Sunday: play

The boys did a good job of playing together again today.  They worked on cardboard houses for their favorite stuffed animals.  They pretended they were in a video game and had to fight dragons and golems.  (They got to level three.)

It was also daylight savings time today...spring forward.  As a parent of kids who wake up at the same time no matter what, I actually prefer spring forward.  We let the boys stay up a little bit late, but not they still went to sleep easily.  We just took an hour out of the middle of the day.

Saturday: Maple Syrup

Today Pat came over and we went to see maple syrup being made.  I wasn't really sure what to expect...and it wasn't quite what I had expected.  It was too cold for the sap to actually be flowing, so the taps were just frozen.  There was still some things to see that was interesting, but I don't think the boys got much out of it.  Except for a maple candy...they loved that.

 

 We also got some maple syrup, and it was delicious.  We had it with some Mickey Waffles for dinner.

Friday: carnival

This evening was a carnival at Isaac's school.  It was a fun night.  I think Isaac had a ton of fun, while Joshua had fun.  Joshua didn't want to try all the games.  (This ended up being fine, since I didn't realize all the games would cost more than one ticket.  We probably still came out even over buying the 'unlimited' pass.)

There were a lot of throwing games.

And several games where you just ended up with candy no matter what.

Their favorite game was fishing.  You threw the hook over the board and then got some candy.

There was also a bounce house that they both had a blast with.  And dinner.  And balloon animals.  Isaac got a giraffe and Joshua got a red monkey to be friends with Monkey.

What was especially fun was to see Isaac find the kids in his class.  Sometimes he said hi first, sometimes they did.  He knew everyone's name and was always happy to see them.

Thursday: almost break

Spring break starts the end of next week.  It means that the lab schedule changes a bit and I don't have quite as tight deadlines as normal.  It's nice.

This semester has been a lot better than last semester though.  I added a half day to my work schedule and the graders that I have are much more on top of it.  I'm able to plan better which makes a huge difference.

Wednesday: milestones

Today was Grey Bear's birthday.  He turned 5.

I had my first email from a parent asking to talk about their student's performance in class.  I'm not allowed to talk to parents though, so it was easy to write a nice email back.

Isaac had a super, super, super, super, super, super,  super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super, super good day.

He lost his tooth.  The adult tooth is actually quite visible.

Tuesday: baskets

So, Joshua does a pretty good job of actually telling me what he did in a day.  (At least big picture stuff.)  Several times now he's said, "and we have circle time and then we put our baskets away."  I thought there were basket pictures on the rug, but today I realized there weren't.  Then I saw laundry baskets by the teacher's chair.  I quickly realized Joshua meant real baskets.

Isaac: 72, 73, and 74 months

And now for the last three months with Isaac... Like before, any text is recent observations.

72 months:

Playing: Isaac has been much more willing to play with Joshua lately.  They've been doing a lot of bouncing, running, and other random things.  Today they were putting 'poison' on a lego plate to keep the bad snakes away.  Isaac has also really enjoyed playing games, and he's gotten to the point where the games he enjoys I also enjoy.

 

Math: I had gotten a cheapo calculator from Lockheed and it ended up in the toy room.  Isaac found it the other day and was fascinated by it.  He used it so much that he wore out the screen and we had to order another.  He is understanding math concepts very well, and will often tell us stuff I didn't realize that he knew.  Today he said "Five times five is...twenty-five."  Ben and I are both rather excited by this. :D

Reading: His reading keeps surprising me too.  He can do the consonant-vowel-consonant as long as they follow normal words, words that end in e, and a few other miscellaneous.  Then today he read 'woods' and 'keep'.  This has also been lots of fun.

73 months:

School: School is going well.  He doesn't really have a 'best' friend, but after talking with people that doesn't seem to be abnormal.  I have heard the name of one person several times lately, so that is encouraging.  There have been a few minor incidents with other kids, but nothing that makes me worry...at least, not worry for more than the day it's taken to get it resolved.  His favorite specials are gym and technology.

Health: His super annoying cough disappeared after getting the flu like thing that the whole family got.  It is like throwing up got rid of whatever was tickling his throat.  He also has a loose tooth.  I find loose teeth disgusting and so always send him over to Ben whenever he says anything about it.  Isaac asked how the tooth fairy gets into houses the other day.  I said she can go through walls, although I wish I had said she has a magic key.

74 months:

He was much more willing to do his pictures standing up, so my guess is that's what we'll do in the future.  (Not that he was unwilling to do them laying down, but this just worked better.)

Chores: he's been voluntarily doing more chores around the house for more money.  He's trying to get up to $50, because I think he wants to see a $50 bill.  He is also making his lunch sometimes...today he made a strawberry jelly and nutella sandwich.  I told him that is probably a one time thing since most of the health comes from the peanut butter.

Growing up: While still very silly and crazy, Isaac has also grown up a ton in the last few months.  I'm not sure if it's something listed above or just a general feeling.  I sure do like the kid he's becoming.