Happy with my Magic Number

One of my friends just had a baby.  We went and visited her and her newest little in the hospital and for the first time EVER, holding a newborn didn't make me want a new one.

Maybe it is because we had had a particularly awesome day.

My three little Curly's had cleaned their rooms to the point where I could actually vacuum without me standing over them or yelling, I just got to praise them (2 beans in ALL the jars!).

They voluntarily played in our yard for 2 hours without coming in and out or begging me to push them on the swing again and again and again.  They blew bubbles and made up games and just had a great time.  Came in all grimy and starving just in time for lunch - WHICH THEY ACTUALLY ATE.

They got along during quiet time, doing worksheets to help prepare for school (which is coming up SO fast) and stayed there until I said they could be free.
Then we went to the ice cream park.  This park is huge and awesome, mostly because they can run everywhere and I can sit on a bench and crochet.  Which is what I did.

For over an hour, my three played together, following my guidance of ignoring the nasty-talking 5th graders who were running around.
As I sat and watched them play, I thanked God for my THREE.  With three, they have all learned to play with kids of varying age and skill levels without leaving anyone out.  They've learned to share and have to wait an "extra" turn out while the other two do something. They've learned sometimes kids who are playing alone don't really want to be alone, but sometimes they do.
(A new little girl showed up and Curly Girl was trying to make friends with her.  The girl finally said "would you please leave me alone, I'm trying to find my friends." I held my breath to see Curly Girl's response, she adores making new friends and is hurt when others won't play with her.  I shouldn't have worried. She turned to her brothers and said "She just wants some alone time, let's go." And moved along.)

Plus, I got really great pictures like this:

(Curly Boy was taking Not Curly to the "secret entrance" into the playset)

So yeah, that's probably why that new little baby didn't fill me with feelings of longing.  I've got three little perfects to fill me up right here.

5, 10, 15, 20, 25 - who's not ready, hollar I! I

He's FIVE.  Curly Boy is FIVE today!  That is JUST NOT RIGHT.

My sweet, funny, loving, cuddly, ornery, tickle-y, "preschool preacher" little man is 5. Happy Birthday Curly Boy!  I am so proud of you and your unashamed love of Jesus, never lose that. I love the joy you have in life, keep spreading it. Don't stop asking for hugs and kisses, don't stop giving them. And always love that curly hair God gave you - I love when you excitedly exclaim that we have the same hair, I hope you always feel that way. In short, never change - keep being you.
I pray God's blessing and provision on your life, that you walk with Him every moment of every day.

 Practicing Kung Fu with his travel pillow

Walking with his "girl friend" at his birthday party

IronMan for Halloween - his favorite super hero!

I still don't have a car(t)

Somedays you just got to let them be kids.

Who needs one of those fancy kid carts with the wheels?  We're sledding through Walmart!

Curly Boy was holding the sugar and pepsi, so he decided his car cart ran off of sugar.

And yes, those are eggs in Not Curly's cart.  Terrifying, he has no sense of driving in a straight line! Or stopping before he hits something!

While this wasn't the fastest way through Walmart, I only needed 4 things, and I made several different employees smile at my two little boys laughing and giggling their way through the aisles.

Post title is a riff off of Ferris Bueller "She got a car, I got a computer..... I still don't have a car.... I could be the Walrus, I'd still have to bum rides off of people."  Love that movie!

Great Acoustics - The Bane of My Existence

This event actually happened before Thanksgiving, but I didn't have a chance to blog then, so here is our story now.

It was the community Thanksgiving service, held at St. Joseph Catholic church.  This was our second attendance, and we already knew it was mainly an older generation service, but we took the whole family anyway.  If Mr. Curly is going to be part of the local ministerial association, than our family is going to participate in local community church events.  Right?  Right.

I should've known it was going to be bad when I herded my three young curly kids into the side entrance where we were greeted by a statue of Jesus.  "They have a Jesus statute here!" Curly Girl exclaimed.  Curly Boy found it pretty amazing too, pointing out the holes in Jesus's hand to Curly Boy 2 (who might start being called Non-Curly, but that's another post).

We made it to, well, in our church we call it the foyer, where we greeted some other pastor friends.  Curly Boy commented on the "stink" of the church - it was either incense or air freshener, I really couldn't tell.  We were waiting for Mr. Curly to park the car and join us.
He finally made it in, and we went into the sanctuary to find a seat, only Mr. Curly got stopped by another pastor.

So I was left with 3 small children who had never been in a Catholic church before and were suddenly met with the holy water fountain.  And huge stained glass windows, and the stations of the cross.  And the best acoustics you will ever find.
"Look, a fountain!"
"Yook, yook, water!"
"Where are the fish?"
"See how the water falls, momma?"
"See those windows! They're huge!"
"What is that statue thing on the wall?"
"Mom - you gotta see this place!!" (this last one was my particularly amazed 2 year old)

I finally shepherded them into the last row, well, second to last row, the last row is for handicap access.  I hushed them, Mr. Curly came in where it started all over.
"Have you seen this?  What are these?  Look at the water!" (Thankfully they didn't see the Catholics blessing themselves with the water, that would've been a whole new thing to exclaim over!)

Have you been in a Catholic church?  A whisper carries all the way to the front.  Well, my children were NOT whispering.  Which means every single person in the place heard all those announcements.

Including when Curly Boy 2 wanted to run the aisles, when he needed to go pee and poop, when Curly Girl complained that the church was too big and she couldn't see the person talking....
And to top it off, Curly Boy was bored so he counted the lights, much like his father once did during a concert of Handel's Messiah that I dragged him too.

I know, I know, they're kids.  Pastor's kids at that, which means they are particularly comfortable in a church building.  And they had never been in a Catholic church before.  But I'm pretty sure I looked like the perfect Christmas ornament with my green shirt and bright red face.





Other titles considered for this blog post:
1. Why I Will Never Go To A Catholic Church Again
2. Why yes, those are the pastor's kids swimming in the holy water
3. Gee, can't you tell we're from a small protestant church?

How I Be a Better Mom

This is a really sensitive post to any mother's out there.  Let's face it, ladies, we're all opinionated when it comes to the best way to parent.

But I learned a big lesson yesterday.

I NEED quiet time.

See, I've always felt that as my kids aged, that quiet time, that nap time, would phase out, and I would just spend every summer day, every holiday, blissfully working and playing with my children every minute from waking until they go to bed (bedtime is not an option, it is a must for my babies for their health and happiness as well as mine and my husbands).

Until yesterday.  Yesterday Curly Boy had pink eye. So when Curly Boy 2 went down for a nap, Curly Boy was still here, not at preschool.
He doesn't need to nap every day, so I told him we would just hang out.  He chose a movie, we did some letter and tracing work, we built a music player out of rubberbands, corkboard and pushpins.  And then I needed to do some work of my own (my bread business, laundry, etc.).

For the next 2 hours, Curly Boy had something he needed, something to say, something that had to be done in my presence every five minutes.

By the time the 2 hours was up, I was ready to snap.  When Curly Boy 2 woke up from a nap crying because he had an accident and Curly Boy followed us to the bathroom, I said in a very forceful tone "You need to leave me alone for just five minutes!"

Mother fail.  
I don't want to say that to my kids!!  It may be true that I need 5 minutes to think, or clean up and comfort a kid, or go to the bathroom, or eat, but that is NOT how I want to get it.

I am NOT ready for quiet time to end.  That quiet time, that hour to 2 hours I get every day -because even on Saturday and Sundays, I still send the non-napping Curly Girl to her room while her brothers nap, Curly Boy uses those days to catch up - I really NEED that time.  To decompress, to clean without interruption, to eat, to read, to whatever.  So that when the quiet time ends, I can meet my children with a smile and renewed patience.

There's a big argument in the Momosphere about this, especially when you stay home, especially when you have babies.  Some argue "I need to be happy to be a good mom" and others argue "It is so selfish to expect time to yourself when you chose to have kids, they come before everything."
You don't hear a lot about the middle ground, which is where I feel I stand - Yes, my children are important.  Right after God and my husband, they come next.  If they need me, I am there, all the time.  If they want me, I am there, most the time.  But in order to be a good mom, to be the best mom I can, I also need a little time, just a little each afternoon, to reset.
I'm not asking for a full-time job, for a day off every week (though every other month is nice), for date nights, or a nanny or cook, I'm just asking for 30-60 minutes at least every day to do something without little voices interrupting, or stumbling over little feet on my way through the house.
So that after that 30-60 minutes I can take joy in little questions, big emotions, and yes, even stumbling over toys.

Two down, one to go

That picture there?  That's my little man Curly Boy walking into his first day of preschool with his Daddy.

I haven't cried about it.... yet.

Now that Curly Girl is in school all day, and Curly Boy is gone for about 2.5 hours a day, right during Curly Boy 2's naptime, I should have it made, huh?

But it doesn't seem to matter how much I rearrange my day, I'm still not getting a lot done.  Makes me kind of sad that my kids are gone. 

Ok, makes me really sad.  I mean, I love when they come home excited about something they did that day, but I miss my kids.  Not so much as to homeschool or anything. I enjoy my down time.  And I know that they will learn better away from me.

Next year Curly Girl and Boy will be gone all day. It will be just me and Curly Boy 2 at home.  That terrifies me!  I have a feeling we'll spend a lot of time running to events where his friends are so he isn't bored at home with just Momma to play with.

I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

After all, I've made it through two....

Home War of the "Mans"

You know.  Superman, Batman, Ironman....

Yesterday we bought Curly Boy his first backpack for school.

We saw one with Ironman, Spiderman, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America on it.  Curly Boy was pretty interested I the Captain America part.
Then we found a CARS backpack, and an Angry Birds backpack.

Then we found them.  The backpacks with 6-pack abs built in - either Superman or Batman.

And I knew it would get dicey.

See, Curly Girl was pushing for the one with Ironman on it.  And Mr. Curly is the biggest Superman fan I know.
And I've been a Batman fan for a long, long time. (I still have a collection of action figures from high school that I can't quite give to the boys yet because I don't want them destroyed!!)

I took the approach of this cartoon I found:

source

 

 

After trying ALL the backpacks on, and thinking about the fact that he would have to carry this backpack for at least two years (maybe more, depending on how beat up it gets, I'm frugal) - Curly Boy went with the Batman.

 

And I suddenly dreaded going home... especially if Mr. Curly learned his little boy had passed up on Superman!!

 

Mr. Curly was a great geek parent though.  He ooohed and aaaahhhed over the backpack, told his son it was awesome, and was appropriately impressed.

 

And Curly Boy is extremely excited to show off his backpack to all the new friends he will make.

 

(And of course I'm totally proud he chose my "man.")

A day alone...

Friday Mr. Curly took all three kids fishing.  I spent 7 hours alone at home.  Guess what I did?

If you thought anything that included sleeping, eating, tv or pinterest, sorry.  I'm much more of a mom than that.

I cleaned.  For 6.5 hours, I cleaned my children's rooms.  Rather than talk you through it.  Here are the before and after pictures.

BEFORE

 

 

 

 

AFTER:   

I moved their shelves to the empty closet space and added command hooks so I could hang up all those big tails those Curly Boys think they just have to have (and I love to make, honestly)!

Our "we're going out" center - hats, coats, shoes - and oh yeah, any dirty laundry from the day!



I used command hooks to hang that pink basket just a few inches
off the floor.  All Curly Girl's pots and pans are under it, food in it,
dishes stacked on top.  It looks SO CUTE!

Another 'head out the door" center.  Curly Girl LOVES having a designated place to keep her slippers!

 We are now all set for a summer of fun!  I'm hoping this new organizational system will help my kids clean their rooms quickly so we can move on to just enjoying the free days!

Whale of a Tale

Happy Birthday, Curly Boy!  You're FOUR!!! 

I'm so glad you had a ton of fun at your Whale Expedition party last night.  I love you!

Running the art....

After I took Curly Girl to the art gallery for the day, Curly Boy has been bugging me to take him on  a long date - just like sissy had!

Here are a few pictures from our time at the Art Gallery.  Needless to say, Curly Boy doesn't appreciate art quite as much as his sister.

This is how Curly Boy experienced most of the art gallery - head down, running in huge circles.

Though this "Christmas Tree" carving caught his attention long enough for me to snap a picture.  His conclusion "That guy must not know what a Christmas tree is!"



We also had a really good time in the hands-on art area.
First it was legos, until he saw the blocks, which held his attention for about 3 seconds, and then it was back to legos.  Not long after we got there, a little 7 year old boy joined us, and the two spent a good 15 minutes building castles, when Curly Boy declared he was ready for his ice cream treat!

It was a decent day, but I definitely need to find some cheap active alternative for my very busy not so little boy!

Trading Spaces: They Hated It

Despite the title, this is not about decorating (that post is tomorrow).  But I did a project with my kids last week that they were just disgusted with, and it made me think of all those great Trading Spaces shows where the people were WAY excited to begin, and at the end.... not so much.

The project: Paper mache' banks.

My kids have been BEGGING me for piggy banks.  Curly Girl has a little silver one, they both had (and destroyed) those Tootsie Roll banks, and they just can't believe I haven't bought them any  more banks to destroy by dumping their pennies out on the floor over and over and over.

When I took Curly Girl to the Art Center, she saw Paper Mache' art for the first time, and thought it would be fun to try.
It was "P" week for Curly Boy - so what better than to focus on paper! (We did several fun things with different types of paper, this one is the best story).

So I cut up 2 ginger ale 20 oz. bottles, mixed up some flour and water, tore up some newspaper.  And we got to work.

My kids were absolutely disgusted.  They thought the goop was slimy, the newspaper got too wet, the bottles felt weird.... every textile thing they could complain about, they did.  This from children who will gladly make mud pies for hours, splash in puddles, eat ranch dip with their hands..... It's ridiculous.




So I made two paper mache' banks. 

They painted them:

And here are the results - awaiting their pennies!

 

 

And you're missing it, BOB!!!

Curly Baby is ADORABLE!!!!  The other night, he ran back and forth through the kitchen and dining room with a flashlight, laughing and screaming with delight.  The lights were off and he was chasing monsters!

He does so many cute things.  Things I remember Curly Girl doing.  But for the life of me, I can't remember when Curly Boy did those things.

I sat for awhile, watching Curly Baby, racking my brain for something cute Curly Boy did at that age.  And then I remembered why I draw such a blank of that time (approximately 22 months of age) - When Curly Boy was 22 months old, I was 6 months pregnant.  I spent every night packing up our house, and every weekend travelling a 6 hour round trip to a town in Iowa that we were planning on moving to full time.
I was stressed, I was tired, and we had a whole lot of stuff going on.

It makes me sad.  I feel like so much of Curly Boy's early life was spent with stressed out, worried, busy parents.
It makes me wonder if that isn't why we have the frustrating times where we just can't communicate with him.

It also makes me want to try harder to spend time just with him before he starts preschool next year.  It makes me try to treasure the fun-loving moments and not worry so much about the hard, teaching moments, when I'm sure he's going to hate me forever because I have to lay down the law.

I know he loves me - he tells me that 20 times a day.  I hope we both remember it as he grows.

Post title from The Incredibles.

Held For Ransom

There's this great little pin on pinterest, that unfortunately I don't have, about a toy ransom box.  I believe the purpose was to teach kids to pick up their toys, or Momma would take them away until they did chores to earn them back.

Well, I have my own little version of this:

My poem says:

TOY RANSOM BOX

You didn't listen

So Momma took it away

Now you have to do a chore

Before it can play!

 

 

We were having distraction issues here in the Curly household.  I'd ask the kids to get shoes, 15 minutes later they were still shoeless playing with some toy they had found along the way.  Or it would take 30 minutes to put on jammies.  Those are just the easy examples.

 

My box is half blue, half pink.  One side holds boy chores that are specific to their room.  The other side holds girl chores specific to Curly Girl's room.  Both sides have household chores like "Put away dishes" "straighten bookshelf" etc.

 

The whole point is to teach focus and follow-through.  Each child has had to use it in the past few days.  My bookshelves look great (the kids section of them, I don't expect them to straighten my books) and Curly Boy's room has no dirty clothes on the floor right now!

 

It is definitely difficult for them - Curly Boy lost a toy while paying ransom for a toy due to distraction.  But it has cut down on repition and yelling and frustration.  I think it will stick around for awhile.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid!

Mr. Curly and I had a choice to make.  Would this be Curly Boy's Red Ryder Christmas?  Or his Weenie Whistle Christmas? (And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to watch "The Christmas Story" and "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen.  And if you can't watch those -then let me know and I'll do a post about them.).

Since September, Curly Boy has been asking for a monster truck. A big one, with buttons.  The expensive one.
We put it on his list, but also explained that you don't always get everything you ask for (his list was extensive and expensive.  Already.  He's only three!).

And we were content with him NOT getting a monster truck.  We thought, we'll get him the 4 gifts (you know - one thing you want, one thing you need, one thing you wear, one thing you read) plus a homemade gift and stocking stuffers.  We already bought him his want - a pretend shotgun with little shells and noises that looks just like Daddy's. 
We thought we could get him the Monster Truck for his birthday in April.  We thought that.

Until Sunday  night.

Sunday night we went to the Pioneer Village - a free Christmas Village with cookies, popcorn, Christmas trees, lights, music, a living nativity, and Santa Claus.  It was probably only 15 degrees with a bitter wind, so no living nativity.  But we got there just shortly after it opened and went to stand in line for Santa right away.

At first, Curly Boy wasn't going to sit on Santa's lap.  Wasn't even going to stand next to him. Wasn't going to talk to him.
The minute Curly Girl hopped up and started chatting though, he changed his mind.

And we had a great Santa.  He talked to the kids about being nice to each other and helping mommy and daddy.  He exclaimed over how big they were getting.  And then, right before they left, he asked what they wanted for Christmas.  Curly Girl wants a purple pony (I have no idea where this came from, she had not asked for one before, and has already recieved a blue unicorn My Little Pony from her aunt) and Curly Boy wants a Monster Truck, with Buttons, a Big One.
Santa said ok, handed them their bag of candy and sent them on their way.

And Curly Boy started to cry.  He thought because he got his picture taken, because he told Santa what he wanted, that he would be getting a monster truck THAT NIGHT.  He was looking for the magic Santa bag that always has the perfect gift in it.

That's when Mr. Curly and I had to decide.  Do we buy the monster truck, blowing the four gifts and the budget out of the water?  Or do we let our son cry on Christmas day because he didn't get the ONE thing he really wanted?









The F-150 Harley Davidson 1:14 scale RC Monster Truck
will be here on Friday.

Merry Christmas!

A little Halloween preview

We never did Halloween growing up. I can only remember 2 years wearing costumes to school.  There was a church Halloween party once.  But usually my mom bought a ton of candy, apples and caramel, and we'd stay home and watch movies.  It was fun, I enjoyed it.

 

Mr. Curly, on the other hand, had very traditional Halloweens.  Costumes, trick or treating, the whole nine yards.  So we do too, kind of.  We limit the trick or treating right now, our kids are little after all, and we guide them in costumes (which we will always do, those "sexy" costumes are ridiculous).

 

This year, Curly Boy went back and forth between a crocodile and batman, finally settling on Crocodile (with angry blue eyes, red tummy, and red spikes down his back).  Here is Curly Girl and I holding him in place for a picture of his completely homemade costume:



 

 

 

Curly Baby is Peter Pan, though once the outfit was all together, it looked more like Robin Hood.  Anyway, he's a guy in green with a little knife belt and felt knife and a cute little hat with a felt red feather.

 

Curly Girl decided she wanted to be a pink tinkerbell.  This picture is from her birthday party.  Being just a month before Halloween, she has always had a themed outfit to wear for her birthdays (1st birthday - lions, 2nd - fish, 3rd - Dorothy, 4th - Ariel, 5th- TinkerBell).  Mr. Curly's aunt made this outfit out of leftover material she had from ice skating costumes.  It is SO fantastic, and we re-used those brand new tights and expensive dance shoes from her dance class!  The leaves in her hair were part of the party favors - leaf crowns for all the fairies at the Great Fairy Campfire birthday party we had.

 

And then we carved pumpkins.  Top Row - Mr. Curly, Mine.  Bottom Row - Curly Baby's, Curly Girl's (She came up with that face all on her own!  And helped Curly Baby with his tiny face), Curly Boy's.  

 

Curly Baby's has a bigger face on the other side.  Shortly after these were placed outside Curly Girl's rotted and fell over, so she got to do another one.  She chose a bigger pumpkin and put 6 eyes and a smiley mouth on it.

Haven't you noticed your sauce is always flat?

Last week at some point, my family was sitting at the table, and we were enforcing our "eat four (or three, depending on age) bites" rule, when suddenly I said "The key is seasoning, haven't you noticed your sauce is always, how shall we say, flat?"

Mr. Curly thought I had lost my mind, the comment came out of nowhere to him.  For me, it was the culmination of my train of thought (and a great quote from a Jungle Jam radio story).

Cooking takes seasoning, and consistency.  Bread dough must have yeast (or baking powder or whatever you're using) mixed through it consistently to rise properly.  Sauce must have seasoning stirred throughout to taste right.
Parenting takes consistency.  We have to work discipline into our child's life, and yet season it with fun to ensure a good end result.

Lately, I feel as if my sauce is a bit flat.  We've been attempting to have fun, but really are just working more on discipline.  Which isn't much fun.

For those of you who follow me on facebook, you know that I made Curly Boy bag up toys to throw away on Friday because he refused to clean.  And I refuse to raise a lazy, ungrateful child.

Throwing them away didn't phase him in the least.  So that night, while he was at a football game with Mr. Curly, I went through each bedroom, sorting toys, getting rid of what we've outgrown, what is broken, what is ignored.
No, I didn't really carry through on my threat to throw things away, but they do all have fewer toys now.

I am frustrated, to say the least.  My kids ALWAYS listen to Mr. Curly, the first time.  It is a constant fight to get them to listen to me.  I tell Curly Girl to put her shoes on while I'm helping Curly Baby into his shoes and jacket, I go get my shoes and jacket, and find Curly Girl on her rocking horse, her socks off, her shoes nowhere to be found.  And she has no clue why I'm upset.
I ask Curly Boy to pick up his toys, I even hand him toys to put away, and he throws himself on the floor screaming "I don't know how to clean!"
Curly Baby, well, he just thinks running from me is funny, so does it regularly.  That I don't mind so much, because he will also clear his dishes from the table, AND his brother's and sissy's without me asking.

I'm trying to work discipline, responsibility, through my children's lives, while also seasoning them with fun.  I'm trying to teach them gratefulness and contentment (which is REALLY hard when you're planning a birthday party and every time you're at the store they say to everything they see "I want that for my birthday!"), for what they have, while still encouraging them to dream of better things.

Kids are like cooking - consistency and seasoning are key. 

I'm not the greatest cook, I've chronicled that here - but I keep trying.  I'm not the world's greatest mom, but I'm trying.

I just hope this season of discipline and consistency passes quickly - I don't want my sauce to be flat anymore.

Curly Kids Unplugged

Yesterday I banned the kids from all electronics.

It probably wasn't the smartest move - I had gotten up at 5:30 to go walking again and at 7:30 was already craving a pepsi, or bed, or both.  But Monday they had spent all day either in front of the TV or the computer screen.  Yes, I got a lot done, but it wasn't so great for them.

So Tuesday - no TV, no computer.

Which also meant no cleaning, because being creative also means being messy.

BUT we had fun anyway (for the most part, school was another issue) so here are the pictures:

The new store window we created out of the bunk bed boxes - in this picture it is a pet store that specializes in grooming and training.  I wanted an animal that had oposable thumbs I could train to cook for me and Curly Girl informed me that the monkeys are for old people, but offered me a nice cat.

After we painted, we moved on the stamping and cutting.

Curly Baby's First Painting!

More of Curly Baby's work - with no VeggieTales, and thus no music to dance to, he decided to shred all the styrofoam from the bunk bed boxes.

Curly Girl teaching Curly Boy his letters - Z is for ZIPPER!!

This week's lessons brought to you by....

This week's lessons brought to you by.... oh, you want to do something different already?

Yep, school time has begun for my active little Curly Boy.  Last week was not disastrous in the "he completely hated it he'll never learn" way, but was really not so hot.

It's an expectation issue.  Curly Boy EXPECTS to do worksheets, because that's what his sister did (Curly Girl LOVED her worksheets).  I EXPECT him to find some way to hold that pencil and draw a straight line (with help, of course).  Curly Boy EXPECTS to have fun.  I EXPECT to struggle with teaching him.

No expectations were met.  Which was good, except for the whole not so fun part.

So we changed it this week.  No worksheets the first two days.  The first day, we painted an Elephant with an E on his tummy (using I Can Teach My Child's Peel Away art idea).

(Curly Boy was immensely proud, so we hung it up as soon as it was dry)

 

 

The second day, we made E's using playdough.  Curly Boy LOVED rolling out the 4 snakes - one long, three short.  And once we put them together I asked "What does this make?"  He INSTANTLY knew that was an E!  We also played Word World's Duck's Alphabet Game - and he had a blast imitating the sound E made and finding words that rhymed with the "e" sound in them.  (Something Curly Girl never loved - she liked to write the letters, to lay them out in order, but she never was big on "what sound does this make").

The third day, we attempted to write the letter E.  Fail.  He prefered to draw his own lines (NOT in an "E" shape) and color in the pictures. 

So I didn't force it.  We "E"levated our arms and learned ""E"very knee shall bow before you" and then played "Imitate the stick figure"

 

I know he's only 3.5 years old, and he's a moving, busy, little boy who wants to get the work over so he can run in circles screaming again.  Our imitation stick figure game is full of lots of goofy poses and giggles and wrestling.  That's good.

 

I'm trying to remember that he IS learning his letters - even if he's not writing them.  And really, recognition and remember the sound is probably more important at this point.  But MAN I hope he can write his name before next fall!

The First Day of School

 




















Curly Girl is a complete social butterfly.  We took pictures before leaving for school, but once we got there, we practically had to hold her down for pictures with Mr. Curly and I - she wanted to go make friends!

 (waiting for Daddy to get the car home so we can go to school!)

All she would tell me about when we picked her up was that she didn't like gym.  In gym they threw puff balls that were squeezy, and bounced basketballs, and she didn't like it.  She did like the snack (apples and milk), and she didn't like mat time, because she wasn't allowed to sit next to "the pink girl" (who is her new friend, but she doesn't know her name).

She is such a crack up!

Curly Boy and I started preschool here at home as well.  He held his marker correctly for about 30 seconds before I said "ok, let's just practice getting our lines straight.  He enjoyed the pages with animals on them, like building squares with Popsicle sticks and even managed to copy a pattern with beads and pipe cleaners.  It didn't just light him up the way Curly Girl would though when I got things out.  I'm definitely going to have to come up with more movement and visual activities - in Sunday School he remembers Bible verses he moves to, and stories he can lay out with pictures.  Which means the patterns are good, but sitting and practicing holding his pencil isn't so fun.

Mr. Curly had a great idea of laying out giant patterns on the living room floor using yarn and letting him run his shapes and letters - I think we'll give that a shot tomorrow!  After all, his favorite song at church is "Running, running, to our church!"

Getting ready for school!

I'm taking a little break on Monday afternoon (this will post tomorrow morning) to blog about what I'm doing today....

I am getting ready for the first day of school!

I had to find "accident" clothes for Curly Girl to keep at school.  It was harder than I thought - something that fits, looks decent, but she won't miss if it isn't here.... we're so blessed to have plenty to choose from for her!

I started copying coloring and workbook pages for Curly Boy, as he is excited to start school with me tomorrow.  It will be an interesting first day.  With Curly Girl, we just plopped on the floor and began.  I'm giving Curly Boy his choice of where to sit - couch with TV tray, floor, dining room table, or little desk in the corner (to be fair, Curly Girl had all these choices, she just preferred the living room floor).  And once we're "settled" we have to see what he wants to start with!
Curly Girl was great with "we're going to do this, then this, then this" and she usually chose what to start with, we'll see how Curly Boy does when given so many options!

I am rearranging our "display" corner to include a calendar and to make room for the many art projects I'm expecting Curly Girl to bring home (she will also begin art classes at the Art Center next week).  Currently our display corner holds a Prayer poem to remind us how to pray and 2 pictures of whales - one of Curly Girl's and one of Curly Boy's.  But they have been up there for awhile, so down they come to make room for the newest creations.

I am not only making lesson plans for Curly Boy, but I'm also already preparing for the days Curly Girl has off - putting together letter beads and counting games for her to do while Curly Boy does school.

I need to clean out and organize our homeschool basket so Curly Boy can get to all his supplies and find his papers.  We may need to buy a new folder!  I believe Curly Girl bogarted last years folder to use for her princess pictures!

So I should get back to work.  Are you waiting with bated breath to see how the first day of school went?