Update

December 2, 2007

It has been awhile, I see, since I last posted to this site. Well, things have a way of getting away from one.

In the last month, what has happened? Well, starting with yesterday -- it snowed! Oh what a day! I woke up early to start making the baked donuts that I had promised to Xander. I got the dough made and rising before the boys and Tom woke. When they woke, we punched down the dough, rolled it out -- both boys helped -- then cut the donuts out using cookie cutters. Then for another rising. While that was happening, Tom read and boys played legos. Finally, after 45 minutes, it was time to put them in. I bustled around the kitchen and, being a nosy sort, decided to check the donuts... when I opened the oven door it was to see that the oven was on fire and the donut sheet on the lower shelf was blackening rapidly. I was rather stunned, staring into the oven but Tom swept in and proceeded to remove the burning bits to the sink. (We had made Chocolate Zucchini Brownies that day before and some of the dough had bubbled over onto the oven floor.) While Tom was scooping and carrying fire, I happened to glance out the window and saw... snow! What a perfect counter point!

We ate the somewhat underdone/charred donuts, sopping them well in sugar and butter. They were not great but the boys were so pleased to be eating their own product that they didn't care all that much. Afterwards, of course, they HAD to go out. There wasn't really all that much snow on the ground -- more a dusting, really -- but they were so excited... and even more so when Jason came out of his room dragging his new snow suit.
'Can I wear this, please?' he asked, face shining with hope.
I looked into the brilliant blue eyes and said 'Sure, why not?'
That meant, of course, that Xander had to wear his. So we dressed them in long underwear (after a trip to the restroom for each one) and struggled them into their suits and boots. And off they went to try and make snow balls and snow angels in the dusting.

When they came in, they played for awhile before we trooped over to the library -- Jason had completed (and more!) the library's reading contest (20 minutes a day for what worked out to about 15 days) and was eligible to pick out a paperback for his very own. We collected that, and a pile of loaners before heading home for lunch... and naps. The old ones in the crowd needed that -- and I was scheduled to go get a massage at 12:30 so we wanted them resting BEFORE I left.

When naps/massage were over, we looked out and... it had snowed again! This time there was enough snow to actually build the snow man of Xander's fantasy. (In the end, he had three heads because the first two fell off under the boys' helpful ministrations). When they came in, boys had hot chocolate and mixed snacks (Pretzels, chocolate chips and marshmellows). They then played and were read to until dinner time. We had planned to try a trip out for Christmas shopping but the weather was not helpful:>

Dinner was a mixed bag -- of left overs and pigs in the blanket. Xander ate the pigs, Jason the blankets and Tom some of everything. We then had, finally, Jason's building night where everyone sat on the floor and built with legos. Tom built a monster Titan, Jason a hero Titan and Xander and I played with mini-figs... that is, he told me what to build, I built it and he demolished it...

All in all, a good and peaceful day.

Xander's Current Favorite Poem

As a part of our 'curriculum' I read a lot of poetry to the boys. This is the poem that has caught Xander's fancy and is his current favorite... I think I read it about 8 times today!

Adventures Of Isabel

Isabel met an enormous bear,

Isabel, Isabel, didn't care;

The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,

The bear's big mouth was cruel and cavernous.

The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,

How do, Isabel, now I'll eat you!

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry.

Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,

Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.

Once in a night as black as pitch

Isabel met a wicked old witch.

the witch's face was cross and wrinkled,

The witch's gums with teeth were sprinkled.

Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,

I'll turn you into an ugly toad!

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,

Isabel didn't scream or scurry,

She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,

But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.

Isabel met a hideous giant,

Isabel continued self reliant.

The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,

He had one eye in the middle of his forhead.

Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,

I'll grind your bones to make my bread.

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,

Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

She nibled the zwieback that she always fed off,

And when it was gone, she cut the giant's head off.

Isabel met a troublesome doctor,

He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.

The doctor's talk was of coughs and chills

And the doctor's satchel bulged with pills.

The doctor said unto Isabel,

Swallow this, it will make you well.

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,

Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

She took those pills from the pill concocter,

And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.

Ogden Nash

Hmm... well, I guess it is right up there with Jason's first poem, Jabberwocky!

November 6

It has been awhile since I have posted anything -- time keeps getting away from me and what with the daylight savings nonsense, it is even moreso. Now the boys' sleep schedule is all messed up again with Xander going to sleep late and Jason waking up early... sigh.

But all that aside:> We had a good Halloween. On the Sunday before the big day, we went Trick or Treating on the Waterfront. Xander was Buzz Lightyear and Jason was Obi Wan Kenobi. Xander was thrilled to bits. Then on Halloween proper, Xander was Sir Rascus the Monkey, Jason was Obi Wan Kenobi, and Tom was a Knight Errant. I include pictures. I stayed home to hand out candy and to defend the house from small children who were interested in moving in:>

News: Hmm... well, Mom will be coming here for Christmas then we will be going to Arizona in February for the RenFest and a brief vacation. When he heard about the RenFest, Xander asked 'Can I take my sword and poke real knights?' Auwe! That child. It should be interesting. The way I am planning it, we will fly into Phoenix, drive to Apache Junction and spend the night in a hotel. The next morning, bright and early, we will head to the Fair. I have, perhaps foolishly, promised to make the boys outfits to wear for the openning ceremonies. Now I just have to get going on that! Maybe we will do a Knights Unit in the preceeding month, to prepare for the trip...

Other news on the travel front: Tom will be off to Wichita, KS for three days the first week of December and then again for several days the following week. He also expects to be sent back to Singapore in the summer. Sigh. We are almost accustomed to this at this point.

As for the boys, they have one last swim lesson tomorrow then Jason has the junior Olympics on Monday. After that we shall have to find other physical activities to challenge them through the winter months. I believe, but must doublecheck, that the local pool is open until Christmas. If that is the case and if the open swim times are acceptable, maybe I shall take them there to play. Most kids will be in school so the place shouldn't be too wild. Meanwhile, both boys have announced an interest in... of all things!... snow shoes. They saw them at REI, and yes, they are available in child sizes! I pointed out that we really don't get enough snow... but that hasn't fazed them.

And Jason is continuing to improve in his reading and math. I have gotten copies of a popular program called 'Singapore Math' and we shall test that out to see how he likes it. At the moment he is primarily working on memorizing addition/subtraction/multiplication patterns. It will be nice for him to be able to do his sums in his head as well as on paper.

Xander is also learning, of course, rather in his brother's wake. When Jason reads, Xander (mostly) listens -- and even if he is dancing around, he is usually following the story. He can tell you what happened and takes great delight in 'acting out' the stories that he heard -- with his own additions, of course! And when they are in the car, both boys 'reading' books, Xander will turn to Jason and ask 'what is this word'?

Madlibs also continue to be a passion with the boys. Yesterday it was Xander who requested that we do Madlibs. Why? Because he had a new adjective (one of his favorite words) and he very much wanted to use it... I need to go find more Madlibs or, better yet, I need to start creating some!

Marriage on his mind

Last night, while we were reading books, Xander looked at me with those huge brown eyes and said 'Mommy, you're beautiful. I want to marry you.' Then he got tearful and announced that he didn't want me to marry daddy. I cuddled him and laughed and said 'But if I weren't married to daddy then there wouldn't be a Xander and a Jason.' My very logical son then pointed out that since they were now here, I needn't STAY married to daddy and I could marry him. Grin. Tom just grimaced.

Later, while Tom was taking Jason to the loo, Xander and I were again talking about marriage. Xander told me 'I already married you.' I said 'Yes, and you told me that I would be a princess.' He nodded and then, in one of those lightening changes of topic told me 'And I like peanuts too. The ones with the lids.' HUH! That puts me in my place!

Namesake behavior

Sometimes I have to wonder if maybe my children spoke to me inutero. Why? Something to do with 'the naming of cats' I supposed. Well, there was a good example yesterday: Tom and Jason were playing soccer in the backyard. Xander (Alexander the Great) was outside, dressed in his armor and carrying his sword. He decided to join in the game so he charged about kicking the ball at random. I said to Tom 'I don't know whose side he is on.' Tom laughed and said 'Why, he is the forces of chaos.' At that point Tom kicked the ball towards Jason's goal. Jason charged after it only the be confronted by his little brother, sword raised, blocking his path. "BOW TO ME!" roared the conqueror. Jason (little buddha) nearly collapsed, he was laughing so hard and Tom (The Big Fish), came up behind and tapped the ball into the goal...

Twice Married

I often tell people that while Jason never read the books on Child Development and so went his own way, Xander WROTE those books. He has proved it again. The other day, while I was sitting on the couch, Xander marched up to me: 'Mommy, I will marry you. I am a prince, when you marry me, you will be a princess.Take my hand.' (I did) 'Now Stand up' (I did) 'Say 'I Do'" (I did)'Now we are married.' I laughed and turned to Tom to comment on it. Tom growled and said 'You are already married to me. You can't get married to anyone else.' Xander gave him look for look and said "I AM A PRINCE!" and that ended the discussion. Grin.

Flat Stanley

We have a visitor -- a fellow named 'Flat Stanley'. Here is an excerpt from the letter I am writing to FS's family. It describes our Sunday trip to the Pacific Science Center:>

Dear Nic and Lisa
Here I am when I first arrived at the Dean house. Jason, who is 6, and Xander, who is 3, were so very excited to meet me – and to introduce me to their cat, Papillion (Did you know that ‘Papillion’ is the French word for butterfly? HA! This cat is no butterfly, believe me! ) I was relieved to discover that she wasn’t all that interested in me. Was nervous for a moment there. Here is a picture of us. Jason is holding me up next to his cat, Papillion
This is Xander. He is 3 – he likes me a lot, can you tell?

Once they had introduced me to the cat, the boys made me some nice warm clothes – I guess that the weather has changed here and it has gotten wet and cold. Jennifer, the boys’ mother, tells me that they never even had a summer this year, only a couple of warm days and then RAIN! After they dressed me, they made me a bed (turns out that I arrived just after dinner time and everyone was getting settled for the night.) and then Jason, who is an avid reader, read me some books. Xander was very nice and polite and sat and listened with me.
After reading, Jason and Xander took bathes (They offered me a chance but I was so nice and cozy in my bed that I decided to pass. I took a quick wash in the morning.) and had snacks and night time books. One of the favorite nighttime activities here is to do ‘Mad Libs’ – those are books of sentences with words missing. You have to fill in a word (Noun, Adjective, Adverb etc) without knowing the story. Then you read the stories that result. They are really funny. I shall have to see if I can find any that I can bring back for you. I slept in Jason’s room. It was lovely, warm and dark and the only problem was that the silly cats (they have three, it turns out) insisted on knocking on the door at 5:30 am! The next morning was Sunday. We got up, I had my quick wash, and we ate home made pancakes. Then we all loaded into the car and went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Jason and Xander have been doing a ‘Dinosaur ‘ Unit for their homeschool and it just so happens that this month, the Science Center is playing host to a traveling exhibit of Dinosaur Fossils – From CHINA ! Can you believe it? Wow, it was cool. Wish you could see it. Here are some pictures of the exhibit – I am digging for fossils in a couple of them.:>
Oh, did I tell you? The fossils in this exhibit were found by a combined Canadian/Chinese research group!

There were a couple of exhibits that made me laugh – one was of the ‘Crichtonasaur’ – it is a dinosaur that is name d after Michael Crichton, the mad who wrote the novel ‘Jurassic Park’. That novel actually has some good lessons – like you should study and learn, for yourself, take responsibility for what you do, not just grab for the quick reward then blame others when things go wrong. . Anyway, it is a funny looking dinosaur. Here is a picture:
And then there is the re is the dinosaur for which they have only found one piece! But paleoentologists have STILL managed to build this giant skeleton , based on what they think are similar dinosaurs elsewhere. Wow!
Here I am, digging for Dinosaur eggs. I THINK that this was the nest of a saurapod… These two bones are from the same sort of Dinosaur. The little one is from a baby. The bigger one is from an adult. Do you think you will get that much bigger? Will I? These are replicas of the eggs of the Oviraptor. The name means ‘Egg thief’ because when they were first discovered, Scientists thought that the dinosaurs stole and ate other Dinosaurs eggs. THEN they found a Mama Oviraptor sitting on a nest and realized that the ‘eggs’ belonged to the raptor – they weren’t stealing and eating them, they were guarding them. This changed a lot of peoples’ ideas about dinosaurs – some species were ‘Good’ mothers and guarded their babies and even fed them! AND oviraptors are amongst the ‘bird hipped’ dinosaurs. They are ancestors to modern birds! They even had feathers, or so the scientists now think. Wow. This is a map of where they have found dinosaurs so far. After seeing the sxhibit, we went into the main building and the boys played virtual soccer and chess on a giant chessboard. By now, it was getting close to Xander’s nap time and the drive home is a bit long so we all piled back into the car and snacked on sandwiches and cheese sticks on the way home. By the time we got there, I was tired too so I went with Jason and we lay down and listened to a CD of Hank the Cowdog. Those are really funny. The man who wrote the stories (and there are lots of stories) was a cowboy for many years. He is really good at writing in the first person and in writing from a Dog’s point of view.

The rest of the day was pretty quite. After naps, the boys and I went out to their ‘tree house’ – it is not your typical tree house – they don’t have a tree to put on e in so Tom, the boys’ Dad, built this building. When it is all finished (they still have to paint it with pictures of leaves and dragons) they will move it back underneath the great huge pine tree and it will become an official ‘Under the tree tree house’! Then Tom discovered that he needed some pieces for the shitters so we went to the Hardware stores, ate Popcorn and looked at paint. When we were done there, we went for a long drive. It was neat to see the countryside. We drove through the farming country and finally ended up in a nearby town called ‘Kent’ – isn’t there are Kent in England? It was raining and raining . We stopped at a local mall (outdoors) and had dinner at a hamburger place called ‘Johnny Rockets’ – styled like a 1950s’ hamburger joint. Then we went and stood in the rain near a great huge open fire place. IT was strange, the contrast between the cold WET rain and the bright warmth of the fire. Then it was time to head home and get ready for bed.

Home Schooling

It occurs to me, looking over the postings, that I haven't talked much about what we have been doing HS wise. So here goes... at the moment we are doing a dinosaur unit. The boys are learning a lot -- I am learning a lot too! Jason (and Xander when he wants to) knows the meanings of words 'carne', 'herbi' and 'omni' as well as the verb 'vore'. They also know how the 'age of the dinosaurs' is divided and when it ended. They know the names and types of an enormous number of dinosaurs. Jason is becoming very familiar with the process of using encyclopedias and dictionaries as he researchs his dinosaurs. Xander... grin... well Xander is torn between his love for 'meat eaters' (This is Tyrannosaurus Rex, better known as TREX' he informs me) and his fascination with Stegasaurus ('He wore PLATE MAIL, Mommy! He had armor!). He is also delighted with the flying dinosaurs and he and Jason just love the idea that modern birds are related to some of those beasties from the past.

Beyond Dinosaurs (and we shall be ending that unit soon to move on to our next one!), we are also 'enrolled' in Hogwarts Correspondence School. This is a webgroup and what happens, simply enough, is that the HS parent 'renames' courses and coursework. So Jason is taking Arithmancy (Math), Quills (Handwriting and Spelling), History of Magic (History/Reading). Xander is also enrolled and is taking similar courses (grin). They both have 'mentors' (me) who write them notes and send them books and a variety of other items via 'owl post'. The boys' Nana has made them each a Hogwarts shirt to wear:> Now I just need to finish making them their robes.

We are also using 'English from the Roots up' to learn English/Latin/Greek. And we are going to start learning Hawaiian.

Enough for now. Boys are awake. I am off.

From the mouths of babes

Okay, I admit it. I find my children hysterically funny on occasion. This morning was one of those moments. Keep in mind that both boys are sick as am I and that neither Xander nor I got much sleep last night as a result of his bad cough... Anyway, I had asked the boys what they wanted for breakfast. Xander announced that he wanted Waffles -- Legos Waffles, to be precise (And Xander always is!) I explained that I didn't have any Legos Waffles, that they had all been eaten and that I would be happy to take him to the Grocery so that he could help pick out what he wanted. He looked at me solemnly, big brown eyes and little boy dressed up as a super hero (i.e. cape and a mask) and said firmly 'Superheros don't HAVE to go to the Grocery Store!' Then off he went, flying through the air to defeat imaginary enemies.

Fall AGAIN!

Well, I guess we know that fall is here: both boys have colds and that horrendous, chest deep cough. Jason woke up at 4:30 am with the cough. Xander is still sleeping but periodically coughs and yells. Sigh. And they were supposed to have their annual 'well baby' check ups today. Much as I would prefer to just cancel, the office has a policy about last minute cancellations: if we do so we will be dropped from their patient list so.... I shall take my two sick little boys in and let them cough all over everyone! Yeah, I am feeling a bit irritable, I guess. Lack of sleep and frustration with small minds are not a good combination.

The good news is that the damage to Xander's arm was temporary. (We had been playing and he started to lean/fall backwards and I grabbed him. Unfortunately I caught one wrist and all of his weight dragged on it. Poor baby. We called the doc who had us check to see if he could move it. Since he could, we iced it and fed him ibuprofen. We also had him sleep with us.) He woke up as happy as a lark and, when asked, said his arm was 'just fine!' Thank god. I spent several sleepless hours going over all the various hospitals we could take him to if we needed to do so (It being a Sunday).

So now it is a cold, grey, rainy Monday. Jason is playing legos, Xander is asleep -- though he will wake soon. And I am wishing for a weekend with sunshine and general health. Ah, for the return of summer!

Xander is a poet -- a strange sort of poet but a poet nonetheless. His latest contribution to the world of wonder was his statement (when I asked what he wanted for breakfast) that 'I want to eat the sky and drink the clouds.' Curiously enough, when I then asked him for flavors, he told me that the sky was vanilla and the clouds chocolate. Hmmm... I would've thought the other way round -- goes to show that I lack imagination, I guess!

Anyway, I am currently working on creating our homeschool tee-shirts. At last vote, the name Jason wanted was 'Dragon riders' academy' -- I was thinking something like 'Magic Minds Academy' with the subphrase 'Training minds one child at a time' Any suggestions? We are going to use Jason's dragon as our logo -- and allow Xander, the artist of the hour, to design the back. I am attaching a copy of Jason's dragon so that you can all see what it looks like.

Hugs

Jenn

What we learn from Dinosaurs

We are working on a dinosaur unit for our first project this year... and what has Jason learned? Well, here is an example:>

We were at swimming for the first time this month... the boys have a new teacher, Ms. Rhonda. She has substitute taught Jason before so when she saw him, she greeted him as follows:

Ms. Rhonda: Hi, Jason! Boy, have you grown! You are so tall. That must mean you have a bigger brain as well, hmmm?

(I think she was trying to lead up to something but...)

Jason: Actually, no, that is not true. We are studying Dinosaurs right now and the biggest ones had the smallest brains. Paleoentologists think that Gigantisaurus had a brain the size of a bean.

Ms. Rhonda: Silenced.

Ah, the joy of boys!

And what has Xander learned? He likes carnivores! Especially T-Rex. Why am I not surprised?

Strange tails

Alright, I admit that occasionally... only occasionally mind you... I can be a little silly. But this current silliness is effective and so I shall continue it. About what do I speak? Simple -- a method for getting my most noisy three year old to quiet down at night --- both at bedtime and if/when he wakes during the night. This method I call the 'Scooby Doo Silencer device.' Here is how it works:

Xander: Yell, yell, shriek, run, talk, shriek, bounce.
Mom: Xander, it is bedtime, time to quiet down.
Xander (at the top of his lungs): I AM BEING QUIET! SEE? I AM NOT TALKING!
Mom, thinking (yeah, thats a fine distinction!): Xander, you are yelling, that is not quiet.
Xander (switching over to loud singing voice): I AM NOT SHOUTING. I AM SINGING YOU A LULLABY!
Mom: Xander, you know we need to be quiet otherwise Shaggy and Scooby will come and eat all the food in the kitchen
Sudden silence falls.
Xander (in a whisper): Can I sing like this?
Mom: Better not. They have good ears. Who knows? They might be walking past the house right now and any noise might make them come here!
Xander: Oh. (Silence) Wiggles. Hugs Mom. Wiggles again. No voices though!!!!

It works. It really does. I am glad -- it is not monster scary (though Xander is less than impressed by monsters anyway) but for some reason, the thought of having all the food eaten up is of concern and he is unwilling to allow that to happen so... It even works when he wakes up in the middle of the night and announces 'I AM AWAKE NOW!' I will go in and say 'Xander, ssshhh. You might wake Shaggy and Scooby!'

latest

Well, the birthday party went over -- with a bit of a surprise thrown in. One of my oldest friends, Prabha, showed up with her husband Clark, son Lokesh and two other friends, Angela and Shirley. It was *just* a thirteen hour drive from San Jose for Prab and family but they made it! Wow! Was I stunned! The boys were thrilled as well -- Jason especially because Lokesh, who is 9, played soccer AND legos with him. We also saw Chris again. Sigh. He did get into the pool and as long as his feet touched the bottom he was okay. I know I shouldn't second guess someone else's parenting but I really think TK should've gotten him back in the water immediately. Keeping him out of it didn't help him get over the fear, it just reinforced it. Ah well... chocolate over the bridge, as Hank would say!
Mom arrives on Tuesday and on friday we take the train to Portland. That should be an exciting (if expensive!) trip.
Did have a funny encounter with Xander last night. While I was helping him use the potty, we had the following conversation:
Xander: Mommy, I have a dirty secret.
Mommy: Really? What?
Xander: I like to get dirty.
Mommy: That is not really a secret.
Xander: I have a clean secret too.
Mommy: What is that?
Xander: I wrote a love song for you and it goes like this: "I LOVE MOMMY POOPY POOPY POOP!!' Then he was quiet for a moment. "I don't know the rest of the words."
Mommy, trying hard to keep a straight face and failing: "Thats okay, you can work on it."
Xander: "Okay!" and off to bed.

latest news

Well, these days Jason is a reading fool. Yesterday I was reading to him from one of his 'hard' books -- a short novel about the Exo-Force teams. I stopped to help Xander with something and Jason picked the book up and, with a little help on some of the words, proceeded to read two pages to me. I am impressed. He is reading all the time -- sometimes when one wish he would not! And he is working very hard on learning/figuring out the spelling of things. As you can imagine, given the state of the English language, this sometimes proves a confusing process...
Jason is also back to chess. For the past two nights, as part of his 'going to bed' ritual, he and his father having been playing chess. Jason has definately matured. He doesn't get deeply upset when he does not win, just comments 'I am getting closer to beating daddy every game.' And actually, Tom told me last night that, during their second game, Jason was doing VERY well -- until he got frustrated wanting SOMETHING to happen and made a bad trade. Patience is a learned skill.
As for Xander, he is trying to learn to read as well. He will bring me a book and say 'Help me read this, Mommy.' And so we work together. He so wants to be able to do what his big brother does! Indeed, right at this moment, the two boys are in Jason's Lego space and are working, more or less amicably, on building lego sets. Xander is mostly interested in the Mini Figs -- but he is generally willing to follow Jason's directions -- especially since he knows that that is the ONLY way he will be allowed in his brother's space.
Grin. I wish I had had batteries in my camera yesterday. Jason decided to teach Xander how to play chess. It was a scream to watch and listen. Jason was EXTREMELY patient with Xander.
'Xander, please, bring back my knight. We can't play Chess if the pieces keep
wandering off the board.'
or
'Xander, maybe you would like to watch me play a chess game and then you can
see how it is done?'

( That didn't work. Jason played against himself "OH MAN! I GOT BEAT!" and Xander went off to play the Thomas Train counting game 'BY MYSELF!')

At any rate, we have lots coming up. Tomorrow is our first *playgroup* in Tacoma with one of the local homeschool groups. We will see how that goes. Then Friday we are scheduled to go see the Tall Ships in Tacoma and Saturday, of course, is the Pool party for Xander (and Jason). IT should be a very busy time. I am debating whether I should try and make the cake myself or, given the Tall Ships thing, order it made. Probably the latter is the better part of valor.
And it turns out that, sadly, Matt and Maggie will not be coming to Seattle. They are talking about going to Tucson for Christmas but I am not sure that we will be able to do the same. Will have to work the finances and see what I can swing. Wouldn't it be nice to win the Lottery?:>

Wow! Has it been a month?

Wow! I just looked at when I last posted... has it really been a month? Xander is now *officially* three -- though his big party doesn't happen until the 11 of August. Hmmm... I shall have to see what I can remember of the recent past and record it.

Well, first off, Tom did go to Singapore for two weeks. He arrived home just this past Saturday and is still recovering from messed up sleep. For that matter, so am I! While he was gone, Mom, very graciously, came to stay with us. It was a blessing -- both having another adult about the place AND having someone to distract the boys from their father's absense. Of course, they missed him and Xander has been clinging to his father, not wanting to let daddy out of sight for more than a few minutes. But the boys did enjoy having their grandmother in residence and will be thrilled when she returns in a couple of weeks.

During this past month, some things have changed -- Xander is now peeing standing up (thanks to Gma) and is quite proud of that fact. Sigh. He is only JUST tall enough so it can be exciting when he does so. He continues his love affair with 'peeing in the bushes' and keeps holding it in hopes that he can arrange such an event. He succeeded the other night, as we were leaving the park and was quite thrilled to inform all and sundry that he had 'made the leaves wet.'

Another change in the recent past has been the dramatic improvement in Jason's reading. More on that later, though.

Updates

Okay, I have been remiss. I have not been keeping up with this blog. Apologies to any who read it. So much has been happening that there are times when it is very difficult to remember where I put my head (glasses, keys, boys) let alone find time to actually write something coherent!



There for a couple of weeks, both the boys and I were really sick. Fever etc. I finally went into the doc and was placed on a ridiculously expensive antibiotic for a sinus infection. 4 days after finishing the antibiotic I still had a blistering headache so I went back in. Saw a different doc who seemed to think that the previous antibiotic hadn't worked (well, duh!) so she put me on a super high, extra long dose of another antibiotic (which was also expensive). After taking 4000 mg of Augmentin for five days, I called it quits. I felt awful on it. Had a headache but a different one. But there, for a brief period, we all felt better. During that time, Tom's older brother, John, and his new wife, Emmy, brought John's two sons up for a very brief visit. It was lovely to see them all and Emmy is a sweetheart. Jason and Xander were delighted to have their cousins and Xander was especially delighted to have Emmy -- another person to admire him.



Meanwhile, the sun has come out and somehow the boys and I have managed to get too much sun and so are having hystamine backlash -- sore throats, coughs, and drippy noses. AND on top of this, Tom has just been informed that he has to go to Singapore for (probably) two weeks to hand hold Singapore Airlines' hand.

The math question

The other day we met John and Donna in Issaquah. While Donna and Tom took Jason to see 'Shrek 3', John and Xander and I walked, explored the bookstore then headed back to the elder Deans' house. On the way I told John about Xander's one-upping his brother in a math problem. John, of course, had to test this so he asked Xander 'Is 4+3 the same as 5+2?' Xander gave his Grandfather quite a look and said firmly 'NO! And I am RIGHT!' Thereafter he answered every question his Poppa asked him with his favorite number (2). When I told Tom the story, Tom's response was 'Well, of course he was right. 4+3 is not the same as 5+2. Now if my father had asked him 'Is the SUM of 4+3 the same as the SUM of 5+2?' The answer would've been 'Yes."....

Boys...
Last night Jason came bouncing out from the bathroom (post bath) and announced to me 'I have been making and bottling stinky water.' I had to ask, of course. It is required. So I asked 'Stinky water? What is that? How do you make it?' Jason grinned. 'You fart really stinky farts into the water and then you bottle it -- but you don't want to smell it. It will knock you out... I have been experimenting!' I looked at Tom. He rolled his eyes and said 'I didn't do it!'

Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School

Sigh.... I haven't posted in awhile, I know. We have all of us been sick -- we are, in fact, still recovering. I have a sinus infection, a cold, and allergies. The boys appear to have some nasty virus and Tom thinks he has a cold. Blah... but we are getting better slowly. I went to the doctor on Thursday and have been on antibiotics since then.

But though we have been ill, things have continued to happen -- of course:> Jason and Xander have been 'accepted' in to Hogwarts Summer Correspondence school. We made an owl mail bag and letters have been passing back and forth since. The boys are convinced that our local pygmy owl is the one carrying the bag and they are concerned that the bag may be too heavy -- as indicated by the varying locations that the bag appears in the Maple Tree. Jason has also been assigned a mentor -- Harry Potter -- and a house -- Gryffindor. Xander, because he is in pre-school, will be in the same house as his brother. I have uploaded pictures of the mail bag and the letters that the boys have received to the family website. Amazing how busy this has kept us. But the boys are both looking forward to this greatly -- Xander was so excited about it that he carried his 'acceptance' letter around with him for about 1/2 a day after he received it. He has also taken to wearing 'Harry Potter' glasses and carrying a wand. He is really cute. I will have to upload those pictures as well.

I will admit, my memory of things that have happened in the past couple of weeks is somewhat shakey -- the headache and congestion, not to mention the continual low grade fever, has played havoc with my memory. I do know, however, that I am recovering as I actually got quite a bit done this morning (Dropped off bags/peanuts to the mail store, grocery shopped, bought fabric for Xander's robe, swept and mopped the kitchen, vacuumed the dining room, sorted out the ball box, washed clothes, went through Xander's clothes and selected a load to donate, read several books to the boys...) Now we just have to get everyone else healthy as well!!

Home schooling in the news: Amazing what a lot of arrogance and ignorance masquerade as 'insightful' journalism these days. Below are two links: The first is to an article by a man who didn't bother to do any research and decided to blast the concept of homeschooling. His arguments seem to me to be a better indication of why one SHOULD homeschool -- after all, he is a prime example of the results of a public school education... The second article is by a young man who was homeschooled all the way. He is responding to a different attack on home schooling though from the sound of it, the articles have quite a bit in common.

1)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-shaw/lets-restrict-home-schoo_b_49013.html

2)http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/debate/a/guestmbass.htm

S0, if you are reading this and have an opinion, tell me what you think?

what makes a girl a girl

The other day Xander was dancing around in his scivies. I asked who he was being (with Xander, this is ALWAYS a good question). The exchange went something like this:

Me: Xander, who are you now?
X : I am a girl.
Me: Why are you a girl?
X : Because I am in my underwear. Girls wear nothing but underwear.

Yikes! But it is a logical leap -- the other day he saw a model wearing a string bikini. He whispered (a two year old's whisper) 'MOMMY! THAT LADY HAS NOTHING ON BUT UNDERWEAR!'
A woman walking past muttered 'And not even that!'
I explained that it was a bathing suit -- somehow I don't think he believed me....

Bookstore adventures

Took Xander and Jason to Half Price Books for their Memorial Day, 20% off, sale and spent way too much money. When we were paying, an older asian man, chinese, I believe, came up and tapped Xander on the chin.

'Do you see this?' he asked, 'I once knew a very famous man, a man who was the leader of his country. He had something like this on his chin. This one will be an important man when he grows up!'

Then he asked 'What is his name?'

'Alexander' I answered.

The gentleman's eyes widened. 'ALEXANDER! Ah, the great leader! This one will be King of America some day!'

Then, confidentially to me, 'He is very good talker. He is very verbal!'

Yes, it goes on.

Shivere me timbers, the things children say!

In the car yesterday, Xander announced 'Daddy, I need a band aid. I have an injury.'
I looked at Tom, 'An injury?!'
He looked at me owlishly, 'Yes?'
Me: 'How many 2.5 year olds say 'injury'? Most of them say 'owie''
Tom: 'Or booboo'
Me: 'My point.'
Tom: 'Yes, but this is Xander.'
Mr Big Ears in the back seat 'I HAVE AN INNNN JURRR EEEE!!'
Sigh.
______________________________
Jason at the library yestereve: marched up to the reference librarian and asked for her help finding Mindstorms books.
Librarian:'Oh, yes. I remember you. Didn't we do this once before?'
Jason: 'Yes, and there wasn't anything in last time but I figured, since I was here, I would
check to see if anything came in or if anything new has come out. You never know...'
Librarian: 'True, you never know. Okay, lets look.'

She printed up four pages of all the titles available through our library system and gave them to him. Then she looked at me:
'I'm not sure if these books are all appropriate for him but... he is like a forty year old! He
knows what he wants and you can have a conversation with him!!!'
_____________________________
Jason at dinner yesterday, asked for dessert.
I responded "not at the restaurant but if you like, after dinner, we can go over to the grocery store and buy some of those little ice cream cups.'
Then, noticing the time, I said:
'You know, we will only have time for one thing after dinner. Would you rather go to the library or get ice cream?
Jason, thinking deeply: 'I think I would rather go to the library.'
Me, beaming at Tom: 'Thats my child!'
Jason, looking between the two of us: 'I think I would get more benefit from the library than from ice cream.'
Me, blinking at Tom: 'Thats your child!'
Tom, grinning: 'No, thats OUR child!'

______________________________

oh dear!

Oh dear! Xander has discovered a new trick!

Yesterday at swimming, both boys were doing well. It came time for Xander to do the Elementary back crawl. He was trying but became frustrated about half way across and resorted to his old 'corkscrew' motion. His teacher, Ms Bronwyn, said 'Now Xander, no spinning. I want you to do Zipper Airplane Rocket -- I know you can!' He spun around, smiled at her, then swam up and, wrapping his arms around her neck, gave her a great big hug. She turned pink then melted completely. 'Okay' she said, 'You just swim to the wall.' Sigh....

Back from Trips

Saturday, May 19, 2007
Well, we are all back. Tom had to go to Singapore for a week so, with the assistance of my mother, the boys and I went to Tucson. The boys had a blast -- they especially enjoyed being able to swim everyday in Mom's pool. Indeed, Jason was soooo delighted that he began trying to figure out how to get one in his own backyard! To say that he was not pleased when his mother vetoed the idea is to understate the case. I can understand his frustration. He is becoming a true water baby. While we were there, Jason was diving down to touch the bottom of the pool... he has progressed so far it is truly astonishing. He now delights in water where once he was terrified of it.

Xander, of course, is a born water baby. He would go into the pool head first -- though after watching the tentative way his mother and grandmother approached it, he began to say 'Getting into the water is a slow process' Then he would get out of the water and start all over again!

Jason was also delighted because, on our very first day in Tucson, Dad took us up to Mount Lemmon. There he collected a number of birds to add to his birding list. That has become one of his greatest delights.

And Xander thoroughly enjoyed making 'Sand Angels' in Himmel Park. Grin. He managed to get sand everywhere, of course, including in his underwear, but that did not phase him in the slightest.

But in the end, though the boys were sad to leave their grandparents behind, they were glad to get home -- and the cats were VERY glad to see them. Indeed, that first night, while I was trying to get the boys to bed, the cats flung themselves bodily against the door, yowling for all they were worth. Then, the next morning, when I got up (before the boys), Papillion came and looked me over. Deciding that I was NOT the one, she marched back to the boys' door and began to HOWL mournfully at the top of her not inconsiderable lungs. Had to chase her away. She was quite displeased.

The one downside to our return was the fact that Daddy was not home. Both boys were of the opinion that mom would've done better to arrange for us to all arrive on the same day... But they were glad to go collect their father the following morning and Xander clung to Daddy for pretty much the rest of the day.

Starlight wishes

Some nights, the boys and I lie in their bed and gaze up at the stars we have on their ceiling. Then we make 'starlight wishes.' We did so the other night. Jason wished that 'everyone sleeps well and there is no war and no fighting for at least one night.' Xander, who was fairly vibrating with excitement, could hardly wait for his brother to finish. 'Starlight, starbright, first star I see tonight... I wish everyone would like to poop!' Sigh...

Twice Pope

May 1st

We have a new family member: A rock named Pope... or Pope Pope... or Twice Pope depending on his mood.

The story goes like this: Jason had a baseball game on Monday. We all went but about 6:30, when it started to rain, I collected Xander and headed home. Xander was not entirely happy with that -- he was having too much fun but once we were in the car, he discovered a rock in his seat. Not a surprise given his passion for them. What happened next, though... As we were driving away, he looked at the rock in his hand.

'Mommy, I want to throw this at the baseball game.'
'Well, you can't throw it at the game but you can throw it out the window at those
bushes.'
(I put the car window down and the rock went whizzing out. Predictably...)
'I want it back!' Tears everywhere.
Desperate Mom: 'Wait! Isn't that your rock?'
'Where?' looking around puzzled
'There, beside the car!'
Obliging child 'Oh, yes. I see it!'
Desperate Mom: 'Is it running beside the car?'
Obliging child 'Yes, Mom. He is running. I want him back!'
Desperate Mom: 'I betcha he will beat us home. He will be right there, beside the car when we get out and he will say, 'Hiya Xander, what took so long!' (we have a big pile of rocks beside the driveway)
While Xander thinks about this interesting possibility, Mom asks 'Does your rock have a name?'
'Yep'
'What is it?'
'Pope'
'Alexander Pope?'
'No. Pope Pope'
'Twice Pope?'
'Yep.'
When we got home, I scrounged the ground and came up with a largish rock. Handed it to Xander as I got him out of the car. He gazed at it in admiration.
'Pope has grown!'
'Well, you know, rolling stones gather no moss. Maybe he ate the moss and got
bigger!'
'Yep.' silence then 'Mommy, what do rocks eat?'
'I don't know Xander, what do rocks eat? DO they eat?'
'Yep, they eat pine cones, grass and nightmares.'
'Nightmares?'
'Yep, they bonk them on the head and turn them into little green worms and eat
them.'
'I thought the dragons ate Nightmares when they were worms?'
'Yep. Pope bonks nightmares and they become worms and the dragons eat them.'
Once inside we had to give Pope a bath (with Xander) then I found a baby sock (with Barney on it) and made Pope a 'sleeper'. I also had to find a small handkerchief to be Pope's blankie. Then we wrapped Pope up and put him to bed on the bookshelf, the better to watch over the boys as they slept. When Jason got home and heard the story of Pope, he was delighted and, of course, wanted a pet rock of his own...

So now we have seven, all spray painted white and waiting to have their faces put on...

Car troubles

Sigh. I do wish that we lived in a walker friendly place. The problem with the car was the power steering pump -- which we had replaced late last year (then it failed on the drive home and we had to return and have it re-replaced). The good news is that the part is still under warrenty and so there is no charge. The bad news is that this will be the third time these folks redo it in just 6 months... And more. The part was due in yesterday afternoon. It did not arrive so we have to wait through today. The boys will miss swimming -- which fries me a bit. Usually if they miss it it is because one or both is sick. That they should miss it because of the car... and, unfortunately, Tom can't work from home today because, surprise, surprise, his day is filled with meetings.

Oh well, such is life.

On a happier note, Jason is doing better and better at reading. He read to me for 1/2 an hour yesterday, finishing an entire Morris and Borris book despite his little brother's help. (Xander kept leaning over the book, trying to get a good look at the words and pictures. When Jason finished the book, Xander snatched it and announced 'NOW I WILL READ IT TO YOU MOMMY!') Jason is enjoying also the Saxon Math Kindergarten set that I bought. He did two lessons yesterday and would've done more but Mom resisted... had to get him ready to go to baseball. Both boys find the manipulatives fascinating and Jason and I have been talking about patterning -- ideas of symmetry and asymmetry etc. That is really rather fun, especially when I showed Jason how symmetry and asymmetry pertain to addition...

And then there are the words: both boys are creating useful words. Jason introduced 'yestereve' and 'reremembering' and Xander has contributed 'nexterday' -- I think I shall start a little journal of words that should be -- a sort of sniglets file, what do you think?

I also mentioned to Jason that if he had art work that he was willing to sell (and which passed Mom's inspection for quality) we could submit a few pieces to the Maple Valley Art show. The pieces might not sell, of course, but he has to be willing for that to happen since it is required of all submissions. He thought it a great idea ("HEY! I could sell my art and earn money for Legos!"). It will be interesting to see what comes of that plan.

Funny and not so funny

Yesterday was swimming. Both boys did remarkably well -- though Xander showed a marked interest in swimming the LENGTH of the pool, rather than the width. His teacher gently explained, for the zillionth time, that when he was swimming as well as his big brother -- and that meant no more floats etc -- then he could swim the length like his brother. Well, Xander proceeded to use 'big circle arms', to kick beautifully, to swim 'eyes in' -- all heading the length of the pool... his progress was a zig zag. He would start swimming and would veer towards the long direction, his teacher would redirect him, he would shift back to the length, she would redirect him... Then came the back stroke. "I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF" he roared. 'Okay' she agreed, 'Show me.' He smiled sweetly and cork screwed. 'No' she said firmly, 'No cork screwing. We are swimming on our backs. Here, I will help you.' 'NO!' he shrieked, piercing the air and everyone's eardrums with his cry. 'NO! I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF!' Again she gave him the chance. Again he cork screwed. Finally, after three repetitions, he looked at her with a wide brown eyed smile -- and did the back stroke!

Jason swam beautifully and dived beautifully, though in the former case, he had a marked tendency not to take breaths... And all seemed relatively well until swimming was over and we went back to the changing room. There Jason, agreeably enough, undressed and went to use the rest room. Returning to the main room, however, he became distracted and wandered around the room with his underwear half on, half off. I asked him to finish dressing PLEASE! while I struggled to undress a squirming two year old who had suddenly decided that he wanted to wear the towel. I managed to get Xander's clothes off (Jason had still not pulled his underwear up) only to have the imp discover that HEY! HE HAS MALE GENETALIA! Oh, he was thrilled! He began dancing around (naked) singing his 'peen' song and when he noticed his brother's barely dressed condition, sang about Jason as well. From behind the changing room curtain, I could hear the grandmother of the other little boy (Sam, 5) laughing. I am grateful that she chose to be amused. I told Xander firmly 'Yes, I know you have a peen. Now please put it away and GET DRESSED!' They did, eventually, and we managed to get out of there but oh...

Another amusing anecdote: My mother claims that Xander has 'melting brown eyes.' When I told Xander this, he drew himself as tall as he could and said in a dauntingly repressive tone 'I DO NOT MELT!' I laughed and laughed, much to his disgust, and then explained that 'No, that wasn't what I meant. I meant that Gma melts when she sees them.' He cocked his head, thought for a moment and said 'That is okay then.' Awhile later, when I was repeating the story to my mother, he overheard and informed me solemnly 'GIRLS MELT.' Aiiiyeee.

And finally, one day when Xander demanded something I responded with 'Yes, sir, Lord of the Universe!' He glared at me and said firmly 'NO! I AM BIGGER. I AM XANDER!' Oh heavens above!

Meanwhile, Jason has completed the next section of the Captain Wavy Cape comic strip and is working on his 'Scooby Doo and the Monster Chef' story. I am thinking of entering some of his work into the local art show. We will see. I have to do some investigating on that. It could be fun, though.

On a less happy note, the Merc is acting up. The boys and I have been carless all day, something that would not bother me if this area were walkable but it is not. There are no sidewalks and people drive the roads here with no evident awareness that there is anyone else about -- not the sort of situation I would want to chance with two little boys. The mechanics said that the problem is the power steering pump which, luckily, is under warrenty and so will be replaced no charge -- but we won't have the car until tomorrow. And, of course, they did find other items that they claim need to be worked on -- the brakes, the air filter etc. Sigh. I really don't want to have to take on car payments. Oh for the lucky ticket in the lottery!

Jason is on a roll

Jason seems to be on a roll the last couple of days. On Sunday we stopped at the Starbucks in Target. Jason asked if he could have an oatmeal cookie and when I went to collect the coffee drinks that Tom and I'd ordered, the young woman who was serving said to me, 'Oh, your son is so polite! He asked me ever so nicely if he could please have a cookie and when I gave it to him, he said 'Thank You.' He is sooo cute!' I thanked her and repeated what she'd said to Jason, figuring that he deserved to know. At the same time, I had to wonder at her surprise that a child would know to use please and thank you...

Today we went to the gym. When I came back to collect the boys, the lady who runs the child care room came to me and said 'I just have to tell you, your son is amazing. He is so smart and clever -- but more than that, he is so kind! I watched him with his little brother and he is so patient with him! Even when his little brother grabs a toy from him, he doesn't get upset or throw a tantrum. And he plays very nicely with him. Your son is really very impressive. I thought you should know.' So again, I repeated what was said to Jason -- it is always nice to know that someone other than your family think you are special...

Gene Coulon Park

Yesterday was one of those amazingly beautiful spring days with which the Pacific Northwest likes to tease folks. Warm, sunny -- I even ended up with a slight sunburn and the after effect of congestion! So after a morning of errands and noontime rest periods, I loaded the boys in the car and we went to Gene Coulon park, a large beach park in Renton. We met Tom and a friend there and the boys played happily in the playground. Xander, of course, wanted to play on the big kid play equipment. He was less inclined after one child slid down the slide into him. At that point, his father, being very controlled, suggested that we go for a walk around the park.
We began the walk at the beach and there the boys discovered the joys of the tide. Jason was the first. He walked up to the sea and stood watching it. Slowly, bit by bit, he inched forward until the tide was just lapping on his shoes. 'NEAT!' he cried, 'I can stand here and not get my shoes wet!' He would walk forward then back, doing that dance of the sea that generations of children have done. Xander, never to be outdone, tried also but he didn't quite understand the principle behind Jason's actions so he (of course) ended up soaking his shoes. Not that he minded, of course. He is a veteran of the puddle wars and accepts wet shoes with a very high degree of equanimity. Following their sea adventure, the boys ran through the sand -- and Xander, at least, discovered that sand can be tricky stuff and will trip you if you are not careful. Daddy helped him up, though, and he took off after his brother and the Coots, shrieking and hooting for all he was worth. The birds were not all that impressed, I fear. But then, they never are.

New passions

Jason has discovered two new passions: Mystery stories and slapstick movies. The first began, as you might expect, with the Scooby Doo Mysteries and Nate the Great. (Xander also likes Nate the Great. He has coopted my magnifying glass and wanders around with it, examining things.) Now he and Tom are reading the Encyclopedia Brown books. I guess it is not too much of a surprise, given his scientific bent. Of course, for pure light hearted fun, the Minnie and Moo books are favorites -- if you haven't read them, you should. They are really rather funny..

Jason's second delight these days is slapstick -- I borrowed an old collection of silent movies, not quite keystone cops (haven't been able to find them) but along those lines. Jason watched them with his Gma Pat and laughed and laughed and laughed. Then we watched some Laurel and Hardy and some Abbott and Costello. He loved them. Now all I have to do is find the LH episode with the piano...

Xander, of course, absorbs all of this like a sponge. His delight, however, is doing things that he knows will send Mom up the wall... like turning the stereo WAY UP or openning the linen closet doors for the cats. You always know when he has done something because you hear a wicked little giggle and see him vanishing. That one is a pistol.

Xander's Poem

Xander, upon hearing that his brother had created a poem, decided to create a poem of his own. His poem is rather loosely based on one by Milne:

Halfway down the Pooh
Is a Pooh where I always sit.
There isn't any other Pooh
quite like it.

Hmmm...

A pirate story

Jason is discovering his inner writer. Here is the first installment of his story 'The Pirates of Treasure Cove.'

Chapter One:

"On a sunny day, a boat sailed up to the Dock. The Guard loved sunny days but the Guard did not know what (was) about to happen."

Chapter Two

"A pirate climbed out of the boat. All of the Royal Navy rushed at the Pirate. It was a fierce battle but in the end the pirate won."

First Poem

This morning, Jason rose early and wrote a poem for his father. Here is an image of the poem. The text of the poem is as follows:

By Jason 4/12/2007

The snake's coils

run from

thy

worst

fears

or face thy

worst

fears and DO

GOOD

THE END

Amazing fellow.

Sweetness

Sometimes the boys can be so sweet... yesterday was a good example. We have started going for short walks Monday and Tuesday afternoons with our neighbor, Mary Ann. (She wants to improve her physical health before a surgery and asked and I said 'yes') Yesterday, however, she wasn't home. We went for a walk anyway but, oh, it was COLD. Jason was shooting along on his scooter happily enough, while Xander and I followed. (Xander was in the jogging stroller, tucked about with blankets). About 10 minutes into the walk, Jason began to fade -- the wind was very cold and blowing hard and he was not really dressed for it. So I suggested we turn for home. He decided to walk beside me then, instead of scooting, and as we walked he looked up at me with his lovely blue eyes 'Mommy, why are we going back so soon?' 'My hands are very cold' I replied 'and I don't want you two to get cold as well.' He thought for a second then carefully placed his warm little hand on top of mine. 'There, Mommy. Now you won't be cold.' Oh, that child...

Jason really does amaze me. His reading and his writing are improving by leaps and bounds. Yesterday, he wrote thank you notes to Jeff Brewer and to his Gma Mary then sat himself down to begin his 'book' He wrote four pages. I will scan them and include them in this blog. He was having such a good time writing his story that we had a hard time getting him to stop for bathes and books! He also made two new 'Wavy Cape' tee shirts -- one for Jeff (as a retirement present) and one for Xander. His next tee shirts will be for Gma Mary and for Hope.. Then all he has to do is write the next episode of Captn Wavy Cape -- this will be the episode (he informs me) in which Captain Wavy Cape's cape will be revealed! Ah, the suspense. Ah, the tension!

New theme

Yesterday morning, in a desperate bid for privacy, I set the boys down in front of my computer and left them to watch videos of themselves while I used the restroom. One of those videos had Xander dancing to the music of 'Raindance' -- a favorite video of Jason's (Not that we own it -- we borrowed it -- but he loves any form of dance that ressembles Tap). When I returned from using the facilities, Jason asked to watch the video. As I noted, we don't have it but we do have similar item, called 'The Celtic Tiger' so I put that on. Well, in the course of watching it, Jason began to ask questions about the history behind the stories being portrayed in dance. I did my best to answer them but now the young fellow is curious about his own geneology so I promised we would start a new 'theme' in our school -- we will trace our ancestry and read up on the history behind it. He can write stories, illustrate them, etc as part of the process. AND he has decided to try building some of the structures that I showed him in one of my Irish Art books. Should make for an interesting course of study...

April 5, 2007

Sigh. I was getting used to sleep. Unfortunately, Xander once again has a bad cold/cough that kept him (and me) up most of the night. At the moment, he is finally sleeping. Poor tyke. I am looking forward to the days when all this illness is behind us... more or less!

Mom left yesterday and Xander cried. He cried and cried and the only way I was able to appease his offended sensibilities was to promise that he could call her on the cell phone when we got home. He did and as soon as she picked up, he said 'Gma Pat, I want you to come home NOW!' He nodded once, sharply, in emphasis then handed me the phone. 'I'm done.' And off he stalked. He is a decisive fellow, that one.

Then evening came and we took Jason to his second baseball game. All but two of the kids showed up and, according to Tom, it was quite a hilarious game. Xander and I saw the beginning of it: The youngest player on the team, Matty, was the first source of merriment. He stepped up to the plate (just before Jason) and hit the ball. He was SO amazed at having hit the ball that he stood staring after it while all about him people on both teams yelled 'RUN!!!' He did and he made it to first base. Then Jason stepped up and whacked the ball and took off at a dead run. Matty stood, undecided then started for second. Half way to second, he stopped and seemed uncertain WHERE to go. Everyone screamed 'RUN TO SECOND!!!' so, after a moments reflection, he did. Matty made it to third but when the next batter came up, he stood firmly on third, refusing to move -- maybe he had decided that he was safe there:> At any rate, Jason was barreling to third and when Matty stayed on it, Jason blinked at him then ran for home. Meanwhile all the adults were yelling 'Matty, run home -- Jason go back!' It was almost a chant and I was torn between tears of laughteXar and tears of sympathy for the boys, both of whom were looking befuddled by the whole thing.

Xander and I left shortly thereafter. He was becoming seriously unhappy at the fact that he was not being allowed to play with his daddy and his bahbah. 'I JUST WANT ONE BAT!' he roared -- and from the look on his face I felt sorry for anyone whose knees were at batting level! So I collected my unhappy tyke and we came home and read books, a lot of books, and waited for the return of the conquering heros.

Jason and Tom got home 'early' -- around 7:30. 'It was a fast game.' My eldest said solemnly. He got washed up and in bed, had a couple of chapters of Scooby Doo before the nightly ritual of 'lights out, I want to go potty!' (from Xander) began. While Tom was helping Xander use the facilities, Jason told me about the game. 'In the third inning, I was the catcher and guess what I used to catch the ball?' 'Your glove?' I asked, unimaginatively. 'NO!' he said, 6 year old boy scorn sounding in his voice 'My MASK!' Ulp! I thought. 'The mask? Well, that is why you are supposed to get your glove up, to catch the ball.' Patiently he explained 'Mommy, the ball comes in so fast that if I put my glove up, it just sort of bounces off... so I let it hit the mask and it drops 'plop' onto the ground and I can pick it up!' He was so proud. When I told Tom about the conversation later, he cracked up. 'So he was doing it deliberately?' Then he sighed. Ah well, Jason has his own approach to the game.

First baseball game

Sigh

No pictures of this, unfortunately. I didn't get to stay for the actual game. Tom had gone ahead to ready the field (we were the home team so it was his job). Mom, Xander, and I brought Jason to the field around 5:30 pm. The game was to start at 6pm. Xander played on the playground equipment while the team warmed up -- but it was cold, cold, cold and by the time 6 pm rolled around, Xander's hands were so cold that he was complaining about them. We went home. What I know about the first game comes from Jason and Tom and is as follows:

EVERYONE showed up (or, at least, everyone who could play. There is one little boy who broke his wrist. He was not at the game.) so they had a FULL compliment of children -- 24 kids between the two teams. The game begins at 6 pm with no new innings after 7:30. According to Tom, each team batted their entire line up each inning -- made for three VERY long innings. Jason and a boy named Gavin both got homeruns in the first inning. These were the only homeruns in the entire game. Jason was very pleased with himself -- 'I got a homerun, a single and a triple' he told me 'AND' (and this seemed to be his greatest source of pride) 'I didn't get ANY dirt on my face OR MY UNIFORM!' He nodded importantly as he told me this. He was so pleased with himself. Grin. I managed not to laugh or even smile. I just congratulated him. 'You are very proud of yourself, hmmm?' 'Yes' he agreed and marched off to get washed before bed. Considering that they had a few sessions with hail and freezing rain during the game, they seem to have had a very good, very happy game. A good omen for the season!

A new month

April 2

Mom is here visiting and I think she spends a good part of the day laughing. Xander has been providing her with enormous amusement. Not intentionally, of course. She just finds him funny. He is very much his own person and has strong opinions on everything that happens around him. Xander loves having her here -- she is quite good at doing what she is told to do!

Mom's visit has been good for Jason as well. He has got a captive audience when he decides to read. I have been impressed. It is work but he has read three of the 'Mr Putter and Tabby' books by Cynthia Rylant. There are words he does not recognize, and with these he needs assistence. He is also like his mother in that he often 'reads' by recognizing the first few letters and selecting an 'appropriate' word from his vocabulary. I explained to him that there are two ways to figure out words. Both have the potential for error: one can 'sound out' words using phonics. This, however, is not full proof as Tom learned when he sounded out the word 'hour.' He saw the words and used it in a sentence to his mother, something to the effect of 'I will be back in a whore and two minutes.' His mother was flabbergasted, probably wondering where he had heard THAT word. She figured it out but the story stuck. The other approach is one I used as a child. I would see a word, not recognized it though I could figure out its meaning by context. When I wanted to pronounce it, I would mix it with a word I did know how to pronounce. One gets some very odd results. The one I remember the best was the word 'Palimino.' I saw the word all the time. Didn't know how to pronounce it. But it looked like the word 'Pomelo' to me so I said 'Pamilo'... sigh. Jason, of course, thought these stories of parental error were wonderful. I then told him 'When people laugh at mispronunciations, and they will, they may laugh out of sympathy. They may laugh because the word sounds funny. I told him 'you can choose to be offended or hurt or you can think 'wow, I made someone laugh!' If you believe that laughter is a gift to the heart, then laughter won't hurt you.' We will see how well that idea takes.

End of the month

Wow, it is the end of March 2007 -- we have survived another year more or less intact. Something for which to be grateful indeed.

My mother is here visiting. She had been going to stay with her sister in Florida while her sister had eye surgery but there was a mix up in scheduling and so that didn't happen. I suggested that in that case, she might want to come see the boys and celebrate Jason's bday a few days late. She agreed. She arrived Wednesday night and Xander in particular was thrilled to have her here. He was buzzing like a little top -- not only had Daddy come home that day but he brought Gma Pat with him. The little fellow was bursting out of his skin with delight. Indeed, his nightly 'I have to use the potty' ritual got an extra boost since he was able to talk with not just his father but his grandmother as well. Sigh.

And yesterday Mom was able to go with us to swimming class. It was amazing. Jason swam like a champ. I am so impressed with his progress. I think back to the fact that he screamed for the first two weeks (when he was a bit younger than Xander). We think he may have 'gravitational insecurity' (Wanting earth under his feet, not liking heights... HEH! That sounds like me!) You wouldn't be able to tell it to look at him now. He swam 6 lengths doing the front crawl, 3 lengths doing the back crawl and 2 widths doing a new stroke (for him) the breast stroke. He did them all with style and energy. And his dive from the side of the pool was beautiful -- hands in first, not plopping in the way most kids do. He was tired at the end of the class but he deserved to be, given how hard he had worked.
Xander also did a bang up job. He kept putting his 'eyes in' for long spells of time and at one point was even imitating his big brother and doing the front crawl! Amazing. Of course, as one might expect with Xander, he would've prefered just to float on his back... he did some of the time... but he did pay attention and, mostly, do what his instructor told him to do. Days like that make me glad that I have them in swimming. It is not cheap, of course, but knowing that they are comfortable in the water and that they have the skills if ever they should need them makes me feel much better -- and besides, swimming is excellent exercise!
As a 'good job' pat on the back, when the boys got up from their rest period, Mom and I took them to Baskin and Robbins. They ate ice-cream and had a wonderful time. Quite a sugar load but once in awhile, it is worth it. Jason ate vanilla ice-cream with M&Ms, Xander ate berry sherbet mix with gummy bears. I watched. (Grin).
And the afternoon got even better because when Tom got home, the sun was shining merrily and the boys were able to play in the back with their daddy and their grandma. Jason, very serious these days about earning and saving money, 'picked' weeds -- his price? A penny a weed. Xander, when he learned of the penny making oppurtunity, was very upset that he hadn't been given the same oppurtunity. He picked me a few 'weeds' -- though they looked more like rocks to me, but what do I know? Xander doesn't have the sense of money that Jason does. He just likes pennies.
Mom tells me that the boys have changed quite a bit in the three months since she saw them: I have to trust her opinion since I don't see the changes in quite the same way. The one definate change that I have seen is that both boys are sleeping better. Xander wakes once or twice, briefly, during the night -- wanting to use the potty or have a drink of water -- but then he goes right back to sleep.

Jason's Birthday

March 26, 2007

Dear heavens! Has it really been six years since Jason was born? Lord. I find it hard to believe. And yet, a part of my heart hurts realizing that it is so. He is getting so tall -- just the other day, getting ready for baseball practice, he put on his bb pants. They were about 6 inches too short. When he put on the bigger pair, they were okay length-wise but much too wide around the waist. He just keeps shooting up and up. And his feet? It looks like he is going to have wide ones. He tried putting on a pair of runners yesterday and they were too tight.. he had worn that pair maybe once. He is growing. Of that there can be no doubt.

We had a small birthday party for him yesterday as his father has gone out of town this morning. John, Donna, Jeff Brewer and John Rose met us at the Applebees in Factoria for breakfast. We had a pirate ship cake and presents and Jason announced, as he was going to bed last night, that it was the best birthday that he has had so far. I told him that I was glad that was so and reminded him that in the morning, we needed to write 'thank you' notes to let everyone who came know that it was so also. He agreed and fell asleep. Poor fellow. He'd not slept the night before -- a combination of congestion from his cold and excitement about the upcoming party. The good news is, he seems to be sleeping well now.

And so... today. Tom left at 5 for the airport. I hope he has a safe and successful trip. I have told the boys that we will have a 'sleep out' in the livingroom tonight -- I will put up the air mattress and make popcorn and they can watch the Scooby Doo mysteries that we borrowed from the library. I hesitate to let them watch a lot of any video but the combination of it being Jason's birthday and their father being out of town, inclines me to make an exception. We will see how it goes. As for the day? It depends on how people feel when they wake. Here is hoping!

They make me smile

Last night boys were playing -- creating wonderful imaginative worlds as usual. Jason had taken a foldable playhouse we have and had set it over a child's rocking chair. This then, became their spaceship and they were happily blasting off to all sorts of interesting places when suddenly Xander said 'I need a hug. Bahbah, will you give me a hug?' Jason turned immediately and said 'Of course, Xander. Here is a hug.' Xander launched himself into his brother and they hugged fiercely for a few moments before resuming the space ship adventures. Tom smiled. "It is nice that they ask each other for hugs." he said. Yes... and then there are the times that they don't! Jason will suddenly grab Xander and squeeze him fiercely and Xander, never one to tolerate his free will being infringed upon, will shriek 'NO BAHBAH DON'T! YOU ARE TOO LITTLE!' Or Xander, in an excess of affection, will tackle Jason from behind (He is REALLY good at WWF takedowns!) and climbing up his now recumbant brother, will wrap his arms around his brother's head and squeezing, shriek 'I love you Bahbah. I am HUGGING YOU!'

Which reminds me of another time: Xander was mad at Jason for some reason and had used his favorite line 'You're too LITTLE!' to express his frustration. Jason, deciding to win this battle, loomed over his brother and announced 'No, I am NOT too little. I am BIGGER than you and if I am too little, then you are too little too!' Oh, this was not well done. Xander glowered at Jason and tackled him. Having knocked his brother to the floor, Xander climbed to his feet and glared down. 'I am bigger than you!' He asserted...

Sigh.

Scooby Doo Mysteries -- Jason style

Scooby Doo and the Monster Chef:

Chapter One:

‘Pizza, here we come!’ shouted Shaggy from the back of the Mystery Machine. ‘Reah! Rizza, rere re rum!’ Scooby seconded.
Velma glanced back from the front seat. ‘Remember guys, we are supposed to be helping make and serve the pizza, not eating it!’
Shaggy grinned. ‘Well, Scooby and I volunteer to be the taste testers. We know all about Pizza, don’t we, Scooby?’
‘Scooby Doo bee do!!’ Scooby agreed as the gang laughed.
Fred pulled the Mystery Machine up in front of a gaudy red and green building. ‘Here we are, guys – ‘Chan Hee’s Pizza Parlor’
‘Like, whoever heard of a Chinese Pizza parlor?’ asked Shaggy.
‘No, Shaggy’ said Daphne, ‘Chan Hee is the owner. He is an old friend of Fred’s father, remember?’
Shaggy shook his head and said to Scooby ‘I still think a Chinese pizza parlor is a weird idea. Are we going to be making the Dim Sum special? Like Pizza with tofu and bean sprouts?’ Scooby giggled and Shaggy laughed as Fred, Velma and Daphne shook their heads.
‘Come on, guys. Joke’s over, let’s go!’ said Velma.
The gang climbed out of the Mystery Machine and began walking towards the restaurant. A tall, slim, blond man came out the front door and saw them. ‘Fred! How wonderful of you to come help with our Grand Opening!’
Shaggy looked at Scooby and raised his eye brows, ‘Chan Hee?’ he asked. The blond man laughed. ‘Yeah, I know. My parents had a weird sense of humor. Dad liked Chinese food SO much that he just had to give me a Chinese name but he didn’t know any. So… he did the next best thing. He named me ‘Chan Hee.’ My full name is Chan Hee Curtis.’ He shook hands with Fred.
Fred then introduced the rest of the gang. ‘Mr. Curtis, this is Daphne, Velma, Scooby, and you already heard from Shaggy.’
Chan Hee nodded at the kids and said, ‘Please, just call me Chan. You guys are doing me a really big favor helping out like this. Seems nobody wants to work at a haunted restaurant.’
‘H…h…h…aunted?’ gulped Shaggy. ‘Wh..wh..what do you mean?’
‘Oh, its just a story.’ Chan Hee assured them. ‘Seems that this place used to be a Chinese restaurant. Story goes that there was a fortune in Chinese gold hidden somewhere on the premises. Then one night, the owner fired the old chef who had helped make the place successful. The old chef left, vowing to return and get his gold. Now some people are claiming that this place is haunted. I’ve never seen the ghost myself.’

The great switch

Well,

We tried the 3 pm swim time. The instructor was a disaster. She held Xander's head under water to get him to do eyes in. He was hysterical. I had to take him out of the water repeatedly to calm him. At the end, he swam and played but then, last evening, he told me what had happened in the class and said, rather plaintively, 'Maybe Ms. Carrie will come back and I can show HER eyes in?' Enough. I lay awake a good part of the night and this morning I called Kinderswimmer. I requested that the boys be switched out of the class. So now we are back to TTH classes, this time at 11 am. Turns out TTH works better for Jason after all -- his baseball game schedule, which we only just received, has his games on MW and Saturday. The class we were in, at 9:30 am, filled up in the interim so we are in at a later time. Sigh. But at least we are back with an instructor that the boys both know and like. We will see how things go on Thursday.

In other, happier news: Trying to turn dross to gold, I have started something that may mushroom out of control -- Jason (and Xander too) love the 'Scooby Doo' Mysteries. They are very definately formulaic and have no real moral value but... since they are formulaic, I have been using them to help Jason recognize writing patterns. We are, in fact, currently 'outlining' one of the stories and Jason is planning to write his own 'Scooby Doo mystery.' I may have to start yet another blog, of the stories he and his brother write. That should be a fun read, don't you think?

Oh, and a heads up: I have added, at the bottom of this blog, a link to the trailer for the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It opens May 25th. Will have to drag Tom off to it for my birthday present!

encouraging words

As a part of the process of potty training, Tom and I always tell the boys that we are proud that they can keep their pants clean. (Sometimes I go too far -- for example, telling Xander that Nemo really doesn't care to be peed on...) Anyway, the other day while I was using the restroom, my two year old came in. After observing me solemnly for several seconds, he asked 'Are your pants clean?' I said 'Yes. Thank you.' He nodded and said 'I am very proud of you for keeping your pants clean, mommy. Good job.' I choked.

Xander is very concerned about peeing -- he is utterly puzzled as to how girls can possibly pee without the 'proper' equipment. Now he is investigating all creatures. Yesterday he asked 'Do cucumbers have peens?' (Larry Boy is a big fellow in our house). My very favorite, though, came after a walk on a nearby trail. I had made the serious mistake of pointing out the slugs and snails on the trail. Xander had to stop and look at every single one and Jason decided he wanted to be carried because he didn't want to squish any of them... Well, when we got home, Xander, who had obviously been thinking about it for quite a while, asked 'Do earthworms have peens?'