Tuesday: Halloween

There was much excitement in this household.

Just the right amount of candy was received.  Hot dogs, popcorn, and ice cream were eaten.

The best part of it getting dark early is that the boys sometimes will go to bed early.  We got home and they went to bed just a bit early.

Monday: pumpkins

Isaac got a pumpkin during his field trip earlier this month and was desperate to turn it into a jack-o-lantern.  So we finally did that today.

We almost stalled out when he realized what pumpkin guts feel like.  However, he had a rather small hole in the top and I couldn't get my hand in very well.  So he had to choose cutting a bigger hole in the top and using toothpicks or doing it himself.  He chose to do it himself, but he didn't enjoy it.

Joshua was initially excited, but lost interest after he couldn't use the knife and didn't want to feel pumpkin guts.  I was going to give him a few options for faces, but he chose the first.

 (There's a sticker on his forehead.)

Isaac got his done.  Not completely on his own, but he did do a lot. (I cut the face)

Since carving pumpkins isn't one of my most do activities in a year, I had completely neglected getting lights for the inside.  I scrounged around the house and found two LED lights, one too big and one too small.  The big one got traded a lot.

Sunday

We took advantage of the brief break in the rain.  It was mainly to spray paint Isaac's Halloween costume, but we also did some raking.  Isaac was convinced that he wanted to use a broom.  As soon as Joshua got the last real rake, Isaac freaked out because he didn't have a rake.  Eventually Joshua switched.

We had some silver leaves.

*******Later***********

Ben: Why do you have food in your hair?
Joshua: Because I have no feet.

Saturday: playing

Amanda: next time you're not having fun it's going to be shower time.

The boys play really well.
After a bit Isaac runs into his room and slams the door.
Joshua starts to cry.
I go upstairs to start showers.

Joshua, through big tears: I'm still having fun playing with Isaac!
Isaac, opening the door: yeah, we're still having fun
Amanda: um, well, ok, you can keep playing then.
Joshua, tears leaving: yay!

Friday: no school

Isaac had the day off of school today, but he was rather convinced that he did have school.  He was obsessed with the fact that it was show and tell day.

So I didn't go in to help Isaac wake this morning and I was going to see what happened.  He woke up at his normal time and he and Joshua played.  Ben's alarm with off and I went out and said, "why didn't you wake me up?" Isaac said he didn't know he was supposed to...and he was rather unfazed.  He wanted breakfast, but I said he could have a graham cracker and I'd pack him a big snack.  He also got out a left over sandwich.

We hurried everyone into the cars (including Ben) and drove off.  We went to IHOP.  Ben was with Isaac, and got to break the surprise to him.  He was jumping up and down with excitement.  He got birthday cake pancakes.

I asked him what he wanted to do today and he said he wanted to go to a playground.  It wasn't really what I was expecting to do today, but it sounding much better than staying at home for another day. 

We didn't stay super long; Joshua got tired pretty quickly.  He's been getting very tired in the late mornings, but of course doesn't take a nap.  We went to the library afterwards.  (That had been my original idea for the day.  I think the other ideas ended up better.)  I was going to get just a few books for Isaac.  Then I remembered Joshua needed some more.  Before I knew it, we had more books than we normally get.

Thursday: teacher

Isaac does love his teacher.

Joshua was doing much better today.  He only woke up once last night and went back to sleep pretty quickly.  He's still not well, but I'm much happier with the progress.

Wednesday: I win...at least for right now

Right now, I have completed everything I need to do tonight.

*Joshua is sleeping (in his own bed)
*Grading is done...err, necessary grading is done
*Isaac's stuff is ready for tomorrow
*Everyone is fed.  (Although Ben is the one that picked up dinner tonight.)

It's been a rough week.  Joshua's sickness involved a lot of holding, often outside.  Some of my graders flaked out on me, leaving me a heap of grading, all at the computer.  This was in addition to the normal grading that I do Tuesday/Thursday mornings but don't get to this week because I have Joshua.  The two things don't mesh.

Things that I didn't do...
*Bring the rumba upstairs to charge
*find my missing key
*clean up the kitchen
*send assorted emails
*spend a normal amount of time with Isaac
*fold laundry
*fix any of the clocks after the power outage yesterday.  (I thought I fixed one, but it was about 45 minutes late.  So I don't know if I got distracted and didn't do it or if I put in the wrong time.  It was an odd feeling to look at it, because it was almost right but not really.)
*and most other normal house activities.

Last night I just opened the window up wide in the guest bedroom and we snuggled in the cold.  It actually seemed to work pretty well.  Joshua woke up often, but would go back to sleep quickly.  I left the window open all day, because it's a lot more comfortable to sit there than outside.

This is the cold room.  With draft protection.

We did go to the doctor again today.  He got tested for flu (negative) and so was put on some oral steroids.  The first doctor we saw on Monday didn't think the oral ones help as much, but Joshua perked up about an hour after taking them.  I'm slightly optimistic that I'll get to sleep in my own bed tonight.

In other news, we had an excellent report at Isaac's parent teacher conference.  He is extremely sweet, is very careful to follow the rules, well behaved, and works well at his work.  He understands all the material.  (Ben and I have noticed when we've been there that he is in the top portion of his class, but not the best.  A good place to be.)  He did very well on his initial assessments for reading and math.  He hasn't found a good friend yet...we were curious about that too...but also isn't a loner.  His pencil grip needs to get stronger.  We're going to get some names and pictures because he knows the names of about five people out of his whole class.  (One story we got was that they are supposed to ask their neighbor first if they have a question on an assignment.  There have been several times Mrs. Kreple has seen Isaac ask, but then the neighbor gives an answer that isn't right.  Then he raises his hand.)  We also found out that he makes sure to understand a task before starting it.  I'm not sure where this came from because I don't always do it that way...but it is a good way to do it!

Monday: croup

Ah, it's that time again.  Time to deal with croup. Joshua had a bad night last night and didn't get much better upon waking.  I brought him to the doctor as soon as I could.  They gave him a shot, but I'll admit, it didn't seem to help much.  This surprised me, because croup usually gets much better during the day, so along with the shot I thought it'd be smooth sailing.

We went outside for a bit a little bit before noon.  It was cool and the rain soothing and Joshua finally took a nap.  After a bit we moved inside so I could sleep too.

He perked up after the nap, but breathing was still labored.  We called the doctor so that we didn't start to worry once they were closed and bright him in for an x-ray.  The x ray was clear.

The evening, i.e., bed time, went poorly.  Joshua was probably milking it for all it was worth, but he did sound terrible.  We finally went outside and he feel asleep again.

And now we're in the guest room with the window wide open. We'll see if it is sufficient.

Saturday: life

I'm still dealing with this cold.  (Or allergies?  I didn't think I'm allergic to anything, but it's hard to tell.)  Yesterday and today have been better than earlier in the week, but I'm still wiped out.

That being said, a lot of stuff did get done today.  Maybe that's because our house cleaner came and she did a lot of the work.  Well, Ben and I did some work too.  Legos got cleaned up, the sprinklers were blown out, and paperwork done.

I leave you with this picture of Joshua.  It's hard to tell, but he's wearing two pairs of sunglasses and thought it was hilarious.

Friday: warm day

 It was a warm day out, so when we got home from picking Isaac up from school we did some outside stuff.  I got out Isaac's old Lego costume, which he'll be wearing again, so that we could update the color.  It will be silver.  We redid some of the tape around the holes and primed it.  We also found that the nubs we used weren't holding the primer very well, so we made some new ones.

While picking Isaac up two people said, "good bye Isaac!"  He still doesn't know anyone's names, but it was nice to see that people are saying goodbye to him.

We got his school picture earlier this week...

Thursday: a talk

Today I had a talk with my students.

You know, the college students?

I talked to them about plagiarism.  What it looks like.  How they can avoid it.  Why they should avoid it.  Ahh, life skills.  I suppose my classroom is as good as any.

We had this talk because I've had about double the number of incidents (some reportable, some not) of a normal semester and we're only half way through it.  Hopefully this will encourage people to stop trying to take the easy way out.

Tuesday: work

Work.  Sometimes the students just make me want to shake my head and ask "why?"

(I had a bit of a rant written, but decided that it wasn't quite so appropriate.  Normal teacher complaints...nothing special.)

Monday: kings of the rock

Sunday: thought too soon

Last week I noticed that several students had sniffles.  I thought to myself, "oh, I'm not sick.  That's really nice."

Today I noticed that both kids had some sniffles.

Tonight I have some sniffles.  Bother.

Telepuzzle

A while back a friend and I did a puzzle together.  I have fond memories of puzzle nights in NY, and thought it could be fun to do a puzzle with her too.

The problem?  She lives in Florida.

The solution?  We each got a copy of the puzzle and worked on it at the same time with google chat.  So while we weren't able to see each other, we still could commiserate on the hard parts of the puzzle or be excited about the weird things in the puzzle.

I managed to finish mine just a few days ago.  I had lost one piece.  By the time I found it a day or so later, I had already covered up the puzzle with something else.  I uncovered it a few days ago and finished it. 

It was a lot of fun and worked a lot better than I was expecting.

Friday: lightbulbs

I was changing lightbulbs today and found this...

a sock.  I found a sock on top of the light.s

Wednesday: normal day

Really, it was a rather normal day, although Joshua seemed a bit out of it.

We started with music class.  The songs and story changed (they had been the same for the last three weeks) and I think it threw him off a bit.  On the way there, out of the blue, he asked, "What's a tortoise?"  I have no idea where he learned the word, especially without context.

Then we went to the vet with Flurry.  Flurry was having a few issues, but she did ok at the vet for once.  Maybe she realized that she needed some help.  She got some shots; hopefully they'll clear everything up.

Joshua has been working on a Lego helicopter since last night and so excited about it!  He sometimes can put stuff together if I just give him the pieces, but usually I need to sit there with him.  He can look at the instructions and usually put the pieces in the right spot, but he seemed to need the support from my being there.  Anyway, we finished it after lunch.

It was rainy today. 

Tuesday: break

Today was my official day of fall break.

In the morning I went to Isaac's school to help out for a bit.  I did the sight words and letter flash cards with each child.  Isaac did well.  It was interesting to see the range of abilities, although it did make me wonder about the child in the bigger picture.  Are their parents helping them?  Are they trying really hard and just can't remember?  Are they bored with the letters and could use more words to challenge them?  I was also happy to find out that Isaac isn't the only student who hasn't picked up on many other names.

I saw the classroom a bit; in the few minutes I was actually inside it was well run.  Snack time was controlled, but not too controlled.  I saw a bit of carpet time and everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing.  So...nothing unexpected. :D

Ben and I went out for lunch.  I took a nap.  I got some work done.  It was a nice day.

Monday: dirt and food basket

This morning I started making a new bucket for the worms.  I had some dirt left over from when I emptied the first bucket this spring.  It's good to have some initial dirt, and I thought this would be super easy to dump in.

It turned out that the dirt had dried out.  Seriously dry.  The dirt has now been in water for 12+ hours and there are still a ton of lumps.  I just figured I'd add water and it would turn into mud.  It makes me understand (a bit) what issues areas with severe drought might be facing.

This afternoon Joshua and I went to Kids' Food basket to pack sack dinners for kids that are food insecure (they often don't know where the next meal is coming from).  Joshua did an awesome job.  He was done by the end of the hour, but he packed for most of the time.  He was in charge of the treat (fig bar) for most of the time, and he took his job very seriously.  I was very proud of him.

Isaac was disappointed to have to write his first name again as homework.  Those a's...they're getting better but still need improvement.

Sunday: fall break

I'm on fall break so I am pretending that I'm a student and not a parent and staying up too late.

Oh well.

Saturday: pictures

There were a bunch of pictures that didn't make it on the blog this yesterday, and I added some from today.

Joshua was a worm hunter as Aunt C dug up some grass...but he didn't want to touch them.  He's wearing the helmet because there are bears around.

In the fabric store, picking out some greens.

During quilt picture time.  (Although I did have to take my own as Joshua would only take them with the play camera.)

Sitting as close to Ben as possible

We went to a bat presentation at the library.  (I may be trying to get a bat house now.)  Anyway, Isaac volunteered to dress up as the Malaysian flying fox, which is the largest bat.  Joshua put up with the whole presentation, but I fully enjoyed it.

Isaac - 69 months

Isaac turned 69 months last week.

Kindergarten (as seen from home): The transition to kindergarten has gone much better than I had expected.  He has not seemed significantly more tired.  He usually isn't cranky.  He hasn't complained about have to go.  The small amount of homework that he does have (15 minutes a week) has been a bit hard.  He doesn't love doing it but is willing to do it.  He doesn't love to accept my instruction though, and as I try to give him tips on how to write a specific letter (especially his a's).

Kindergarten (as seen from school): Ben stopped by to meet Isaac's teacher since he wasn't able to make the 'meet the teacher' night.  She said that he is very respectful.  (While this isn't a surprise, it does contrast a story that we just heard yesterday.  Isaac mentioned that his clip wasn't moved.  (It's a warning clip if you do something wrong.)  He often mentions this, but I might have said something like, "has your clip ever moved?"  He said no, but once it almost did because someone accidentally ripped his paper and so he purposefully ripped the other person's paper.)  Overall he seems to be enjoying it.

Kindergarten: His favorite special is gym, followed by technology.  This surprised me a bit, but he likes running around.  His least favorite is art, because there's a lot of coloring.  We finally figured out the name of his long-description-named friend, as Ben and I have seen him and his family and caught the name.  They don't always play together, but still sometimes.  I think Isaac sometimes just plays with whoever is running around.  We hear about some parts of the day, although I'm pretty sure there are big gaps that we miss.

Play: Isaac still plays a lot of Legos.  He still plays with Joshua quite a bit.  Screen time is still much sought after, although the schedule has changed and he's adapted. 

Puppy: Isaac is still a puppy and woofs, but it hasn't been quite as much puppiness as sometimes.

I miss him at kindergarten, but I also feel like I still get to see him quite a bit.  I don't have as much to update on for this post, but I think we've settled into a good routine.

whales at music class

Last week going to music class we started talking about the whale that swallow Jonah.  Joshua mentioned that it was a blue whale that swallowed him.  Ok, I thought.

Then we got to the class and suddenly it made sense.

This is the (blue) whale that ate Jonah.

This is the grey whale that didn't swallow Jonah.

This past week we were again talking about the whales.  The blue whale was in the ocean, but the grey whale wasn't.  I tried to convince him that all whales are in the ocean, but he wasn't convinced.  We got to the class and suddenly it made sense...the grey whale is on top of the water.  Did you notice it before it was mentioned?

I don't completely understand how he can't remember the letters of his name but he can remember exactly what these whales look like.  I expect there's a reason though.

Joshua: 38 months

Joshua turned 38 months a week ago.

Favorites: this month has been a month for favorites.  He's had a favorite color (green) for a while.  He has a favorite dress of mine (the long green one).  He has favorite shirts (t-shirts with rockets, long sleeves with with robots/controller).  He has favorite books (it often changes, but is currently a Lego gold mine one).  He has a favorite treat (Starbursts). His favorite restaurant is McDonald's for chicken nuggets.

School: school has gotten better now that we're into the routine.  It was never bad, but he is always a bit sadder when I drop him off than Isaac was.

Playing: he still plays Puppy Dog all the time.  He does it in a squeaky voice and in third person.  He likes doing anything with Isaac, taking bike rides, playing with Duplos/Legos, reading, and running around.  He enjoys his music class.

skills: Joshua has mostly mastered getting his own clothes on, but the underwear and shorts often end up backwards.  Shoes and sandals are hit and miss, depending on our moods.  However, there are times when he is incapable of getting up off the floor.  He can put on his car seat straps and can open the fridge.  He can also get water from the fridge.

tantrums: we've had some epic tantrums this month.  Well, epic for our family.  It usually starts with one small thing going wrong and then Joshua can't get himself back under control and it spirals out.  He has some ways of dealing with it, such as tasty water or putting himself in timeout, but it doesn't always work.  (I think he's put himself in timeout more than I have lately.)

letters: he can recognize J and O well.  He sometimes can get T, I, and S.  Otherwise he just guesses P, T, or B.  We're working hard on the letters in his name.

Overall, he's usually a very happy kid and fun to be with.

Tuesday: a bit better

Today went a bit better than yesterday.  Several things got resolved and only a few new issues came up. 

***********
The whole family was horsing around this evening before dinner...

Isaac: Isaac!
Amanda: huh?
Isaac: er, Joshua!  I need some help!

He got himself mixed up with his brother. :D

***********
Ben and Isaac went to a thing at Isaac's school.  They sat by his friend who no longer has a long name because Isaac has seen him in four places now.  Isaac was wearing a name tag from a field trip, and so the other boy wasn't introduced.  We know his name starts with a C though.

Monday: it was

Today was.  It had it's fine parts.  It had it's bad parts.  It had a few good parts, although the general stress of the day toned those down a bit.  Nothing huge, just normal life things.

But I made it and tomorrow is a new day and we'll try again.

Sunday: bedtime

Isaac has about a zillion bedtime routines.  His latest, with me, is to lay on my back while I read.

One reason he likes it is because he's already situated for bounces afterwards.  He loves being bounced after reading.  I tried to avoid it for a while and just let Ben do it, but it didn't work.  Our bounce styles are quite different, but it works for Isaac.

Saturday: overbooked

This week my plan was to get groceries on Friday.  Thursday rolled around and we really needed groceries, especially milk.  Well, that's when I realized that I had plans on Friday.  Well, it wasn't so much that I realized I had plans as that I realized I couldn't do both things.  I had been fully planning on doing both. 

Oh well.  I'll get groceries on Monday, I thought on Thursday.

Today I realized that I have plans on Monday.

So...Wednesday for groceries?  We might need to make an "emergency" run after school one day for some fruit and donuts.

Isaac didn't want pizza for dinner so I told him he had to make his own dinner then.  (I figure that pizza isn't all that healthy, so there's no reason to require him to eat it.)  He made a peanut butter/nutella/honey/lemon curd sandwich as was so excited about it.  It only took him about ten minutes to make, but he can do it!