculum for her junior year of high school, she has decided to pursue the medical program at the Harrodsburg Area Vocational School. Her reasoning behind this is because she wants to help people.
She has toyed with the idea of being an emergency medical technician, a paramedic or a firefighter, and she has also researched the Peace Corp and the National Guard. She really wants to be involved with the Peace Corp and she feels that medical training, in addition to a college degree, will help advance her down this pathway. She is excited about getting her certified nursing assistant license so she can work with patients to see if she would enjoy being a nurse, but she doesn’t feel like nursing is the exact medical field she wants to follow. She does like the idea of being a first responder and administering help in emergency situations.
To help further her interest in healthcare, I pulled out several of my old nursing books and she has already been reading up on the systems of the body and the diseases connected to them. She already knows much of the terminology, picking up many things from me when I talk about medical procedures, but she has never really had any first hand experience with illnesses or trauma. The day Bubby cut his leg, this all changed.
It happened on a Wednesday afternoon and it was a beautiful outside. I had come home for lunch at noon and after feeding and walking Bubby, I chained him outside to enjoy the afternoon. I knew Christine would be getting home early and she could take him for another walk.
I was sitting at my desk writing when I heard Bubby give a couple of yelps. When I looked at the clock, I saw it was two o’clock, so I assumed Bubby was barking a greeting to Christine. You know what they say about people who assume things. Christine came in the house and dropped her backpack by the front door, then called for Bubby. She is used to him running up to her the minute she walks in the door, so she asked me where he was. I told her he was out in the front yard.
“He didn’t bark at me – usually if he is outside, he barks when I walk up.” We both headed for the front door. My first thought was he had broken free and run down the road; this is something he has done before. When Christine got to him, she noticed his left front leg was dripping blood.
Near my front porch, I have a small garden that is planted in and around and old glass water jug. This jug had its top broken off last year and I hated to trash it, so I turned it into a mini greenhouse to use as a focal point near the porch. Bubby had gotten into the flower garden and stepped on this glass jug, breaking off a large chunk of glass that sliced open his foreleg.
When Christine yelled Bubby was bleeding, I grabbed a roll of paper towels and headed out to see what the problem was. When I saw blood squirting from his leg, I knew we were in trouble. The paper towels quickly proved to be inadequate and I sent Christine after old towels. Applying pressure, we both tried to calm the dog and prayed for the bleeding to slow down. After ten minutes, with towels duct taped around his leg, we loaded Bubby into the car and headed to the veterinarian.
On the way into town, Christine kept Bubby calm and helped hold pressure on the wound. The first thing the vet tech did was weigh Bubby, but we tried twice before getting an accurate weight. He was becoming agitated and this only caused the blood to flow more freely. As a nurse, blood doesn’t bother me, but there was a tremendous amount splattered all over the white floor. Christine turned pale and I had her sit down, afraid she might pass out. My husband gets light headed with just a few drops of blood, and I became concerned Christine might be the same way, but she was fine after sitting down.
Bubby ended up having to stay over night at the vets. He was sedated, the wound was cleaned and then repaired; the artery had been cut, as well as the muscle, tendon and ligaments. Fortunately, he will make a full recovery.
So this was Christine’s first foray into emergency medicine. I think she did good keeping Bubby calm and helping to apply pressure; she doesn’t think she did well, mainly because the blood really scared her. I tried to explain that emergency situations are different when they concern your family, and Bubby is a member of our family.
Christine is more eager now than ever about entering the medical field. She’s not sure if this will be her major area of study, but she’s thinking ahead to the future. She has heard the stories of how I had to struggle to raise her two older sisters when I was a single mother, so she feels the medical training will be something she can fall back.
“Mom, I can always get a job as a nurse if I have to, but I don’t want this to be the only thing that defines me.” She looks at healthcare as an insurance policy for the future. Sometimes it scares me to think I have a child who is wise beyond her years.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, May 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Testing the Waters
Sloshing through another winter’s day, the bright sunshine gives a false hope of approaching spring. One day school is closed because of snow on the road, and the next day the temperature is close to 50 degrees. Ah, springtime in Kentucky.
With the impending change in seasons, I can’t hold back the advances my youngest daughter is making toward adulthood. Christine will be my last chick to leave the nest and I am trying really hard to focus on the positive aspects of her new life instead of the desire to hold her close to home. As parents we hope to send our children out in the world with all the tools they will need to survive. We have nurtured them from birth to the terrible twos, from toddlerhood to tweens, and from teenager to adult and we should be happy with the people we have produced. But inside most parents just want their kids to be healthy and happy and to lead a good life, and to keep them close at heart.
Recently I caught myself watching Christine from afar, trying to picture her out alone in the world. Today, I watched as she determinedly peeled potatoes for supper. For years, I have tried to teach her how to peel potatoes, and I must admit I’m not a very good teacher. I am sure there are cooks out there who will gasp and groan when I say that I hold my potatoes in my hand and peel with a paring knife toward my thumb. This is the way I learned and this is the way I have always done it, so naturally I wasn’t going to be able to teach Christine the right way to peel a potato.
On this particular night, Christine was peeling potatoes with her new potato peeler. After so many failed attempts to peel potatoes with a paring knife, on her weekly shopping trip with her Daddy, she found a vegetable peeler. Now she is contentedly peeling potatoes with speed and I don’t have to worry about her cutting her fingers off. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but the young ones don’t have a problem. Christine wanted to improve her skill at peeling potatoes and she kept at it until she got it right. Now, if I could just learn to use the vegetable peeler.
While parents are always trying to teach their children, it is amazing what we can learn from our children. I’ve learned many things from my children over the years. I’m so proud of Christine because for the past two years, she has been walking on a daily basis, drinking water and hardly ever drinking sodas. I want to try to emulate her throughout my life but my laziness and lack of will power seem to always win out. Christine has adapted her lifestyle around what she sees me do. I know I shouldn’t drink Cokes and Christine knows I shouldn’t drink Cokes, the problem is, I seem to be addicted and try as I might, I can’t give the habit up. Christine has seen my struggle and she has chosen to limit her intake of soda and increase her intake of water. In this case, my daughter sets a better example than me.
Christine does her own laundry every week and I am proud of that fact. I know when she goes to college, I won’t have to worry about her wearing dirty clothes. She knows what it takes to keep her clothes clean and she realizes that if she doesn’t keep them clean, she won’t have anything to wear. This practice has evolved as she has grown, starting with helping me do laundry and graduating up to her independent use of the washer and dryer. She knows what detergent to use as well as fabric softeners, temperature settings, and load size. This is one thing she won’t have to learn at college, because she’s already an old pro.
Christine has been cooking for a while now, and she enjoys it. I don’t necessarily enjoy cooking, so it’s great to have your teenager cook supper. Chicken fettuccine alfredo, chicken fried rice, and tacos are three of her favorites. She has made a fine art out of searing cubes of chicken for many of her signature dishes. She loves to cook the chicken, but hates to cut it up – kind of like me with pumpkins, I love to carve them, but I hate to gut them. She cuts chicken breasts into bite-size chunks and them throws them in a pan with a pat of butter or olive oil. She cooks the chicken until the outside cooks to the color of caramel and then she can use it in a variety of dishes.
Changing subjects, Christine has been studying for her driver’s license and has signed up for driver’s education in the fall. My baby driving – eeck! – be still my heart. I realize that the sooner she gets behind the wheel and learns, the better off she will be, but I’m not quite ready to let go. I already blame my grey hair on my oldest daughters learning to drive, so you would think I would be ready to teach Christine, but I’m not. With all the dangers on the road, I just don’t want her out there alone, but I know she will eventually have to join the “driving nation”. Driving is a major wing-testing task that teenagers can’t wait to undertake and parents want to delay.
A parent’s job is never done, and I guess that’s a good thing. As much as I hate the thought of Christine leaving home, I know that she has to do this in order to grow up. If I could protect her from all lifes little ups and down, I would, but that is not really possible. All I can do is hope I did a decent job of raising her and that she will be able to take care of herself. She has her visions of the future, and as long as her vision includes me every once in a while, then I will be happy.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, April 2008
With the impending change in seasons, I can’t hold back the advances my youngest daughter is making toward adulthood. Christine will be my last chick to leave the nest and I am trying really hard to focus on the positive aspects of her new life instead of the desire to hold her close to home. As parents we hope to send our children out in the world with all the tools they will need to survive. We have nurtured them from birth to the terrible twos, from toddlerhood to tweens, and from teenager to adult and we should be happy with the people we have produced. But inside most parents just want their kids to be healthy and happy and to lead a good life, and to keep them close at heart.
Recently I caught myself watching Christine from afar, trying to picture her out alone in the world. Today, I watched as she determinedly peeled potatoes for supper. For years, I have tried to teach her how to peel potatoes, and I must admit I’m not a very good teacher. I am sure there are cooks out there who will gasp and groan when I say that I hold my potatoes in my hand and peel with a paring knife toward my thumb. This is the way I learned and this is the way I have always done it, so naturally I wasn’t going to be able to teach Christine the right way to peel a potato.
On this particular night, Christine was peeling potatoes with her new potato peeler. After so many failed attempts to peel potatoes with a paring knife, on her weekly shopping trip with her Daddy, she found a vegetable peeler. Now she is contentedly peeling potatoes with speed and I don’t have to worry about her cutting her fingers off. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but the young ones don’t have a problem. Christine wanted to improve her skill at peeling potatoes and she kept at it until she got it right. Now, if I could just learn to use the vegetable peeler.
While parents are always trying to teach their children, it is amazing what we can learn from our children. I’ve learned many things from my children over the years. I’m so proud of Christine because for the past two years, she has been walking on a daily basis, drinking water and hardly ever drinking sodas. I want to try to emulate her throughout my life but my laziness and lack of will power seem to always win out. Christine has adapted her lifestyle around what she sees me do. I know I shouldn’t drink Cokes and Christine knows I shouldn’t drink Cokes, the problem is, I seem to be addicted and try as I might, I can’t give the habit up. Christine has seen my struggle and she has chosen to limit her intake of soda and increase her intake of water. In this case, my daughter sets a better example than me.
Christine does her own laundry every week and I am proud of that fact. I know when she goes to college, I won’t have to worry about her wearing dirty clothes. She knows what it takes to keep her clothes clean and she realizes that if she doesn’t keep them clean, she won’t have anything to wear. This practice has evolved as she has grown, starting with helping me do laundry and graduating up to her independent use of the washer and dryer. She knows what detergent to use as well as fabric softeners, temperature settings, and load size. This is one thing she won’t have to learn at college, because she’s already an old pro.
Christine has been cooking for a while now, and she enjoys it. I don’t necessarily enjoy cooking, so it’s great to have your teenager cook supper. Chicken fettuccine alfredo, chicken fried rice, and tacos are three of her favorites. She has made a fine art out of searing cubes of chicken for many of her signature dishes. She loves to cook the chicken, but hates to cut it up – kind of like me with pumpkins, I love to carve them, but I hate to gut them. She cuts chicken breasts into bite-size chunks and them throws them in a pan with a pat of butter or olive oil. She cooks the chicken until the outside cooks to the color of caramel and then she can use it in a variety of dishes.
Changing subjects, Christine has been studying for her driver’s license and has signed up for driver’s education in the fall. My baby driving – eeck! – be still my heart. I realize that the sooner she gets behind the wheel and learns, the better off she will be, but I’m not quite ready to let go. I already blame my grey hair on my oldest daughters learning to drive, so you would think I would be ready to teach Christine, but I’m not. With all the dangers on the road, I just don’t want her out there alone, but I know she will eventually have to join the “driving nation”. Driving is a major wing-testing task that teenagers can’t wait to undertake and parents want to delay.
A parent’s job is never done, and I guess that’s a good thing. As much as I hate the thought of Christine leaving home, I know that she has to do this in order to grow up. If I could protect her from all lifes little ups and down, I would, but that is not really possible. All I can do is hope I did a decent job of raising her and that she will be able to take care of herself. She has her visions of the future, and as long as her vision includes me every once in a while, then I will be happy.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, April 2008
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Chip Off the Old Block
Recently, Christine and I have been watching Kids by the Dozen, a television program on families with multiple children. It is amazing to see how these special families operate. All of the families profiled have twelve or more children and most of them are home schooled. I can’t wrap my mind around twelve children, much less home schooling these twelve kids.
The Duggar family of Arkansas has been our favorite family to date. They have 16 children, all ranging in age from 18 to less than a year old. There are only two sets of twins, so this mother has actually been pregnant 14 times, and the couple says they are not finished yet! How do you raise 16 children? I must admit, this family is much more organized than mine. A homework assignment was the biggest family project, to build their dream house—which took them over three and a half years.
Christine and I have watched several shows featuring the Duggar family and we are just in awe of how this family works. I know Christine misses not having any younger brothers or sisters, but after having three children, I was ready to quit. Three children were definitely all we could afford to raise. I wanted my kids to have all the opportunities available to them and I wanted them to experience life and make decisions on how they wanted to live their lives.
When my girls were younger, they were involved in many types of extra curricular activities and sports. I wanted the girls to be involved and find what they liked to do. Swimming lessons, tennis lessons, horseback riding and soccer; these were just a few of the activities that my girls tried out, but decided not to pursue. Girl Scouts, 4-H, and mission groups at church; these were a must for all three girls and I think these groups helped my girls grow into the women they are today.
Even though none of my girls are interested in crafting, knitting or sewing, I do know they benefit from the projects I make. I just envisioned my girls growing up and crafting with me, but that never happened. They have their own hobbies and interests. At least Marie is interested in one area of creative arts; she likes to work with stained glass and mosaic tiles. I try to encourage her, but sometimes life gets in the way of being creative. Amber and Marie both love to go hunting and spending time on their dad’s farm. Christine’s world revolves around music.
Of course, as a mother, I have tried to push my likes onto my children. When Christine was three years old, I wanted her to take dance lessons. I had always wanted to give Amber and Marie dance lessons, but I could never afford it. So when Christine came along, I thought she would be my little ballerina. For two years I practically drug her to dance class; tap shoes, ballet shoes, tutus and all. She was so cute when she was all dressed up. I loved preparing for and attending her dance recitals, but after two years, I realized, Christine hated every minute of it. It was my dream for her to be a dancer, not hers, and once I realized this, I stopped making her go to dance class. For the next three years, Christine was happier on the soccer field.
Now that Christine is a freshman in high school, her interests have turned to journalism and a growing obsession with living in Finland. Yes, Finland, as in cold, snow. Land of the midnight sun. For several months now, she has been researching the foreign exchange student program for the United States and Finland. She would like to go to school in Finland during her junior year of high school. I realize this would be a wonderful experience for her, but just the thought of one of my children being half way around the world is really upsetting. I may not get to see Amber and Marie as much as I would like, but at least they are in the same county and I can get to them in just a few minutes. How would I get to Christine in a hurry if she was in Finland? At least we have a year and a half for more discussions and research before having to make a decision.
Christine is in the Newspaper I class at school and she has been the only freshman in a class full of juniors and seniors. She has been researching and writing numerous articles all year, as well as taking photographs for the paper and the year book. Her main goal this year has been to learn and master the editing program for putting the newspaper together and to learn some basic journalism skills. She has already applied for Newspaper II class
next year. Maybe Christine is going to be our “chip off the old block”, after all, Keith’s career revolves around the television media, and this is my 10th year as a contributing writer for Mercer’s Magazine.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, April 2007
The Duggar family of Arkansas has been our favorite family to date. They have 16 children, all ranging in age from 18 to less than a year old. There are only two sets of twins, so this mother has actually been pregnant 14 times, and the couple says they are not finished yet! How do you raise 16 children? I must admit, this family is much more organized than mine. A homework assignment was the biggest family project, to build their dream house—which took them over three and a half years.
Christine and I have watched several shows featuring the Duggar family and we are just in awe of how this family works. I know Christine misses not having any younger brothers or sisters, but after having three children, I was ready to quit. Three children were definitely all we could afford to raise. I wanted my kids to have all the opportunities available to them and I wanted them to experience life and make decisions on how they wanted to live their lives.
When my girls were younger, they were involved in many types of extra curricular activities and sports. I wanted the girls to be involved and find what they liked to do. Swimming lessons, tennis lessons, horseback riding and soccer; these were just a few of the activities that my girls tried out, but decided not to pursue. Girl Scouts, 4-H, and mission groups at church; these were a must for all three girls and I think these groups helped my girls grow into the women they are today.
Even though none of my girls are interested in crafting, knitting or sewing, I do know they benefit from the projects I make. I just envisioned my girls growing up and crafting with me, but that never happened. They have their own hobbies and interests. At least Marie is interested in one area of creative arts; she likes to work with stained glass and mosaic tiles. I try to encourage her, but sometimes life gets in the way of being creative. Amber and Marie both love to go hunting and spending time on their dad’s farm. Christine’s world revolves around music.
Of course, as a mother, I have tried to push my likes onto my children. When Christine was three years old, I wanted her to take dance lessons. I had always wanted to give Amber and Marie dance lessons, but I could never afford it. So when Christine came along, I thought she would be my little ballerina. For two years I practically drug her to dance class; tap shoes, ballet shoes, tutus and all. She was so cute when she was all dressed up. I loved preparing for and attending her dance recitals, but after two years, I realized, Christine hated every minute of it. It was my dream for her to be a dancer, not hers, and once I realized this, I stopped making her go to dance class. For the next three years, Christine was happier on the soccer field.
Now that Christine is a freshman in high school, her interests have turned to journalism and a growing obsession with living in Finland. Yes, Finland, as in cold, snow. Land of the midnight sun. For several months now, she has been researching the foreign exchange student program for the United States and Finland. She would like to go to school in Finland during her junior year of high school. I realize this would be a wonderful experience for her, but just the thought of one of my children being half way around the world is really upsetting. I may not get to see Amber and Marie as much as I would like, but at least they are in the same county and I can get to them in just a few minutes. How would I get to Christine in a hurry if she was in Finland? At least we have a year and a half for more discussions and research before having to make a decision.
Christine is in the Newspaper I class at school and she has been the only freshman in a class full of juniors and seniors. She has been researching and writing numerous articles all year, as well as taking photographs for the paper and the year book. Her main goal this year has been to learn and master the editing program for putting the newspaper together and to learn some basic journalism skills. She has already applied for Newspaper II class
next year. Maybe Christine is going to be our “chip off the old block”, after all, Keith’s career revolves around the television media, and this is my 10th year as a contributing writer for Mercer’s Magazine.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, April 2007
Wednesday, January 8, 2003
My Little Bookworm
MY LITTLE BOOKWORM
By Bobbi Rightmyer
January 2003
When I was in the third grade, I was bit by the reading bug. I used to make countless trips to the school library, and even helped as a library aide just to be closer to the books. I had a hug appetite for reading, and I rarely went anywhere without a book in hand. A Wrinkle in time, The Narnia Chronicles, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Women, these were the staples of my reading itinerary as a child. As I’ve grown, my reading tastes have grown with me: from romance novels to horror to science fiction to historical fiction, each and every book has 100 pages to hook me before I give up on it. If I’m not hooked on the plot line after 100 pages, then I’m probably never going to enjoy the book.
When Amber and Marie were younger, I used to dream they would have my hunger for reading. I would read them bedtime stories, buy them books as gifts, and let them see me reading for fun. I’ve learned the hard way that if a child is not interested in something, the worst thing a parent can do is force the issue. The more I tried to get the girls to read for fun, the more they turned away from books completely. It was still “ok” for me to read to them, but they wanted nothing to do with reading themselves. As a single parent this really bothered me, because I knew their father was definitely not a reader. I didn’t want my girls to miss out on all the wonderful worlds books can open for a person.
When Christine was born, I again had high hopes that she would be a reader; after all, she had two parents who enjoyed reading instead of just one. So I began reading to her just like I did the older girls. Christine loved books and would carry one with her everywhere. She would sit engrossed in the story whenever I would read to her, and I could see her brain trying to picture the words in her mind. But when Christine started school, she had lots of trouble learning to read.
I couldn’t understand what the problem was; Amber and Marie learned to read without a problem. What was wrong with my last little girl? So, we worked with her at home, and with her teacher at school, but Christine was still having trouble sounding out words. Instead, she would memorize the words. When she would come to a word she didn’t know, you could see her mentally going through the file cabinet in her brain looking for the word. This continued all through kindergarten, first and second grades. Even though she was an excellent student, our whole family struggled with her “reading problem”.
The, when Christine entered third grade, something magical happened. For some unknown reason, at the beginning of third grade, Christine clicked with reading. Ill never forget the day she came racing home from the bus stop and yelled, “Mom, I read my library book all by myself!” That was it, from that point on, my bubbly, bouncy last child began her love affair with books.
Today, Christine is in the fifth grade and her appetite for books grows each day. Her room is full of books, from books she owns to books from the school library AND books from the public library. We make one, sometimes two trips to the Mercer County Public Library every week so she can check out enough books to get her through for several days. She has her own library bag that she and her best friends, Brooke and Levi Lewis, made one afternoon and she keeps her library card hooked to her bag for safe keeping; she keeps my card hooked there, too. Because of our trips to the library, Brooke and Levi have also become bookworms and this really excites me. I love to see kids reading.
I notice Christine’s taste in books changing every day. She started out just reading small chapter books, but now she has branched out to certain topics or authors. For example, she read a book by Beverly Cleary over this past summer, and since then she has been trying to read all the books by Ms. Cleary. She recently read a book about a cat, which she fell in love with, and then she found out there were three more books about the same cat. Of course, she had to find all three and read them. Christine has always read the comic strips her MaMaw saves for her every Sunday, so right now she is into comics. Garfield, Calvin and Hobbs, The Peanuts Gang and Pogo, these are just a few of the comic collections that she searches for in libraries and bookstores.
One of Christine’s newest interests is a series of books by a new author writing under the pen name, Lemony Snicket. His books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, have been climbing their way up the bestsellers’ lists for months. There is much controversy about these books because the main characters are three orphans who are moved around to different homes in every book. There is a mean villain out to steal the children’s inheritance, and because of him, nothing good ever happens to the children. Many objectors to the books say they are bad because nothing good happens, but I see the books in a different light. I see three children who persevere and never give up, even when things are going very bad for them, like in The Bad Beginning, the very first book of the series I also see an author who is trying to introduce vocabulary words to a new group of eager readers. Several times in each book the author will use an unusual word, but then he goes on to explain what the word means. I can see Christine’s vocabulary improving just from the mini lessons in these books.
Today, my youngest daughter is never anywhere without a book. She reads on the bus every morning and every afternoon; she even reads as she’s walking home from the bus top. She reads in the car, and if it happens to be dark, she has her own book light just so she can continue to read. She even reads at school before the morning bell rings, in between classes, and after she has finished her work. I now have a child who spends more time reading than she does watching television and that makes me very happy.
Now, if you'll excuse me, Christine is anxious to get to the library before they close.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, January 2003
By Bobbi Rightmyer
January 2003
When I was in the third grade, I was bit by the reading bug. I used to make countless trips to the school library, and even helped as a library aide just to be closer to the books. I had a hug appetite for reading, and I rarely went anywhere without a book in hand. A Wrinkle in time, The Narnia Chronicles, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Women, these were the staples of my reading itinerary as a child. As I’ve grown, my reading tastes have grown with me: from romance novels to horror to science fiction to historical fiction, each and every book has 100 pages to hook me before I give up on it. If I’m not hooked on the plot line after 100 pages, then I’m probably never going to enjoy the book.
When Amber and Marie were younger, I used to dream they would have my hunger for reading. I would read them bedtime stories, buy them books as gifts, and let them see me reading for fun. I’ve learned the hard way that if a child is not interested in something, the worst thing a parent can do is force the issue. The more I tried to get the girls to read for fun, the more they turned away from books completely. It was still “ok” for me to read to them, but they wanted nothing to do with reading themselves. As a single parent this really bothered me, because I knew their father was definitely not a reader. I didn’t want my girls to miss out on all the wonderful worlds books can open for a person.
When Christine was born, I again had high hopes that she would be a reader; after all, she had two parents who enjoyed reading instead of just one. So I began reading to her just like I did the older girls. Christine loved books and would carry one with her everywhere. She would sit engrossed in the story whenever I would read to her, and I could see her brain trying to picture the words in her mind. But when Christine started school, she had lots of trouble learning to read.
I couldn’t understand what the problem was; Amber and Marie learned to read without a problem. What was wrong with my last little girl? So, we worked with her at home, and with her teacher at school, but Christine was still having trouble sounding out words. Instead, she would memorize the words. When she would come to a word she didn’t know, you could see her mentally going through the file cabinet in her brain looking for the word. This continued all through kindergarten, first and second grades. Even though she was an excellent student, our whole family struggled with her “reading problem”.
The, when Christine entered third grade, something magical happened. For some unknown reason, at the beginning of third grade, Christine clicked with reading. Ill never forget the day she came racing home from the bus stop and yelled, “Mom, I read my library book all by myself!” That was it, from that point on, my bubbly, bouncy last child began her love affair with books.
Today, Christine is in the fifth grade and her appetite for books grows each day. Her room is full of books, from books she owns to books from the school library AND books from the public library. We make one, sometimes two trips to the Mercer County Public Library every week so she can check out enough books to get her through for several days. She has her own library bag that she and her best friends, Brooke and Levi Lewis, made one afternoon and she keeps her library card hooked to her bag for safe keeping; she keeps my card hooked there, too. Because of our trips to the library, Brooke and Levi have also become bookworms and this really excites me. I love to see kids reading.
I notice Christine’s taste in books changing every day. She started out just reading small chapter books, but now she has branched out to certain topics or authors. For example, she read a book by Beverly Cleary over this past summer, and since then she has been trying to read all the books by Ms. Cleary. She recently read a book about a cat, which she fell in love with, and then she found out there were three more books about the same cat. Of course, she had to find all three and read them. Christine has always read the comic strips her MaMaw saves for her every Sunday, so right now she is into comics. Garfield, Calvin and Hobbs, The Peanuts Gang and Pogo, these are just a few of the comic collections that she searches for in libraries and bookstores.
One of Christine’s newest interests is a series of books by a new author writing under the pen name, Lemony Snicket. His books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, have been climbing their way up the bestsellers’ lists for months. There is much controversy about these books because the main characters are three orphans who are moved around to different homes in every book. There is a mean villain out to steal the children’s inheritance, and because of him, nothing good ever happens to the children. Many objectors to the books say they are bad because nothing good happens, but I see the books in a different light. I see three children who persevere and never give up, even when things are going very bad for them, like in The Bad Beginning, the very first book of the series I also see an author who is trying to introduce vocabulary words to a new group of eager readers. Several times in each book the author will use an unusual word, but then he goes on to explain what the word means. I can see Christine’s vocabulary improving just from the mini lessons in these books.
Today, my youngest daughter is never anywhere without a book. She reads on the bus every morning and every afternoon; she even reads as she’s walking home from the bus top. She reads in the car, and if it happens to be dark, she has her own book light just so she can continue to read. She even reads at school before the morning bell rings, in between classes, and after she has finished her work. I now have a child who spends more time reading than she does watching television and that makes me very happy.
Now, if you'll excuse me, Christine is anxious to get to the library before they close.
© Bobbi Rightmyer, January 2003
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