First Day of School, 2016

We kicked off a new school year today! Each kid took a turn coming into my room for a private parent-student conference, answering aloud the questions I read them from the plaque. I wrote down exactly what they said.

Lily
First Day of: 5th (I can't even...)
I am 9 (She then thought maybe she should add a percentage, but decided against it.)
63.6 lbs, 46'6"
My teacher is: My Mother
I love to: Play on screens

I want to be a: Doctor or Vet (her normal answer is vet - I haven't heard her say doctor before.)
Favorite color: Purple (She went back and forth between purple and magenta, but finally settled on purple.)
Favorite book: Cam Jansen (We have been ordering them from the library as quickly as we can, because she is just blowing through them.)

Jacob
First Day of: 3rd
I am 8 1/4 (He was very specific) =)
63 lbs, 45.5" (Should have been 45.6", as in 45 1/2 - boo, my math.)
My teacher is: My Mom
I love to: Play video games (He speaks the truth.)

I want to be a: Scientist (I've never heard of this before...it almost felt like he said the first impressive thing he could think of, but who knows - maybe it's been kicking around in his head!)
Favorite color: All of them!
Favorite book: Ricky Ricotta (He then added Cam Jansen, too.)

Samantha
First Day of: 1st
I am 6
48.4 lbs, 3'11" (Ummm not sure why I wrote 11", considering the only two options were whole and half...)
My teacher is: Mama
I love to: Color (Really. Seriously. Girl can COLOR ALL DAY.)

I want to be a: Spy (You can't tell, but she is wearing all black behind that sign, because, silly, that's what spies wear!)
Favorite color: Blue
Favorite book: Snow White (She recently discovered my copy from when I was little, where something new pops out on every page, and she LOVES it.)

Elliot (When I first asked him his name, he said "E" because he saw that I was going to write and figured I needed help.)
First Day of: PreK
I am 4 (he actually said 3. This is the one answer the kids gave me that I didn't write. I just thought it would be too confusing when looking back. We've been trying to convince him he's 4 for the last two months, but he's still not on board.)
34 lbs, 33.6" (Again, I botched the height...not sure why that was so hard for me! haha)
My teacher is: Daddy (Apparently, Ryan is teaching him all sorts of things when I'm not around.)
I love to: Paint (We don't do a lot of painting at home...maybe he's trying to tell me something.)

I want to be a: Elliot
Favorite color: Green
Favorite book: Thomas ("The Thomas book with the dinosaur!")

Note to self for next year - buy real chalkboard chalk. The sidewalk chalk wrote great, but it was hard to write with the super wide tip.

St. Patty's Day Parade

Jacob, Lily, and their good friend Hayden marched in our county's St. Patrick's Day Parade with their 4H club, the Mad STEM Scientists. Since their club's banner was not ready on time (their poor leader injured herself while her husband was out of the country on business!), these three little stinkers were asked to carry the general 4H banner for the county, and march out in front of all the 4H groups!



For three kids who had never been in a parade, they did an outstanding job - they waved like they were famous and took turns carrying each end of the banner (Jacob did significantly less carrying than the other two).

Sweet little sisters (and brothers) waiting in the crowd to cheer on their siblings!



 

Lily's favorite part of the day was getting to spend time with one of the 4H poultry clubs before the parade.



In the evening, we realized we were all burnt - both the marchers and the spectators alike. We certainly weren't expecting to be sunburned in winter!

Thankful, Part 2

There's not much cuter or sweeter than five-year-old boys.

When I asked him who met the Pilgrims on shore, he shouted, "Indiana Jones!"

On the way to Thanksgiving lunch today, he prayed for us to have a safe trip and to make sure we DON'T CRASH.

One of my favorite treats is sneaking in a nap with Jacob. This doesn't happen often because there are three other little people in need of supervision during naptime. 

But when there's another grown-up in the house and I get to snuggle with my sweet boy - and listen to all his sound effects while driving cars around on my bed until he slowly settles in to sleep - I couldn't be a happier Mama. 

Happy HBDIRTAY

Most days, if I ask Jacob to write certain letters on a line, or trace some numbers in a row, I get a messsss of lines and squiggles that perhaps amount to a letter here or there. The problem's a cross between him not caring and HIM NOT CARING. Today, I had him write, "Happy Birthday" to his great grandma on a page he "colored" for her, and if you look closely, all the letters are there!

(Notice how he confused himself and crossed the bottom of the R as if it were his A?)

He did a great job! The only letter for which he needed to ask, "How do I make that again?" was an R, and he would only allow me a brief explanation before, "Oh yeah, I know, I know!" Once he figures out the whole concept of SPACING, he'll be good to go.

The Best Way to Travel

Jacob's a wonderful big brother and really, really can't wait for Elliot to grow up and build ramps and play trains and ride bikes. Until then, I guess they'll find their own creative ways to do boy stuff together :)

Resurrection Day

Yesterday was a memorable Easter - Jacob asked Jesus into his heart!!

Random Kid Update

- Sam's first day of preschool was last week, and Jacob started back at preschool last week, too. Sam cried for the first five minutes and then was fine.
- Elliot slept thru the night for the first time EVER two weeks ago, at six months. He did it once more this weekend. Here's hoping his nights of waking up to or three times to eat are finally at an end, because Mama's tired, kid.
- Yesterday, Lily finished "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" - phew! And last week, she finished the first Handwriting Without Tears book (it's orange). A couple weeks ago, I had switched her from Explode the Code (ETC) book 1 to book 2 before she finished book 1 because I thought it was too easy for her, but then she was making too many mistakes in book 2, so I'll have her finish book 1 before moving her on now.
- Two weeks ago, Jacob finished "Get Ready for the Code" - the first ETC primer. Now he's on "Get Set for the Code." He has absolutely no problem with the phonics in this book and should probably be on book 1 with Lily (he's on lesson 36 of "...100 Easy Lessons). I'll probably skip "Go for the Code" and put him right on book 1 when he's done with "Get Set..." The problem is he's sort of able to properly form letters with lots of help and concentration, but still prefers scribbling and very quickly loses focus, so the two required skills for this book are so far apart from each other (reading and writing) that I feel strange advancing jumping him ahead for one reason when the other is so far behind.
- Samantha is still an excellent color-er.
- Elliot has now tried rice cereal, bananas, applesauce, avocados, broccoli, pancakes, whole milk yogurt, and I'm sure lots of other things, but he still HATES it all. Except for this one random night, he was very happy with all the broccoli Ryan was finger-feeding him off his plate while holding him during dinner, but I was not happy with him waking up ALL NIGHT because, HELLO? broccoli?? Actually, food usually makes him throw up. Literally. First the avocado and then the yogurt. He gets it anywhere near his throat and he gags so hard he pukes all over. So what do you do with a kid who won't take a bottle and won't eat?!?!
- Lily's self-proclaimed favorite subject is math. She's currently doing addition and uses her fingers to add (I need to start drilling her with flash cards soon). It's very rare that she gets one wrong, though her 7s and 9s are frequently backwards.
- On that same note, Lily has had a lot of trouble distinguishing between b's and d's the last couple of months, which is kind of strange because she didn't used to have this problem. Can a child develop dyslexic tendencies with certain letters/numbers AFTER not having any?
- Jacob's favorite school book is his Kumon Tracing book. He could care less that he's already done each page at least twice and is happy to continue tracing over what he's already traced before. I'm just happy that he'll sit and properly (and eagerly) hold a pencil for long periods of time, regardless of what he's doing.
- Sam hates pooping. TMI? She could hold it in forever, but as the days wear on and she becomes increasingly, obviously more uncomfortable and therefore crabby, we have to force her to sit on the potty until she poops. (Fortunate for us she's a little delayed in her gross motor skills and can't get off the potty herself, so she has no choice.) There is much screaming - half in anger at us, half in pain/fear of the poop. But she is always sooo happy and relieved the minute it all comes out. Though her poop stops up out toilets. Seriously! No matter which one she uses, we have to unclog it after every time she goes, because she holds it in so long, it's like trying to flush a baseball. There is much prune juice and fiber gummies in her every day life. She's doing great with potty training otherwise...
- At his 6mo checkup, Elliot was in the 2nd percentile for weight. Argh.
- Lily has a super loose tooth. We discovered it almost two weeks ago and it's now hanging on for dear life. It's on the bottom amidst three other not-as-loose loose teeth. She's afraid to just pull it out bc it's the first one and she's not sure what will happen, but I don't see it staying put thru tomorrow. I'm so excited for her! Better get my Tooth Fairy pennies ready...
- Elliot sat unassisted for about 10 seconds today.
- Jacob is restless and frustrated. I'm wondering how to better boost his morale and encourage him more. And how to ultimately stop.the.WHINING. Sometimes I think he's just bored, but when I give him things to do I think he'll like, he just complains or quits or finds an excuse to get mad about it. I'm not sure what to do with him...
- Elliot rolled over from belly to back at three weeks, from back to belly at 4 1/2 months, and started rocking on his hands and knees two weeks ago (at six months). I finally caught it on video yesterday. He's so desperate to get moving and get into everything! I'm not looking forward to having to use the baby gates all over again, having to remember to keep the basement door closed, keeping all the little Barbie shoes and hair ties and broken crayons and everything else out of harms way, etc.

Jacob's Mad Skilz

December 6, 2012

Jacob is pretty easy-going. He is social and makes friends easily and loves to be around people. He loves to laugh and he loooooves to talk. A lot. Especially early in the morning when Mama is still in bed or waking up. He is not particularly studious and does not come across as being too eager to learn anything other than how to run or jump or throw a ball or build a train track in the basement with Daddy. The stereotypical boy.

So you can imagine my surprise when this morning during school, I handed him Lily's 1st grade workbook and he started reading the words.

Um, say what?

When Lily was just a little older than Jacob is now, she expressed an interest in reading, and ever since then, I have been working so incredibly hard with Lily to get her reading. I thought since she knew the sounds the letters made, she'd be able to put it together from there and take off running, but that's not the way it worked out. She 100% wants to learn how to do it, but does not want to put in the effort. She is easily frustrated because she is used to naturally being good at things and doesn't like the idea of having to work hard - because she hardly ever has to.  She has learned SO MUCH within just the last few months, and we are incredibly proud of her and the stories she is reading and her new-found excitement at figuring out what things say. But still, every day, it's a battle.

And then out of nowhere, little Mr. Unassuming comes in and looks at those letters...

"mmm aaaa t. MAT!"
"c aaaaaa p. CAP!"

Guess who's been paying attention when no one was noticing? 

I started Lily on Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons this summer (we are at lesson 74), and in just the first few days of using that book, she finally understood the concept of blending sounds that had been eluding her for months in her "My Father's World" Kindergarten curriculum. It was like a light bulb went on. So earlier this month when Jacob looked at some random letters, pushed the sounds together, and read them (he's known his letter sounds for at least a year now), I was astounded, and decided he wasn't too little to start on the book, either.

But after the battle with Lily, I was not expecting it to come to him so easily. He is beginning to read the way I assumed Lily always would: Once you know the sounds, you just put them together and BOOM, you've read a word.

This evening, I was excited to show Ryan what Jacob could do:



Whaaaat??

While Lily was still technically in Kindergarten (and we were soooo bored towards the end of it), I started Jacob on ABCJesusLovesMe.com's Year 4 curriculum at the same time. It went well for the first 10 weeks or so. I especially loved the Bible part of the curriculum, so we used mainly that with the kids and threw in what little MFW K was left each week, but then once Lily started First Grade and we were no longer desperate for more learning to fill our day, his package took a back-seat. I'm still not sure whether or not we'll pick it back up.

He's still interested in doing some work along with Lily, but most of his day is still free-play. I am very happy to see how well he's doing with his Explode the Code "Get Ready for the Code" book. He definitely has no trouble identifying letter sounds, and his writing and general ability to put pencil to paper has improved in leaps and bounds in just the last month or two. He is picking things up so quickly, that I am starting to rethink what we're going to do for Kindergarten with him next year.

It's funny how he's always surprising us. I remember waiting all the way until his third birthday to start potty training him, because for some reason, I was convinced he was too absent-minded to ever care to do it. But wouldn't you know he got the hang of it right away, just like Lily, and was even night dry before we ever thought of suggesting it to him?

I think we need to stop underestimating this sneaky little fellow...

January 14, 2012

This morning, Jacob completed lesson 24 of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He would be farther along if we hadn't taken a two week Christmas / sickness break. He is doing great. This morning, his story read, "A rat is in a sack. That rat is not sad." Some days, he wants to do two lessons at a time. And just today, he finished "Get Ready for the Code" and started "Get Set for the Code," which could not be any more exciting to Jacob since IT'S THE BOOK JEFFREY IS USING.

A Day Off

Today, I woke up still feeling a little under the weather, so I decided to "take the day off."

The kids were excited to break all the rules. We ate pop tarts for breakfast - the good kind with icing and sprinkles. Lily made everyone giant cups of chocolate milk. The kids watched cartoons all morning, while me and Elliot snored on the couch. We didn't do a lick of schoolwork. We ate crackers in the living room, and I pretended not to notice allllll the crumbs. I watched Netflix during naptime, and then we all had cake when naptime was over.

So yeah, it's pretty safe to assume they're hoping I feel crummy again tomorrow...

PS Jacob woke up 100% back to normal.

Under the Weather

Jacob has a fever, and I hate that the first thing I think of is seizures...

It's been a long time since we've dealt with febrile seizures around here, and I praise the Lord that Lily will very soon be six and officially too old to get any more. But I can't say the same for 4 1/2 yr old Jacob. He hasn't had a fever in forever (as opposed to Samantha who seemingly ALWAYS has a fever, but has thankfully never - so far - seized), and I'm hoping it passes quickly. I'm feeling a little OFF myself, which I hope turns out to be nothing, because sick little boy + sick Mama + nursing baby who wakes up at night does not = a happy household...

So prayers for our little household are appreciated.

(Jacob on a field trip earlier today...this should have been my first clue.)

(His total breakdown in the car on the way home should have been my second clue. NOT FUN.)

In other news, Lily's eczema is currently in a state of withdrawal - not sure how to better describe a condition that, at least in her case, goes through periods of varying intensity, but never seems to completely go away. At least not yet! I know the current healing is in response mainly to all the prayers for her legs from my recent Facebook post - and partially to the new cream her sweet, concerned daddy bought her ;)

Continued prayers for COMPLETE healing appreciated - you know how much more rashes and the like itch when they are on their way out!

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Snapshot of Now

Yesterday, Elliot smiled for the first time. Not just one of those sleep smiles or milk-coma smiles or my-tummy-hurts smiles. But a REAL smile, right at me, starting a little crooked then making his whole face light up. He looked so much like baby Jacob smiling - it was awesome, and certainly made his super fussy day much easier to tolerate.

Also yesterday, Elliot rolled over on Lily's bed. FOUR TIMES. From belly to back. At just over 5 weeks old. (He actually did it once at 4 weeks, but I thought it was a fluke.) Lily and I couldn't believe it. The first time, he was pretty close, but couldn't quite get flipped (one leg was high up in the air, flailing, determined) so I gave him a little nudge. The second time, it took him quite some time, but he was able to do it himself. The third time was a little quicker, and the fourth time was immediate. SLOW DOWN, young Padawan.

This week, he also started coo-ing. And making brief eye-contact. It's ADORABLE. Sweet little noises during his [brief] moments of calm alertness. It's really nice to see signs of him being more alert, more aware, and not just unhappy every time he's awake. His tummy troubles will be brought up at his 6-wk visit tomorrow.

Yesterday, Jacob wrote his name for the first time ever. Not just some scribbles, but actual [almost legible] attempts at letters...in [mostly] the correct order. It TOTALLY COUNTS. Because his previous attempts at writing his "name" had more closely resembled nothing close - like, just a straight line. Or a whole bunch of deformed circles next to each other. So I'll take it!

Samantha is AWESOME holding a pen or crayon or what have you. She figured it out all by herself waaaay before Jacob, and can sit there coloring for HOURS - I do not exaggerate. Little girl's incredible. It certainly makes school time with the other two much easier, now that I know how to keep the toddler occupied. I've started giving her things to color that are helping her learn without her realizing I'm helping her learn. Tricksy Mama.

Samantha has known her colors since before she turned two. Without anyone teaching her - just by observing the other kids. Within the last few months, she's added some of the secondary colors to her repertoire: pink (pinch), brown, black (blach). Her favorite color has always been purple - though for some reason, Lily always insists it's yellow. Samantha knows a few letters (especially S - go figure) and has been able to count to 3 for a while. In nursery on Sunday, they told me she counted to 10, but I had never heard it. Then just yesterday, I saw her count to 8 before shouting GO! and throwing herself headlong onto a pile of pillows. Oh I love my silly Sam!

Just today, Lily finally FINALLY was able to quickly and easily do the sight word activity sheet in her My Father's World homeschool Kindergarten curriculum. She's been running away from this particular worksheet every week since they started appearing months ago, and so today, I casually encouraged her to try again, and wouldn't you know it...? She read every word lickity split! No guessing which picture the words matched this time. It was such a huge breakthrough, I felt like crying.

And finally, last week, Lily learned how to draw a heart. Now there are hearts EVERYWHERE. I love it.

Reason #528 You Can Not Have a Boring Day With Little Boys In The House

So I'm laying on the floor of my big closet with my head on the dirty laundry pile (don't judge) because Samantha is clearly not ready to be done with her nap in her pack-and-play, but not having been feeling 100% the last few days, she isn’t wanting to be there by herself, either. In this nearly-sound-proof alcove (looooots of clothes and boxes lining the walls), I’m oblivious to the other children who are supposed to be napping or having quiet time in the rest of the house, as I wait for Samantha to fall back asleep...and try to not fall asleep myself.
 
After about 15 minutes, when sweet girl is sound asleep and only slightly snoring, the first thing I notice when I leave my room is that Jacob's door is wide open. Which means he has left his room. I peek my head into Lily’s room – which STINKS of hand sanitizer – apparently she felt the need for her hands to be VERY CLEAN as she played – and she told me he wasn’t in there, either. I whisper down the stairs, and lo and behold, a little voice answers back.
 
"I'm just watching a movie on the computer, Mama..."
 
Like it was the most normal thing in the world.
 
Um.......what? I don't recall leaving it set up to watch a movie. I call him upstairs, settle him back in his bed (pretty sure he's going to stay this time), come downstairs, and find that he's somehow opened iTunes - which was NOT already open and there is no iTunes icon on the desktop - and is five minutes into Prince Caspian! I can't believe that little stinker. That THREE-YEAR-OLD stinker.
 
I still have no idea how he did it. We never play movies through iTunes and hardly ever watch movies on the office computer in the first place. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed...and I'm sure his daddy will be proud of his computer prowess. ;)

More Sillies

Not a Morning Person

Every morning, a little boy wakes up early and climbs into bed next to me. He tries to be still, but he is three and it is not physically possible. He squirms. He fidgets. He can not understand that Mama is not ready to be awake. There are so many more useful things I could be doing between 7am and 8am every morning besides...

Jacob, please lay down
Jacob, stop jumping
Jacob, please stop asking if it's time to go downstairs
Jacob, that is not a whisper
Jacob, please do not drive a train up my arm while I'm sleeping
Jacob, it is never OK to drive a train across my face

I think I need to stop fighting the morning and just get up when he does...

1st Day of Pre-K and Preschool

Today, Jacob and Lily started Preschool and Pre-K, respectively.



Look how big they are!





Ready to go, despite the rain.



Jacob was all, "See ya, Ma!" the moment he saw toy trucks. He plopped right down next to this other little boy, and said, "Hi, I'm Jacob. What's your name?" Have I ever mentioned that he is the sweetest little boy EVER.?



(First day of school means 4 pigtails for Lily!)



Lily was a bit more tentative b/c she knew her teacher was a man, and she's at a stage where she is a bit reluctant to speak to males in general. I told her she didn't have to say anything to him until she was ready ("But I'll NEVER be ready!"), and that she could only talk to her female assistant teacher for now if she wanted to. That did the trick and she settled right in. Hooray for Miss Sylvia!

Related:
1st day of school this past February. Jacob looks so much older now!

High Flying

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Just after...