Only in The Presence of a Child!

Strange things I see...


Legos + Mom's shiny silver shoes could only mean one thing...



Isn't he precious!

Hot Off the Presses

At a ripe old age of 4 years and 8 months, JD learns to ride a two wheeler! Big brother, mom, and dad are proud as can be. JD says "finally, I can keep up with all the other kids. Those training wheels really slowed me down you know."  Mom says, "he's a natural, just look at him take those corners!" JD thanks his friends for helping accomplish this milestone of childhood development as he sports his pink flowered helmet and blue puddle jumpers.

One Wonderful Day in October

After a cold, rainy, foggy week, today was Indian Summer and we took full advantage.

When the ladybugs came out to celebrate the warm weather we had an impromptu ladybug study, right in the middle of math. The boys captured 2 ladybugs, or ladybird beetles to put in our "Creature Peeper".  EJ wanted to make sure we had a male and female so they would mate. We found out that you can't tell a ladybug's sex by looking at it. In fact it's often not possible to identify gender without dissection (which we, of course, did not do). Sadly for EJ, fall is not the time for ladybugs to mate anyway. In temps below 55º F they hibernate, or more correctly they enter a wintering state called diapause which is more akin to dormancy than hibernation. We also found that in addition to feeding on aphids some ladybugs eat milkweed, which the kids remembered is the only food that Monarch caterpillars eat. We found out that their coloring, in conjunction with a foul smelling fluid they secrete, is a ladybug's defense against predators. The ladybug is the official state insect of Massachusetts (also New Hampshire, New York, Delaware, Ohio, and Tennessee).  The most fun thing we learned is that 4 ladybugs and some aphids were sent into space in 1999. Researchers wanted to find out if aphids were able escape from ladybugs in zero gravity. It turns out the ladybugs did just fine and ate all the aphids. We fed our ladybugs raisins and released them later this evening. It seems doubtful we'll see our friends again this year unless this warm weather continues tomorrow.

Later we cut our school day short to head to Look Park where the boys made a giant leaf pile to jump in, played zombie tag with some other kids they met at the playground. They followed the train tracks part way around the park and climbed a big orange maple tree. We walked through the small zoo (while mom and dad talked about the ethics of keeping Red-Tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles in small enclosures). It was so much fun just exploring this huge park when it was relatively empty of other visitors.

The great thing about today is that we were able be completely spontaneous. T's schedule will always be irregular; weekends, evenings, nights, you name it. If the boys were in school we would have very little time together as a family. Things just came together today. T was off, we had a beautifully warm fall day, and the insight to chuck our schedule to the wind. This flexibility is quickly becoming one of my favorite reasons to home school!

I don't think fairies are real...

Said Mr. EJ the day his third baby tooth fell out.

 

Let's see if I can recall this.

 

"I think there's someone who's job it is to be the tooth fairy. Like, maybe different people cover different streets or something..." (a bit creepy, but okay...)

"Or, maybe there are robot fairies"

"Or, maybe it's a tooth mouse. Because mice are real."

 

This morning he Googled the Tooth Fairy but his google-fu is beginner level so I don't think he made much out of his results. He did find answers.com and said: "Mom, no one knows if the tooth fairy is real!"

CitiBlocs

The other day we made a trip to Toys R Us so EJ could spend some of his birthday gift cards. We made what I think is a great score on wooden blocks called CitiBlocs.

The picture is small, but can you see them?  The kids frolicking in and around their playhouse sized creations? Take particular note of the girl doing the handstand and the other girl leaping to a tower (both in the background). Well EJ saw these and wanted them. I'll admit I was completely turned off by the picture and carefully explained that he wouldn't be able to do what these kids are doing. But they were deeply discounted; the 200 piece set was marked $14.98 down from $44.99. It's his money so I said let's get them. Is it weird that the first thing I did when I got home was to look them up on Amazon to see if we'd made a mistake? These days I can't buy anything without first checking the reviews on Amazon.

 

I have to say I'm rather impressed with these blocks. Yes, they are all the same size which seems a bummer at first. It's really not though. Unlike other blocks that are supposedly "precision cut" these really seem to be. They really are all exactly the same size and they build really well. They are very light weight and therefore easy for little hands to manipulate. There is a little booklet that comes with them showing creations that can be made. I like them so much we went back today and bought a second set. These blocks can't be beat at this price.

 

Here are the boys making their first tower. They made it as tall as they could reach and still didn't use all of the 200 pieces.

 

With 400 pieces, I envision one day having an entire city just like the one the box.

 

Yeah...right! ;)

Strange sleeping habits of the young

This boy just does not want to sleep in his own bed at night. I suspect the crib/toddler bed mattress has outlived it's life span now that it's been in use for 7 years. I keep leading him back to his bed only to have him find even new and and more strange places to sleep:



If you can't tell, that's under his brother's bed. He's got a crochet pouch around his wrist and out of sight, his crocheted  'baby' (actually more of a little troll doll) under his head for a pillow and he's really wedged in there.

Wordless Wednesday - EJ's Birthday

Kiddie Klassics

In the car stopped at a red traffic light, windows open; JD to the man next to us:

   "Hey, you can't do that. Hey, you can't be doing that DOOODE!"

His offense? Window open, arm resting on the top of the door, hand hanging outside the car.

Sun Goes Down

Sun Goes Down, originally uploaded by dkim6599.

Four your entertainment here's a little ditty JD (4) made up after a week of cloudy and rainy weather.

He's versatile too. While this version is almost gospel sounding, the first time it was most definitely the blues.

Hiring him out for parties any day now.

Getting to know JD

Do I talk about the kids too much?  I feel like I only talk about the kids. Whatever. I'm going to talk about the kid again. JD again. Because while both of the kids are on my mind most of the time, JD is the one I'm trying to figure out. Sometimes I can't believe how much anger comes out of his little body, mirrored by how much love he's capable of. If I want peace in our house I have to really pay attention to how I say things to him. I'm trying to learn to say 'yes' to him more, but sometimes its really hard. I think he has a list of "things mom said no to" that he refers to on a daily (hourly?) basis.

This morning started off rough but so typical.

1. He wakes. Sits at the top of the stairs sniffling.

Me: Hi JD, want to come down and snuggle with me?
JD: ...
JD: ...
JD: NEVER GET UP IN THE MORNING WITHOUT ME!!!!!
    (throws step stool down the stairs)
Me: Sigh....That's a new one.  Go upstairs, cuddle him. He tries to hit me. Hold him more so he can't lash out at me (I don't bother to tell him it's not okay to hit). Take him downstairs, wrap us both up in a blanket. Tell him he's like a caterpillar in a cocoon and when he comes out he'll be a beautiful butterfly. Seriously, this worked. He ended up in a much better mood. Go figure.

2. 10 minutes after breakfast.

JD: Mom, can I have a lollipop?

He asks for all kinds of food at times that I'm just not willing to accommodate. Typically this is how this scenario would go:

JD: Mom, can I have a cookie (lollipop, chocolate etc.)?
Me: No honey, it's still breakfast time. Later you can have one though.
JD: WAAAAAAAAAAA. YOU MAKE ME SO MAD. YOU ARE JUST STUPID! IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME A COOKIE THEN YOU ARE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO LET ME HAVE A LOLLIPOP.
         (Looking for something to physically lash out at, finding nothing kicks mom in the shin).
Me: Sigh........

But today I'm thinking. Today for once I'm the "mindful" mama. Instead it goes like this:

JD: Mom, can I have a lollipop?
ME: Yes, after lunch you can have one.
JD: Okay. La dee la dee la (runs off to play).
Me: (silently) EUREKA! I can't believe that worked. T and I exchange a look of astonishment across the breakfast table.

3. While I'm in the shower. Daddy is reading the newspaper. JD plays on the computer.

JD: AAAARG. MY INTERNET ISN'T WORKING. Dad, it's just NO fun when the internet isn't working.


I have no further comment, I just think it's funny.

4. It's raining. JD has just gotten dressed.

JD: Mom, can we go ride bikes now?
Me: (I really want to just say no, but thinking about how I can say yes)
Me: Yes, you can ride around in the garage because it's raining outside.
JD: Okay. Heads to the garage for 5 minutes. Comes in happy as a clam.


Some other stuff happened but the rest of the day was mostly a blur. I can't say I was nearly as mindful in the afternoon - my low time of day. There's always room for improvement. But I  think that I'm finally making some progress in figuring out who I need to be for this little guy to shine.

Safety Boy!

Here is my JD who apparently thinks rather highly of his bicycle helmet.

Me: JD I don't think you need the helmet for your computer.
JD: But what if a ball hits me on the head?
Me: I stand corrected, perhaps YOU do need the helmet. (which for some reason I keep typing as helmut)





But wait! There's more!

 
You never know what might fall from the sky when you are quietly drawing.

At least he's outside so we can pretend he's just moments away from riding off into the sunset on his Thomas bike.




And another from last summer:

To prevent that horrible ice cream injury "Brain Freeze" be sure to wear your helmet.

As you can see JD is very concerned about safety. He does make one concession to style; he prefer to wear his helmet cocked jauntily to the right.




I love this silly boy!

Some rambling and Eyeglasses!

I have a hard time blogging much. I'm a slow writer. There are a few reasons, one is that I'm almost always interrupted by the kids. They seem to know when I'm using my brain and try their best to make sure that doesn't happen. But really, it's not their fault; the biggest hurdle for me is that I'm a very slow writer. Particularly if it's going to be "published" in any form. And by published I mean in an Email, a blog, message board etc. I find when I sit down to write my thoughts don't seem to be all that well organized or focused. I try to fit too much in and I edit myself like crazy. I have a few things I'd like to blog about but it takes me so long with so many interruptions that I end up giving up and scrapping the whole post. Clearly I am not a natural writer (or speaker for that matter), but it's a skill I'd like to hone a bit more. I spend a lot of time thinking but when it comes to putting "pen to paper" I somehow seem to forget what it was I was thinking about. Maybe this is a symptom of my internal nature! For now, I should try to stick with documenting things that happen in our lives. So for today here's a quicky about EJ and his new eyeglasses.

T has been wearing glasses since age 7, I've been wearing them not as long, since my older teens; so it was no surprise when EJ (7 in June) came home with a eye test form from the health office indicating that he needed further testing.

I think this was a hard thing for my husband. As he described it, the glasses "sealed my fate" as an unpopular kid. I feel badly for the little boy that felt that way. But I'm not worried about Ethan - glasses really are no big deal these days. Not that a lot of kids this young wear glasses, but I suspect it's much more common now than it was in the 1970's.

He was a trooper at the eye exam which took an hour! I wasn't there - my husband took him. But I can't even imagine how he stayed focused and on track for that long. I'm sure it was very tiring for him. He was excited to go pick out his glasses later that day. He knows what he likes - blue. Now I, personally loved the same frame in black. It really went well with his dark hair and eyes. But then I'm not the one wearing them and really it doesn't matter to me what color he chooses. I think he looks adorable!



After we picked up the glasses he was out playing with one of his neighborhood friends. Later that day when I asked him how it was going with the glasses he commented that "no one has made fun of me" which I thought was interesting. He seemed nothing but excited and happy to be getting glasses but somewhere in there he must have had some small concern about being different. 

I'm glad he's enjoying them and having a good experience. I would be very surprised if he got any flack from his friends about wearing them - at least at this age. 

Happy Sunday everyone! It's raining here so it will be a quiet one for us.

Sleeping boy

Sleeping, originally uploaded by dkim6599.

This is JD at about 5pm yesterday. Poor boy has had a high fever with cough and sniffles for a couple of days. He had a long day of napping and TV watching. I was sitting next to him watching Chris Matthews and crocheting some mittens. If I talked to him at all he'd say "I don't want you talking to me".

It's another day and he's still feeling icky, last night was a rough one for all of us. But, he's watching Diego, shouting out all the answers and singing along. Maybe he's feeling just a teeny bit better?

I can hope.