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!

Friday: hair cut, conversation

I donated my hair today.  My head feels so much lighter.  Besides the actual cutting, the stylist took off a bunch of hair in the middle...yeah, I'm not sure how to better explain that.  Anyway, she commented several times that I have a lot of hair.  This is normal, but it made me feel good since it seems like my hair has been falling out easily lately.  (The one time the stylist didn't say it I almost freaked out and wondered if I was loosing my hair.)

In the car today we had this conversation:
Isaac: I think maybe I figured out what I want to be.  When I grow up.
Amanda: oh yeah?  what?
Isaac: the person that takes the money.
Amanda: what do you mean?
Isaac: like at the restaurant or the grocery store...
Ben: oh, the cashier.  Do you realize that they don't actually get to keep the money?
Isaac: why not?
Amanda: they're just workers and have to give it to the company.
**stunned silence**

Thursday: sun

The drive from daycare to work was beautiful this morning.  There were dark clouds and dark shadows above me, but the sun had risen just a little bit and there were no clouds in front of it.  So it lit up a small band of trees and the dark clouds.

Wednesday: ham and squash

Here's the annual picture of ham and squash.  There was enough squash that we'll have it at least once more this season.  Today finally cooled off enough that it seemed appropriate.

Speaking of squash, I brought the leftovers out to the worms and the worms were all dead!  A week or two ago and they were thriving.  I'm not sure what happened...I'll check again in a week and see if there is any change, otherwise I will order some more and maybe split it into two groups so that I don't have to worry about them all dying.

In other news, Joshua still hasn't cleaned his room.  He's worked on it a very small amount here and there but is still just not really caring about the consequences.

Monday: the day

Joshua didn't clean his room yesterday, as you may remember, so certain restrictions went into place today.  1) Mom doesn't play with you (more-or-less) and 2) no screens.

It didn't phase Joshua at all.  He played well in the morning.  I got a ton of work done, including cleaning under the fridge.  It always amazes me what I find there.

He had his first dentist appointment.  He almost lost it right before getting into the chair, but pulled himself together.

No screen time after rest time didn't phase Joshua.  This is where I thought we'd have a tough time.  He cried a bit before rest time when I reminded him, but that was about it.  I kept reminding him to do his room and what the consequences would be, and he kept deciding not to do it.

Since he was on no screen during dinner, he ate in the kitchen with his tray while the rest of us watched our show.  He was done rather quickly but then just played with his race track.

Ben and I were commenting on how we don't really know how to motivate him.  Treats after eating all his food doesn't do it; he's excited if he likes all the food and eats it all to get a treat, but if he doesn't like the food then no treat is fine too.  Apparently screen time is so important when it is 'deserved', but if he doesn't deserve it then he'll find something else to do.  The only thing I've had any luck with lately is date balls...he managed to get both of his car seat straps on for a date ball.  (It's just chopped up dates and chopped up peanuts stuck together.)

I'm curious to see...will Joshua give in and clean his room?  We think we'll keep going with this until Saturday, which is the normal cleaning time.  If he doesn't clean on Saturday we might need to change consequences.

Sunday: meh

Today went.  Not really all that bad, but not really all that good either.  I've made some small blunders that will require telephone calls, and I should probably do it tomorrow but don't like making telephone calls.

Joshua was a pain.  I'm confused as to whether he wasn't feeling well or just didn't want to clean his room or was hungry.  Or all of the above.  He did a lot of snuggling in Sunday school with the teacher, which is rather unlike him.  But then his excuse for not cleaning his room is that he can't get up from the floor.  (As a reminder, the kids are not required to clean their rooms.  But there are consequences.)  He ended up snuggling and taking a nap instead of cleaning his room.

Isaac gave me some extra hugs though.  Ben went out to grab dinner.  I'm rather tired of making dinner.  It happens every night.

Saturday: playground and conversation

This morning we went to the playground with some friends.  It was wonderful.  The kids played together so well.  It was hot, but that gave the adults a reason to sit in the shade the the kids a reason to use the water fountain to get all wet.

(When we arrived Isaac said that he had forgotten about this playground but it was actually his favorite.  He went on to tell more details, but I'll admit that I stopped listening.)

***************
Ben: Mom just helped you fix your train.  What do you do?
Joshua: Tickle her?
Ben: No, what do you say?
Joshua: Don't hit!
Ben: What would be better?
Joshua: Thank you.

Friday: forgetful

I forgot to post several times this week.  I wasn't too busy or really even preoccupied with anything; I just forgot.  It's been a rather normal week.

Several weeks ago Isaac decided his time could best be spent wrapping up marbles, dice, and rocks with washi tape for me.  I've had the collection for a while and decided it was finally time to unwrap it.  It isn't really much fun.

A while ago I started cutting up toast to order.  Well, I guess I only do rainbows and people.  Joshua's favorite is a person.

Joshua chose his shirt today because it had a rocket and a moon lander on it.  He was excited to show Ben when he got home, but played at the water table and got it all wet.  The solution was a midday call to Ben, who barely understood what Joshua was trying to get across.  Joshua had been excited to have a moon lander on his shirt like Ben has in his Lego rocket.

Speaking of the water table, it was hot today!  I think my blood thickened in the three weeks that we had cooler weather, because it seriously feels like the hottest it's been all summer.  Joshua and I didn't take a bike ride today because of it.  (Normally we've been taking a little one MWF.)  Isaac has A/C at school, luckily, but many schools in the area don't.  Some in GR even canceled school today due to heat.

Monday/Tuesday: conversations

Yesterday...
Amanda: Joshua, do you feel ok?
Joshua: my problem is Dad.
A: that Dad isn't here?
J: yeah.


Today...
A: Joshua, what did you do at school today?
J: I dunno.  I took a drink.
A: Oh really.  Of what?
J: Water.



Isaac: Joshua, do you want to hear about the types of stuff in a house?
Joshua: yeah!
Isaac: well, a house has all three.  Houses with chimneys have smoke, and smoke is a gas.  Solids are the walls.  And houses have liquids like water, milk, chocolate milk, tasty water, and the water that Flurry drinks.

Sunday: clapping, rock show, mixel

Today was the start of the new school year programming at church, which meant that Isaac changed rooms.  I mentioned this to both boys separately, and they were both quite sad about it.  Isaac got over it quickly, but Joshua wanted to come to music with me.  We made a deal that he could come, but then had to go upstairs without a fuss.  It worked.

He enjoyed his clapping.  Even though no one else was clapping.

We went to the annual rock show this afternoon.  There was no a/c and it was hot.  But we saw some cool rocks and the kids got to play some games to win some rocks and buy a few rocks.  It was a good time.

At the library two weeks ago I grabbed a Lego book about Mixels.  Mixels are just little creatures that Lego was selling as small kits.  We got two in our room when we went to Legoland.  Anyway, Velectro was Joshua's favorite, and he told us so many times.  I finally made an approximation of Velectro using the pieces that we have.

For reference:

Friday: Isaac

I asked Isaac to put the silverware away.  He decided that the best way to open the silverware drawer was with his feet.

Isaac: Mom, I figured it out.  I'm going to make a tail.  Then I'm going to float away and you can grab the tail and pull and I'll grab the tail and pull and then I won't float away.
Amanda: Oh.

I'm also feeling a little bit better about whether or not Isaac is socializing at school.  He now as a best friend who has often been described as, "my new best friend that isn't in my class but I saw once in the bathroom but usually at recess."  It seems like it would be easier to learn his name, but that's apparently just me.  He is also sitting at the same table with a friend.  And then today he didn't play with his new best friend that isn't in his class but he saw once in the bathroom but usually at recess but instead played with someone else.

Thursday: Moodle

I remembered what I wanted to say a few weeks ago.  It's about Moodle.  That's the classroom management system we use.  It got upgraded over the summer.

There were some annoying things about it previously.  At the beginning of the school year, there were several very annoying things about it.  It seems as though one or two have been fixed, except for the main one.

There is too much clicking.

Say you're grading a homework assignment.  You put in a grade.  You then have two options.  You can click the "go to next student" to which it gives you a warning that you didn't save the grade and that it will do it for you and after you click ok it tells you the grade was saved.  (3 clicks)  Your other option is to click the save grade button, click ok when it tells you the grade is saved, and then click to go to the next student. (3 clicks)

Three clicks per student!  It used to be one.  "Save and continue to next student."  I definitely don't need a click that tells me it was saved.  Not only do I just assume that it happened, I can see that the score I put in goes from 1 to 1.00.

There are still a few other annoying things, but I can work around them.  (Such as not being able to grade in the order work was turned in.  I have found several plagiarism cases because they turned their work in at the same time.)

To be fair though, the highlight-what-day-we're-on is much more visible.  Actually, the preview works pretty well too and saves me one click on some assignments.

Wednesday: Joshua

Joshua and I were riding my bike to the library....

J: Mom!! Look!!!!!
A: It's a cement truck!!  How exciting.
J: Yeah, it's where we get our food.
A: What?  We don't get our food from a cement truck.
J: So where do we get our food?

J: Mom!! Look!!
A: A double dump truck!  Neat!

A: Ok, we're coming up to the railroad crossing soon.  Is it safe?
*The lights suddenly turn on and the dinging starts*
A: Oh, I guess not.
*No train appears and the lights turn off*
A: I guess it was just a test
*As we cross, we see a train changing cars or something*

Later
J: Dad!  We saw a train test.
J: A train test today
J: Dad! Did you see the train test?

The boys also wanted to run in the sprinklers tonight.

Tuesday: going to bed

I should go to bed in the "going to bed on time" campaign that I'm doing with myself.  Ben then proceeded to call it the "get in bed on time" campaign, which seems much more appropriate.

In other news, I tricked a computer twice yesterday into thinking I was a random coin toss.  Two out of two.  I was excited.  (https://nrich.maths.org/6078 - but you might need to use Internet Explorer).

In other other news, Isaac's best part of the day was playing with his new best friend.  The other child is probably not in Isaac's class and may be in a young fives program.  I'm fine with that.  As long as there is someone that he is playing with.

Monday: Isaac

Isaac got school lunch for the first time today.  He liked it.  Growing up I got to have it once a week...for the time being, it seems like a good way to do it for him too.  Maybe I'll change my mind after the 100th lunch though.

Next he wants home lunch with a water bottle, so that he can put his token in the last pail.  (Normally he gets just milk.)  Then he remembered that he really likes milk, which is why he usually get it.  I guess we'll save it for an extra special treat.

I also ordered a scholastic book for him.  Those are going strong, just like when I was a kid.  Joshua gets them too, but I usually just look and see if there is a robot book since those are not as common as one might think.  Anyway, I found a book for Isaac.  I figured that if we don't have to pay daycare expenses the least we can do is get him a book once a month.

He found a beautiful leave today.  He wanted a picture of it.  I usually use such occasions to get a picture of him.  He also made a new type of chalk running line...a funnel.  The line stops near the top of the driveway and near the bottom there's a catcher.  Why didn't I think of that?!?!  It would be so much easier to draw.  Maybe I'll need to do a trampoline.

Sunday: last night

A while ago I read a good book series, Bobiverse.  Since I enjoyed it quite a bit, I looked at a few other Goodreads lists that it was on, seeing if there was anything else that the online library had.  There was, Leviathan Wakes.

A few days ago Ben suggested a TV show to watch, The Expanse.  I watched two episodes and was finding it a bit dark...distopian, as Ben put it.  I said I'd watch one more episode, but I probably won't.  It just didn't catch my fancy and I'm listening to a good audiobook, so it'll probably be permanently shelved for me.

Last night the book was finally available, so I checked it out and eagerly started reading it.  It seemed a little familiar.  I kept reading.  It seemed really familiar.  I kept reading.  When I was 2% of the way through the book I called it out...it was the book the TV show was based on.  I had read about half of the first episode and there were too many similarities...er, plots points that were exactly the same... for it to be a coincidence.

It was weird to have the same story line brought to me in two different ways over the course of the weekend.