6-Year Well Visit..

And my 6-year-old now tips the scales at a staggering 39 pounds and 42 inches. (insert sarcastic laugh)

Although this visit, he did manage to move up from the 3rd and 5th percentiles to being solidly in the 10th, so I guess that's something. The doctor doesn't seem concerned about his size, since he has always followed basically the same growth curve. He did, however, suggest that when I get a chance, I keep a five-day food diary and drop it off for him to look at. He asked if any other children in the extended family had similar growth patterns. At first I drew a blank and then DUH, I remembered my niece is basically following Ben's exact growth curve (though on the girl version, obviously). So yeah, that helped Ben's case a little so thanks, Anastasia! He seemed to think that, although Ben will clearly never be a giant, that he will hit a growth spurt at some point, probably around puberty, and ultimately end up at least close to his father and Graff uncles' heights.... so we'll see!

Other than just being born to be a small kid, he's very healthy and all looks well. Vision and hearing were perfect and everything else looks good too! :) No shots or any other traumatizing events! Hooray!

Weekend Update...

Saturday --
Ben had his last swimming lesson of the session, and thus, his test to see if he passed and could move on. He was in level ONE at Kids First... level freakin' ONE. Basically, they kick, blow bubbles and float on their front and back. And then, out of nowhere, for the test yesterday, the instructor told the class of five 4-6-year-olds that they had to go under the water and up five times. WTH? This completely traumatized Ben who wanted nothing to do with going under the water. (if I had KNOWN this wasn't going to be addressed the entire session and then be part of the test, I would have been working with him in the bathtub the last six weeks!) Suffice to say, he didn't pass But then again, neither did any of the other kids. So now, to continue lessons there, he has to start in level 1 again. Gr. The plan now is to do lessons at our pool this summer and he also has lessons at summer camp in August and then we'll try again at KF in the fall/winter, where hopefully by THEN he can test into another level. Is it too much to ask for my kid to be able to be self-sufficient in the water? I don't need him to be Michael Phelps or anything, I just want him to NOT drown.

After that, the boys visited Nanee and Pap for awhile so Tom and I could go get some things done. There was, of course, much basketball and golf played.

Sunday --
Tom and his dad continued working on our neverending laundry room project. To say it is slow-going would be an understatement, but we'll get there eventually and the project isn't hindering my ability to do laundry, so it's all good. Someday it will be an AWESOME storage room/laundry room. I'm getting a little twitchy dealing with the mess it keeps burping into the basement playroom though.

While they did that, I worked on migrating all of Simon's things over to what is now "the boys' room" (or possibly "the BIG boys' room) More of a monumental task than I thought it would be, but with only one trip to Target for a rubbermaid three-drawer bin for the closet, I managed to finish. Actually, everything fits quite nicely in there. The closet is double decker, so Ben has the bottom half (since he is old enough to choose his own clothes now and should be able to reach them) and Simon is the top. The drawers in the armoire are split down the middle, which might get tricky, we'll see. And they each have an underwear drawer in the rubbermaid thingy in the closet and the third drawer is for the communal sock collection. (SO many apologies to my MIL for ever mocking the idea of a communal boys white sock collection... holy cow. It's the only way to do it, honestly) I have some toy purging and rearranging to do still to make the room a little less cluttered and more evenly split, but otherwise, it's done.

I got out Baby Three's Disney bear and Dottie Dots ducks for the nursery to seal the deal.

Sunday evening, Tom and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary a few days early with a trip downtown to eat at Roy's, a Hawaiian Fusion restaurant. The food was awesome, but we were seated SO quickly and finished so quickly that we were back by 6:30. Part of the problem was that we had planned on being able to walk around downtown and at the Harbor but it started to rain and turned freezing. :( Oh well... we still had fun and a couple of child-free hours, thanks to my parents.

Today it's raining again and the boys are both on break from school, so we're just hanging close to home. Ben has a dentist appointment today, but other than that, no big plans, which is so nice once in awhile.

For something to do and because it looks like fun, I might try this "Day in the Life" photo project I've seen on a few blogs here and there, including my SIL's. So stay tuned. :)

Independence...

About a week ago, Simon threw me out of the bathroom while he was peeing. "I can do it myself now!!! Go away!!" And do it himself he did from pants down to pants up. Ever since then (and I will probably regret blogging this because I'm SURE the blog curse will come find me), he has not wet his pants once and I haven't had to remind him constantly to go.

Really? Was THAT all he wanted? Sheesh. Kids are so funny.

Birthday Photo Dump....

Present pile waiting for Ben in the morning... I couldn't decorate his room this year because THAT night was the night Simon decided he was going to start sleeping in the bottom bunk. He is a much lighter sleeper than Ben, so there was no way I could sneak in there. Instead, we decorated his seat at the kitchen table and the living room. :)


Trying on the vest to his new target shooting game...


This little number was from Grandmom and Poppy and was a huge hit (ha ha... get it? hit?) with *both* boys and thus, there was much fighting...


He also got this awesomely awesome write-on globe from Aunt Debbie. He played with it all evening in bed.


Simon insists on taking off his shirt when he boxes... d'oh.


In this corner, weighing in at 37 pounds, the Amazing Simon!


"Cake" time!




And with that, he is officially six! (sob)

Now You Are Six...

Dear Benjamin,

Yesterday you turned six. We were way too busy celebrating for me to write about it yesterday either. You are big into the party aspect of your birthday these days and next year, I might have to finally break down and let you invite some friends somewhere.

This year though, you were pretty content to be celebrated at your Nanee and Pap's, to spend the day with Mommy and Daddy in Washington, D.C., and to celebrate again with Grandmom, Poppy and Aunt Debbie. You now insist there be ample decorations, including signs, balloons and some kind of cool cake, so decorate we did yesterday.

Six brings with it the last couple months of Kindergarten, a place that you've grown to both like and dislike this past year for different reasons. You like your friends there, you don't like when that little brat boy Zane reminds you that you are the smallest one in the class or says you are a slow runner. You you like learning "new things that are hard", but don't like having to sit there for "all that easy stuff like 2+2=4". You like recess and gym, but don't like lunch ("because we just have to sit there and eat!!"). You like your teacher, but notsomuch the "uhhh eat" lady in the lunchroom. You like the bus when Sophia rides with you, but only tolerate it on the days she doesn't. All in all though, you are thriving at your school and in your class and it has been a joy to watch you start to understand and enjoy what school is all about.

Five was, in general, a wonderful age. This year, you have been (with some exceptions, of course), agreeable, pleasant, happy, fun, social and a great listener. The last month or two, you've just been the most happy go lucky kid ever, so hopefully, this bodes well for your entire seventh year. I only mention all this because it's such a far cry from the colicky, sensitive infant and the broody three-year-old you were. ;)

One of your favorite things these days is, get this, TRYING NEW FOOD. Daddy and I still can't believe our ears when we hear you say, "I want to try that!" and we REALLY can't get over it when you try something and then announce it's the best thing you've ever tasted. It has taken six years to get you to actually ENJOY eating and it's going to take awhile to get over the shock that you actually kinda do now.

You love sports and have been having the best time watching March Madness with daddy and you'll tell anyone who will listen about your bracket and how you are doing. You also love to play basketball NONstop lately (you made 100 baskets at Nanee and Pap's on Saturday!) and insist that you are going to play for Villa Nova someday because Loyola Maryland is "no good". You start teeball next week, with daddy
as the coach and you are super excited. :) Your friend John is on your team too!

You love your little brother, even if he is a little whiny sometimes and takes your stuff without asking. You are the best big brother to him, amazingly patient and willing to share, even when sometimes I really could hardly blame you for wanting to just turn around and knock him over.

You still love your facts and figures and your maps, flags and globes. You don't read stories at night much lately. Instead you read almanacs,maps and atlases. Yep, you are daddy's boy and your Graff uncles' nephew, that's for sure. You are very serious and I have no doubt you'll excel in whatever you put your mind to!

This past year, you have grown up so much. You even look like such an "older kid" now, it's hard to believe. Can't wait to see what the next year brings.

I love you! Happy birthday, buddy!

Love,
Mommy

Birthday boy


Aside from the fact that I am cake-decorating challenged, the foil stuck to the icing... sigh...


Cousins


The blood-related Graff family sings REALLY off-key...


D.C.

First stop -- Air and Space


Thought this was cool... all kinds of foreign currency in the donation box at the entrance


This exhibit is always a hit... must dig up the other picture we have of Ben playing with it when he was Simon's age


Really big version of Google earth


Planets


I call it "Firstborn at the Center of the Universe"


Hoards of people rallying for immigration reform.. this was kind of cool and interesting until they all filled up the Metro on the way home... ugh.


Washington Monument


American History museum... sadly, they aren't finished renovating it just yet and the coolest part of it, the popular culture section only has 12 items that they rotate on a regular basis. So sad. :(


Greensboro Lunch Counter exhibit -- they reenact the sit-in every day at 1p.m. Kinda cool!


I should have known the currency exhibit would a huge hit...


Their kids invention area pretty much kicks Baltimore Science Center's butt...



Always have to visit the ruby slippers...


Apollo Ohno's speed skates from the 2002 olympics (I added that because I thought they were from this Olympics just past and I actually said, "Didn't he JUST take these off?!")

Kermit's an old standby too... but I miss Oscar... :( He wasn't in the rotation...


More freakin' rallyers -- seriously got annoying after awhile -- although Tom used this as a lesson to Ben about free speech in America...


White House.. from a very far distance. I think Ben was a little disappointed by this.


Capitol Building -- also from a ridiculous distance. The rally people were just everywhere and you couldn't get close to any of the good monuments and whatnot.

Anyway, all in all, we had a good time. I think Ben enjoyed it, although he got a little tired toward the end. (as did I!) Would love to go back soon and do the spy museum and maybe Natural History...

:)

So ends sixth birthday parts I and II. Stay tuned for Part III on Wednesday! :)

Birthday Kickoff...

Last night, we had a little birthday celebration at my inlaws' house for Ben. We actually combine it with a belated St. Patrick's day dinner and an acknowledgment of my birthday... but, it's mostly for Ben. He had a blast. He played basketball with his uncles and Aunt Sarah the entire time and didn't stop until we got in the car to leave. (little brother played GOLF the entire time, so we had one in the front yard and one in the backyard...)

We had cake too, of course. This year, he requested a cake decorated like the Ukraine flag. (I know, right?) But at least it's easy... just a blue stripe and a yellow stripe. ;) He could have really made my life difficult and requested say, the Maryland flag.

Today, we're dropping Simon off with Nanee and Pap for the day and taking big brother to D.C. Our plan is kind of loose, but I'm thinking we're going to do the American History museum and then sight see a bit... then if there's time, we'll hit Air and Space before we leave. He's pretty darn excited. On top of that, we're taking the Metro, which he's going to LOVE.. heck, even *I* think it's kind of an adventure. Rumor has it there's a chance we'll be joined by his aunt and uncle, so that would be fun too. :)

Pictures forthcoming. :)

According to Intelligender...

(whose reliability is HIGHLY questionable, just for the record)

It's a...


This picture actually doesn't do the orange color justice.

I'm amused.

Tom's response? (after he declared I was doing "voodoo" and did I want him to call a witch doctor too) was, "So what? It's not like it means anything!"

Ah well. 11 more days and we'll know for sure which it really is! Boy is he going to have some mental adjusting to do if this test is really accurate.

Happenings...

My lack of posting calls for a bulleted update...

* Sorry it has been so quiet around here lately. Aside from the lack of internet last week, I've been distracted. My tiny little snowglobe of a world was picked up and shaken all over the place last week when one of my neighbors got the final word that they got a house they had put an offer in on. It was a little unexpected, to say the least and to say I am not dealing with it well would be a giant understatement. I feel like I'm reliving a really REALLY sad time from my childhood when we lived in a townhouse neighborhood just like the one I live in now and one of my best friends moved away. I spent weeks before the new owners moved into the house just wandering around my friend's empty and lonely backyard with tears in my eyes. I guess I'm just overly sentimental or something...

We are fortunate to have SO many wonderful friends and neighbors where we live and any of them moving would leave a giant hole just like this neighbor moving will... we'll get back to normal eventually, but it will never ever be quite the same around here.

And with that lovely downer of a bullet... here's a more upbeat one...

* I had a fantastic conference with Ben's teacher last Thursday. He has progressed wonderfully since the last time I spoke with her and he's doing so well. She has noticed his crazy math skillz but wants me to work with him to make sure he understands how to show his work, since he always seems to arrive at the answers in his head. She had me go get a workbook of word problems. He's having a blast with it too... I just leave it out on the table and every so often, he'll wander by and knock out a page. She says his reading has progressed to an early second-grade level and that he just needs to work on fluency now (reading in a less choppy way), which she chalks up to just a lack of confidence. She also said he's a map expert (LOL!) and wanted to know why he loves North Korea so much and did he know someone there? HAHAHAHAHAHA... I told her that no, he probably just likes the way it's shaped or how its flag looks. ;)

* Simon... well, he's Simon these days. Some days are good and some are downright painful. The last couple days have been wonderful! So I can't complain. :)

* Baby Three is still genderless, and its driving me nuts. Although, on Saturday, I am going to take the somewhat questionable Accugender test just for kicks, so we'll see what that yields. After that, we only have to wait until April 1 to know the truth! Not feeling much in the way of movement at ALL. I can count on one hand the number of "maybe that was kick?" moments I've had, which is really weird for me, I've usually felt the baby a TON by this point. At any rate, I'm hoping it means this baby is my most laid-back one ever. My youngest brother-in-law, who is also third in line, is the most type-B person I've ever met, so I'm hoping it's a family tradition. ;)

So that's us in a nutshell right now. Definitely taking the camera outside today (it's going to be in the 60's!!!) so hopefully some new pictures to share later.

Simon is 34 Months Old...

(or, he WAS on March 11... this is a few days late...)
Dear Simon,

You are 34 months old now, which means I am almost off the hook with these monthly updates. Not that I don't enjoy writing them, but there reaches a point where kids don't change all that much from month to month and you're pretty much there.

New this month though.... the terrible 3's. Yes, they have begun to set in, complete with tantrums, screaming, battles of will and lots of "I can do it myself!!!"

In between all that though, you are your funny, funny self. You love to laugh and to make other people laugh. You also love to have yourself videotaped and then watch it back over and over again. I already told you that you are not allowed to move to California with your Uncle Brandon.

You've become a bit of a video game addict, so we've had to place some major restrictions on our household Wii. This worked out well though because it coincided with a complete pee-pee-in-the-potty regression that is giving us a HUGE headache. So now we are using the Wii as currency. Sadly, you have yet to earn any Wii time because you haven't kept your pants dry for an entire day yet since the new system was instituted. (I'm annoyed about the pants, but the no Wii is doing you good)

You are a sweet, loving little boy when you are not in one of your latest moods... we snuggle lots, we play and you give lots of hugs and kisses.

And with that, onward to three we go!

Love,
Mommy

Back!

Well, after five days without internet, save for the tiny screen and keyboard on Tom's cell phone, we are back online. Seriously annoying and what's REALLY annoying is that Comcast couldn't fix it. Ultimately, it was Tom who figured out the problem. And yes, it was Comcast's fault. Whatever. SO very very frustrating.

Anyway, I'm back and I owe Simon a monthday post and I need to post a belly picture up on Three's blog. I also owe a TON of people emails.

Off to get caught up...

New Blog to Read...

I've made a new blog discovery, which is rare these days because I don't often take the time to click onto blogs I've never read.
Anyway, it's called Testosterhome and, while I'm still in the throws of taking in as many wonderfully written posts as I can, I have to say this was one of my favorites so far...

Happy Saturday...

It's supposed to be beautiful outside today. I'm hoping for some quality playing outside time/bike riding time for the boys. I may even bring my camera out of hibernation. It gets really old taking pictures of the kids in the same old living room setting all winter. LOL. So it hasn't come out much in the last month or so.

Tom and his dad are starting work on our laundry room makeover this morning. Today's activities don't actually involve the laundry room though. They are doing some shelf building in the attic and putting in some more floorboards to make room for a lot of the things we'll need to move out of the laundry room. (and will help IMMENSELY with the organization up there). I'm excited for the coming year because once Three comes, the giant purge-o-baby-stuff will begin, one box of clothes at a time. I'm saving the nicest things for whoever has a boy next and I'll hang on to the toys that have held up the best over six years. But for the most part, I am on a clearing out mission. About 3/4 of the contents of my attic right now are baby clothes, maternity clothes and baby gear!!!

Simon and I test drove our new pediatrician yesterday and were immediately won over. Simon was pretty apprehensive when we were walking back to the exam room, but then the doctor came in and immediately got him laughing and he didn't stop for the entire time we were in there. Surprisingly, Simon did not have an ear infection as suspected but the doctor is putting him on preventive antibiotics until his sniffles are completely gone to keep him from getting one. (even HE was surprised Simon didn't have an ear infection) Hello, can we say brilliant? He said hopefully with this tactic, we can avoid any more ear tube placements and the adenoid surgery that Ben had. So yay for that!

Anyway, off to get some chores done and then enjoy this sunny Saturday! :)

Two Things...

1) I put a homemade South Korean flag in Ben's lunchbox today as a surprise. (he's been bugging me to print one out on the computer) I'm betting he's the only kid in the history of kids to think this is the coolest lunch bag surprise EVER. I kept looking at the clock to see if it was 11:30 yet because that's when lunch starts at school. ;)

2) Don't tell Simon this, but he has officially pretty much become way too big for me to physically force him to do anything he doesn't want to do. He was resisting going upstairs for his nap today and I had to trick him into racing me up the stairs because truly, I could NOT lift him to carry him up. I can pick him up under normal circumstances, but definitely not when he's resistant. Thankfully, he falls for a lot of my tricks, plus, we have a very well-established "sit on the naughty step" routine for when he doesn't listen. Lately, all I have to do is threaten the naughty step and he straightens up. Have I mentioned he weighs 34-1/2 pounds these days? SHEESH.

The Birthday Gift Verdict...

So, after much deliberation (and surfing around Amazon yesterday afternoon) here are the birthday gifts for the big six-year-old.
I don't think I'll ever top the Leapfrog globe from last year, which he still plays with constantly... so I'm not even going to try. LOL.


1) World Almanac for Kids 2010

He's so into facts and figures and has been having a ball with a football almanac that Tom got him from the library, so I think he'll love this.

2) Backyard Football Wii Game

It's a game he and Tom have been looking at for awhile now. Apparently, it's a great football Wii game for young kids. Plus, as Wii games go, it's CHEAP at just $19.99!

3) Adjust-a-hit Golf Club Set

Our neighbor has this and both my kids LOOOOOOVE it. It's just a plastic golf set but the clubs are adjustable to the child's height. Also, because I am not stupid, I bought two of these, one for Simon's birthday too. ;) (hopefully they don't fight over it TOO badly until then... ugh)

4) Bug Collecting Set

This, he saw in the Toys R Us catalog that just came and actually asked for it. Maybe we can use it to capture some of these stink bugs that are still invading our house.

Cat in the Hat and My Computer Junkie...

It was Dr. Seuss' birthday yesterday and Ben came home from school like this. ;) Too cute.


And here's Simon... who I kid you not, would sit here, at the kitchen table, all. day. long. and play on PBSkids.org. I especially love the open-mouthed stare.

The Return of the Flags and Maps...

The Olympics pushed Ben back into his flag and map obsession HARDCORE. What's great about it this time is that it coincides with a unit on maps and the United States they are doing in school right now.

Yesterday, he came home with a drawing of "Hawii" that was completely cartographically (is that a word?) accurate. At any rate, it was exactly the same shape and number of islands you'd see on any regular old Rand McNally.

He completed the picture with a Hawaiian flag in the right hand corner. I actually didn't KNOW it was the Hawaiian flag and assumed he meant it to be an American flag (that was not quite right) because it had red, white, and blue stripes and a square in the corner. But his response was "NO, it's the Hawaiian flag!!!" I asked if his teacher knew it was Hawaii's flag and he said, very exasperated, "No... she thought it was an American flag too."

Turns out, when it comes to flags he knows more than both his teacher AND me.

Brainstorm With Me...

I do NOT know what to get my soon-to-be six-year-old for his birthday! I gave everyone in the extended family my best ideas and now I am fresh out.

I considered a Nintendo DS,but honestly,he still LOVES his Leapster, so why would I shell out the $$ for a DS when he's not even asking for one?

He already has way too many Legos...

He doesn't want a Razor scooter (which was my other big idea)...he says they go too fast.

Uhhh... help?