Shoes

My boys have stinky feet. Really stinky... and we've always bought shoes at Stride Rite in order to get the Xtra Wide variety. We got some cute "little boy" shoes (just white leather tennis shoes with navy accents - both pair the same - with velcro) at an outlet this summer, and I washed them a few days ago. Those things still stink!! I just don't know what to do with them.

Well, last night we were at Kohls and had a coupon, so I decided to take a peek at the boys shoes to see what was there that might fit. We got Todd some Carter's light up shoes with all sorts of sports balls on them. I think they are a bit on the snug side after seeing him wear them today, but he promises that they feel alright. We got them a bit bigger since they didn't come in Wide. The price was right, though, even if they don't last forever!

We also got Ty some shoes (again - just the right price! woohoo!) with LACES. This morning - before 7:00 - he came out of his room and his first words were, "It's time for some shoe tying lessons". I encouraged him to wait at least until we got dressed and were ready to put on shoes, and he did. He put one shoe on his foot and I held the other in front of me while he sat beside me to emulate what I did. It took me a second to figure out how I actually tie my shoes so that I could effectively demonstrate, but I went step by step and he followed along. Then, he was ready to try the other shoe on his foot. He needed a little bit of help at the end holding the "loop" out of the way while he pulled the other loop through. He was quite proud, though, that he tied his shoes. He was REALLY proud, though, when he finished at birthday party number 1 (at a Gymnastics place) and tied BOTH of his shoes with no help whatsoever. He did it again after Cooper's party at Monkey Joe's tonight. It takes him a little bit of time to get it done, but I think he is really proud to wear laces in his shoes.

Last night I told him that he couldn't wear the new shoes to school until he was able to tie them himself, but clearly that didn't take too long. He is looking forward to going to school on Monday morning and showing Mrs. Moody and Mrs. Thompson so that he can get his name on the "shoe wall" and get his special pair of laces! (I think they are neon green!!) I think it is pretty cool that at least 2 of Ty's assignments on his "homework" chart have been "practice tying your shoes". What an appropriate Kindergarten homework task! Too bad we haven't actually done it until today.... we've done the other things, though! It was kind of hard for Ty to practice without lace up shoes!

So literal

I told Ty that our friend, Patrick, got his baby on Tuesday. He asked what the baby's name was. I told him he was "Baby Isaac". Ty giggled and said,

"That's going to be funny in -like- 3rd grade when his friends are calling him Baby Isaac."

He's so literal!

Happy Halloween

Todd's class dressed up for their Trick or Treat Parade

Set the date...

When I told Ty that we had decided that December 19th would be the date when the doctor will take the baby out, he said, "Oh good - then I can see what I looked like when I was a baby."

I said, "Well, the baby might not look quite like you did."

Ty said, "Right. He could have different color hair, or different color eyes.... or maybe even dark brown skin."

Well, buddy.....not so sure about ALL of that.

Ty's Poem

LEAVES FALL OFF THE TREES

LEAVES FALL OFF IN THE FALL ALL THE TIME.

WHEN THEY FALL OFF, THEY GO

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

UNDER MY FEET.

AND WHEN THEY CRUNCH, THEY SMASH.

THEY GO CKSH, CKSH, CKSH.

For as often as Ty and Todd comment on rhyming words, I couldn't get him to put any rhymes in his poem. I am not sure he's got the idea of what a poem is, but this is his entry into the "Poem, Pumpkin, or Picture" contest for school tomorrow. Of course, we literally spent about 5 minutes on it, and it was "just right" the first time and didn't require any rewriting on his part. I let him type the title, and when it was 8:15 I took over the typing so that we could finish before tomorrow morning when it is due. He did decide to draw some leaves at the bottom of the page and color them. I didn't really give him the option of decorating a pumpkin or drawing a picture, so I am just proud of him for thinking it would be so fun to write his very own poem. (He told me that he already had one in his head. I am hoping this isn't really similar to one they have read in class recently! I am just happy that he at least has some onomatopoeia in it. I just really wanted to type that word today!)

Folder?

The other night Todd was practicing folding a baby blanket (I think ... it might have been a towel, though). He folds it, unfolds it, rolls it up, unrolls it, folds it, etc.... over and over again. Miama said, "Todd, you're a good folder." In all seriousness, he looks at her questioningly and says, "I do not hold papers." (HA HA HA!)

Hi-ya-tee Man

Tonight Todd told me that he wanted to try to be the Hi-ya-tee Man, and I had no idea what he was talking about... until he started karate kicking and yelling "HiYa!" It was pretty funny to watch him balance on one foot with his hands in the air yelling - apparently, they had a visitor at school this week!

Conference with Todd's Teacher

I met with Mrs. Sierra today for conferences (so nice of them to schedule these on my fall break), and she gave me Todd's report card.

On the back, she wrote, "Todd is a sponge! He learns very quickly and retains information well. He always tries to make the other kids laugh. He's a lot of fun to have in class." That's pretty much how we feel about him at home, too!

She pointed out a few things about his report card. First, she said that he was by far the best in the class at all of the "math" skills on the list. She said, "Wonder where he got that." She said that he clearly has interest in that as well, and that helps. She also said he was really good with letters and that she's been so impressed with how well he is picking up the sign language for the alphabet! On his report, there are check-plus and check marks. The check-plus marks mean that she observes this skill consistently, and the checks mean that she has seen it (just maybe not every single day). He has the most Check-Plus marks in "Physical", "Mathematical", "Scientific", "Communicating", "Literacy", and considerably fewer in the "Creative Me". Interesting!

I think the most important thing she told me was that he KNOWS all of the rules in the classroom (like 'no running' and 'put things away when you are done with them'), but he doesn't always follow them. We need to work on being a better listener and following instructions the first time he is asked. (Again, pretty much what we see at home as well!) I appreciate that she is so honest with us. She CLEARLY loves Todd a ton, and he loves her right back. I encouraged her to use a time out or "thinking" chair with him if he chooses not to listen to her the first time she asks him to do something. (I also encouraged her to not give him a ton of warnings. He works better when he knows that someone expects him to follow instructions without being asked a bunch.) While she was talking, I remembered a day a few weeks ago when Todd met me at his classroom door saying, "I got in a little bit of trouble today because I little-bit-disobeyed." Behind him (where he couldn't see her at all), Mrs. Sierra mouthed to me, "And he's just so cute about it that I really can't be mad!" Overall, he's a normal, happy 3-year old boy!

When Mrs. Sierra was talking about her own son (who just turned 2), I was reminded of the time a couple of months ago when Todd wanted to be a helper and fix a water drink for Ty. Todd had gotten a clean cup out of the dishwasher to fix Ty some water, but Ty wanted a different cup. When Ty got a cup out of the cabinet and filled it with ice and water, Todd got very sad that he couldn't be the helper. He pouted and glared at Ty across the room. I encouraged Todd just to use the cup and make himself a water drink. He glared some more and finally got up and went to the refrigerator and put water (no ice) in the cup and headed to the table where Ty was sitting. "Whew - He's cooling off and having a drink", I thought. I was quite surprised, though, when Todd marched right over to Ty and poured that entire cup of water on Ty's head. I sent Todd straight to time out because I was laughing so hard that I didn't need Todd to see me laugh hysterically about something he had clearly done wrong. Luckily, Ty's hair texture just makes water run right off of it (kind of like a labrador retreiver - makes hairwashing really fun), so he just got a dribble on his shirt and a puddle on the floor. I can't imagine that is the last time we'll see Todd get revenge as they grow up!

Return to Kindergarten

I don't know how Kindergarten teachers do it. I spent 2 hours with Ty's class this morning, and I am amazed at how much planning an patience are required. (I don't know when those teachers do their planning, either. It's not just a matter of planning what to do - but they have to have things in baggies or boxes or baskets ready to go in a turn around time of about 15 minutes because the kids can't concentrate on one thing much longer than that. Whew!)

I worked with kids in the art center, and it was a bit trying for me because they had to lace and tie shoes - and none of these kids know how to tie yarn in a bow (even the 2 that claimed they could tie their shoes). There was an observer that came in and made notes about things all over the classroom, too. I am really hoping that was just an interested party rather than someone who was actually scoring the teacher on something today. Talk about pressure!

The kids were great, and I have a whole new connection now when Ty mentions the kids in his class. I will be able to picture the kids (like the little girl who took FOREVER to cut because she was trying to write all 15 million letters of her name before she did her cutting - and she was so easily distracted.) I am curious to know how their groups were chosen for the day - there were clearly some challenges in each group. I also have a new appreciation for how Ty fits into the mix now as well. Now I believe his teacher when she says that he is a perfectly normal kindergartener! (I also have a bit of an appreciation for the fact that I have BOYS instead of girls. Whew - some of those little girls would wear me out -particularly the one who made crocodile tears because a friend tried to help her write the letter N and it was too big.)

I also stayed through lunch, but I didn't eat - just hung out with Ty and the kids at his lunch table. It was fun until it was cleanup time, and Ty was trying to tap the rest of his food off of his tray and his tray accidentally hit another kid's tray....and that one sent food all over the floor. Luckily, they have a swift janitor with a good broom who took care of it all pretty quickly, but Ty felt badly.

First Parent - Teacher Conference

We went to our first parent-teacher conference tonight. Here are the hi-lights.

Even though Ty's birthday is in May, he's pretty much in the middle of his class age-wise. There are about 8 students younger than he is and 11 (or so) older. He did well on the main portion of the kindergarten pre-assessment before school started, but he did NOT do well on the parts where he was given 1 minute and told to identify as many letters (and letter sounds) as he could. Interesting. (I am wondering if he just didn't understand the whole "one minute - work quickly" concept.) He is at a 3 reading level, and he needs to get to a 4 before he leaves kindergarten. She predicts that he'll easily surpass that. She was particularly impressed with his writing assessment (score of 5 on a scale of 1-6) where he had drawn pictures of things he did this summer and had written sentences (on his own) to describe the pictures). I wish I had taken pictures of it when he brought it home to show us. She had asked him to bring it back to school, and I am glad that he remembered he was supposed to do that so we didn't get in trouble!

She said that he needed to work on being less social during work time. Apparently, he is capable of getting all of his work done while he is chitter-chattering, but his classmates tend to stop what they are doing to listen to him and talk with him. We also need to work on not making random noises (like a clicking sound). She did say that he always stopped when she asked him to, and we noticed him making silly sounds like that tonight. I bet he does it lots and neither he nor we even notice he is doing it. We'll definitely work on making sure that we try to diminish that a bit.

On another note - last Friday's homework (which we just did tonight) was to list 5 "short o" sound words. Ty's list: October, Nocturnal, Lock, knock, and something else I can't remember. Todd's list: Todd and God. :)

Goal x 2

This second season of soccer has been a bit challenging. Our coach is certainly not patient (nor is he always present... nor is he always prepared), so it's a struggle for me as mom. (Seriously - after the first practice he ran, I seriously considered just telling Ty that the soccer season was over. The next practice was rained out, so we've really only had one practice with him. Hopefully it will get better as his expectations adjust to the kids' ability levels.) We decided to play at a different place this year than we played last year just because it is so close to our house. It turns out that they only had enough kids for 2 teams in each age group, so we play against the same team every week. At this level, I have absolutely NO problem with that. I do have a bit of a problem with the fact that I think we have lost the spirit of the Upward Soccer program at this church. They do not make sure that kids get equal playing time (not because the league director hasn't encouraged it, either), and they don't focus on having fun and learning about being a team. His coach also doesn't always do the devotional time with them, and they all get the same color star each week.

There's one kid (coach's son) on our team who will score all of the goals every week..... until he's not there. Last Saturday, he wasn't there, and Ty and another little boy stepped up and each scored 2 goals. Ty went the entire season last year and never even came close to thinking about scoring a goal, so this was a HUGE deal for him. We were so proud of him! He's always been the type of kid to taste just a little bit of success to know he could do it, and after he scored that first goal he really focused and worked to get another one.

Woohoo for Ty! I think he's starting to enjoy soccer - despite the less than ideal situation from this Mama's viewpoint. Today on the way home from his game he said, "Ahhh... I just had to work hard at soccer before I really started to like it." Guess we're getting something out of it after all!

He's proud of himself

So proud that this morning before school he drew a picture of himself riding his bike (in the yard because that's pretty much where he rides so that it's a soft landing if he falls).

Riding bikes and Playing Football

Ty didn't really ride more than about 15 minutes yesterday, so he wanted to get in some good riding time today. He's riding like a pro now!

Todd, on the other hand, went looking for a golf club and came back instead with a football and a stake that goes with the horseshoes game. He wanted Ty to help him use the stake to dig a hole in the ground so that he could stand the football on end (with the point down in the hole) so that he could kick it. Papa decided it would be easier to use the bat to hold the ball. Later, we got a ring of packing tape and used it for a while (until he decided that Miama needed to RUN out onto the field to take the ball holder off of the 'football field'). Papa offered to bring home his field marker paint to paint a football field on the yard so that Todd didn't have to run to the porch to have a touch down. (Mama is a bit worried that Todd will face plant into the concrete sidewalk!)

I got Daniel a Cracker Barrel rocking chair for his birthday...... then he got me one for mine. (Ty was worried that wouldn't be a good present for me, but I think it is perfect! I almost bought two of them for Daniel for his birthday and then I decided that probably wasn't fair to buy something for me for his birthday. Glad he could pick up on a good idea, though!) They are perfect for our front porch and enjoying this great fall weather we've been having this week! I am thinking that they might get moved inside for the winter time so that we can have a "baby holding" chair in every room!

QOTD

Ty's question of the day, "Mama, what does fart mean?"

I, of course, had to stifle the laughter before I could answer. I told him it was a not-very-nice way of saying "toot". Then, I repeated that it was not really a nice way of saying that.

His reply - "Mama, I knew what you meant. You didn't have to say it twice - that it wasn't a nice way to say something."

Apparently, there is a little girl in his room who hasn't learned that this is a "not-so-nice" word.... He said that he didn't know what she was talking about when she said that, but he didn't want to ask her what it was! Too funny!!!

Bike Riding

When we got home from school today, Ty said he didn't really want to ride his bike because it was leaning (one training wheel was higher than the other). Papa had just gotten home, so I told Ty to go ask Papa if he could fix his bike. Then, I had a second thought and asked him if he just wanted to ask Papa to take his training wheels off. He decided YES that would be a good idea. (For a moment, I thought it might be better to wait until Daddy got home to see this...but since Ty was willing, I decided we should go ahead and do it before he had time to overthink it and get scared.)

Within a few moments, he was riding easily down the little hill (Papa's driveway) and through our yard - even around in a circle! Papa started him off a bunch of times, and then he taught him how to get on the bike without someone holding it. Daddy taught him how to get on the bike without even being on the little hill so that he could ride straight through the grass. After 90 minutes of solid bike riding (with a few falls and a bit of crying thrown in), he was exhausted. I anticipate that he'll be doing this every day after school for a while!

A field trip?

Last night (after Ty's soccer coach didn't show up for practice and the coach of the other team had to 'adopt' Ty's team and run two practices at once), we were driving to Chili's for St. Jude night. Ty rode with Daddy, and Todd rode with me. On the way, Ty told Daddy a bit about his day. This included a "field trip" to a dinosaur museum that was just for kids from a school group to come see. He said that he got to pick his own seat on the bus, and he got to pick which bus he went on. (He chose bus 158 since most of the kids in his class - like 15, according to him - ride that bus.) That bus driver didn't make the kindergarteners sit in the front like his driver does, so he sat in the back with his friend, Greta, from across the street. The teachers didn't even ride on his bus! They got to ride on a special bus just for teachers. It was REALLY cool to see all of the dinosaur bones...and all the school went - not just the kindergarten.

Meanwhile, Daddy and I are worried sick that we didn't see the permission form for this trip. We were really upset that they would even take a child somewhere without the permission form....and I was particularly upset that I didn't have him wear the proper shirt that he's supposed to wear for field trips since I didn't know about it. I even emailed Greta's mom to ask if she knew about the field trip.... glad I didn't call the school! After run club today, I asked another neighbor about the field trip policy at school. She assured me that they were usually on Fridays and that they always send out permission forms well in advance. She said that the communication is always excellent, and they'd never take our kids somewhere without us knowing about it. (This is what I thought, but I felt better hearing it from her.) When Ty got in the car, I asked him whether his fieldtrip was pretend or real.

Needless to say, we had a big talk about the importance of a fun imagination (so creative!) and the importance of making sure someone knows when you are pretending a story and when you are telling the truth. No punishment this time... but the next time this happens, it will be pretty serious! I can't believe this will be the last embellished story we'll ever get!

More Football

We went to the football game at school again tonight, and Todd's first comment (after the first play he saw) was, "Oh my - they got all mixed up". As he said "mixed up", he wiggled his hands in front of his face together. Too funny! On our way to the car later, he was commenting on when our shadows were mixed up and when they were separate. Mind you, these were shadows from the very dimly lit campus - it was pretty hard to see them, but he thinks shadows are REALLY cool and looks for them all the time!

When we got home and ready for bed, he had to go potty while we were rocking. He RAN to the bathroom and missed the bathroom door and completely nailed himself on the door frame and fell completely down on the floor on his back (picture something you'd see on a cartoon). No tears or complaints at all.... he just said, 'Wow - that was just like playing football!"

Football according to Todd

"Mama, those boys with the black helmets just pushed down all of the red helmet guys. I think the black helmet players all need a little time out for that."

Friday was the first night he has EVER paid attention to the football game. The ladies in front of us thought he was way too cute when he said this!

Conversations with Todd

As he's eating something he enjoys, he says, "This is DeWicious". While he can say the sound for the letter l, he doesn't always remember to do that. He also still says aminal instead of animal about 90% of the time. (Ty tries to correct him, but I don't - I think it's cute!)

At the end of a good day of school, Todd will tell me that he had "a million funs"! Don't know where he got that, but it's pretty cute.

On Monday of this week, Todd had 2 accidents. This is really troubling because he had been doing so well (of course, I was often reminding him) - particularly when we were out and about. It makes me feel good that he is comfortable enough at school that he has an accident, but at the same time I am sure it is frustrating for his teacher. When I asked him about it, he said, "but I went potty 1 or 2 times". I responded that Ty and Mommy and Daddy usually go potty a lot of times during the day (whether or not this is true!), and he was intrigued. I told him he should try to go potty a lot of times, too, so that he didn't have an accident. The next day (and two after!) he has not had to change his clothes at school! He told me then that he was going to do all of his pottying in the potty at school forever. (Hope so, buddy!)

Todd's swimming

On Friday we went to the pool with NO LIFE JACKETS. That means that both boys swam for about 90 minutes with no life jackets. This is not really a big deal for Ty anymore (certainly not in the "short pool"), but it was a big deal for Todd because Todd was willing to go to the big pool. For a good long while he swam to me (really, he won't put his face in the water and he just dog paddles) and back to the edge (about 16 feet round trip) over and over again. Finally, I kept backing up to see how far he would go, and he went all the way from the edge to the point where the flags hang above (maybe 20 feet or so?). He also swam back - and then repeated this a couple of times. He has made so much progress from the kid who would only be in the water holding on to a big person - even with his life jacket - a few weeks ago!

Ty, on the other hand, has decided that he can even do his diving sticks in the big pool. We were swimming with Papa last week and he found a diving stick. Ty initially didn't want to try it, but he decided he would try it just one time. I told him that it was just fine to try again if he didn't get it the first time. Well, the first time wasn't very successful, but Papa gave him some pointers about blowing out all of his air and sitting on the edge of the pool to go in like a dive (diving isn't allowed - but apparently it is alright if you just put your hands over your head and sit down on the side of the pool to push off with your feet) and he got it in the 4.5 foot water. Yeah for Ty! Another sense of accomplishment for him - overcoming something that seemed pretty hard from the outset!

Jupiter

We're expecting baby boy number 3. The due date is December 24th, so Christmas will be a little different around our house this year.

When we went for our ultrasound today, we took Ty with us. He was pretty patient while we were doing all of the needed measurements. By the time the gal finished with all of her measurements and put her wand away, we were a bit puzzled. I kept expecting her at some point during the ultrasound to look at me and say, "so, do you want to know boy or girl" so that I could say "yes, of course we want to know". She didn't. Instead, after she put her wand down, Daddy asked, "so, when do we get to know about the sex?" She kind of looked at us like we were crazy and then said, "oh, I guess we'd better look at that...." She looked, and said it was a boy and then hurried us on out of the room with DVD and printed photos in hand. Weird!

According to my doc, everything looks fine but they want us to come back in 2 weeks for another ultrasound. Apparently they weren't satisfied with all of the measurements they got, so they are hoping he'll cooperate more the next time. (The gal at the "appointment stop" said that it looked like they wanted to remeasure because perhaps the baby was measuring a bit bigger than they expected. Doc didn't mention that to me, but then again we had just gotten through talking about big babies and big boys at our house. Maybe she just wasn't worried about it at all.) We'll see.

For now, we are glad that we haven't gotten rid of any of our baby clothes (and we're glad that Momma's friend at school loaned us all of the "gear" that we no longer had). I think the only thing we'll need is a stroller (and I am hoping to find one that the carseat just snaps into for now - will definitely scout out that at consignment sales).

Todd has declared the baby's name to be Jupiter. He says that he is going to call the baby Jupiter even if we pick a different name for it, so for now.... Jupiter it is.

Summer Summary....

Splash day at church
Splash park in Smyrna
Pool, Pool, Pool
Discovery Center in Murfreesboro
Quick trip to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg
Adventure Science Center
Indoor Playground
VBS at Miama's church
BYBC for Ty with our church
Playcation at church
Ride Bikes
Squirt water guns
Trains at Cheekwood
Doctor Visits for both boys
Library Story Times
Music Shows at the Library, too
Legos, Legos, Legos (at least for Ty)
Ty has learned to swim
Swim lessons for both boys
Both boys are getting really good at behaving in public
Todd is out of the crib and in a big boy bed!
Todd is potty trained (for the most part)!
Fourth of July picnic at Big Papa's

Swimming test update

Yeah for Ty! He passed the swimming test on his first try tonight. After a few "short" swims, we did one practice run. (It was pretty funny to me when I told him that the edge of the pool was roped off for swim lessons... he just calmly said, "Well, we'll just go about that much farther past the lifeguard stand to make up for it.") He stopped once in his practice run because he had swallowed water, but once he finished it, he looked at me and said he was ready to just go take the test. He'd talked about it earlier in the day, so I knew he was pretty determined to tackle this today. Daddy took him over there and cheered him on the entire way through. Ty said that at one point he got pretty tired, but he heard Daddy saying that he was almost there ... so he knew he could keep on going. Daddy said Ty asked him how he was going to get out at the end of it since they weren't ending at a ladder. (Ty can climb out of the pool by himself - he just wanted to know what he was supposed to do.) Daddy told him not to worry - he was so proud of Ty that he jumped in to give Ty a boost to get out of the pool. I wish I had a picture of the lifeguard's face when Ty made it. He genuinely was proud of Ty and gave him a big smile - I think the joy/pride that Ty and Daddy had over there was contageous!

I am pretty certain that Ty is not ready to just go anywhere all over the pool by himself yet, and I am not ready for that, either. It will be nice not to have to keep him "in arms' reach", though. He has really taken to diving for the diving sticks in the 3 foot water, but Todd likes to play on the edges of the pool. Todd still needs to wear a life jacket or be within arms' reach of me, but at least it is now "legal" for me to have both kids in the water without their lifejackets if we want to. (Todd has really only been comfortable swimming in his life jacket for the past 10 days or so - up until that point, he would only be in the big pool or the deeper parts of the baby pool if he could hold on to me. When Ty went to go take his test tonight, Todd and I cheered from the water - Todd told me that he didn't want Ty to take the test because he [Todd] was not ready to take it, yet. I told him that he didn't need to take the swimming test while he was 3. Maybe next summer.....) Ty really enjoyed going down the slide without having to have me catch him at the bottom, though. He just wishes he was an inch taller so that he could go down the "BIG BLUE" slide that curves. We'll just save that for next year.

Proud moments

Today was full of proud moments for me as a mom (of course, we had our not so good moments, too...but I am not recording those today!)

1. This morning we left the house at about 7:15 to head out to the blueberry farm. You have to picture that we all had on blue shirts and blue shorts because we were so excited about picking BLUEberries! (We went last Wednesday only to find out that they are only open on Wednesday and Saturday and felt like we had a stroke of luck. When we saw about 12 minivans pulling out, we should have known that there would be NO blueberries to pick when we got to the bushes. We spent $0.50 on 1/4 pound and went home planning to come back this week.) When we got there, the sign had been replaced with one saying "Closed for the summer - come back next July" and I was totally bummed. My kids were troopers, though. We went to Panera and ate blueberry muffins and blueberry bagels, and the kids thought that was an adventure all by itself! (We also tried to go to Costco later in the day to get some more blueberries, and they didn't have any, either. Again, I am proud of my kids for not being sad. They were just looking forward to going into the "cold place" in the Costco store on such a hot day. Such optimists!)

2. We went to library story time with Hannah and Hunter, and we got there early enough to play on the playground. A little girl was playing with Ty and Hannah, and she had picked up a handfull of grass. As Todd was coming up the ladder, this little girl started to put the grass on Todd's head, and Ty just tapped her on the shoulder and said, "You shouldn't do that - it's not nice. He doesn't want grass on his head." I was so proud of Ty for sticking up for his little brother in such a nice way! Ty and Todd were also really good listeners among the MOB of kids at story time today. Woohoo!

3. At the pool tonight, a little girl was picking up the ladder, and Todd was a bit worried. Instead of yelling and fussing at her, he calmly said, "Please don't" in a slightly forceful yet very polite voice. Way to go, Todd! Ty was swimming and almost ran into a little girl, and he said "sorry" without being prompted.

4. The biggest proud moment, though, was an "I think I can" moment for Ty. (Ty's personality doesn't allow much room for "Improvement needed" on something. If he can't do it right the first time, he doesn't really want to do it at all. Swimming has been something that seemed really daunting to him at first until the 6th night of swim lessons when he really started to get a glimpse of the "I might be able to do this" feeling. It has been so neat to see him go from being afraid to get his face wet last year to swimming fairly well this year.) In the past week or so, Ty has really gotten to be a good swimmer, and I planted the seed that he could probably pass the swimming test before the end of the summer. (To do this, you have to swim 1/2 way across the olympic sized pool by yourself.) Yesterday, we tried for the first time just to see how far he could go, and he had to stop and rest about 3 times on the first try (we were going more like 7/8 of the way across the pool rather than just 1/2, though). The second try he felt a small victory, though, because he only needed to rest twice. Today, on his first try, he got within about 10 feet of the "1/2 way marker" when he needed a rest. I was so proud of him for being willing to try it again... and for having a goal in mind that seems REALLY hard to him.... and for working and trying and trying to make it happen. At about 7:15, I asked him to try it again....and I told him that I really thought he could do it. We chanted "I think I can - I think I can" for a moment and he said he was ready. HE DID IT!!! We weren't officially trying for the swim test with the lifeguard watching, but he did it for me (and several other parents around were quietly cheering for him, too). Hopefully he will pass the swim test in the next couple of days, but even if he doesn't take the test he feels like he conquered a huge mountain tonight. He's on cloud nine! (We also got him some diving sticks, and he LOVED diving for them in the 3 foot section of the pool. He's really becoming quite the swimmer!)

Well child visits

I haven't posted anything in FOREVER, but I wanted to get this down before I could forget it all. :) We went to the doc last Friday and actually took care of both kids at the same time this year. As soon as we went back, they got weighed and measured. Here are their stats:

Ty: 52 lbs, 47 inches (which was funny because they had him listed as 47 inches at this time last year - I checked my trusty blog and think that the nurse mixed up the pounds and the inches from last year in the computer)

Todd: 40 lbs, 40 inches

They both got their hearing and vision checked, and they passed! They also had to pee in a cup - this was a first, but we did it! Todd has been doing great with his potty training, and they didn't even ask about it. I guess they saw that he was in underwear and just didn't need any more info than that! (In the last 8 days, Todd has had 1 peepee accident, and that is it. There haven't been any other clothing changes needed! He has had accidents at nap time when he was sleeping, but I think he definitely knows the difference between wearing a pullup and wearing underwear. (He doesn't like that Miama calls them "pullups" even if it is only one. He told me that when she says that, he tells her that he does not have 2 at a time - just one "pullup".)

Once they got in the exam room, they colored a bit, read a book with me, and then stared at the little things that the doc uses to look at eyes, noses, and ears....they were trying to figure out how to turn them on. Ty saw a green button and guessed that this was the "on" button. Luckily, when the doc came in, she obliged and showed the boys how to press the button at the same time while they turned the dial... and she even let them turn them on and off about 5 times each before examining them.

She said that they were both perfectly healthy, happy, smart little boys..... and that's what we like to hear!

Tie....Tie....Ty

Tonight at Big Papa's house, Ty and Todd were playing with these funny little magnet strips. They are about 12 inches by 1 inch, and they must have come off of the back of a magnetic calendar at some point. They used to hold some pictures at the top of the refrigerator, but now they are used to make any letters or designs that you can make with two straight lines and all of the other magnets that are on the fridge. (On a side note that is unrelated to this story, Ty told us tonight that he could write his name with a stapler. I never thought of that being a benefit of using only the letters T and Y in your child's name, but there you have it.)

Ty was trying to essentially make a shackle and magnet himself to the refrigerator by putting it across his neck and trying to have it cling to the fridge on either side of his neck. )He wasn't very successful, but that gave Todd the idea to put it around his neck like a "necklace". I told him that I thought it looked more like a "necktie", but he quickly looked at me and said "No - a neckTODD!" Miama and I died laughing, but I don't think Todd realized what was so funny.

At home tonight, the boys were racing to get their jammies on. I decided midstream, though, that I needed to wash their faces and hands and (most importantly ) clip their fingernails so I put a halt to the race and just declared it to be a tie because they'd both have to wait on me and would probably finish at the same time. Todd was actually pretty quick with all of his stuff (and I tended to his business first), so he actually finished while Ty was still putting on his shirt (merely seconds before Ty). He walked into Ty's room and said, "I win" and Ty tried to remind him that Mama said it was a TIE. Ty is saying, "It's a TIE - no one wins"...and Todd is giggling saying "No .... it's not a TIE - It's a TODD" and just dying laughing.

These two are growing up way too fast. Tonight Ty was really eagerly reading lots of words for the first time. (He moved past the "consonant-vowel-consonant" style of word and was doing pretty well with some blended sounds. All of a sudden tonight he's interested in it, and he wanted to stay up late doing more. In the past, he has balked at any real notion that he might be able to read. I wonder if there's another kid at school who he sees reading and he now thinks he might officially be big enough to do that. I promised him we could do more tomorrow night, so we'll see if his interest wanes. He also still loves to add. Last night as we were all three rocking, we were adding numbers and subtracting numbers. Ty can pretty much do anything that has a sum less than 21, and Todd can do anything that has a sum less than 6 (in otherwords - he is just starting this and needs to use his hands). The most interesting thing about it, though, is to listen to Ty explain how he arrives at sums. It amazes me. Yesterday Todd asked him what 8+8 was, and he thought for a bit and said 16. I asked him how he got that answer, and he said he counted up by 2s from 8 (love that!). Then, I asked him what 8+7 was, and he quickly answered 15. When I aksed how he got it, he explaned that the 7 was one less than the 8 so the 15 should just be 1 less than the 16. It is amazing to me how this works. I really don't think I've taught him things like that (but maybe I have subconsciously), but he really does think pretty well about things like that. We do lots of fun playing things around here, too. Ty has made some amazing lego vehicles ever since Russell brought over his box of old legos with about 20 sets of wheels. We also still really love building train tracks. Ty is also big enough now to give Chloe food and water by himself, and I am thinking about putting together a "jobs" chart for him soon with things for him to do every day (like feed the dog and take your dishes to the sink after a meal and pick up toys out of the den). We registered for kindergarten earlier this month, so I guess that means that he really is growing up. CRAZY!

Things I don't want to forget...

I have been a terrible blogger for the last few months. We have moved to the house next door to my mom and dad, and it has just not been something I've had time to do. There are a few things, though, that I wanted to record here in case I ever get around to printing a blog book again. I KNOW there are more things worth recording - they've just been forgotten at this point!

At night time a few weeks ago, Ty was asking me about Patches and we mentioned that she was in Heaven because she died. We talked for a little bit, and I remember trying to assure him that we would need to get old before we would die so that he wouldn't worry about it all night long. He continued the conversation a few days later with Miama (I think they were talking about our old dog Alice who died about 9 or 10 years ago), and he asked her what Heaven was like. She said that she didn't really know because she hadn't been there yet. Ty's response.... "But you're close".

Tonight Ty and Todd were racing outside and Ty won. Daddy was making Todd feel better and said that it was because Ty's legs were longer. Ty said something about how Daddy was really fast because he had really long legs. Todd looked to Daddy and said, "so maybe you could just run in the race for me". Hehehhe

A few days ago:

Ty: "I fell... And I can't get up". Surely this is way more funny to me that to him.

My ankle has really been hurting me today, and I said something about it tonight to the boys. Todd immediately bowed his head, folded his hands, and said, "Please help Mama's ankle feel all better." So sweet! He also said that his friend Emilia pushed him today and she got put in time out. He said that he told her "I forgive you" and that he prayed for God to help Emilia feel better because she was sad.

For the first time in his life, on Valentine's Day, Todd agreed to let me put a blanket over him while he slept. He's had a blankie on him at bedtime ever since. He always adamantly REFUSED it.

Todd shooeyed in the potty for the first time on February 4th. WOOHOO. He got a turntable and a roundhouse as promised. There are more prizes waiting for more such success. Last Saturday, he wore big boy underpants all day long at home and didn't have any accidents AT ALL except for at nap time when he was wearing a diaper. (He promptly went to school on Monday and Tuesday and had at least 4 accidents each day. He wore a pullup on Wednesday and today, and he didn't have any accidents (during awake time) yesterday and only 2 of them today. He's definitely making some progress, but he's not there yet. (I remember when Ty was about this age and we tried big boy underpants for a week just like we did with Todd. We concluded that he wasn't ready for that yet and waited until the summer time. Todd is showing a bit more progress than Ty did at this point, but he's not quite ready to be independent about his pottying yet.)

About 2 weeks ago: When I picked Ty up from school today, he was playing with the dominoes (ones that match numerals to dots) and he held up three in a row to show his teacher that he made their number of the week .... Questioning him, she said 6-6-2??? He replies "No....6+6+2....it's 14 silly." Yeah, that's how we do things around here. I think if he knew the word "duh" he would have used it on her.

Another post from facebook a few weeks ago: When I went in to get Todd up from his nap, he'd been awake for quite a while. He said, "I've been picking my nose for a loooong time.....but I didn't eat ANY boogers." Glad to know that, buddy.

December 31:

Papa and Uncle Russell are truckers.... Or maybe just hookers.... Really they like to buy trucks with little hooks on them to pull trailers. (This was said on the way to the doc this morning by the 4 year old who is obsessed with trailer hitches.)

Todd is definitely in an "I can do it ALL BY MYSELF" stage. He likes to put on his own clothes, his own shoes, go potty by himself, brush his own teeth, wash his own hands, get his own water from the fridge, etc...

Todd loves letters! His favorite thing to do these days is for me to give him a letter and then he tells me all the words he can think of that start with that letter. Ty likes to get in on the action, too, and he always gives hints (like "it's the color of mama's car" for Todd to guess some fun words).

Ty loves to do addition and subtraction problems. When you say something that adds to a single digit number, he doesn't even really have to think much about the answer any more. When you give him one with a double digit answer, though, he has to look away from you so that he can picture the answer. He doesn't really count on his fingers, but the best I can gather is that he just visualizes it. It is pretty cool to see him figuring things out and explaining them. Like tonight, Todd was counting all of the glasses on the table (there were 5). Ty told Todd that he knew there were 5 without having to count them. I asked him how he knew, and he said that there were two on the boys' side of the table and 3 on our side, and 3+2 was 5. Pretty cool! He's not quite as interested in reading as he is in math, though. He can read any 3 letter word that is a consonant-vowel-consonant, I think. He doesn't really have a whole ton of interest in reading, though, so I am not pushing it. He does like for us to read books together, though, and that's good for me right now. He LOVES trains. I think he spends most of his waking moments building tracks, rebuilding tracks, and playing with the trains on the tracks. We all enjoy playing with the trains, though, so that's fun for everyone. The boys can pretty much tell you anything about any of the Thomas the Tank Engine trains, and they like to watch them (as well as Mighty Machines and John Deere) on the tv. (We pretty much don't watch anything else with the kids, though. Occasionally we watch Caillou and Berenstain Bears and Sesame Street, but Thomas is always first choice if we have a "movie" time (which is maybe 1 time per week, really). Truly, since we have moved, I don't think the kids have watched much tv at all even though there is a television in their playroom now.

Last night when Todd walked into Mrs. Barbara's room at church, I was going to help him go potty before leaving him in there. He walked over to a cubby, put his backpack and coat in there, and then reached over onto the counter. He grabbed a little nametag that velcros on to the front of his cubby and put it on his cubby. His teachers were very impressed that he could look at that column of about 10 kids' names and pick out his own to put on his cubby. He's becoming so independent!