28 January 2011

Grease?

Oh the wonders of letting your children dress themselves.

26 January 2011

The Parent Teacher Conference

We had a parent/teacher conference for the boy today. It was not the impromptu, your child has goofed off too much type but rather the semi annual, perfunctory variety. We were told nothing we didn't already know.

His teacher started off by showing us some reading evaluation scores. Knowing the boy as you do, you know he is a fan of the written word. His scores were off the charts high. We continued through the usual banter of math and his lack of organization and then we asked the teacher if she had any concerns. She said he was not a behavioral problem and she didn't have any issues other than his inability to switch gears from reading. She said she has to routinely collect multiple books off his desk in the middle of the day and put them back on the shelf. It takes multiple requests to get him to produce a sheet of paper for a spelling test as he is nose down in his book and can't let it go. This information too came as little surprise to us. There have been occasions at home when he has been sent to his room to get dressed or clean up and he is found sitting there reading a book quietly on the floor. At times he is fresh out of the shower sitting only with a towel and stuck in a book apparently to enthralled to bother putting clothes on.

09 January 2011

8 Months

Seven months came and went while I was busy with jury duty and then the holidays. I didn't want another month to go by without sharing Baby C's latest milestones. She had a check up right after her 7 month birthday and was still measuring at the 95th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight . . . same as she has pretty much all along. Crawling since before Thanksgiving it did not take long for her to attempt pulling up on various things; the low-to-the ground cloth cubes in the den were an easy start. Then there was one day where we found her in her bed like this:
She has been standing at anything she can get her hands on - dishwasher and oven are two of her favorites. It's tough to sit on the floor without getting attacked . . . just ask Bubba. Still so happy, she smiles all the time and loves playing with her brother and sister; but her favorite place is asleep in her bed.

07 January 2011

Friday Photo

Christmas morning . . . new bathrobe from us, apron from grandparents, shoes from grandparents, headband from Santa and what you can't see is the ribbon tied around her shoulders that she had on before all the other items.  Really perfecting her Hobo look.

06 January 2011

Spelling Words

Bubba has a new teacher this semester. (For the record we really liked his original teacher, but after she made the decision to leave I attended a parent meeting where there were more than a few unhappy parents.)  We can already see a BIG difference with this teacher as she has come out of the gate swinging with spelling tests, math assessments, science lessons, and LOTS of homework. On Monday they took a spelling test and some of the students were given an advanced list of words to study throughout the week. Part of the study process requires them to complete 3 activities that they choose from a list; Bubba chose to type his words on Tuesday, yesterday he wrote them in alphabetical order, and today he looked for anagrams and smaller words.

And during dinner tonight I quizzed him on his spelling words. I think this is one of those parenting activities that I have been looking forward to the most. Helping him with his homework and studying for spelling tests makes changing all those diapers and cleaning up all that spit-up kind of worth it. Here are his spelling words for this week:
Adequate
Reluctantly
Perhaps
Comedy
Husband
Tangerine
Thermostat
Crimson
Oath
Ruckus
Orderly
Quill
Vandalism
Linoleum
Preliminary
Cameo
Gazette
Essential
Fluorescent
Superintendent

05 January 2011

This Parenting Thing

I was really proud of myself last night that I was able to feed all three kids, assist in the completion of one homework assignment, have two kids take showers, and get one completely (or so I thought) ready for bed while JP rode his bike. And all of this without yelling, crying, or teeth gnashing!

Pickle was fed, showered, hair brushed, and teeth clean when JP returned around 6:40.  She had some additional play time and then we read a book and she was off to sleep.  Sounds perfect, right?

Well this morning - about 15 minutes after she got up - she says, "Mom, I slept all night in my underwear and didn't pee."  Boy, was she excited! I had to have her repeat herself two more times . . . seems I forgot to get her changed into a pull-up before bed.  Thankfully it was a successful night because JP and I would have been VERY confused to have been changing sheets in the middle of the night. I'm guessing the precedent has been set and we are in for some exhausting nights ahead as we tackle this next milestone.

Got to love this parenting thing . . . .

04 January 2011

A long time coming



Everyday I head out front to wait for the boy to come home from school. Today he was sprinting down the street shaking a little blue box. From two houses away I knew the eternally loose tooth had been freed and it was coming home. He is so excited to look so odd.