A few things that I wanted to write down from little happenings this past week - and I'm working to get my pictures onto a post. My camera broke last fall, and all my pictures have been on my iphone. Which I have no idea how to download to the computer - and was ready to try during Christmas break, but when Bryson went to sync his phone to his computer, he lost all of his information. Everything. I don't want to lose my pictures, and I've never downloaded anything from my phone (I know, I'm pathetic with technology)....so I email my pictures one at a time, and it is taking forever! Therefore, pictures will come at some point.
JACOB:
Yesterday before his preschool started we were working on his letters. He knows all his letters and sounds - something I wish I could take credit for, but he wasn't really interested in learning the alphabet with me....it was once he went into his pre-k class and Ms. Haya worked her magic. Love that lady.
Now Jacob goes around singing his alphabet and saying all the sounds and will do mini-lessons with me when he is in a good mood. Today we had a cherry on top experience. When I picked him up from class, Ms. Haya had me come in to see what Jacob had worked on that day. He had drawn a picture of our family, and underneath with her help he had sounded out and spelled 'Mi Famile' - yahoo Jacob! Seriously it amazes me what these children pick up on and how fast they are learning.
Other Jacob news - he got 2 boxes of Band-Aids for Christmas and has had at least one band-aid on his body at all times since then. My favorite was the Scooby-Doo band-aid that was on his forehead for at least 10 days. EVERYONE would ask him what had happened, and his response was always, "I was trying to take it off". Hmmmmm....we were all a bit confused. I would then whisper that he got band-aids for Christmas, and they were Scooby-Doo, and so then the person would nod knowingly at me. I finally realized that I needed to get the band-aid off his forehead, or there would have been a permanent mark.
Jacob makes us laugh.
Except when he is grumpy. When he is not in a good mood and does not want to do something, he will shout "NEVER"! Sometimes it's funny....sometimes it drives me nuts. Still, we love that boy.
BRYSON JR.:
Last week I was in my new cleaning routine, and found my egg cups that I got when I nannied in Paris. I was ready to throw them out...I have yet to use them, but then I remembered that I have a little boy that doesn't just like eggs - he loves them! So, one morning I boiled 3 minute eggs, and cut up the toast into little fingers (strips) and served the new breakfast to Bryson. The result - one of his new favorite meals! He couldn't get over how great it was to have his own toast strips to dip into the egg, and how awesome it was to have an egg sitting in its' own cup.
I love how easily entertained children can be. :)
In other news: Bryson's favorite subject is writing - which both the teacher and I love but are a bit puzzled over. Last year it would take him forever to get a story written out and he would protest writing anything. I suppose he has finally found his niche with writing. Hooray! With the love of writing, he loves-loves reading. One day he wasn't feeling good, so he stayed home from school and he enjoyed laying in bed and finishing one of his 'A to Z Mystery Books'. I wasn't sure if we would have anyone that loves reading as much as Madeleine - but thankfully Bryson seems to be holding his own in this area!
He is working on waking up more happily each day, something that he was not really great at. In fact, mornings were a time of day I dreaded. There was yelling, pretending to be asleep, not getting dressed - and just an overall horrible start to the day. Last week we did a FHE lesson on goal setting, and to make it something that the children could really understand and do - I decided to take areas that we wanted to improve in our family & home and divide those into monthly themes. The them we are working on in January is our MORNING ROUTINE. We each picked something from just our morning routine that would help our family and the spirit in our home. What a difference this made for Bryson to be working on a specific goal - and he did a much better job at waking up, and it made such a difference for the feeling in our home, and he loved putting the smiley face on his chart each day and working towards a reward. Now - if we can remember to keep those goals going for the 2nd week in a row and working on our new goal as well! Baby steps.
Bryson had a little Open House at his Tap Class this past Monday, and really rocked the coffee grinder move, and is excited to sign up for another season of tap. He's got rhythm..who could ask for anything more?!
MADELEINE:
Was given the role as Class President of her 4th Grade by her teacher (the student that reached 100 points first was given the role as President) and is thrilled with everything about school. Last week as we were walking out at the end of the school day, her science teacher saw her in the hall with Bryson Jr. and Jacob and she told her, "I didn't know you had two brothers! Wow - you must have a lot of patience!" I told her she definitely was an angel around our house, and the teacher started to go on and on about how much she adored Madeleine and was so impressed with how smart she is and that she gets along so easily with all students and is someone the teacher can count on. Madeleine was beaming in her quiet/shy way, and I was filled up with immense gratitude for this girl. I gave her a big hug as we exited the building and told her how much I loved her. That was a great day.
Madeleine took her goal seriously to get up early and practice the piano each day, and she even recognized the need to remind me to get to bed earlier each night so I could make my goal of getting up on time each day. She is usually my alarm clock - she has an internal button that the rest of us don't have, and will get up at the same time each day....as always, she is super reliable.
She also had her Open House for ballet - both she and Bryson have dance class the same nights...thankfully! She did a wonderful job, with another year of ballet she is become more graceful and is picking up on the steps very quickly. The main thing we are working on: flexibility. In my family we are not naturally flexible. It takes work - and a lot of it, to get our muscles to the point of being able to do what other people take for granted. The good news, as the teacher was doing her stretches and touching her foot to her forehead....she said she was the same way when she was a little girl. Now, we are working with Madeleine to get her ready for a ballet audition at a school in the city. It would be where she would go to school next year if she made the audition. We are exploring so many options right now with schools, moving, etc. - that I figured it would be worth it to have her audition and see what happens.
Unless we move out to Westchester before then.
The rest of the family:
We still aren't sure what we are doing regarding a move, and we need to know by TUESDAY! Yes, that is in 5 days. And crazy enough, we aren't that stressed about it. I think we are in denial.
I'll write more and fill in pictures later - I need to get these kiddos over to a friends' place to play, outside to play in the snow and a quick drive over to Costco - hoping that the drivers aren't more crazy today with the snow....it's always an adventure driving here, and with the snow it could be a lot more interesting.
Until later.
1 comment:
This is Nate - what's this talk about moving? Fill me in. It's really fun to read about your kids. It gives me peace, because I get to see where my kids are going and it's not such a scary unknown. And it's fun that they're (our kids and yours) really not too far apart from each other, in adult years, that is ;)
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