See how we spend our afternoons?
It's hard to get them to stop together for a photo, so I did my best at an action shot :)
Kites and bikes
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So it begins…
The first item is “coloring books” but he got too lazy to finish it. That’s how much he wants them! :)
Happy Birthday Rosy!
Rosy came to visit us for her birthday. Aren’t we lucky?!?!? I think we are! She stole me away for a Zumba class and a big sale at King Arthur. Then we had a little party with the grandparents. A good weekend!
I made a Hershey chocolate bundt cake with milk chocolate ganache on top and coconut shavings. Eve helped me decorate the cake.
Some for the cake...
... and some for Eve.
After dinner she opened presents, again with help from Eve.
Present time!
The birthday girl!
New bike!
I got Eve a big girl bike from freecycle, Alan put training wheels on it and Eve loves it!
Reading is awesome!
Lex can read. Really, seriously read. Have I mentioned this lately? I tend to take it for granted since he’s been reading for years (what 5yr old hasn’t?!?) but every now and then it really strikes me. Like yesterday when he told me that saliva is another name for spit. “I read that in The Encyclopedia of the Human Body!” he tells me. Or this morning when he sat on the couch for quite awhile reading a Raggedy Ann book, a 93 page chapter book with very few pictures. He whizzed right through it. A few days ago we were sitting on the couch together and he was reading a Magic Tree House book while I waited for Eve to pick out a book for me to read to her. I started reading over his shoulder and I was barely finishing pages before he was turning them. Mind blowing! At lunch today he informed me that he is not color blind and that his tongue was playing tricks on his brain. He then gave me lots of details about color blindness and taste buds. Separate thoughts, of course. Awhile ago he stopped reading in the car and it was pure torture. I’ve always considered him a great traveler and it only sort of occurred to me that it’s because he reads. When he stopped reading in the car he whined and complained the whole way to my parents house. Fortunately we figured out the problem and he’s reading again. Whew!
The only down side to this is I have to be careful of the content he reads. I was going to buy him some books at a yard sale last weekend, but they are aimed at 5th and 6th graders and seemed to have some ideas that I don’t want him to have yet. Along the lines of school bullying, teasing, harassing the teacher, etc. Things that might be funny for 12yr olds, but I’m not ready for him to have that exposure yet.
I’m just so proud of him lately. He has been overcoming his fears and accomplishing some big things lately. Sitting at the table, eating a few things, learning to wipe himself, wiggling that tooth until it came out… all things that don’t seem monumental, but to him I know they are. He even asked me today what we’re having for dinner. I told him and he said, “Don’t forget the carrots. They are my favorite!” :) He worked (and continues to work) hard and I’m so proud of him. I love the boy he is growing into.
Here are a few pics from our week…
Eve pouting, playfully, at Walgreens
Our own piece of heaven, our new favorite blueberry patch.
"C'mon mom!" he calls to me.
Happy Blueberry Eve
Eve checks out the hair dryer while...
Lex gets a much needed haircut.
Climbing boy
"I can do it. I'm very strong!" she encourages herself, all the way up and back down.
Lex filled his pockets with rocks, with Eve's help, and then happily told me "Mom, I have rockets in my pockets!" He is big into rhyming these days :)
Those rocks, as well as a few we painted eons ago, made their way into the elaborate train setup covering my living room floor.
We went to the science museum this morning and ended up taking a walk on the nature trails. It was fun.
BREAKTHROUGH!!
Oh what a day! Besides the obvious niceties (running errands, happy stories, a trip to the blueberry patch) Lex surprised me by joining us for dinner tonight! Alan said he joined them for dinner last night, but I wasn’t around so it doesn’t count! :) Tonight he ate about three full carrots and half a cucumber (cumbercue, he calls them, just to make me laugh) and he sat with us the whole time. He even smelled the rest of the dinner and asked what was in it. Oh happy day!
Then… to top off the evening, he got his tooth out!! All by himself! For the past few days he’s been letting Alan and I wiggle it and gently pull on it. Tonight he said it was really loose and while we read stories he worked on it. He figured out that he could push it in such a way that it seemed to get looser, so he did. While we were laying down (lights out, all settled) he said, “I think it’s out!” Lights back on, lots of cheering and jumping about. Yay! He has been so brave lately. I really admire him and I’m so proud of how rational he can be, when given the chance. We are working on big (for him) changes around here and he’s holding up really well. I think I need to go squeeze him now! :)
A family-rific weekend
We celebrated Grandpa’s 85th birthday in traditional style, early! It was great. Tons of food (this family likes to feed!), fun games, and nap time for everyone. I’m not feeling very verbose at the moment, but I didn’t want to delay this post for too long, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking. (Click on the picture for a Google Picasa album. Let me know if you have any trouble with it.)
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| Grandpa’s 85th Birthday Party |
A new beach!
Today we decided to try out a new beach. I actually told the kids about it a week or two ago because my friend and I were thinking of going, but those plans fell through and we didn’t make it. The kids have been talking about it ever since! Lex even made one of his train lines go there, even though he had never actually been! So this morning we packed up and headed to the pond.
Lex discovered the thrill of running into the water until you fall over. Always a favorite :)
This place has a full snack bar. We got a cookie sandwich to share. Yum!
Also today, I mentioned cleaning the mudroom and Lex politely declined but Eve was all over it. She got the shoes out and lined up all by herself, got the room about 80% swept, and brought all the shoes back in. Really helpful!
This afternoon Eve and I made granola bars. She loves squishing her hands in things. :)
Irises
Check out my new garden work! I spent the morning transplanting irises (after spending two days digging them up and separating them!) I didn’t want them back in the same bed, so I put some in the front garden, some by the mailbox, and many, MANY more in plastic bags to give away! :) I can’t believe how many were packed into that tiny space.
As I separated them I threw them into our kiddie pool. It filled the pool and then some!
New foliage around the mailbox.
There was a bare spot in this front garden (not sure why), so I put some irises there as well.
Now for the day three update. Tired of this potentially never ending story yet? I got Lex to look at the table tonight before he scurried upstairs. I made the most basic kid-friendly meal possible – Annie’s DW mac & cheese, steamed broccoli, and fried tofu, with carrots and cucumbers on the side, both veggies he normally eats, but he wasn’t interested. Oh well. He was quiet upstairs and went to bed without much fuss. Though he did say “I’m ready for this new meal plan thing to be over with soon!” :) I told him it would not be over with anytime soon and once again encouraged him to work with me to find meals he might be willing to try. Guess what he said?! NO! Sigh. At least the rest of us are eating well. Eve loved the mac & cheese, which in the past she would never taste because he wouldn’t either. She ate that and broccoli and was happy.
However, the lack of dinner doesn’t appear to be affecting his brain power. Check out the train setup he made today. It’s the first time I’ve seen him raise the station and build tracks under it. Cool, huh?! Earlier today he was elevating all of the tracks with random things, like flipped over cars and monster truck tires. It was awesome to watch him experiment. He even put the station on the end table at one point and had hills going over the arm of the couch and down to the cushions. He was excited about that, but took it down when I told him he couldn’t leave it that way over night. Where would I sit?! :) So he rebuilt on the floor.
Day two
Tonight’s meal went much the same as last night’s with one small exception. I explained to Lex (again) that family meals are so we can all sit together as a family and spend time together. I told him that he doesn’t have to eat, but I would like him to join us at the table. Unfortunately I cannot force him to sit at the table, so I gave him the choice of joining us (eating or not), or being alone in his room. No playing. Guess what he chose? A good book in bed. Sigh. At least he didn’t fight about it and didn’t mention once tonight that he was hungry. When I was laying in bed with him at the end he said he wasn’t going to eat any dinner until it was something he liked and there was nothing on the menu that he liked. I told him that I would be happy to work with him to find dinner ideas that he likes, but cereal and yogurt (breakfast foods!) do not cut it as a family dinners. Sometimes they do, of course, but not for now. :) So we will try again tomorrow. At least he made it through the night last night, slept until a reasonable hour (6:30am, which is great in our house!) and didn’t even want to eat the minute he came downstairs.
Thanks all for the advice and support. Much appreciated and I’ll incorporate ideas as I can.