Top O' the Mornin'….

He's the only one who has school today. ;) 

Unfortunately, because we broke from our routine to stop and take this picture, Simon ended up arriving at schools sans backpack. LOL. Oops. Had to drop him off and run back home!

Homework Makes Me Sweat….

Simon had this project to do over the weekend. Actually, he had two weeks to do it but I was dreading it so much, I put it off until Sunday… the day before it was due. He had to read a Dr. Seuss book and then write a letter to Dr. Seuss about his favorite character and favorite part of the story. Then he had to draw a picture illustrating his favorite part of the story.

OMG.

Seriously.

It was AWFUL.

The story part was fine. We read "What Was I Scared Of?" the story about the green pants with nobody inside. He said he didn't have a favorite Dr. Seuss book. Neither do I. I kinda can't stand Dr. Seuss, honestly. So we chose Uncle Brandon's favorite. LOL.

The badness began when he had to write the letter. I made it easy by having him dictate everything to me so he could just focus on the handwriting part later. Following the directions for the assignment though (at least three sentences for each question), the letter was REALLY a lot for him to write.

We sat down with "second grade paper" to get started. (Simon definitely needs lines to constrain his other enormous handwriting) THIS was when I realized, there was NO WAY on God's green earth this child was going to fit all this on an 8.5x11 piece of paper.  And it HAD to because the letter then had to be glued to a scrapbook page.

I started him writing. He cried. He whined. He did super crappy work on purpose. I made him start over.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. x 4

I finally said this was NOT going to work and told him just go in Tom's office and type it.

His face lit up and the bad attitude melted away. "Okay!"

Wait. Seriously?!

He had the entire thing typed up in about 10 minutes and smile on his face, with only minor corrections needed to his punctuation.

He then asked if he could do the drawing part in Paint on the computer. Um YES. Yes, PLEASE. His drawing was minimalist (at best)… but whatever. It would have been if he had used crayons and markers too.  He was just NOT into this.

Slapped it onto scrapbook pages and then saw the last direction on the homework sheet. "Decorate the scrapbook pages." I sent him back to the table with some markers. The result was…. well, it was DONE anyway….

(cry)  Simon is most definitely my most challenging child when it comes to school, homework, and anything related. He just has a million other things he would rather be doing. It's like pulling teeth to make him put forth any effort whatsoever. I'm not sure what to do about this. He's doing fine…. blows through math and spelling worksheets and always says, "That was so easy!"… but they are always SUCH a mess. ARGH. How do you entice a kid to slow down and do his best? To take pride in his work? I used to worry about this with Ben too but even he takes a LITTLE bit of pride and care in how his work looks…. Simon takes not caring to a whole new level….

Spring Break… for one….

Ben is home all by himself this week and thus far, I'd say he's pretty darn happy about that. This morning, he rode along for school drop-offs, which he wasn't happy about because I woke him up and made him get dressed and eat breakfast before 8:30…. but he eventually perked up. Then he came to the library with me and "helped". (actually he just played Civilization on my laptop while I worked on some things… but Mrs. T was happy to see him and he also got to say hi to one of his favorite teachers from last year)  After that, I took him over to Old Navy to get uniform shorts and let him pick out a few things. He actually REALLY likes to shop for clothes (for himself), which is sort of funny! I had to rein him in!

I took him to lunch and now we're home for a little bit watching a history channel documentary about stealth bombers together before I have to go pick up Jonathan and Simon.

Wait, I take that back, he just left me to go shoot baskets in the driveway. LOL.

It's super weird to think that this would be my life if he had been an only child. It's so easy and he's great to go places with without the younger ones. (often, he's the one that causes the most trouble when we're out with all three… ) Then again, life would also probably be super boring in a lot of ways! I wouldn't change it… it's just strange and interesting to imagine….

Loved This...

The Hands Free Revolution

They say he’s too quiet.
They say she’s too inquisitive.
They say he’s too energetic.
They say she’s too sensitive.

They say these things thinking it will help,
But it doesn’t really.
It only causes worry and the pressure to conform.
The truth is, changing would be a tragedy.

Because when they say “too quiet,”
I see introspection.
Don’t change, thoughtful one.
You’re gonna bring quiet wisdom to the chaos.

Because when they say ”too inquisitive,”
I see problem solving.
Don’t change, little thinker.
You’re gonna to bring answers to the toughest questions.

Because when they say “too energetic,”
I see vitality.
Don’t change, lively one.
You’re going to bring love and laughter to desperate times.

Because when they say “too sensitive,”
I see heart.
Don’t change, deep feeler.
You’re going to bring compassion to hurting souls.

They might say change is needed.
But I ask that they look a little deeper and observe a little longer.
From where I stand, these individuals are just as they should be …
On their path to bring the world exactly what it needs to thrive.

Don’t change, extraordinary one.
You’re gonna light this place up.

© Rachel Macy Stafford 2015

Cinderella Story….

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you… the CMRC 9-10 Champions!

I Forgot ...

I was working in the library at school this morning when the fire alarm went off… it wasn't a drill and no one had any idea what was going on. I haven't been part of a fire drill (or not a drill, as the case may be) since i was in high school. I went immediately into student mode and lined up with the 2nd and 3rd graders we walked out with. LOL!

It took me a good few minutes to realize I could stand with the adults…

Duh.

Turned out to be a short circuit in the alarm wiring or something… but the fire company had to come, sirens a-blaring, to check it out and clear the school before we could go back inside. Thank goodness for a mild, non-raining day!!

Lefty Righty….

Jonathan is the only one of my kids to dilly dally about picking a dominant hand. (for those keeping score we have one of each at this point, so Jonathan is the tie-breaker)

The psychologist who tested him last year thought he seemed like he had more control with his left hand. The OT who sees him currently at preschool says the opposite and has been pushing him to write with his right hand.

At home, he switches constantly when he writes, but he cuts left-handed and eats left-handed. This made me inclined to question the OT's right-handed assumption and I wasn't sure I wanted him being pushed to use the wrong hand. I emailed the kindergarten teacher and his preschool teacher. His preschool teacher says he switches a lot in class, uses all left one day, all right the next and both on another. The kindergarten teacher (who knows the OT because she works at the elem. school) told me they generally want them to have chosen a hand by mid-kindergarten, but that she nor the OT would ever force anything. She also told me some different things to try to experiment and see what I observed.

Shortly after that, he started drawing on his easel, so I whipped out the camera.  Well, today anyway he is most certainly right handed! LOL!

I had to laugh after I had just told the two teachers it's confusing because he switches all the time….

I sent the video to the kindergarten teacher saying, "I should have known not to question the expert!" (meaning the OT)

She wrote back, "Yeah. I'd say right-handed!!"

Is he or isn't he? Now I'm inclined to say with writing anyway, we have another righty!

Ben's Birthday….

Ben's 11th (!) birthday is coming up quickly and we still have no idea what to do. He was wishy-washy on a birthday party. I think this is because he was anxious about mixing friends from his old school and friends from his new school.

Yesterday, he said he had changed his mind, but now it's kind of too late to do a full-on party. I had told him he could have two friends over for a sleepover, but he's lukewarm on that too.

There is anxiety about pretty much every possible decision. I have NO idea where he gets this. (that was a joke there…. ha… ha… ha…. )

This kid has such a hard time making decisions!

Now I'm just trying to figure out a fun day trip we could take him on by himself.  He keeps asking to do something without his brothers. We've done all the downtown stuff a hundred times. Aquarium, Science Center, etc….even Ripley's Believe it Or Not (which was awesome, btw!)

I just don't have any good ideas.  Maybe the Spy Museum in D.C.? I don't know… I guess I should start researching. LOL.

Preschool Funnies….

This was waiting for me on top of Jonathan's cubby this afternoon:

"Wow. Who did he make write all THIS?" I asked, giggling.

His teacher emerged from around the corner of the doorframe, also laughing. "That was me. He told me everything to write. I wasn't sure about that last word, so he spelled it for me. I still have no idea what it means, but I just went with it."

(it's a character in an old video game Simon talks about all the time)

In the other room, with the extended day teacher, I walked in to find Jonathan tossing random assorted things into a bowl of water to see if they sank or floated. She laughed and said, "This was supposed to be a lesson about evergreen trees, but it turned into this. He asked me to give you the recipe."

Jonathan pipes up from the table, "Yes. You just add water and items. I wanted to add vinegar and fruit but Miss Sally didn't have any."

"He also wanted to know how you make paper bags, but I didn't know. So he told me to ask Siri. When I told him I didn't have Siri on my phone, he told me to try Google Now. I told him I didn't have internet here at school. (school has really bad cell phone reception) He said "WHAT?!?!? Chestnut Grove doesn't have INTERNET? Then he told me to look under 'settings'  to make sure."

LOL. At least he keeps them laughing… ;) Next year will either be an absolute disaster or totally hilarious. 

Lego Club….

Lego Club yesterday for Simon for the first time in WEEKS thanks to snow and ice.

I love Lego Club and HE loves Lego Club… but, he's kind of a show-off and I have to figure out how to rein him in just a little. The whole time the dad who teaches the Scratch part is talking, Simon will interrupt him with things like, "Like this? I made a project that does THIS." or "I already know how to do that!" OMG. It's embarrassing. I have to hover over him in fear of what's going to come out of his mouth.

(In his defense, he does usually already know how to do it as they are working on basics right now and he spends so much time fiddling with it, that he has figured out almost all of that stuff on his own.)

It's a fine line between encouraging your kids at something they truly have a knack for and turning them into prideful, obnoxious little monsters.  We ran into this with Ben and swimming a little bit too with some braggy-ness and sore loser, poor winner behavior, though I think we have finally gotten to the point where he mostly understands how to be both respectful, gracious, and a good sport at meets.

In addition to the fact that humility and tact is a learning curve for pretty much ALL kids, it REALLY doesn't help that my kids don't pick up on social cues easily. So when Simon interrupts the teacher and says, "I can already do that, it's easy!" I say, "Simon! Shh! That's really rude!", he looks at and both thinks and SAYS out loud," "WHAT? Is IS so easy!"

(facepalm)

Kids. Who knew the easy part was actually when they were non-sleeping newborns? No one tells you this!

Snow, More Snow, Basketball, and a Fat Cat...

So we got some serious snow. The kids hardly even wanted to play in it. Even they are ready for spring! I think they spent a total of MAYBE an hour out there?

The birds were happy I had put a feeder outside. :) 

The cat was entertained, though slightly annoyed he could not go out and "play" with his "friends". 

We were initially quite creative and busy…. Jonathan wanted to replicate something he had done at school with snow, baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring.  This kept them entertained for about 45 minutes, so totally worth the mess! After this, everyone dispersed throughout the house to play Legos, build forts, and ask me every three minutes if they could play Wii. 

We also made snow ice cream for the first time. The kids loved it. Me? Not so much. The sugar didn't dissolve so it was super gritty and awfully sweet!

These pics were the day before the snow, but I had to share. We were at PetCo and saw this cat. The photo does NOT do it justice. I have never seen a domestic cat so big.  It HAD to weigh 30 pounds, at least…. 

And this is my littlest monkey waiting with me in the carpool line. He sometimes asks to have his picture taken. I happily oblige. :)

In other news, Ben's basketball team WON yesterday, which means they are one of the two teams in the championship! First year since Ben has been playing that has happened! They usually win the first playoff game and lose the second one.  The game got kind of physical and Ben actually fouled out. He was SO upset. But it worked out in the end and now he's just excited to be in the championship game! So, we are back on Wednesday for what will (finally) be the last game of the season. :)

You'd Think….

…. that after almost 11 years of motherhood and three children, I would have seen just about everything….

This morning, I was reminded that I haven't.

Sleep poop. That's a new one.

Wacky Wednesday...

When last we left our intrepid baby humans family…..

Let's see….

Much to everyone's surprise, Ben's basketball team won their first playoff game last night! They play again on Saturday and if they win, then they have to play again on Wednesday. As cool as that would be for them, I partly hope they don't win because he's signed up for this Wednesday night dodgeball league thing at SkyZone and he has already missed the first two games for basketball. :\

It was Wacky Wednesday at preschool yesterday. Always super cute! The kids follow handprints on the floor to go in a different entrance and crawl through tunnels to get to their classroom where things are all kinds of wacky. I, however, neglected to consider how averse my youngest child is to "wacky" and changes in routine. LOL. We got through the first part of the wacky entrance (a back stairwell) and he stopped dead in his tracks at the first tunnel, looked up at me and said, "I do NOT want to go to to school today!" Thankfully, I was abel to distract him and hustle him through to his classroom and bypass the rest of the wacky before he started to freak out. I think the rest of the day went ok… WHEW. Close call. ;)

In other Jonathan news, Simon came home from school with J's kindergarten packet two days ago! Weird to be filling all this stuff out for a third time.  (insert requisite "Wasn't he just born?!"  "Time goes too quickly!" statements here)

Our kindergarten roundup appointment is on March 30th! Still not 100% sure on the kindergarten thing for J, and likely won't be until August…. but still registering him and we'll see how it goes.  Roundup day will actually be very telling and helpful as far as seeing how good of an idea this is… will he go with the teachers to the stations? Will he be compliant for the screening? Stay tuned.

Not much new in Simon-land. We have discovered a new chapter book he likes and wants to read on his own. Its title will come as a surprise to no one. LOL.  And by "discovered" I mean it had been on his shelf for months? Maybe since his LAST birthday. A friend of mine was talking about it last week and how much her son liked it and I said, "Wait! I think we actually HAVE that!"  I had put it on the shelf and forgotten about it because it's a TOUGH book… no pictures and tons of words per page.  I didn't consider its read aloud possibilities though… so that's what we're doing….

I read a chapter to him very night and then he usually tries to read some on his own, which is AWESOME!  He even took it to school this week as his "drop everything and read" book. I love that!

He has gotten really into his Rubik's Cube lately and was excited yesterday because he "solved the blue side". I didn't have the heart to tell him that he'd have to UNSOLVE the blue side to solve the other colors…. LOL.  He has asked for a triangle shaped Rubik's Cube for his birthday…. for anyone needing a birthday idea for him! ;)

More snow today. Thankfully, I made it to the library yesterday while Jonathan was at school. Came home with a pile of books.  I also have ingredients to make an awesome cake, broccoli cheddar soup, and homemade bread today. Can you tell I have high hopes for this snow day? ;)  Also, miraculously, Tom hasn't tried to leave for work! Not sure if he will…. hoping he just works from home today. 

Still enjoying my Facebook hiatus, but I'm worried I'll end up cheating today since we're stuck here with the snow and all. LOL!

They Are Not Messing Around...

New school does NOT play around with homework… this is an example of what I mean when I tell people that the work there is not HARDER than bcps… in many cases, the work itself is actually easier… but the expectations are sky high. (which is great… but yikes… snow day work… LOL…)

Snow Day….

Another day, ANOTHER day off.

I'm handling these surprisingly well this year, probably due to the fact that they are more spread out than they were last year and also because on delay days (of which we have had MANY), preschool isn't canceled anymore.

Sadly, I heard that as of yesterday, we only had two hours of "snow days" left and those are now gone and then some. So now, the snow is officially eating into summer which is NOT okay with me.

We have some plans for today. Pancakes have been eaten, Disney Channel is currently being watched. In a little while, I'm getting everyone dressed so we can head to Best Buy and get a keyboard for the Raspberry Pi, which I'm hoping will entertain Simon for part of the day.

I also need to head to the library to pick up some books I have on hold and maybe also to Target because… it's there. LOL.

My night owl child is still sleeping, so off to go make him join the land of the living!

Raspberry Pi….

We got a Raspberry Pi for our budding computer geek to explore. I am clueless as to what to do with this thing, but super excited to try it out. Reminds of when I first met Tom and we would spend our dates at the Computer Show & Sale or CompUSA picking out parts to add to our computers. 

Unfortunately, I overlooked the fact that we need a usb keyboard. So we can't get it up and running today. I guess it will be next weekend's project. 

Anyone else heard of this thing? Played with it? 

From the Way Back Machine….

Plugging away at the photo link fixing this morning and came across this post… laughing… so…. hard…

"

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Awake Time...

Ben is spending more and more time awake every day. This is a good thing in that he's a lot more fun with his eyes open. However, it IS making getting things done a lot more difficult -- like, for instance, taking a shower or eating.

I sometimes play this computer game called "The Sims" where you run the lives of these little simulated families. After you play long enough, you can eventually get the couple to have a baby. It just sort of magically appears in a bassinet whereever they happen to be standing at the time. After that, your life revolves around feeding the baby, talking to the baby, and changing its diaper. (if you don't, social services comes and takes it away). It really throws off your game for awhile because the adults don't have time to go to the bathroom and they miss work and fall asleep in the floor all the time. But just when it seems like your game will never be the same again, the baby magically turns into an adolescent and life gets easier. Hrm... wish it were that easy. ;)"

Stupid Cold… sports...birthdays…. cellos….

Argh. It did turn out to be a cold.  Jonathan has it too and seems to be on the same timeline, so I guess we picked it up at preschool or the grocery store. LOL. Ah well… could be worse. Still, annoying and time sucking. I haven't gotten anything done this weekend.

Ben's basketball team lost their last game of the season to a tough team yesterday morning. Close score though, so super frustrating. Even more frustrating is that we are scheduled to play the first round of playoffs Wednesday night against the ONE team that beat us really badly during the season. Ugliest game of the season. Kind of discouraging since, once you lose in the playoffs, you're out. On the other hand, it immediately frees up all upcoming Wednesdays and Saturdays until swim season. ;) So, positives and negatives there. ;)

He says he wants to play basketball for his school team next year, which I think is AWESOME. It will provide a built-in frequent and regular social outlet, which he desperately craves and I can't always give him enough of because…frankly, two little brothers sometimes make that challenging.  He likely won't make the "A" team as a sixth grader (and a tiny sixth grader at that), but they have a "B" team. There are barely enough kids to make an "A" team, so he'll be able to play in some capacity no matter what. (Hooray for small schools! LOL!)

Trying to decide what to do for his 11th birthday. We were talking about a cool home-party glowing backlight bash, but a few days ago, it occurred to me that he has only been invited to ONE birthday party this year, which makes me think maybe 11-year-old boys don't really have "birthday parties" per say…  and that this is some unspoken rule i'm not aware of since he is my oldest?  Anyone have any intel on this?

Tom and I were talking and we're thinking maybe we'll offer him a cool day out/trip somewhere (Philly? Great Wolf?) and then let just let him invite two friends over for a sleepover one day soon.

Yesterday, I took Simon to cello and met the teacher for the first time. (Tom took him last week) He's very nice. He does GREAT with Simon.  I was particularly impressed when the lesson was over and he said goodbye. Simon sort of mumbled goodbye in reply and looked the other direction (as he tends to do)  The teacher actually stopped him and said, (very nicely) "Simon, can you look at me when you say goodbye?"  OMG! This is something I always encourage teachers to do with him because we are REALLY working on this.

Anyway, Simon is doing much better with the individual instruction. He has taken him back to the very beginning and is working on perfecting his bow hold and tone, which the large group teacher didn't really have much time to focus on with the kids.  He says he is doing very well! When he practices, he takes it very seriously now and is doing a great job. I think this is definitely going to continue be a good activity for him in many ways. :)

Not much else to report. I have been going combing through my archives, starting at the very beginning, replacing pictures whose links long ago went dead. Also adding labels. Those weren't an option way back "in the day!" LOL. It's a long project, but I've just been doing a few pages a day. It's amazing to look back at the very beginning…. when I first found out I was pregnant with Ben, his ultrasound, all the crazy things I cared about as a first-time mom… I even have an entry about his first cold with a photo of a pile of "supplies". I'm sure these elementary school years posts will seem just as funny a decade from now when I have a 21, 18, and 14-year-old. (OMG) I love having it all to look back on and laugh and revisit though. :)

On a sadder note, in light of current events in our little town, I also find myself being incredibly thankful for three healthy pregnancies and deliveries…. and, even more importantly, three healthy kids. You see, one of Simon's preschool classmates who also goes to our elementary school, is losing her battle with leukemia after a third relapse. It's heartbreaking and, to my mom-brain, completely unfathomable and unfair. As I revisit old posts about stitches, colds, ear infections and just regular childhood stuff,  I can't help thinking how Ava's mom has not lived without constant worry for her daughter's life since she was two years old. :(  Praying for them often…. I can not even imagine.

Today….

Just have to weigh in with -- As far as "The Dress" that is all over the inter webs today, I see white and gold and I can't see anything BUT white and gold.  It's sort of driving me batty.

I feel like I might be catching a cold, which I hope isn't true. I really don't have time for that.

Full steam ahead on reassigning all the boys' bedrooms. Now I just have to psych myself up to do a whole LOT of painting.  One basketball/tween room coming up for Ben, a Minecraft/tons of desk space room for Simon, and Jonathan is still to be determined. He has never had a real decorated room because when we moved in, we just left his as it was and stuck his nursery furniture in there.

OH! And in totally unrelated news, I found out Jonathan can KEEP his IEP next year in kindergarten!  The county apparently can't decide where they stand on social/behavioral only IEPs. They swung from nixing all of them to allowing them again. Not sure why… but we'll take it.

LOL!

Simon's teacher sent me this this morning… she thought I'd identify with it. HA!  So true… so true….

ARGH.

The one negative of Ben's new school…he has a male teacher.  Male elementary school teachers and men trying to shop at the grocery store on the weekend…. two things that drive me nuts!  (I know, I am so sexist… but seriously…. there are some things women are truly just better at… ) 

Now, let me just say, he seems very nice. Ben likes him and all.  Apparently, he is "fun", as male elementary school teachers tend to be. Fun, fun, lots of FUN! But man, they are uncommunicative and unorganized!!  Yes, admittedly, this is a stereotype, but one I have yet to see defied. 

He doesn't answer emails… EVER. I have given up on that. 

He forgets to put homework in the kids' mailboxes, so Ben will freak out thinking he doesn't have the homework and it will turn out the next day to have just been the teacher's fault. (we've actually just started assuming this when he doesn't have his math, grammar, or science homework) He also loses the kids' work.  Ben has had a couple assignments marked "missing" on Engrade that he definitely turned in. Then? Then there is this --   see all the E's? That means "excused"  Um…. that means they don't count toward or against his grade. However, these are ALL quizzes and homeworks Ben was there for and did. (trust me, some of those fraction worksheets took him over an hour and lots of tears… I KNOW he did them)

WTH? Did the teacher lose them? Why are they excused? Is he just using these as place-markers and will come back later and put the grades in? I will never know (well, at least not until report cards come out) because he DOESN'T ANSWER EMAIL.

AAAAAAAARGH!!! Rant over.  It's really a petty complaint, I realize. Ben is doing well and is so happy and this guy is clearly engaging him and a good teacher. From a parent standpoint… just a little frustrating….

Loser...

Poor Ben. He went to put on his new glasses this morning and couldn't find them. It was five minutes before we needed to walk out the door, so I was pretty perturbed. He kept insisting he had put them RIGHT on his nightstand last night. And, because I have at this point memorized the list of standard Mom Replies, I kept saying, "If you had PUT them there, that's where they'd be!"

Then he started stomping up the stairs saying how he loses EVERYTHING and that's when I realized I needed to take a step backward.

Of all moms he could have been given in the whole entire world, there is probably no mom that understands that child's brain more than I do. I empathize with him 100% and completely understand how it's possible to lose a pair of glasses in your own room 12 hours after they were given to you. Sometimes, I don't verbalize to him just HOW MUCH I empathize though; and I really should.

My own mom is wonderful,  and empathized with me on many things; however my constant losing things frustrated her and it was not something she really understood. It was also not something that at ten years old, I could really explain. Thinking back to when I was in 4th and 5th grade and lost my mittens at school about once a week, it would have been nice to have someone say to me, "I know. It's really hard for you. I get it. It's ok."

So, I looked over at the clock, we were already five minutes behind schedule. I sighed and tried to ignore it.  What's a few minutes late, right?  Then I handed him his old glasses and said, "Look. I understand. I lost every mitten, hat, and scarf I ever owned when I was a kid. Grandmom was ALWAYS mad at me. I could never explain where they went, they would just disappear."

"Yes, but I lose my GLASSES!" he retorted.

"Ben, the only reason I *didn't* lose my glasses when I was your age is because I didn't HAVE glasses anymore when I was 11. Otherwise, I would have lost those too. I remember once, Grandmom once bought me this cool snowman pin that I begged and begged for at Valley View at Christmastime. It had little red lights that blinked on and off. She told me NOT TO LOSE IT because it was kind of expensive for a silly little Christmas pin.  Guess what happened? I lost it sometime the next day."  Grandmom was SO mad.

He laughed at that.  ;)  Sorry, mom. :P

I promised to scour his room when I got back and bring him the new glasses if I found them.

Of course, when I got back from dropping him off, I immediately found they had fallen into the bottom drawer of his nightstand that had been open.  I took them up to school with a note inside that said, "You were right! You DID put them on your nightstand. They fell into the drawer." :)

Sometimes, I think I actually I get this mom thing kinda right….

That Was Almost Super Cool….

Tom was blowing into a bottle a little awhile ago and he asked me what note it was. Without a piano, I have no idea. But Simon piped up, without hesitation, "G".  We went and matched it to the note on the piano and lo and behold it was a G.

Say what?!

Perfect pitch? No way? No one on even the most musical side of my family (and they are QUITE the musical bunch) has perfect pitch! Had we accidentally stumbled onto some kind of super crazy musical brain wiring?

Tom put more water in the bottle and played another note. Simon said, again without any hesitation,  it was a D.

No way!

No way, indeed… It was an A. ;)

Ah well, it was cool while it lasted. ;) LOL.

Glasses….

Did I mention I broke Ben's glasses? Yep. Snapped them completely in half when I was trying to clean them a few mornings ago on the way out the door for school. He was so sweet about it… wore his old glasses (with a much weaker prescription) and didn't complain. I felt SO guilty. :( Thankfully, his prescription is an easy one and I was able to order them yesterday and pick them up today. Poor kid.

I also got him a pair of rec specs, which he has been asking for for over a year. I didn't tell him and am saving them for his birthday! :)

Number Three and Number Two….

Jonathan pooped ON Ben's bedroom floor yesterday. I went upstairs to get Simon up for school, wandered in and lo and behold, there was Jonathan, naked, playing with Ben's basketball scoreboard, and sitting next to a pile of poop.

W.T.H.?

He's always apologetic.

"I don't know what happened. I just can't get to the potty… I'll never figure this out…."

It's getting kind of weird, honestly.

He DOES make it to the bathroom…. about 50% of the time. The other 50%, well…  let's just say I am still doing my fair share of pants changing with my 4-1/2-year-old.

I should mention he is 100% good with "number one" and even wears underwear to bed. It's just the POOP we have trouble with.

I'm out of ideas. I've taken things away. He's earned things. I watch for cues. I put him on the toilet on a schedule.

Sometimes he'll go on the toilet and then turn around three hours later and go in his pants. It's like he is never out of poop.

I know the pediatrician will speculate that means his constipated, but I really don't think that's the case. (I feel like he always thinks they're constipated, even when the poop floweth abundantly and freely)

I just… ARGH! So frustrating.

This will end up being the kindergarten clincher! LOL. No way can I send a kid to kindergarten who poops his pants.

P.S. I just realized I have a whole category label for "poop". Yes… we have had our fair share of issues over the years, I suppose. Enough to warrant an entire category of posts, apparently. LOL! ;)

Jump Rope for the Heart

I just happened to be at school today doing something else (library, what else? LOL) when I realized Simon's class was doing their Jump Rope for the Heart thing. I popped my head into the gym to see him. :) The gym teacher told me to be sure to take some video because he worked SUPER hard to figure out how to jump like that. (not an easy thing for him… coordination does not come easily) He is quite tickled by the slo-mo video I took. ;)

ARGH.

Ben left his gym bag in the car this morning…. that means another trek in the opposite direction after I drop the other two at school. I live in my car these days…. aaargh.

Greased Lightning! ;)

Last week of session 3 stroke clinic for Ben yesterday. They always do something fun and different for the last week. The first session, it was dry land training stations, the second one, they did a mini-meet, and this time, they did time trials. This wasn't much different than the mini-meet except that after freestyle, they just sent kids by age group and they could swim whatever stroke they wanted to check their times.

Ben did free and back. Check out his freestyle video! WOO! He shaved 22 seconds off of his best time from last summer. 22 seconds!!! Even HE couldn't believe it. He has been kind of angsty about swimming in the 11-12 group this year, but this was a 9-12 group (mostly older and perhaps more importantly, almost entirely TALLER) so he left feeling really great about the upcoming season!

He swam 50 Back too and I think his time was 57 seconds and change. He needs some work on backstroke turns, which he has never had to do because the 9-10's in our league only swim 25 Back, so this was new for him…. but otherwise, it was awesome!

Three Kid Updates….

I hate when I let too much time pass between entries. I don't know where to start.

I guess i'll start where I left off. So that test Ben said he didn't need to study for…. he managed to get an 80%. Pretty respectable. But, he'll be reviewing next time.  ;)

We got to visit Ben's school last week for an open house. It was our first chance to see him in his classroom. It was an eye-opening experience, for sure. He looks really, really happy and comfortable. We saw morning meeting (a little thing they do every morning in homeroom), writing and tech (they were typing something in the tech lab that they had written), and math. The fifth grade is divided into three math sec ions and his math class has 13 kids in it The small class means there is NO hiding… the teacher walks from desk to desk to make sure everyone is doing the right thing and understanding.  One of the the things that struck us as most interesting while we observed (we saw Ben's classes and also wandered into some middle school classes), is how readily kids raised their hands to say they needed clarification on something or weren't getting a concept.  No one seemed worried about looking stupid or getting a wrong answer… and the teachers were in no rush to move on until everyone was on the same page. That's a pretty big deal!

As for Simon --

He just started private cello lessons with a new teacher. The large group situation wasn't working well for him, which the school instrumental teacher waited three entire sessions before decided to share with me. (and only after I asked) At any rate, it was a good move, because he came home from his first lesson yesterday all smiles, saying, "Mr. G says I am a good cellist!" He loves it!

He is doing well in school. Math and spelling are his best subjects. (spelling is the big surprise!) They have been reading chapter books in school finally… just finished Freckle Juice and another one called Elevator Duck. He also picked up his first chapter book to read on his own. (He loves to be read to, but has never had any interest in reading a chapter book of his own accord) Handwriting is still pretty atrocious and his teacher gives him extra practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Truthfully, I'm just biding my time with that until he can just type everything. I don't hold out much hope his handwriting is every going to improve all that substantially. LOL. 

He has been playing a TON with Scratch and Makey-Makey lately. He persistence with this amazes me. Yesterday, he fashioned a room alarm that involved a Scratch program and an aluminum foil step near his door. When you stepped on the foil, it set the alarm off on the computer. Color me impressed. We basically let him play with Scratch, Makey Makey, and anything else coding/invention related as much as he wants even though it's technically "screen time". It's the one thing he is extremely self-motivated about… he REALLY has a knack for it and he has taught himself a ton. 

Not much new in Jonathan-land. He stays for extended days at preschool now more days than not and seems to like it.   :)

He has gotten more into writing lately and is doing it more and more (on his own terms of course) He asks me how to spell things all the time and I've started keeping a little notebook with words he asks about so he can reference it when he needs it. I find it strangely interesting that he can read pretty much anything, but asks how things are spelled. (If I make him slow down and sound it out, he can do it himself and then can recognize the word once it's spelled correctly… but usually can't just flat out spell a word on his own… even an easy one like "cat")  Seriously, isn't that weird and interesting? You would think with the reading would come the spelling; but obviously they are two completely different processes for him. 

We just a ton of snow dumped on us last night. The big boys and I went out sledding in the early evening. They had SO much fun. It was nice that Tom was home so Jonathan could stay inside because he's kind of high maintenance in the snow most of the time and doesn't last very long. LOL. 

Now that we have had one really good snow, I am anxious for spring to come. I'm ready for warmth and sunshine. I've been pretty tolerant of winter thus far, even though it's my least favorite season… but yeah, it's time for something new. ;)

Learning Experience….

Today, Ben has his first BIG test since being at his new school.  It's a reading test on the book they just finished, Fever 1793.  The teacher sent home all kinds of studying information… they even had to fill out this super detailed sheet about HOW they were planning on studying.

They have a folder with all their papers from the unit that they have to turn in today with the test. Discovered he was supposed to be doing this in science too… thankfully, I've only tossed a few graded papers. Unfortunately, no one mentioned this folder thing to Ben (or me).   (mid-year start issues again…people assume you know things.) So he only has like maybe 3/4 of the reading papers. Worse, several of them are from before he started, so they aren't completed. I'm a little irritated that this wasn't something anyone bothered to tell us (to keep everything in this folder) and the incomplete papers would have taken him hours and hours to finish, so I didn't make him do them. :\  He'll probably get marked down substantially but so be it. It wasn't fair to him. I really need to have a conference with his teachers to get on the same page… they are very hard to communicate with via email in that they don't respond… like EVER.  They told me early on that they have issues with mail going to spam, so I never know if they got it and didn't respond or if they never got it. Hence, REALLY need a face-to-face.

Anyway, so they were supposed to study. Ben basically didn't. He had a basketball game last night and the night before, he spent almost two hours on other homework. I tried to get him to at least look over it last night before basketball, but he said he feels confident in the material. I am apt to believe him… he has gotten As on every quiz he has taken so far and hasn't done anything except go to class, do the homework, and read the story. I considered pushing the matter to enforce good habits, but decided to use this as a learning experience. If he aces the test (which he very well might), then great, he knows himself and when he needs to study. If he doesn't, well, then, next time, he'll listen to me.

We made a deal that if he gets a low B or lower, we study together next time.  We shall see!

Simon is most definitely my computer kid.

Yes, Ben knows his way around computers fine and all, but doesn't have much of an interest in it beyond games and schoolwork. Simon takes it to a different level, wanting to understand why things do what they do. He really gets it too! He has had two Lego Club meetings… they split the time and do assignments in Scratch (scratch.mit.org) half the time and Lego projects the other half. He took off with Scratch after the first meeting. He figured out on his own how to look inside other peoples' projects and modify them for his own purposes. While his projects are still pretty rudimentary, he is definitely understanding how to make things do that he wants and he has what is certainly required of anyone who is going to work with computers -- no fear of screwing it up. He jumps right in and experiments!

We have been working SO hard to help him find his "thing"… and have been pushing this and cello since he enjoys both.  We've made a huge deal about how he's really good at this, hoping it will encourage him to continue even if he gets frustrated. It has boosted his confidence a thousand-fold and I've even heard him call himself smart for the first time ever. I think he finds it a relief to be good at something other people don't know a whole lot about… even his big brother.  It's one of the few things he is self-motivated to learn and practice…. so we're going with it!

A teacher friend of mine told me about another educational site called code.org. I jumped on there last night and found an activity where it walks them through ten puzzles to change and learn the code involved with making a Flappy Bird game. At the end, they get to make their own version of the game.

I didn't get very far before my computer was taken over… Tom's too. Simon was ALL OVER THIS.

Jonathan does whatever Simon does, so the two of them spent half of the SuperBowl making Flappy Bird games together.

In this one, Jonathan had moved on to another puzzle game where you have to add lines of code (move forward, turn left/right) to make the red Angry Bird move to get the green Piggy. He was pretty good at it! 

Simon has also taken an interest recently in our Snap Circuits sets. We've had the basic one for years and all the kids love it, but have always needed help to interpret the instructions. This time, I showed Simon how to read the numbers that show the order you need to assemble for circuits and he took off with it on his own!  Here he is with the first one he built by himself. This was the first project in the book.

 He has since moved on and been using the basic set and the deluxe set Jonathan got for Christmas and has made TONS of projects this past week, including one with an LED display where you can change the number by removing circuits.  I love watching him experiment!

It's exciting to see your kids find their gifts! :)  And it's especially exciting watching Simon because he struggled so much with school for awhile there…. and also isn't interested in sports at ALL…(which puts him in the ridiculous minority among his classmates who it seems already all play four sports at age 7). We always knew his interests and strengths would be something sort of different from a lot of other kids and wondered what he would eventually gravitate toward.  It's neat to see something take root and his confidence skyrocketing! :)

ETA: This came home from school today. :)