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!'