Ah well. Here it is...
Our Elf has been busy... although some nights he is lazy and doesn't move. Drives the kids nuts, especially Simon who is the one who is really into it this year. Ben would like for the Elf to sleep in HIS room so he can see for sure if he moves in the middle of the night. That's my little skeptic!
The boys' presents are all bought and wrapped... my big ideas for an 8, 5 and two-year-old include a chemistry set, castle shaped blocks, and a dollhouse, respectively. I also got the big boys a tabletop air-hockey table to share that I think will get a LOT of use.
Ben got suddenly much more difficult to buy for this year as I realized he doesn't really have any TOYS he wants. He got a few "cool" Under Armour shirts and some other random things...
Still working on the Christmas card. That's proving ultra-challenging this year. Ben hates dressing up and smiling for pictures, Jonathan is NEVER cooperative. The only one I can ever get a good photo of these days is Simon, who turns on his winning catalog smile and pose almost every single time.
In other goings on... we're just BUSY!
Ben and Simon are still taking swim lessons on Saturdays and they are doing so well. I am encouraging Ben to do swim team at our pool club this year. He's SUPER fast, plus, I think it would be so good for him and such a confidence booster. Simon is holding his own and is now learning real strokes and can go just about all the way across the pool. I told the swim teacher to just keep us on permanent renewal for the foreseeable future. LOL. There was a three-year-old there yesterday with another teacher who was swimming like a fish and diving down to get things off the bottom. I asked about her and the teacher told me she had had her since she was younger than 2 and that she'd always been fearless. Which means, my NEXT move is to see if OUR teacher will take on Jonathan so he doesn't give me grey hair at the pool this summer.
Here's a little video snippet from their lesson two weeks ago. They've come even farther since this one!
Simon finished up soccer awhile back. I doubt he'll play again... he just wasn't into it. Even less so than Ben was at that age. I suspect his interests may lie in more creative pursuits. Tom still wants him to try another sport, but honestly, I'd like to find him a drama class or something.
Here he is dancing on the field. ;) (I think I posted this before, but it just makes me laugh... it's SO Simon...)
Ben just started basketball on Saturday and Tom and his dad are coaching. They are seriously the BEST kid coaches I have ever seen. (when Tom and I were dating they were still coaching Tom's youngest brother's teams) So it will be fun to see how they do this season. I think it's going to be exciting! Amazingly, Ben is their second-best player! He'll be playing point-guard all season. Really, to see him play, you'd be amazed. He really has found his sport! It's just nice to see him REALLY working to be good at something... that doesn't often happen with him.
In other news. I had conferences for both boys a couple weeks ago. Can't remember if I posted about this or not, but both are doing beautifully.
Simon is doing a lot better than I thought he was! I think this is because he is SO quiet about what he knows that neither of us really knew WHAT to expect. I knew he knew his letters, sounds, numbers, shapes...all the kindergarten screening stuff. That was all pretty solid. But it turns out, he's going great with all the reading too! He's actually fairly close, if not exactly where Ben was in kindergarten at this point and I would never have guessed that. I need to keep reminding myself that he shows it differently than Ben does and just because his interests don't lie in things that are particularly "bookish", he's still a really smart little kiddo in his own right. Add to that he's SO creative and has such a good attitude about school and everything that goes on there... just throws his WHOLE being into it all. He's just really fun. :) We are proud of him for doing so well. :)
Ben doing some really challenging work these days. We have really gotten a handle on his attention issues and all of a sudden, he's acing everything he brings home. I get emails from his teachers all the time now about how amazed they are and what fantastic answers he comes up with. I knew he had it in him... he still complains about school and says it's boring. But I think successes are starting to build up his confidence some and that he is feeling less overwhelmed and perhaps liking it a little more. They told me at the conference that he'll be officially GT in January. (the school's system for gifted and talented is a little screwy... they don't actually determine it officially until the middle of third grade) I had asked honestly at the conference if he needed to go down a notch to feel less overwhelmed and be happier and less anxious. But the teachers assured me he was placed correctly and was absolutely holding his own. This was good to hear! I was prepared to sacrifice some of the academic challenge for a happier kid... but they say he's happy and thriving when he's with them so... for now, that's where we are!
He has the most wonderful teachers this year. I just adore both of them. Both are my age, which is different for me and fun.... they send out cell phone picture updates from their classrooms sometimes. This one came from the math teacher last Wednesday. THey were doing a lesson on surveys and graphs, so they did an activity called "I Moustache You a Question". Hilarious.
The reading teacher sent out a cell phone picture on Friday of a Wizard of Oz board game they played. (they are currently reading that book) The playing pieces were a shoe, green spectacles, a giant lollipop etc...
The little one... OHHHHH the little one. (sigh) He is so hard. He's so defiant sometimes. He thinks everything is a game. He got out of his bed 47 times yesterday afternoon at naptime. Every time I told him to go back to bed he would just laugh and laugh. I have NEVER in my years of parenting experienced this. I have to up my discipline level for sure... I don't think he is ever going to be easy. He's great at school... listens well, so maybe there is hope. But sometimes at home, I am just at the end of my rope.
On the bright side, he is sweet and cute and so funny. (which probably doesn't help)
Speech is coming along by leaps and bounds. We had the speech pathologist here on Thursday, who only comes once a month, and she is just amazed every time she comes at the progress he has made since her last visit. The OT, who is coming now and again for a little while, even said he is basically caught up. The day she visited him to observe at school, she thought he was right there with the rest of the class, and was amazed he sat happily at the table and patiently did the cooking activity. She said that's not really typical of a child his age to sustain their attention that long on something like that. She told me to be sure to keep pushing and fostering this side of him because it's a strength and obviously something he enjoys. He does love his art/creative time, for sure... I think I have another free-spirited artsy one here! (oh and we're 90% sure he's another lefty!!!) So maybe when he grows up, in between jumping off cliffs and out of airplanes, he'll be my little artist. ;)
Here he is with his feather headband he made for Thanksgiving. (and Simon with a crown he made here at home... they are so funny together these days!) He sat at the table and carefully chose every single feather and where to put it. He was SO proud it and wore it for two straight days.
So there's my monster update... which I got typed because Jonathan slept until the late hour of 6:50 this morning. LOL. That never happens. He's almost always up by 6 these days. (yawn)
Anyway, onward to Sunday and a Christmas photo and possibly a Santa visit... or maybe just laying around the house. We'll see where the day takes us. :)
