We were supposed to have a boatload of snow today. I still made Ben do his homework but counted on having off. I was looking forward to the first REAL snow day… with some nice amounts of snow on the ground, a fire in the fireplace, Tom maybe working from home….soup on the stove and maybe sledding over at the elementary school with the kids' friends.
Yeah… no, After all the hype, I woke up to wet ground.
ARGH.
Ben's school is two hours late. They are following the county to the north of us since ours is already off today for a professional development day. It appears the preschool is still on time and no one else signed up for extended day, so I have the biggest mess of drop off and pickup times ever today…
On the bright side, I have Simon all by himself for a little bit today. Trying to think of something special we can do together for a couple hours.
Still hoping for some snow tonight maybe?
And.. LOL… just as I finished typing that, the preschool closed.
Well, my day just got simpler anyway. ;)
Monday, January 26, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
'Ello Cello!
Simon has really taken off with the cello! Like in the last week or two! I've been making an effort to have him practice at least 15 minutes a day. (that's about as long as I can get him to focus well without getting frustrated) and right now it's plenty. Sometimes we do two 15 minute sessions. I've been practicing with him, either on the piano or with Jonathan's little violin. What used to be like pulling teeth is now much, MUCH easier.
Last night, he got it out all on his own and started playing the cello part of Heart and Soul for us. It actually sounds really good! No screeching, beautifully bowed notes, good sound! After he played it a few times, I joined in with the piano part and he just thought that was the coolest thing ever. "That's just like my teacher does!!!"
After that, he worked on teaching Jonathan some things on his 1/4-size violin, which was adorable. He told him the names of all the strings and how to bow one long note. He has also been trying to teach him how to bow Hot Cross Buns. ;) LOL!
I'll try to take some video soon. I'm so proud of him!
Last night, he got it out all on his own and started playing the cello part of Heart and Soul for us. It actually sounds really good! No screeching, beautifully bowed notes, good sound! After he played it a few times, I joined in with the piano part and he just thought that was the coolest thing ever. "That's just like my teacher does!!!"
After that, he worked on teaching Jonathan some things on his 1/4-size violin, which was adorable. He told him the names of all the strings and how to bow one long note. He has also been trying to teach him how to bow Hot Cross Buns. ;) LOL!
I'll try to take some video soon. I'm so proud of him!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Weekend Recap
Oh what a weekend.
First of all, Ben's basketball team won their third game in a row on Saturday. They are playing so well! It's fun to just not lose every single game. LOL. (which we basically did last year… I think they won ONE?)
After that, the boys and I went to visit the animal shelter (the sad one with all the pets in cages …the one that has a 70% kill rate) We found a young cat that was super sweet. I became obsessed.
Ben went to spend the night at my parents' house and we took the other two for sushi.
Sunday, early morning, I ran to the store to get dinner stuff because… MORE FOOTBALL. LOL. Did not realize how icy it was outside until I got to the store. Somehow made it home in one piece. Skipped church because there were accidents everywhere! The volunteer fire dept alarm went off all morning. :(
Roads eventually cleared up and I went to get Ben…
When I got home, I somehow convinced Tom to come to the shelter to go see the cat I was obsessed with it. It was still a very sweet cat. We adopted him.
Brought cat home…. set him up in our bedroom to acclimate.
Tom's brother, wife, and kids came over for the football game.
In between making food, eating food and football, we went upstairs and played with the cat. We decided he was the most awesome cat ever, second only to our current cat who actually is the most awesome cat ever.
That was until he poked his head out of the bedroom door and nearly got into an altercation with our current cat. That was a little worrisome… he seemed like he was clearly going to be dominant… we were surprised to see Davey back off entirely. But new cat was out for blood. :\
Started to worry we'd made a mistake. Davey is such a great cat… I hated to mess with his world like that! I had thought after seeing this cat's gentle/passive nature at the shelter that he would be the non-dominant…. apparently not.
Guests left.
Ben went in to play with the cat. He was sitting on the floor, cross-legged… a few feet away. I was on the bed on the phone with my mom. The next thing I knew, the cat was airborne and attacking Ben, who screamed, instantly jumped onto the bed and burst into tears.
Totally unprovoked. Bizarre. Totally bizarre.
Knew the cat probably needed to go. But shelter was closed Monday for MLK day. CRAP.
Called no-kill shelter in morning to see if they had room and also to ask some questions about the situation. The woman there concurred with me that it was a bad fit and we shouldn't take chances… that we should return him to where we got him and the rescue who was originally set up to take him, would take him. (they couldn't… no room at the inn)
Made a vet appointment just to make sure the cat was healthy. He had been checked out at the shelter, but since he had scratched Ben, I wanted an opinion from our vet. The vet agreed with me too… that he probably should be with a family without small children. It was likely due to the stress of the day but that we'd never be able to trust him and it wasn't worth the risk he would do it again.
Left vet, decided to drive over to the shelter just on the off-chance SOMEONE was there…. after all, it's the county's animal control office… stray animals do not take MLK day off, right?
I got there. It was dark inside, but there was a car in the parking lot. I rang the bell and a woman opened the door. I explained the situation…. she immediately let us in and called out the vet tech who also happened to be there. (thank you, GOD!!!) They were both SO surprised as they knew the cat and he had always been good with children there (including mine). I said I was surprised too… but that it was definitely an unprovoked attacked. They completely understood and took it very seriously…. they promised me the rescue would still take him and he wouldn't be put down. He would just go with the caveat that he should not be in a house with children. (I also suggested no other cats….) They put him under quarantine for 10 days since he broke skin…. but most likely that's not anything we (or the cat) need to be concerned about.
Man…. crazy weekend. Clearly we made a huge mistake. HUGE HUGE HUGE mistake. :(
I did learn that I THINK if we ever decide to try again, it really does need to be a kitten, maybe not a tiny 6-8-week kitten (for fear the boys would trample it by accident), but definitely a kitten… 12 weeks or so, so he would be the size Davey was when we got him… sturdy enough for a house of boys, but also small enough to not be much of a threat to Davey, physically or territorially.
But it will be LONG while before we try that again… I can assure. you.
Live and learn… :(
First of all, Ben's basketball team won their third game in a row on Saturday. They are playing so well! It's fun to just not lose every single game. LOL. (which we basically did last year… I think they won ONE?)
After that, the boys and I went to visit the animal shelter (the sad one with all the pets in cages …the one that has a 70% kill rate) We found a young cat that was super sweet. I became obsessed.
Ben went to spend the night at my parents' house and we took the other two for sushi.
Sunday, early morning, I ran to the store to get dinner stuff because… MORE FOOTBALL. LOL. Did not realize how icy it was outside until I got to the store. Somehow made it home in one piece. Skipped church because there were accidents everywhere! The volunteer fire dept alarm went off all morning. :(
Roads eventually cleared up and I went to get Ben…
When I got home, I somehow convinced Tom to come to the shelter to go see the cat I was obsessed with it. It was still a very sweet cat. We adopted him.
Brought cat home…. set him up in our bedroom to acclimate.
Tom's brother, wife, and kids came over for the football game.
In between making food, eating food and football, we went upstairs and played with the cat. We decided he was the most awesome cat ever, second only to our current cat who actually is the most awesome cat ever.
That was until he poked his head out of the bedroom door and nearly got into an altercation with our current cat. That was a little worrisome… he seemed like he was clearly going to be dominant… we were surprised to see Davey back off entirely. But new cat was out for blood. :\
Started to worry we'd made a mistake. Davey is such a great cat… I hated to mess with his world like that! I had thought after seeing this cat's gentle/passive nature at the shelter that he would be the non-dominant…. apparently not.
Guests left.
Ben went in to play with the cat. He was sitting on the floor, cross-legged… a few feet away. I was on the bed on the phone with my mom. The next thing I knew, the cat was airborne and attacking Ben, who screamed, instantly jumped onto the bed and burst into tears.
Totally unprovoked. Bizarre. Totally bizarre.
Knew the cat probably needed to go. But shelter was closed Monday for MLK day. CRAP.
Called no-kill shelter in morning to see if they had room and also to ask some questions about the situation. The woman there concurred with me that it was a bad fit and we shouldn't take chances… that we should return him to where we got him and the rescue who was originally set up to take him, would take him. (they couldn't… no room at the inn)
Made a vet appointment just to make sure the cat was healthy. He had been checked out at the shelter, but since he had scratched Ben, I wanted an opinion from our vet. The vet agreed with me too… that he probably should be with a family without small children. It was likely due to the stress of the day but that we'd never be able to trust him and it wasn't worth the risk he would do it again.
Left vet, decided to drive over to the shelter just on the off-chance SOMEONE was there…. after all, it's the county's animal control office… stray animals do not take MLK day off, right?
I got there. It was dark inside, but there was a car in the parking lot. I rang the bell and a woman opened the door. I explained the situation…. she immediately let us in and called out the vet tech who also happened to be there. (thank you, GOD!!!) They were both SO surprised as they knew the cat and he had always been good with children there (including mine). I said I was surprised too… but that it was definitely an unprovoked attacked. They completely understood and took it very seriously…. they promised me the rescue would still take him and he wouldn't be put down. He would just go with the caveat that he should not be in a house with children. (I also suggested no other cats….) They put him under quarantine for 10 days since he broke skin…. but most likely that's not anything we (or the cat) need to be concerned about.
Man…. crazy weekend. Clearly we made a huge mistake. HUGE HUGE HUGE mistake. :(
I did learn that I THINK if we ever decide to try again, it really does need to be a kitten, maybe not a tiny 6-8-week kitten (for fear the boys would trample it by accident), but definitely a kitten… 12 weeks or so, so he would be the size Davey was when we got him… sturdy enough for a house of boys, but also small enough to not be much of a threat to Davey, physically or territorially.
But it will be LONG while before we try that again… I can assure. you.
Live and learn… :(
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Team….
I've been to my fair share of school teams over the last two years. Funny enough, I didn't even really know what they were until Ben needed one in third grade. For a little while, I had three kids with them, now I'm down to two since private schools don't do written educational accommodations.
Some people find teams stressful and combative… honestly, I really don't. My kids are pretty squared away and have wonderful supports all around from school personnel who are very familiar with us at this point. I have always felt like we were working together to help my kids. So usually it's a pretty nice discussion and check-in on how the boys are doing academically. I usually enjoy them because it's an opportunity for extra facetime with teachers that you otherwise don't get. The only one I ever found really stressful was the one I had to go to at a different school to make sure Jonathan kept his Infants and Toddlers services. But all the ones at our elementary school are actually really pleasant, for the most part.
For those who don't know, a team is where you sit around a conference room table, generally with your child's current teacher(s), the assistant principal, the guidance counselor (in most cases), the school psychologist (in most cases), and any other ancillary staff who are involved or should be involved with your child's learning… OT, speech pathologists, special educators….
Yesterday, I had back-to-back teams for Simon and Jonathan. Simon's was simple and straight-forward. He has had an IEP (individualized Educational Plan) in place since last year, so this was just to sign-off on some updates to that. They decreased his special educator time, which is where he gets pulled from the classroom for extra help. Some people would fight this just to fight it, but we were okay with it since he is doing very well this year and doesn't need it… our chief concern was keeping the plan in place should he need it down the road. There had been some talk a month ago about bumping him down to a 504-Plan, which is no special educator time and only accommodations for learning differences like ADHD -- usually preferential seating, extra time on tests, permission to type assignments… that sort of thing. We are happy they allowed us to keep the IEP for now because these are more easily enforced. 504-Plans are a bit of a crap-shoot and depend on how much time and effort a teacher wants to put in.
After Simon's, I had Jonathan's, which was also really just an IEP-update, but slightly more complicated. His special educator wanted to up her time working with him at his preschool since we had dropped his county group a little while back. However, she and I had talked and she wanted to use some of the team time to try to lay the groundwork for adding speech services for pragmatic (conversational) speech before the end of the school year in an effort to allow him to keep his IEP next year in kindergarten. Otherwise, he will lose it because, long story short, kids whose IEPs are strictly for social reasons, as Jonathan's is, can't keep them once they turn 5. This likely won't be doable, and he'll end up with a 504-Plan, which is what I'm expecting and we're okay with… but it doesn't hurt to try.
His team consisted of the guidance counselor, his special educator, the speech pathologist, the OT, and a kindergarten teacher. The kindergarten teachers are randomly assigned to Pre-K teams and, thinking ahead, I requested the one who knows us. That move worked out well…. we ended up having a very productive and helpful discussion about whether even sending him next year is the right decision.
This particular kindergarten teacher leans toward a pretty solid "no" in general for boys with later birthdays….I've talked with her several times since last year as we've weighed our decision….but by the end of the team, everyone, including her, had decided sending him would be the right move, securing him the services he would need (more than if we held him back), plus his test scores show he is more than ready academically. The only issue I see is his writing, which is still age appropriate, but the OT said she will be able to keep an eye on and continue to work with him if I send him, but won't be able to if I don't.
OY. Who knew this would be such a hard decision? It's really nice to have a room full of people to bounce all the pros and cons off of though and help decide what's best.
We go back to in May to lay out kindergarten plans and either rewrite his IEP (unlikely) or transition to a 504. (very likely)
I never realized what a full-time job the school part of having kids could/would be!
Some people find teams stressful and combative… honestly, I really don't. My kids are pretty squared away and have wonderful supports all around from school personnel who are very familiar with us at this point. I have always felt like we were working together to help my kids. So usually it's a pretty nice discussion and check-in on how the boys are doing academically. I usually enjoy them because it's an opportunity for extra facetime with teachers that you otherwise don't get. The only one I ever found really stressful was the one I had to go to at a different school to make sure Jonathan kept his Infants and Toddlers services. But all the ones at our elementary school are actually really pleasant, for the most part.
For those who don't know, a team is where you sit around a conference room table, generally with your child's current teacher(s), the assistant principal, the guidance counselor (in most cases), the school psychologist (in most cases), and any other ancillary staff who are involved or should be involved with your child's learning… OT, speech pathologists, special educators….
Yesterday, I had back-to-back teams for Simon and Jonathan. Simon's was simple and straight-forward. He has had an IEP (individualized Educational Plan) in place since last year, so this was just to sign-off on some updates to that. They decreased his special educator time, which is where he gets pulled from the classroom for extra help. Some people would fight this just to fight it, but we were okay with it since he is doing very well this year and doesn't need it… our chief concern was keeping the plan in place should he need it down the road. There had been some talk a month ago about bumping him down to a 504-Plan, which is no special educator time and only accommodations for learning differences like ADHD -- usually preferential seating, extra time on tests, permission to type assignments… that sort of thing. We are happy they allowed us to keep the IEP for now because these are more easily enforced. 504-Plans are a bit of a crap-shoot and depend on how much time and effort a teacher wants to put in.
After Simon's, I had Jonathan's, which was also really just an IEP-update, but slightly more complicated. His special educator wanted to up her time working with him at his preschool since we had dropped his county group a little while back. However, she and I had talked and she wanted to use some of the team time to try to lay the groundwork for adding speech services for pragmatic (conversational) speech before the end of the school year in an effort to allow him to keep his IEP next year in kindergarten. Otherwise, he will lose it because, long story short, kids whose IEPs are strictly for social reasons, as Jonathan's is, can't keep them once they turn 5. This likely won't be doable, and he'll end up with a 504-Plan, which is what I'm expecting and we're okay with… but it doesn't hurt to try.
His team consisted of the guidance counselor, his special educator, the speech pathologist, the OT, and a kindergarten teacher. The kindergarten teachers are randomly assigned to Pre-K teams and, thinking ahead, I requested the one who knows us. That move worked out well…. we ended up having a very productive and helpful discussion about whether even sending him next year is the right decision.
This particular kindergarten teacher leans toward a pretty solid "no" in general for boys with later birthdays….I've talked with her several times since last year as we've weighed our decision….but by the end of the team, everyone, including her, had decided sending him would be the right move, securing him the services he would need (more than if we held him back), plus his test scores show he is more than ready academically. The only issue I see is his writing, which is still age appropriate, but the OT said she will be able to keep an eye on and continue to work with him if I send him, but won't be able to if I don't.
OY. Who knew this would be such a hard decision? It's really nice to have a room full of people to bounce all the pros and cons off of though and help decide what's best.
We go back to in May to lay out kindergarten plans and either rewrite his IEP (unlikely) or transition to a 504. (very likely)
I never realized what a full-time job the school part of having kids could/would be!
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Preschool Conference….
My (probably) last ever preschool conference was this morning. Not much to report. I was happy to learn that Jonathan's defiant streak is saved for home… that was my biggest concern. He is doing well and doing everything he is supposed to be doing. His teacher said she almost always recommends holding kids with birthdays as late as Jonathan's, but in this case, she can't see any reason why he shouldn't go on to kindergarten next year. To be honest, we're still undecided, but leaning that way and it helps that two of the people whose opinion on that topic matter the most (his preschool teacher and his early intervention teacher) think it's the best move. I may hold a spot in the older 4s class at the preschool for him just in case we get to August and feel differently. Options are always nice.
He does hate to sit and try to write, (although his teacher gets more out of him than I do!) which I'm keeping an eye on. But Ben was the same way and once he started kindergarten, he turned the corner on this. Since we have Simon also who hated writing in preschool but who didn't really pick it up in kindergarten easily, it's just something to watch. We have OT already in place though should he end up needing it. My gut says he won't…. but again, options are nice!
Decisions decisions…. but what will be will be and I know we'll end up making the right call in the end.
In the meantime, enjoying the last round of preschool and loving every minute! :)
He does hate to sit and try to write, (although his teacher gets more out of him than I do!) which I'm keeping an eye on. But Ben was the same way and once he started kindergarten, he turned the corner on this. Since we have Simon also who hated writing in preschool but who didn't really pick it up in kindergarten easily, it's just something to watch. We have OT already in place though should he end up needing it. My gut says he won't…. but again, options are nice!
Decisions decisions…. but what will be will be and I know we'll end up making the right call in the end.
In the meantime, enjoying the last round of preschool and loving every minute! :)
Monday, January 12, 2015
Busy Weekend....
Our weekends just get busier and busier. Even with one activity per kid at the moment (and not really, because Jonathan doesn't have anything yet!), it feels like we just run from one thing to another. Such is life during these years, I suppose.
Anyway, so Saturday started off with a basketball game for Ben. Simon and Jonathan save up screen time for this and spend the entire game playing in the corner with their devices.
It was a great game! Ben was starting at a new position and coaches Tom, Clayton, and Pap had a new strategy for the team. It resulted in our first win of the season and Ben scored three baskets! (the most ever in a game for him!) He was on cloud nine!
Anyway, so that started the weekend off nicely. :) After that, Tom reminded me there was a big football game on. (I assumed it was Sunday, not Saturday, because I pay zero attention to these things) He hates watching the big ones alone, which I understand.... but I was SO tired and had kind of a long to do list. I rallied though and went to the grocery store for dinner ingredients.... so he texted his younger brother.... called his parents... and I texted my other sister-in-law. (trying to give her a fighting chance at her husband NOT dropping what he was doing around the house. LOL) Two out of three came and, much to Ben's excitement (our little house extravert), we had a house full of people for the game. It went ok... everyone enjoyed dinner and dessert and Jonathan didn't have too many tussles with his cousin. So I really can't complain. But I am glad football season is finally over for the Ravens. The constant football stuff grates on my nerves. (not the having people over… just constantly hearing about football in general)
Sunday, we headed off to church, then out to lunch. Home for some chores and, you guessed it... more football. (so much football this weekend.... gahhhhhhhhh)
I helped Simon out with his cello practice and he cooperated and did really well! He's learning to read the music a little and can play all three pieces reasonably well that they are working on right now. (two are just pizzicato... which I really hope they move on from soon!) We also worked on piano. He gets really impatient with this, so I'm trying to take it slowly. But he can find middle C now, and all the other Cs on the keyboard, and can play the first two basic pieces in the little piano book I got. I feel like he's starting to get a little confidence with it, but it's very challenging to overcome his resistance to anything that requires effort. It can be done... (as I have seen with cello) but it has to be carefully and slowly or he gets frustrated. He definitely has an aptitude for this, so I am determined to keep it up and build on it a little bit at at time.
At 5:00, Simon had his first Lego League meeting. We were invited by another mom, but it's this super small, new little group and she had to get approval from the mom who runs it. She said it was okay for us to join and it sounded right up Simon's alley. They spend the first 20 minutes learning Scratch programming and the rest of the time building Legos with a theme/challenge. One of the dads is a programmer and teaches the Scratch part, and the mom who runs it does the Lego part.
The whole time the dad was talking and explaining what they could do with Scratch, Simon could barely even stay in his chair, he was so excited. He finally blurted out, "I can make a GAME with this!!! Like MINECRAFT!!!"
It was really neat to see him among kids who are like him.... none of them really play sports... they were all SUPER into this programming thing and just wanted to talk about Minecraft and Terraria (which is a game Simon doesn't even know about yet!) During the Lego building part, they all got a little off track, but all in the same way... building robots and armies. The mom let it go because they were having so much fun.
I realized that I think this is the first time ever I have seen Simon really fit in with a group....
To say he loved it would be an understatement. He came home and spent the rest of the evening working on Scratch and basically had it all figured out by the time he went to bed.
Came home from that.... dinner. Simon played Scratch the rest of the evening and Jonathan joined in. (we are seriously needing another laptop around here these days.... I hate sharing my computer!!) Ben happily did some homework he had left.
And this morning we have a delay (and possible closure) for ice! YAY! (no, seriouslly YAY! I am still in jammies!) ;)
Anyway, so Saturday started off with a basketball game for Ben. Simon and Jonathan save up screen time for this and spend the entire game playing in the corner with their devices.
It was a great game! Ben was starting at a new position and coaches Tom, Clayton, and Pap had a new strategy for the team. It resulted in our first win of the season and Ben scored three baskets! (the most ever in a game for him!) He was on cloud nine!
 |
| See the coach behind Ben? He's actually a major league pitcher who currently plays for the Pirates. (that's his son with him, A, who was in Ben's class at JES) Anyway...so here's the funny thing about this. He's a pretty competitive guy, right? You'd think? Pro baseball player and all....? He spent part of the game yelling in Tom's direction, "It's JUST A GAME!!! Settle down!" LOL. In fairness, Tom is an intense coach.... it's NEVER just a game. He is SO LOUD. (I sometimes cringe on the bench and pretend I don't know him) So the major league pitcher is less competitive in rec basketball than my husband. Holy cow. That's scary. Who knew? |
 |
| I didn't notice the woman holding her ears in this photo of the final score until I uploaded the picture. I had to laugh... because there is a decent chance she is holding her ears because of Tom's aforementioned loudness. (Tom is black sweatshirt, left) LOL! |
Anyway, so that started the weekend off nicely. :) After that, Tom reminded me there was a big football game on. (I assumed it was Sunday, not Saturday, because I pay zero attention to these things) He hates watching the big ones alone, which I understand.... but I was SO tired and had kind of a long to do list. I rallied though and went to the grocery store for dinner ingredients.... so he texted his younger brother.... called his parents... and I texted my other sister-in-law. (trying to give her a fighting chance at her husband NOT dropping what he was doing around the house. LOL) Two out of three came and, much to Ben's excitement (our little house extravert), we had a house full of people for the game. It went ok... everyone enjoyed dinner and dessert and Jonathan didn't have too many tussles with his cousin. So I really can't complain. But I am glad football season is finally over for the Ravens. The constant football stuff grates on my nerves. (not the having people over… just constantly hearing about football in general)
Sunday, we headed off to church, then out to lunch. Home for some chores and, you guessed it... more football. (so much football this weekend.... gahhhhhhhhh)
I helped Simon out with his cello practice and he cooperated and did really well! He's learning to read the music a little and can play all three pieces reasonably well that they are working on right now. (two are just pizzicato... which I really hope they move on from soon!) We also worked on piano. He gets really impatient with this, so I'm trying to take it slowly. But he can find middle C now, and all the other Cs on the keyboard, and can play the first two basic pieces in the little piano book I got. I feel like he's starting to get a little confidence with it, but it's very challenging to overcome his resistance to anything that requires effort. It can be done... (as I have seen with cello) but it has to be carefully and slowly or he gets frustrated. He definitely has an aptitude for this, so I am determined to keep it up and build on it a little bit at at time.
At 5:00, Simon had his first Lego League meeting. We were invited by another mom, but it's this super small, new little group and she had to get approval from the mom who runs it. She said it was okay for us to join and it sounded right up Simon's alley. They spend the first 20 minutes learning Scratch programming and the rest of the time building Legos with a theme/challenge. One of the dads is a programmer and teaches the Scratch part, and the mom who runs it does the Lego part.
The whole time the dad was talking and explaining what they could do with Scratch, Simon could barely even stay in his chair, he was so excited. He finally blurted out, "I can make a GAME with this!!! Like MINECRAFT!!!"
It was really neat to see him among kids who are like him.... none of them really play sports... they were all SUPER into this programming thing and just wanted to talk about Minecraft and Terraria (which is a game Simon doesn't even know about yet!) During the Lego building part, they all got a little off track, but all in the same way... building robots and armies. The mom let it go because they were having so much fun.
I realized that I think this is the first time ever I have seen Simon really fit in with a group....
To say he loved it would be an understatement. He came home and spent the rest of the evening working on Scratch and basically had it all figured out by the time he went to bed.
Came home from that.... dinner. Simon played Scratch the rest of the evening and Jonathan joined in. (we are seriously needing another laptop around here these days.... I hate sharing my computer!!) Ben happily did some homework he had left.
And this morning we have a delay (and possible closure) for ice! YAY! (no, seriouslly YAY! I am still in jammies!) ;)
Thursday, January 08, 2015
Late Again....
Another delay today. Makes for such a short day! Jonathan and I went to the store and then really didn't have time for much else beyond lunch and a little playtime before it was time to get Ben and Simon.
He painted some pictures, I tricked him into writing a little bit, we made a paper airplane and a map. Then he asked me to make him an EliteBook (laptop tablet thing that the county schools all have now) out of paper. I worked on that sucker for 45 minutes. The end result did not please him. LOL. So we moved on to playing with the snowblower box and making beds.
Off to get Ben. Off to get Simon. Annnnnd that was basically my day.
I bought ingredients for dinner, but now have a case of the "screw-its" and we're having leftover pizza and leftover tacos. I'll cook tomorrow night instead. I have to help Ben study for a vocabulary test and help Simon study for a spelling test. I just don't have time to clean and cut asparagus right now. LOL.
Also? It's cold. Like REALLY cold.
And here's what Simon did before school. He jerry-rigged a laser from a board game he got for Christmas onto a laser tag gun to make himself a sight. (is that what those things are called? I don't even know...) It worked perfectly! But then he kept coming back and tweaking it to add features. I love when he gets involved in these little projects... it's when I can really see how his brain works.... he's definitely a builder/inventor/engineer type. I want to sign him up for Camp Invention this summer because I think he would love it. We need a friend though. Any takers?
He painted some pictures, I tricked him into writing a little bit, we made a paper airplane and a map. Then he asked me to make him an EliteBook (laptop tablet thing that the county schools all have now) out of paper. I worked on that sucker for 45 minutes. The end result did not please him. LOL. So we moved on to playing with the snowblower box and making beds.
Off to get Ben. Off to get Simon. Annnnnd that was basically my day.
I bought ingredients for dinner, but now have a case of the "screw-its" and we're having leftover pizza and leftover tacos. I'll cook tomorrow night instead. I have to help Ben study for a vocabulary test and help Simon study for a spelling test. I just don't have time to clean and cut asparagus right now. LOL.
Also? It's cold. Like REALLY cold.
This was our cat lounging all person-like in his sunny spot this morning... LOL.
And here's what Simon did before school. He jerry-rigged a laser from a board game he got for Christmas onto a laser tag gun to make himself a sight. (is that what those things are called? I don't even know...) It worked perfectly! But then he kept coming back and tweaking it to add features. I love when he gets involved in these little projects... it's when I can really see how his brain works.... he's definitely a builder/inventor/engineer type. I want to sign him up for Camp Invention this summer because I think he would love it. We need a friend though. Any takers?
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
First Snow of the Winter!
We got some SNOW! Not very much. Three inches, maybe? Enough for it to look pretty, get a day off of school (and a delay today), sled in and play in. Basically, the good kind.
The boys went out a couple times and just hung out all day.... I tried out Tom's snowblower I gave him for Christmas. (who knew how fun that was?!?!).
Ben has finally stopped calling this "The Worst Winter EVER!" (he was convinced it was never going to snow) ;)
Tuesday, January 06, 2015
First Snow Delay of the School Year!
We have 1/8" of snow on the ground currently at 7a.m. Schools have closed and that is a-okay with me! Delays are disruptive and hard to manage around here.
In other news, everyone transitioned back to school nicely yesterday. Poor Simon though... oh man. (I KNEW this was going to happen).... so I reminded him he had cello after school yesterday when I dropped him off. There were two things working against him remembering this -- 1) He usually has cello BEFORE school... this was a makeup lesson. and 2) He did not yet HAVE his cello in his possession because the teacher collects them at the end of every quarter, so he wasn't reminded by that.
Anyway, so I went and got Ben from school. Went home, puttered around the house. I had emailed Simon's teacher earlier in the day, though I knew I had waited too long and missed her lunch email-checking window.... I got an email from her around 4p.m. that said, "Uh oh. I didn't get this until now and he headed to the Parent Pickup Line when the bell rang." (3:50) I replied, "That's okay... I'm sure if he went there and then didn't see me at the door, he remembered."
A few more minutes went by and I thought that perhaps I should call the office and just double check that he figured it out.
My hand was ON THE PHONE when it rang.... and it was school..... the receptionist says, "MRs. Graff? I have Simon here waiting patiently for you!"
(facepalm) I had her just send him down to the music teacher's room.... poor kid. I felt so badly though that he thought I didn't show up that I really just wanted to go right up and get him. (that was always one of my anxieties as a kid... someone forgetting to pick me up) I stuck it out. Went up to get him at 4:40 after the lesson and all was fine. He was completely unfazed. So whatever. But SHEESH.
In other news, everyone transitioned back to school nicely yesterday. Poor Simon though... oh man. (I KNEW this was going to happen).... so I reminded him he had cello after school yesterday when I dropped him off. There were two things working against him remembering this -- 1) He usually has cello BEFORE school... this was a makeup lesson. and 2) He did not yet HAVE his cello in his possession because the teacher collects them at the end of every quarter, so he wasn't reminded by that.
Anyway, so I went and got Ben from school. Went home, puttered around the house. I had emailed Simon's teacher earlier in the day, though I knew I had waited too long and missed her lunch email-checking window.... I got an email from her around 4p.m. that said, "Uh oh. I didn't get this until now and he headed to the Parent Pickup Line when the bell rang." (3:50) I replied, "That's okay... I'm sure if he went there and then didn't see me at the door, he remembered."
A few more minutes went by and I thought that perhaps I should call the office and just double check that he figured it out.
My hand was ON THE PHONE when it rang.... and it was school..... the receptionist says, "MRs. Graff? I have Simon here waiting patiently for you!"
(facepalm) I had her just send him down to the music teacher's room.... poor kid. I felt so badly though that he thought I didn't show up that I really just wanted to go right up and get him. (that was always one of my anxieties as a kid... someone forgetting to pick me up) I stuck it out. Went up to get him at 4:40 after the lesson and all was fine. He was completely unfazed. So whatever. But SHEESH.
Monday, January 05, 2015
Back to the Grind....
We had a nice weekend. Lots of laying around and movie watching. Church yesterday and then Tom watched a bunch of football. Yay! Do the thing, win the points! I will sort of miss football season when it's over. I get a lot done while Tom is occupied with it! ;)
The whole break was SO nice.
I didn't realize how exhausted I was from all the school running around/lunch packing. Truthfully, I am not tired of the break yet and could use another 2-3 days. LOL. I am actually sort of rooting for one really good snow day soon. Two reasons.... it would be cozy and fun. Second, I bought Tom a snow blower for Christmas and it would be nice to be able to try it out. I told him last night that the entire state can thank me if we don't get any snow this winter (which they kept saying was going to be snow snow snow!!!) I bought Ben new snow boots and Tom a snow blower. You're welcome, Maryland.
BUT.... anyway.... today, it's back to the routine and the taxi-driving. I am sitting here enjoying my few quiet moments before I have to start packing the lunches. Of course, today is a three-lunch day... the lunch routine could not have eased me in a little more gently? Ben has to be out the door in two hours, back home for 30 minutes then back out the door for Simon and then Jonathan.
And so it goes.
The cello teacher decided also that today would be a good day for a make-up lesson since the kids didn't get one last week. I would have been quite happy not to do that. Now poor Simon has to stay at school an extra hour. Toying with the idea of letting him miss it. I'm less concerned about a missed lesson and more concerned about getting him back into the homework routine.
At some point today I need to get the frames to Jonathan's glasses down to the glasses place. He lost a lens the day after Christmas and we gave up looking for it after two days and we think he probably lost it outside. :( (argh!!!) Had to order two new ones. (it was slightly cheaper than ordering just the missing one and the other one was pretty scratched anyway)
Off to pack lunches and see what the day brings. :)
The whole break was SO nice.
I didn't realize how exhausted I was from all the school running around/lunch packing. Truthfully, I am not tired of the break yet and could use another 2-3 days. LOL. I am actually sort of rooting for one really good snow day soon. Two reasons.... it would be cozy and fun. Second, I bought Tom a snow blower for Christmas and it would be nice to be able to try it out. I told him last night that the entire state can thank me if we don't get any snow this winter (which they kept saying was going to be snow snow snow!!!) I bought Ben new snow boots and Tom a snow blower. You're welcome, Maryland.
BUT.... anyway.... today, it's back to the routine and the taxi-driving. I am sitting here enjoying my few quiet moments before I have to start packing the lunches. Of course, today is a three-lunch day... the lunch routine could not have eased me in a little more gently? Ben has to be out the door in two hours, back home for 30 minutes then back out the door for Simon and then Jonathan.
And so it goes.
The cello teacher decided also that today would be a good day for a make-up lesson since the kids didn't get one last week. I would have been quite happy not to do that. Now poor Simon has to stay at school an extra hour. Toying with the idea of letting him miss it. I'm less concerned about a missed lesson and more concerned about getting him back into the homework routine.
At some point today I need to get the frames to Jonathan's glasses down to the glasses place. He lost a lens the day after Christmas and we gave up looking for it after two days and we think he probably lost it outside. :( (argh!!!) Had to order two new ones. (it was slightly cheaper than ordering just the missing one and the other one was pretty scratched anyway)
Off to pack lunches and see what the day brings. :)
Saturday, January 03, 2015
2015 To-Do List....
- Get Simon piano lessons. He has started really taking an interest and picks out tunes on our electric keyboard. I got him the beginner piano book that i used to use and started showing him how to read notes a little. He thought that was super cool and is proud that he can play the first two songs by "reading" . He'll still take cello at school.... I think that's a good activity for him ... but the teacher isn't teaching them to read music, which I didn't figure out until he was practicing for the recital this last time. I think if he had that, he would actually start to progress pretty quickly on his own.
- Keep teaching Ben how to cook. He LOVES cooking and wants to learn to make more things on his own. He made a cake a few days ago that he has been wanting to try for awhile. He did a great job!
- Start working with Jonathan on writing more... a little bit each day. It's not his most favorite thing and I'm hoping to avoid the frustration that Simon had with it and also try to figure out if we need to keep up the OT intervention through kindergarten. Just need to figure out how to motivate him. I also want to get him dictating some sentences and stories and ultimately writing his own sentence-stories/pictures by the end of the summer. For some reason, our elementary school is not particularly strong in writing in kindergarten until the very end of the year, so I want to start that now....
- Organize our lives better. I'm always trying to figure out ways to expedite things in the morning and spend less time having people run around like crazy looking for things. We do okay... but we can do better. My goal is for everyone to be able to be completely independent in the morning. I also want to organize the playroom and storage rooms better.... and just plain organize the garage, period. Our garage is a disaster.
- Get rid of more. Our storage room looks like an episode of Hoarders. This would not have been the case if we still lived in our townhouse. It's happening because we have (had) this giant empty storage room and it's just so easy to toss the unwanted toys in there rather than deal with them immediately. I'm tired of looking at it though and it's standing in the way of the previous goal....
- Fix the broken stuff. We are HORRIBLE about maintenance. I have a to-do list a mile long of things that need to be fixed. (i.e. loose towel bar in the powder room, water stain on Jonathan's ceiling, burned out lights EVERYWHERE.....) I'm perfectly capable of doing most of them myself, it's just a matter of making sure I have the right supplies and actually doing it.
- Plant more gardens. I want to do a hot pepper garden this year and make our own hot sauce! (this is probably one of my more lofty and silly goals.... but I think it would be fun)
- Write more. Here and just in general.
- Take more photos with my real camera.
- Take more family photos. (I think we have ONE from 2014....)
- Keep teaching Ben how to cook. He LOVES cooking and wants to learn to make more things on his own. He made a cake a few days ago that he has been wanting to try for awhile. He did a great job!
- Start working with Jonathan on writing more... a little bit each day. It's not his most favorite thing and I'm hoping to avoid the frustration that Simon had with it and also try to figure out if we need to keep up the OT intervention through kindergarten. Just need to figure out how to motivate him. I also want to get him dictating some sentences and stories and ultimately writing his own sentence-stories/pictures by the end of the summer. For some reason, our elementary school is not particularly strong in writing in kindergarten until the very end of the year, so I want to start that now....
- Organize our lives better. I'm always trying to figure out ways to expedite things in the morning and spend less time having people run around like crazy looking for things. We do okay... but we can do better. My goal is for everyone to be able to be completely independent in the morning. I also want to organize the playroom and storage rooms better.... and just plain organize the garage, period. Our garage is a disaster.
- Get rid of more. Our storage room looks like an episode of Hoarders. This would not have been the case if we still lived in our townhouse. It's happening because we have (had) this giant empty storage room and it's just so easy to toss the unwanted toys in there rather than deal with them immediately. I'm tired of looking at it though and it's standing in the way of the previous goal....
- Fix the broken stuff. We are HORRIBLE about maintenance. I have a to-do list a mile long of things that need to be fixed. (i.e. loose towel bar in the powder room, water stain on Jonathan's ceiling, burned out lights EVERYWHERE.....) I'm perfectly capable of doing most of them myself, it's just a matter of making sure I have the right supplies and actually doing it.
- Plant more gardens. I want to do a hot pepper garden this year and make our own hot sauce! (this is probably one of my more lofty and silly goals.... but I think it would be fun)
- Write more. Here and just in general.
- Take more photos with my real camera.
- Take more family photos. (I think we have ONE from 2014....)
Friday, January 02, 2015
Party Kid, New Year's Day, and Other Randomness....
Ben, we have discovered lately, is perhaps our most social kid. LOL. He LOVES having parties and having people over. The more people here, the happier he is. As with his sleep habits, this is completely the opposite of the rest of the family. LOL. Anyway, it's very funny.
At any rate, he has been in his element the last two weeks as we have gone from one family event to another and had people over our house constantly. Last night, we had his Uncle Taylor and two cousins over (Aunt Sarah was home sick) and Nanee and Pap. Earlier in the day, he had his friend Tommy over.
I'm hoping all this peopling is enough to tide him over until at least Sunday. I told him I need a people-free day today.... if for no other reason than to catch up on the dishes and clean up the playroom, the state of which currently, resembles a tiny frat house.
In contrast, his youngest brother is all out of sorts with the lack of routine lately, constantly having people in his space and not having me to himself.
We have had a WONDERFUL Christmas break though. I didn't realize just how much I needed OFF the school-schedule train for a little while.
We had a nice time last night with Tom's brother and his parents. Since Aunt Sarah didn't come, I didn't really have anyone to talk to (my mother-in-law doesn't really have a whole lot of interest in conversing with me, honestly), which meant I was pretty free to just do my thing in the kitchen and keep to myself, only occasionally entering into the ongoing-20-year conversation about Disneyworld. (they all always just pick right up where they left off) I really don't mind this!
[begin Disney tangent] Speaking of Disney, we are planning our next trip for August. We just haven't figured out any way around going in the summer. I have a problem with the boys missing school for vacation... especially Ben now that he is in the intermediate grades and misses a TON when he is even home sick for a day. Simon is not a huge fan of make-up work and missing a week, or even 3-4 days for Disney would be a huge disaster right now. So summer it is. And it's okay.... no worrying about flu season or whether our car will be iced in when we return.... we don't mind the Florida summer heat either. It's the crowds that are more annoying to me... but the way we do Disney, even that isn't so bad. We just do as much as we can in the mornings and early afternoons and spend the rest of the time at the pools or doing other things, then sometimes go back to the parks in the evenings depending on how everyone feels. Plus, the new Fastpass magic band system, while limiting our flexibility some, makes it easy to plan everything out before we go.
[/end Disney tangent]
I have been toy purging like crazy over here. Only, no toys have actually left. I just moved them to the storage room until I can get them out the door without the kids seeing. The whole time i'm cleaning, Jonathan follows me around nervously... "Where are you taking that? What are you doing?" LOL. So I have to be sneaky. In the meantime, the boys have re-discovered bunches of toys and games they haven't touched in awhile.... everyone is super into Jenga right now.
Today, we are just hanging out. I might de-Christmas some. Hoping the boys are happy to entertain themselves. :) Right now, two out of three are still asleep... oh so nice. :)
At any rate, he has been in his element the last two weeks as we have gone from one family event to another and had people over our house constantly. Last night, we had his Uncle Taylor and two cousins over (Aunt Sarah was home sick) and Nanee and Pap. Earlier in the day, he had his friend Tommy over.
I'm hoping all this peopling is enough to tide him over until at least Sunday. I told him I need a people-free day today.... if for no other reason than to catch up on the dishes and clean up the playroom, the state of which currently, resembles a tiny frat house.
In contrast, his youngest brother is all out of sorts with the lack of routine lately, constantly having people in his space and not having me to himself.
We have had a WONDERFUL Christmas break though. I didn't realize just how much I needed OFF the school-schedule train for a little while.
We had a nice time last night with Tom's brother and his parents. Since Aunt Sarah didn't come, I didn't really have anyone to talk to (my mother-in-law doesn't really have a whole lot of interest in conversing with me, honestly), which meant I was pretty free to just do my thing in the kitchen and keep to myself, only occasionally entering into the ongoing-20-year conversation about Disneyworld. (they all always just pick right up where they left off) I really don't mind this!
[begin Disney tangent] Speaking of Disney, we are planning our next trip for August. We just haven't figured out any way around going in the summer. I have a problem with the boys missing school for vacation... especially Ben now that he is in the intermediate grades and misses a TON when he is even home sick for a day. Simon is not a huge fan of make-up work and missing a week, or even 3-4 days for Disney would be a huge disaster right now. So summer it is. And it's okay.... no worrying about flu season or whether our car will be iced in when we return.... we don't mind the Florida summer heat either. It's the crowds that are more annoying to me... but the way we do Disney, even that isn't so bad. We just do as much as we can in the mornings and early afternoons and spend the rest of the time at the pools or doing other things, then sometimes go back to the parks in the evenings depending on how everyone feels. Plus, the new Fastpass magic band system, while limiting our flexibility some, makes it easy to plan everything out before we go.
[/end Disney tangent]
I have been toy purging like crazy over here. Only, no toys have actually left. I just moved them to the storage room until I can get them out the door without the kids seeing. The whole time i'm cleaning, Jonathan follows me around nervously... "Where are you taking that? What are you doing?" LOL. So I have to be sneaky. In the meantime, the boys have re-discovered bunches of toys and games they haven't touched in awhile.... everyone is super into Jenga right now.
Today, we are just hanging out. I might de-Christmas some. Hoping the boys are happy to entertain themselves. :) Right now, two out of three are still asleep... oh so nice. :)
Thursday, January 01, 2015
New Year 2015!
Last night, we rang in the New Year with just our boys and some yummy appetizers, vegetable soup, chocolate mug cakes, and some sparkling apple juice. Tom and the boys played Risk and Jenga while I cooked, and then we had a Toy Story marathon (those movies are still hilariously funny every time!!)... and we dug out all the Toy Story toys we own and they played while we watched. Jonathan especially loves our bucket of little green Army Men.
All three kids went to bed around 8:30, we made it till about 10. There were some really great fireworks around then that seemed to come from the elementary school, so I guess someone else couldn't make it until midnight either! LOL!
It was seriously one of the nicest and most relaxing New Year's Eve's ever... and ours are usually pretty relaxing anyway! :)
Happy New Year to my readers who are still hanging in there. One of my resolutions is to write more here and as often as possible. Here's to a wonderful 2015!
All three kids went to bed around 8:30, we made it till about 10. There were some really great fireworks around then that seemed to come from the elementary school, so I guess someone else couldn't make it until midnight either! LOL!
It was seriously one of the nicest and most relaxing New Year's Eve's ever... and ours are usually pretty relaxing anyway! :)
Happy New Year to my readers who are still hanging in there. One of my resolutions is to write more here and as often as possible. Here's to a wonderful 2015!