Five

Zachary! You're FIVE now!! Of course you know that, though. You counted down the days! :) There's something about the fifth birthday that changes a child in my mind. Somehow, you seem older, even though you are the same little boy that you were the day before your birthday. But FIVE. Five is a big boy now. No longer a preschooler, but a boy! You seem so grown up to me somedays. We have great conversation, you offer wise insight, and you seem to understand so much. But then, I sneak into your room at night to grab one more kiss and to make sure you're tucked in, and I see you snuggled with your lovey, sucking your fingers. You seem so little to me when I watch you sleep. So much more like the baby I used to rock to sleep and less like the little boy who read me a book just before bed and insisted he needed no help getting ready for bed.



So let's see....what's been happening since I wrote your 4 year letter....well, for starters, like I already mentioned, you're reading! You got your first library card and LOVE going to the library to "buy books". Fortunately, you may call it "buying books", but you've never had a hard time giving them up when it's time to take them back. But you are reading very well, sounding out and also using context clues....which is outstanding since you aren't technically supposed to start kindergarten for another 7 months or so. You are getting better at writing, but we still have to do a lot of fine motor skill work. Especially since you write with the same hand that you use to suck your fingers. You tend to guard those fingers while writing, and it makes it difficult for you to hold the pencil correctly. As for the rest of school, you aren't doing math quite yet, but everything else, you do with Stephen. So right now you are learning all about nouns, memorizing poetry and bible verses and you are learning all there is for a five year old to know about astronomy. You are keeping right up with everything I gear towards Stephen. You are one smart cookie! Next year, we'll start you on math. In the meantime, you know how to count, skip count by 10s and you are now correctly reading the time from a digital clock.



One of your favorite activities is going to gymanstics. You love it, and you are very good at it. After class, when I ask you what your favorite part was, you tell me "All of it!" I really think gymnastics has also helped your coordination.

You also LOVE going to church. You look forward to it all week. And when we talk about Sunday School after I pick you up, you can tell me all about what you did and what you learned. This week, when I picked you up, you told me I needed to give you money for the offering. :) You look forward to the fall when you can start Kids Rock.

One of the cute things you are doing right now is how you talk about today, yesterday and tomorrow. For some reason, that's not a concept you've quite grasped yet. Frequently (especially when there is something special going on), you'll ask me, "Mama, is tomorrow the day after this day?" Or "Is today tomorrow?" or "When will it be tomorrow?" I admit, I get a little kick out of telling, "Today is yesterday's tomorrow." You love counting down to things, so every day you ask me how many more days until a special event. You usually already know, but you ask me, "Is it 4 more days?"

You. are. STUBBORN. Once something is in your mind a certain way, that's how it is. There is no negotiating with you. You try to negotiate with us, and one day, that will serve you well. Right now, though, it just gets you in trouble.

You still feel things so intensely. In fact, this year, you gained a little sister. And it's obvious your brothers love her. But you. You adore her. And she adores you. You were the first brother she smiled and laughed at. You hate it when she cries and you never want to leave her alone. If I had a nickel for everytime I had to say, "Zachary, get out of her face" or "Zachary, leave her alone" or "ZACHARY. BACK. OFF." I'd be able to pay for your college tuition already. :) It's so sweet how much you love her. You are such a good brother.



You are a great brother to your brothers as well, although, you do seem to fit the "middle child" picture. Sometimes you seem a little left out, but I think that's as much your choosing as it is your brothers'. You're still figuring out your "rank", I think, especially now that Evie has come along. That's okay, though, you'll figure it out....we all know exactly where you belong. Although you are a little different from your brothers, you fit right in in our hearts. Perfectly.

I love you, boy. You are so fun, funny, and you still have that smile that makes your eyes twinkle and that lights up a room. I'm so blessed to be your mama!



Happy Fifth Year!!
Love,
Mama

They wouldn't have made good pioneers

This afternoon, we had a heckuva storm blow through. It actually passed through pretty quickly, but it was strong. I was sitting in our bedroom nursing Evie when it first started to come through, and Stephen came in to show me (dramatically) how the tree in the back was blowing around (complete with sound effects).

When the thunder started, it was really loud. Normally, the kids (especially Marc-Adam) are afraid of thunder, but I've been trying to calm them down about it every time it thunders. The best thing I could come up with was to tell them that it was "just a sound". I told them it was a sound just like the quack of a duck is just a sound...don't ask me why I compared it to the quack of a duck, it just popped into my head.

So now, anytime they start to freak out about thunder, I say "Quack quack!"

When the thunder started today, they all stayed totally calm, Marc-Adam came to me smiling and said, "Don't worry! It's just a duck, Mama!" :) Love that boy.

Shortly after that, we lost power. At first they were a little lost and confused. They kept saying, "Well we can watch a DVD!" (as opposed to being able to watch the satellite.) Or, "The computer might still work!" And they still attempted to turn the lights on in every room they went in....but then again, so did I. Finally they gave up and we started reading some books and playing silly games like singing everything we said instead of talking. Once they wandered off to play, they kept getting so excited when they found a (battery-operated) toy that worked. Then, when Marc-Adam went to the bathroom, he came out screaming, "The toilet works! The toilet works!"

When dinner time rolled around and the power was still out, that's when the whining and grumbling began. By that time, the storm was long gone and the sun was even shining and we were all starting to get a little sweaty with no A/C and no ceiling fans. I didn't want to open the fridge or freezer so we had to eat of the pantry. We ended up with peanut butter on crackers and a can of fruit salad (I could've come up with more/better, but I'm lazy when I'm hot). Stephen tried to turn on the dining room light and started grumbling about it when it didn't work. I asked him if he had started feeling grateful for all the stuff we take for granted every day. He said, "Yes, but I still want it to come back on now." I told him that there were people in the world right now that live without power every day. Zachary asked me what their names were.

When the lights finally came back on, they weren't even excited about being able to turn the TV or computer on. They were seriously happy that the A/C kicked on! And that they could eat something out of the refrigerator.

It was a fun little break in our day, but I'm so glad I live in the time with all our modern conveniences!

Cue the tight rope music

This week, at the boys' gymnastics place, evaluations were held (and YES, this post is kind of about the kids, but also about me). Every few months, the coaches evaluate the kids to see where they are skills-wise and to make sure that the class that each kid is in is still challenging for them. They last did evaluations in May, and both boys got promoted (they started their new levels in June). Then this week, evaluations were held again, which I thought was kind of soon since they'd just been promoted 2 months ago. But I guess they wanted to move up the kids that didn't move up in June so they could make room for the new folks that are signing up at the beginning of the school year.

ANYWAY, the point of all this is that my boys were VERY excited about it being evaluation time again. I tried to tell them gently that they were not going to be promoted since they've only been in their new levels for 2 months. They understood, but were still excited.

Lo and behold, Stephen got promoted. Again.

Zachary did not.

So began my tightrope walk of being super-excited for Stephen (promoted! again! for the 2nd time in 2 months! to the acclerated level! you're getting so good!) and trying to explain to Zachary that it's okay that he did not (you've only been in the "green" for 2 months. you're still learning all those tricks. you have another full year before the kindergym level and if you promote now, you'll be in the next level for a whole year. we talked about the fact that you were not going to be promoted. it's totally okay! you're are really good, but it's just not time to promote yet.).

Zachary was having none of it. He was totally fine with not promoting until we went to pick Stephen up and Stephen ran up waving his paper that told us what new class he was in. Z didn't understand why Stephen could promote and he couldn't. It was awful trying to contain my excitement for Stephen while being supportive of Zachary. I really am proud of Stephen and was so surprised that he promoted again. But I didn't want to make a huge big deal out of it because Zachary was already feeling badly. It was totally fine that he didn't promote. It doesn't mean he's not good at it. He really is good and he's a quick learner, but like I told him, he's only been in this level for 2 months and he's only got one more level before he starts the kindergym. And he's only been promoted once in the last year. But he didn't care. The fact that Stephen got promoted negated everything else that I tried to tell him. And the more excited Stephen and I were, the more upset he got.

Now, normally, I would just tell Z that that's just how things are and that it's not all about him and that his time will come. But this was genuine disappointment and I'm trying hard to not let him fall into the "middle child syndrome". But it was also hard because I didn't want to hold back our little "mini-celebration" in the car on they way home simply because Zachary was disappointed. That's not fair to Stephen. And we all have to learn to live with disappointment and we have to learn that sometimes other people get what we want.

Thankfully, things have settled down since then. This Sunday is promotion Sunday at church, so the kids will get to step-up to their new Sunday School classes. That helps. I'm just praying that next time evaluations roll around that Stephen will stay put and Z will get promoted (or at least that BOTH will be promoted).

It's better to just avoid it altogether

We were on the way to my folks' house this afternoon to eat dinner and it just so happened that one of my mom's friends was eating dinner with us tonight, too. In the car, on the way there, I was reminding the boys to use their manners. "Remember to say 'yes, ma'am' and 'no ma'am' and look her in the eye when you are talking or when she's talking to you. And don't forget to say 'Hello, nice to meet you' when she gets there."

Zachary, worried that he might forget his manners, said, "Mama, I just won't talk at all."

The world according to Zachary

Zachary has said some really cute things lately....the other day he was telling me about his love for "butterskwatch". I had no idea what he was talking about until he said something about them being like chocolate chips and then it hit me...he loves butterscotch.

He also loves "TV screens" that he eats once in a while at his grammy's house, which are actually very much like the meals that you heat up in the microwave and eat while watching TV....TV dinners.

And the other day he came to me wearing a bead necklace (like the mardi-gras kind) over his ears and told me that he was a little old lady. I guess the necklace was supposed to be like the things that ladies attach to the glasses so they can wear them around their neck. The next day, he used a water blaster/pump thingy as a cane and pretended to be a little old man, complete with a hunched-over walk and sound effects.

This morning, he requested a banana snoozie for breakfast.

Finally, this last thing isn't so much something cute that he did, but something that made him my hero. For a week, I've been looking for my driver's license, insurance card and discount cart that I last had in the back pocket of my jeans. The sad thing is that I've driven, been to the doctor AND been shopping when I could've been using the discount card. Anyway, this morning, Zachary caught my attention by saying, "Hey Mom, look what I found!" The discount card! I asked him where he found it and if he found any other cards....he came back a minute later with my driver's license and insurance card. They had fallen in between the footboard and comforter when I laid my jeans over the footboard (that's what I get for not putting my laundry away). I called him my hero and gave him a huge hug. He walked around with a huge grin on his face for an hour after that. He's such a sweet boy!

Not boring, just not interesting

Aside from day to day details and me getting high from sweet baby smell (oh, and sweet baby breath), there's really not much going on around here that's worth blogging about. Nothing terribly funny or interesting or worth sharing. But I certainly wouldn't call what's going on in our home boring. So here's just a little brain dump, so I don't go too long without blogging:

• Evie's doing just swell. She's waking up a little more each day and starting to really look around. I think we might get a smile out of her any day now. She's doing FANTASTIC at night, which makes me want to dance at about 5am every morning. Um, but can she stop with the growing...? She's getting so big, and will be a month old on Sunday. I didn't think it would be because things have been so calm and easy, but the last month is a BLUR.
  

• Marc-Adam has been quite the challenge. He's still sweet enough that's it hard to stay mad at him for long, but oh my, that child makes my head hurt. We've tightened the reins a bit on him, and that seems to have helped...he's listening better and we're able to make it through an entire meal without having to put him in time-out *sigh*. We recently moved him to a twin bed and now the trouble he caused from his crib can now be caused anywhere in the room or hall. It's been quite the battle and Sweet Hubby and I are desperate to find a way to make bedtime a little more calm.

• Zachary has just been so funny and so sweet (but seems to have contracted a case of selective hearing). The other day, he wanted to sing a lullaby to Evie and he sang, "Little giiiirrrrl....with a head! I love you, sweet little girl!!" And then later at dinner, he started a conversation with, "Next time, when I grow up, if you're still my mom and dad..." Wha...?

• Stephen's *thisclose* to losing one (or maybe both) of his front teeth. 'Bout darn time. The things have been lose since Thanksgiving. It makes me slightly nauseous to think about it. I wish it would just fall out already. I've tried pulling it, but it's not ready so I've been telling him to wiggle it any chance he gets.

• I'm starting to get homeschooling back on the brain and am starting to plan out our next year. I think I'm going to try to relax our school schedule a little bit and not try to do every subject every day with Stephen. I plan on starting grammar this year (using First Language Lessons) and keeping up with our same math and writing curricula. So I think that maybe we might try doing math 2x a week and writing/grammar 3x a week with reading every day. I think he can handle that, but we'll see. For Zachary though, we'll be working on the same things every day because he doesn't have as much to do as Stephen. I also plan on sticking with Five in a Row...it's just a really good curriculum and we all enjoy it. There's a homeschool conference in August that I plan on going to...I just hope I don't get sucked in to trying something new. But I'm really excited about it. I didn't get to go last year.

• Next week is Sweet Hubby's last week home with us. I'm slightly panicked about it. I think, though, that if I plan it right, it might be a whole 'nother 2 weeks before I'm actually all on my own after he goes back to work. The good news is that he only ever works for 4 days at a time, and once he goes back to working days (instead of overnight), he'll only be working for 3 days at a time. Logically, though, I know that I'll be just fine on my own with all 4 kids, it's just scary to take that first step, especially since I have 2 very high maintenance children.

I think that's about it for now. Any questions?

And now, here's Zachary with the weather.

Yesterday, we had a heckuva storm system come through. It interfered with naptime and scared the bejeezus out of Marc-Adam. I was wondering how long the storm was going to last, but Sweet Hubby was asleep and the computer is in our room. With M-A attached to me, there was no way I'd be able to sneak in to check the radar...if a thunder clap hit, M-A would scream and even with ear plugs in, I knew that would wake hubby up (turns out, it woke him up anyway, even from the other room). Anyway, so I waited patiently until 4pm when the first round of local news broadcasts came on. I convinced the kids that they could watch Electric Company after I was done watching the weather, and finally sat down to see what we were in for that afternoon and evening (I was just praying that it would pass through before bedtime). 30 seconds after the weather started on the news, the storm knocked the satellite out. I started fussing about how I had waited and now wouldn't get to watch the weather. Zachary comes and stands in front of the TV and says, "Mama, I can do the weather for you!" At first I didn't understand what he meant, but I said okay.

He proceeds to point at different spots on the (now black-screened) TV and says, "It's raining here and here. And here's Cypress. It's going to be 50 degrees for 50 more minutes."

Honestly, it was just as helpful as most of the weather people on TV.

If only it were that easy

This morning, the kids and I were discussing a bible verse that Stephen learned in church yesterday (at least I think it was the one he learned, I'm not totally sure...so we discussed the one he was able to name). Anyway, talking about that verse led us into a discussion about Satan (actually, Stephen brought that up which is interesting because I don't think I've ever discussed Satan with them). We talked about how Satan wants to destroy us and all the good things that God is doing in us. We ended our discussion in a prayer, and when it was Zachary's turn, he ended his part with this:

"And dear God, please make the devil be good."

I love their innocence.

Lofty Ambitions

At the lunch table a little bit ago, Sweet Hubby and I were having a discussion about the company he used to work for and how things have gone down hill since he left. We talked about that job and this new one and how things are so much better...

Just about then, Stephen interjected: "You know what I want to be when I get a job? A movie director!!"

And just as excited about his vocational ambitions, Zachary yells out "I want to be the DirecTV guy!!"

My children, they reach for the stars. Or the satellites as it may be.

I'm not sure if he means the guy who drives around town in the DirecTV van or some other DirecTV guy.

After Sweet Hubby and I had a good laugh, we looked at Marc-Adam, who was licking his plate, and asked what he wanted to be.

"A cat!"

That's a goal that will take a lot of hard work to achieve.

The Question I wasn't prepared for (and some fun updates)

So this evening, Stephen came to me and asked, "Mom, how did you first know there was a baby in your belly?"

Uhhhh.....

I've been prepared for the "How did the baby get in your belly" question....not quite ready for this one.

So I stalled.

"Well...what do you think?"

"God told you and you heard him?" he asks.

"Ummm...no....not quite..."

"You felt the baby move?"

"Well, I can feel her move now, but not early on."

"Well, then how?"

"Ummm....(freaking out in my head..."COME UP WITH SOMETHING SIMPLE BUT LOGICAL!!")"

So this is what I came up with: "Honey, we'll discuss this more when you are bit older, but there are certain things that happens to ladies. And when those things stop happening, the lady might think..."Hmmm...I wonder if I'm pregnant?" So she takes a little test and the test tells her whether or not she's pregnant."

And to my relief, he said, "Oh! Okay!" and ran back to what he was doing.

Whew. Didn't see that coming. I had no idea what would be appropriate to tell my 6 year old boy. So. What would you have said? I'm sure if I hadn't been blindsided while chopping potatoes, I could have been much quicker on my feet and thought of something wiser, like I usually do.

Annnyway...moving right along. We started potty training Marc-Adam last week. The first two days were okay. He had as many successes as he had accidents. Sunday, he spent all day back in his diapers because of the other stuff we had going on, and yesterday, he spent a good portion of the day in diapers, but still had a few successes. Today is only the third full day and he's done fantastic. He even pooped on the potty all on his own with no coaxing from me. He had one small accident where he started to tee on the couch, stopped himself, ran to the potty and finished. All on his own. He had another, bigger accident, but I'm not sure I'm going to count that one because he was in time-out and I think it was an intentional ploy to get out. He just let loose, never told me he was going, and didn't even stop himself like he usually does. After he was done, he told me he had gone. So, I think he's doing really well. I didn't think it would take him long. If he still progresses this week, I think I'll put him in underwear this weekend.

On the Zachary front, he's really been surprising me with his eating. Zachary's always been a terribly picky eater due to some issues he had when he was about a year old. But the last couple of weeks, he's been eating new foods (even eggs which has always been off-limits for him). He's eating greater amounts of food and actually enjoying it. I'm so proud of him. And I'm a little relieved. His diet has always been a source of concern for me. Today, he ate a whole handful of spinach with only a little bit of encouragement and yesterday, he ate a chicken-pasta dish that a month ago he would have never even looked at it. I'm so glad to finally be making progress in that area with him. His brothers eat circles around him.

Oops.

Last night, the entire family was in here in the bedroom with me while I was doing some e-mails on the computer. I glanced over and realized that Zachary had our closet door open and was peeking into the mirror that's on the inside of the closet door. I suddenly remembered that we still had a few Christmas gifts left in there that we don't plan on wrapping and immediately and loudly told him to shut the door. I startled him, which was my intention, and he quickly shut it. He then walked up to me all grins and informed that earlier in the day while Stephen had been playing on the computer, he spied a batman scooter and he said he walked up to look and saw it WAS a batman scooter. There's a batman scooter in there mama! Sweet Hubby starts telling Z to be quiet and quit talking about it like he was afraid that Z was going to let the secret go. But the secret was already gone. So I said, "Well, it's for HIM!" Zachary's eyes lit up, "The batman scooter's for ME?!"

We had a good laugh and Z didn't stop grinning and talking about it all night long. I told him that he should try to forget so that he would be surprised on Christmas morning and he said, "I AM surprised, mama!"

I'm glad he's so happy about it. I'm also glad that we weren't trying to reserve this for a Santa gift because we would be so screwed right now.

Sweet Hubby remembers when he found out about Santa--after he spied his wrestling ring playset in his parent's closet and then got it from Santa for Christmas.

Silly and sweet

The kids have been funny and sweet lately. A couple days ago, Marc-Adam was asking for me to pick him up. He just kept saying "UP! Up!". When I asked him what to say, Stephen jumped in trying to be silly and said, "Up, please!" in a baby voice. Marc-Adam pushed him out of the way and yelled "My up please!"

Zachary's got a nasty little bug. Snotty, coughing, irritable...the works. He's slept most of the day today and after playing by himself in the playroom for about 10 minutes, Stephen plopped down next to me on the couch and sighed real big. I said, "What's up, Bud?" He said, in a pouty little tone, "I wish Zachary would get better." I asked him if he missed him and he said yes. He was actually sad for Zachary and himself at the same time. And then when I made Zachary lunch in bed, Stephen was so excited for Zachary. He couldn't quit smiling about it. It was so cute and sweet.

Zachary's convinced that the new baby is going to be a sister for him. When I ask him what her name is, he says, "Gene-VEEEEVE!" Which is right, I just love the way he says it....all the emphasis on "VEEEVE".

Buggy Update

After my post yesterday, the boys, who were still talking about putting the bug in the trash and trying to get rid of it, starting discussing between themselves what the natural predators would be for that kind of roach. When they decided a bird would eat a bug, they started to make bird calls, hoping to scare the bug out of the house. The fact that there was no open door or window didn't seem to bother them.

Before Sweet Hubby got home, my mother-in-law came by to pick us up so we could go run some errands. Zachary immediately reported the situation to her and she disposed of the bug for us.

All is right with the world.

Four

Really? You're four? Zachary, slow down buddy boy. You're getting too big too fast! You are officially a big boy in my mind now.



It's been a great year. You're really growing into your own person, your own personality and you are such joy to be around. I love how you are still a snuggler. Every time I sit down, you immediately fold yourself in to the curve of my side. And today when you did that, you had a bowl of goldfish snacks, so you sat there and fed me goldfish as we snuggled and a watched a little TV. You do that quite a bit. You're very generous with most things when given the chance. However, you do NOT like to have things taken away from you, so it's always better for us to ask first.

This year, you've learned lots of new things. When we started school, I geared most of our activities toward Stephen, but you are keeping up wonderfully and you insist on having your turn at the school table. You know all your letters and numbers now and are beginning to sound out words.

You still talk with a precious little lisp, and when you talk there is such excitement in your voice. You are still a lot like your mama because I've noticed quite a bit lately that when you feel a certain way about something, you feel it intensely. You are either very excited, very happy, very mad or very sad. You are never "just a little" anything.

Yesterday, we started an experiment. You see, you carry your lovey around with you everywhere. Not only does the lovey get filthy, but you constantly have your fingers in your mouth because of it. So starting yesterday, I told you that lovey could not come out of your bed. You could have it at naps and nighttime, but for the rest of the day, you would be lovey-free. You whined quite a bit about it, and at one point, I couldn't find you anywhere in the house. I went in to your room (that was almost completely dark), flipped on the light and found you cuddled in your bed with your lovey. You spent quite a bit of time in your room by yourself yesterday. Today was much better, and you missed lovey a lot less, although, I did notice that lovey somehow snuck out of your room a couple of times.

You are still apprehensive about trying new things in general, but I noticed this year, that you are getting better about it and you are more easily convinced than you used to be. You've also shown that you can be quite the chatty child. Especially when you are by yourself without your brothers around, you are just full of thought and question and conversation. Never a dull a moment. :)

Zachary, you are still my sweet little boy. So laid back and easy-going (most of the time). You march to the beat of your own drum, but once in a while, it seems like it sounds a lot like mine. I'm relieved for you that we have a new baby coming, because you'll no longer be the middle child. I'm not sure what that means for you down the road, but I hope it's a good thing.

I'm so glad God gave us you. And I can't wait to see what we can do together in your 5th year!

Love,
Mama

Progress Report

Just a small update about how school has been going around here. Today, we finally finished what I had planned to get done in the first week. Four weeks later. But it's okay. I had planned to take it slow, and there were several days that I just had to focus on surviving so school didn't happen. And there were several days that we just didn't get everything done. But the kids have been doing really well, and we're all still really enjoying this.

Both of the older boys now have the planets memorized and usually can get them in order. We talked about the difference between comets and asteroids as well as the difference between meteors, meteoroids and meteorites. They know all about orbits, and how the planets rotate and revolve. We've also studied the months of the year, and the last few weeks we've studied the winter months and the kinds of the things we eat, do and wear during the winter. We did some experiments to show the power of gravity and centrifugal force and made up a little song about how Isaac Newton discovered gravity.

Math has sort of fallen by the wayside because that's something that I have scheduled to do one on one with Stephen during the other boys' nap time, and most of the time, I have to get a nap, too. But I'm not too concerned about that yet. He understands as much or more about math in practice as most kindergartners, I think. His reading is getting better as well, and he's able to read more without sounding choppy. The sentences flow better and he's also getting better with comprehension. And when he gets to a word he doesn't know (which is rare), he figures it out on his own using context. We've been studying some poetry as well, and both boys have blown me away with their understanding and interpretation of poetry. Zachary listens so well and can answer any question about what we just read and Stephen is able to not take the poem literally and is able to interpret what the poet is actually trying to say. He was able to explain to me what a Robert Frost poem was actually saying. And then I prayed that I would be able to keep up with him past first grade.

Handwriting is just okay, but I've backed off of trying too hard. The last two days, Stephen has done great and there has been no tears about practicing the letters H, K, L and U. Which is nice since the program is called Handwriting Without Tears. Zachary is tearing through his Explode the Code book as well, but we're skipping a lot (but not all) of the handwriting exercises because I think he's just too young for all that writing.

Now that I've shamelessly bragged on the intelligence of my kids, I have to share a funny with you, lest you think that I'm snotty about thinking my kids are actually geniuses or that I think that I'm the best teacher ever (I so don't). This morning, we were studying and talking about February and so we were discussing President's Day. I read them a poem about George Washington and asked some questions afterward. The poem talked about George Washington "hearing the bugle's call" and going off to fight for the country. I started a "leading" sentence that I intended for Stephen to finish. So I said, "He heard the bugle's call and went to join...." And Stephen finished the sentence "....joined the.....Midianites?"

Wha....?

I almost couldn't finish the lesson because I couldn't quit giggling.

The jury's in

And it was more optimism than stupidity that led me to go ahead and start school today. Although, there were several points in the day that it could have gone either way.

We started our school day at about 9:15am with some Bible study. We read Genesis 1 about what God created when and discussed that. I was impressed with some of the questions both Stephen and Zachary had. Then we did some reading together, me reading to the kids and Stephen reading to us. During most of the reading we did (bible and regular books) Marc-Adam fussed, cried and bullied his way into my lap. It got a little hairy during that time. Zachary wanted to read one of the BOB books, so I pulled out the very first one, and he read it! He's read it before, but not as well as he did today. He needed help with one word, but other than that, he didn't have a problem. He might have just been looking at the pictures and guessing, but still. That's the beginning. I told him that when he could read the whole first box of BOB books that he could get his own library card. His very own library card has been sort of a holy grail for Zachary, so now he's very motivated to read. I'm actually really surprised...I thought for sure he would be a late reader, but it looks like I might have another early reader on my hands.

Okay. Brag over. Sorry.

After we read, we took a break to get some wiggles out and I taught the kids how to crab walk. If you've never seen a young child do that, you need to. It was a good laugh for everyone...even the kids.

Next was handwriting. Each kid got their own book (Marc-Adam a coloring book, Zachary had a Kumon tracing book and Stephen's working out of Handwriting Without Tears) and pencil. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how happy everyone was working out of their own books. Marc-Adam tried to mark in Stephen's a couple of times, but once I handed him the whole box of colors, he was fine playing by himself (mainly throwing crayons at Zachary and tasting the color pencils). I'm still feeling a little discouraged about Stephen's handwriting, but I'm going to try to make sure we do at least a couple pages every day, even if we do no other school, just to make sure he's getting practice.

We made lunch and had our quiet/nap time. While the two younger kids slept, Stephen and I did a review of some of the Math-U-See book we didn't finish last year. It won't take us long to catch up to where we left off, I don't think.

The most fun part of school was the afternoon. After naps and a snack, we did our KONOS work. We talked about the days of the week, sang a song about the months of the year and studied a calendar, pointing out special days and holidays. Then we started learning about the planets and even made up a little song about them. We talked about the difference between rotate and revolve and acted each out and then acted out doing both at the same time. Stephen and Zachary both got to take turns being the sun and the earth. They thought that was the best fun ever. We did some more "work" about how the earth orbits the sun and finished up by reading some poetry about the universe and the earth.

When I announced, "That's it! We're done for the day!" I was met with groans and "Oh man!" So I guess the day should be counted as a success even though we had to deal with several melt-down and discipline issues with Marc-Adam.

It was really a totally fun day. We're all looking forward to more tomorrow. Let's hope we can keep this momentum and enthusiasm!

Think he hears this often?

I sat down on the couch for a few minutes and Zachary came up and snuggled in my lap. We start chatting and laughing about something funny that he does (I'd explain it, but I'm afraid it would just sound strange). He said something really funny and I pulled him close to me, gave him a big hug, kissed the top of his head and said, "I LOVE you!" To which he added: "I'm so cute!" Which is how I usually finish that thought. :)

I may not be around much this week

Starting tonight, Sweet Hubby's off for a whole week! He got the little impromptu vacation because he volunteered to take another manager's shift because she was going to be out for a wedding. So he worked 8 nights out of 9 and now he doesn't have to go back to work until next Tuesday night! I'm so looking forward to having him around this week. It's been well over a year since he's had this kind of time off. Once our friend Edouard moves on, then we might be able to do some fun things. Which means I may or may not be around blogging. Unless something really funny happens.

And speaking of something really funny happening, here's a little scenario from yesterday:

I was on the phone and Stephen asked if they could give their superheros a bath (which means they want to play with their action figures in the sink). This usually makes for a colossal mess, which I'm normally willing to deal with, but not yesterday, so I said no. A few minutes later, Stephen came out of the bathroom yelling, "MOM!" and I knew something was up without him even saying anything more. I went into the bathroom where Zachary was standing on the stool at the sink with a "Bambi caught in the headlights" look. I couldn't tell that he was doing anything more than washing his hands, but he gave himself away. His face melted and he said:

"I told Stephen not to tell!!"

See y'all around!

Fair and balanced

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to try to even things out in regards to my posts about my kids. I have nearly twice as many posts about Stephen than I do about Zachary and Marc-Adam. Obviously, it's not because I love Stephen more or because I find him more interesting. I love all of my kids individually so much that sometimes it hurts. And they're all full of life, funny, smart and sweet. It's just that Stephen gives me more blog fodder that I think would be interesting/funny to you, my reader. The mind of a five year old is an amazing thing, y'all. I don't think I've ever been around a five year old for an extended period of time. So it's truly fascinating. But so are the minds of my three and one year olds.

So. I've decided to do a little "random things" meme about my Zachary. Things that I find cute, interesting or funny about him that I think would give you, my readers, a better idea of his personality. Here we go.

• His eyes are so very expressive. Sometimes it's humorous how he uses his eyes to get a point across. And if you tell him to look at you while you're talking, he'll do this creepy eye thing that makes you want to tell him to stop looking at you. But you can always tell what's going on with Z by looking in his eyes. They give him away every time.

• He speaks with a slight lisp. And I didn't realize it until recently. It's even more pronounced when he's very excited. Come to think of it, all of his little speech impediments (that are normal for a 3 year old) are more pronounced when he's excited or mad.

• He's the most laid-back of all my boys. He loves wrestling with his daddy and brothers, and loves a good game of Guess Who? and loves to race cars around the living room, but after a while, he needs some down time and time to be alone, so he'll snuggle up on the couch (sometimes on me, if I'm there) and just be.
  

• He's loud! Oh my word, he's loud. Now I know that he's three and and that children of all ages are loud, but geez! When all three kids are playing and they're yelling and laughing and carrying on, ZACHARY'S is the voice I hear above it all. He has two volumes....loud and asleep.

• He loathes eggs. Until recently he wouldn't even allow eggs to be on his plate. A few months ago, he decided he would eat a boiled egg. After I picked myself up off the floor, I gave him one. Now he eats them with us, but only the whites.

• He loves knock-knock jokes. And tells the same one over and over again. About bacon. Going to the bathroom.
  

• He's started to sound out 3 letter words (especially "at" and "am" words). Although, I realized yesterday that he has trouble identifying the lowercase letters.

• He sleeps with several stuffed animals and carries two of them around. He's named all of them, can remember their names and insists that you call them by their names. What's funny is that the names he's given them are fun and funny...I don't know where he came up with them. They are: Sam the fire dog, Sophie a blue dog, Peanut the one-eyed eagle (after Peanut the mouse in the Magic Treehouse Books and Zachary makes me go looking Peanut's eye every time it falls out), Junior the dog he won out of the claw machine, JoJo the white tiger, Bumpy the seal, and Arky the seal ("Cause he goes 'ark ark'"). He carries Junior and JoJo around with him. And then leaves them where he can't remember. And then makes the whole family go on a search and rescue mission.
  

• And speaking of carrying things around with him, he still carries a "lovey". He also still sucks on his two middle fingers, but only when he has lovey. He is beginning to leave lovey at home and in bed more often, though.
  

• I always thought he looked more like Sweet Hubby, but the older he gets, the more he looks like me, I think.
  

• I love loving on and cuddling with all my kids, but he's definitely the cuddliest. And gives the best kisses. Lately, he'll come to me for no reason at all except to say, "Gimme a big kiss!"

• He's the only one of my three kids to have a nickname (but he only lets me and Sweet Hubby call him those names): Z, ZZ and Z-man. But don't call him Zach! He won't let anyone call him that.

• He wants to play the accordion and play basketball. Not at the same time of course.

• He is the member of this family that marches to his own beat. The great thing is, though, that his own little beat compliments perfectly the rhythm of our family.
  

My boys, they like to move

The boys were running around playing this afternoon and ran into the living room where I was. Stephen was chasing Zachary and eventually grabbed him by his shirt and yelled, "Stop, Zacharyyyy!! I want to show you my moves!"

Zachary's response? "But I want to show you MY moves!!"