Sophie's asleep. Very strange. She was drawing a picture, got all grumpy when it wouldn't come out the way she saw it in her head, stomped off to her room ... and didn't emerge. I just peeked in and she's fast asleep. I hope she's not getting sick. The combination of feeling fragile and tired seems rather ominous, specially in a person who's generally pretty even-tempered.

I would actually love to take a quick nap too ... I got to bed after midnight last night (book group) and was up again this morning at the normal ungodly hour with Steve, so I'm feeling a bit groggy myself. However I know that if I go to sleep Sophie'll definitely wake up five minutes later, and I'll have that awful dazed drooly walking-into-walls can't-wake-up-properly feeling. So I guess I'll have a bit more coffee instead. It's rather sad - while I was with my parents, I managed to give up caffeine. (My mom gave it up as part of her healthy diet regime, so I did too, to be supportive). And I have to say, once I got through the first week, I felt way better without it. But since Steve started school, and I consequently had to start getting up at 5, I find I can't function without it. My technique for maintaining sufficient caffeine in the bloodstream is to carefully space several espresso-sized cups of coffee throughout the day. It keeps me alert and functional, but I do feel slightly yucky at the same time. I guess I should try to cut back ... maybe go to a half a baby cup each time I feel I need coffee.

Seems that the new homeschool group will be a good resource. Sophie had a great time with the other little girls. Why is it that my kids generally seem to click best with kids whose moms I don't have much in common with? Most of the moms there seemed pleasant enough (though I didn't really care for some of the organiser's parenting techniques - for instance, staying put and angrily shrieking "Kids! Stop it!" when things get out of hand is pretty useless, and grabbing your rambunctious two year old's upper arm so that she flinches and hissing "Do ... you ... want ... to ... NAP?" seems slightly creepy.) But I like the moms from the other group so much better! It's such a pity that there aren't more kids Sophie's age in that group.

Ems is starting to enjoy school a little more, I'm glad to say. She's moved all the way from hatred and loathing to mild dislike, I think. She's been making noises about wanting to be homeschooled the past couple of days. In some ways, I'd absolutely love to homeschool her. I miss her during the day, and, like Sophie, she's such an enthusiastic learner. She'd be fun to teach. But the stakes seem so much higher for her than for Sophie. I am completely confident that I'm teaching Soph everything she needs to know. But I am not sure I'd know quite where to jump in with an 11 year old. I'd hate to prejudice Emily's college chances because I screwed up her maths, for instance. If she starts really enjoying middle school, as she did elementary school, where she hated the thought of missing a day because she had so much fun at school, this won't be an issue. But if the best she feels about school turns out to be a sort of tepid dislike, I'll have to take the idea of homeschooling seriously. I've told her we'll give it till after the Labor Day weekend before we seriously consider other options. That'll be a month at school, which should be enough time to have a real feel for what it's like and how happy and successful she's likely to be there.