Thursday: library and duplos

Today was slightly less busy, but still full.  We did some grocery shopping in the morning, along with a few chores.  At swimming lessons Isaac managed to float by himself for a short while.  Hooray!!  Joshua is not shy with the teachers, being very clear that he doesn't want to put his head under water and that he prefers Mr. Kyle as a teacher.  (So much so that when we were changing into clothes he cried the whole time because he didn't get to go in the locker room with Mr. Kyle.)

Then we went to the library.  Isaac got his own library card!  It won't make a huge difference for anything, but seems like an important milestone.

This evening after Ben got home we were all in our bedroom.  Joshua decided to drag the Duplo table into our bedroom for a bit.  It has suddenly become much more mobile.  Joshua uses that table so much though...Isaac used it a lot and it was a good birthday present for him, but Joshua uses it constantly.  There were a few times that I wondered if we had gotten too many Duplos, but I don't really think that is the case now that I've seen just how much use we've gotten out of them.

Isaac was putting clips in my hair.

Wednesday: morning out

Today was still a rather busy day, but busy in that we did several things and not busy in that I felt rushed.  As Ben mentioned to me yesterday, it is a good busy...and I'm not being asked, "will you play with me?" twenty times a day.

It started out with gymnastics for Joshua.  I let Isaac do a coding game on the Ipad that seemed too easy for him, but he has to get through the easy levels first I guess.  (It was Isaac's favorite thing of the day...as normal with extra screen time.)

Then we went to the bike store, which went medium.  Isaac got a few pedals rotations in but didn't seem to make any progress since last time.  Then we went to Cheryl's.  I had a quilt to pick up and we made a train track and played with it for about 45 minutes.  Then swimming lessons and we finally got to come home.

When I woke up from my nap the boys were playing a game called 'school' which involved them hiding under their quilts.  There was also some fire involved...as normal, I have no clue what they were doing.  But they both said they loved the game.

The day ended with ice skating lessons.  It was Joshua's last lesson, and that is probably a good thing.  He was doing fine, but not loving it.  Isaac had significant improvement from the first time he got on the ice, and mastered the first two sets in the beginning skating class.  It means he'll be in the same level next session, but that's probably where he should be.

Tuesday: busy day #2

They're busy days, and we have another tomorrow, but not *too* busy.  Just busier than normal...and that might be a good thing.

Today started with a hike at some nearby trails.  The hike was going to go for an hour (as timed by a normal walker) and I was a bit afraid my children wouldn't keep up.  Since we had swimming lessons, we decided to cut back a bit earlier.

And we got so lost.  Not lost like, "I'm not sure I'll ever see civilization again" or even, "I'm not sure we'll make it to swimming lessons," but lost like, "we've seen this sign twice" and "this path wasn't on the map" and "how did we go north when we wanted to go south?"  The boys did super well though, and it really ended up being the amount of time that I wanted to go for a hike.

Next was swimming lessons and they did well.  I was a bit worried that they'd be tired out, but they seemed pretty normal.  Joshua tried some goggles.  I don't know if he liked them or not, but he wore them the whole time.

The last item of the day, after screen time and rest time, was another dentist appointment for Isaac.  This time they had to numb his mouth.  Joshua slept through the whole thing and Isaac fell asleep on the way home.  I let Isaac sleep a bit as I figured it would be an easier way to get the mouth numbing out of the way.  He was rather groggy when he woke up, but slowly snapped out of it.  (Slowly snapped?  I'm not sure those should go together.)

Monday: a busy day

We started the day out by picking strawberries.  Joshua didn't pick many, but was somewhat content to follow Isaac around.  They didn't really understand the "pick in one place" concept, but since they weren't picking many berries at all I didn't worry about it too much.

We got the zimm-zamm out for the first time.  Nathan and I played this a ton growing up, and I thought Isaac might like it after tetherball the other day.  Isaac did ok, Joshua liked it when I was helping him, and the string kept wrapping around the pole.  I found another piece that wasn't part of the instructions and am wondering if that will help a bit.  Anyway, for the present time it wasn't as exciting as I remember it being, but I have hopes for the future.

The boys then started swimming lessons.  Isaac said it was his favorite part of the day.  I thought the instructors were very good, although both boys got very cold.  Ben saw the pictures and realized that he had spent hours and hours at the same pool.

Then we made strawberry jam with my aunt.  I'm a bit afraid that one of the batches isn't going to set.  So then comes the difficult question - try to make it reset or use it as a topping for ice cream and such?

After dinner Isaac and I went back to the bike shop.  Isaac was not thrilled about having a pedal bike.  Not thrilled at all.  He did managed to get three rotations of the pedals (or maybe 1.5 rotations...I'm not sure how I was counting now) which was a huge improvement and we were at least able to end the night on a high note.

Sunday: church

I went to church with the boys today.  Isaac's Sunday school class has finished for the summer so he has to sit with me.  Joshua just wanted to sit with me and not go to his class.  It made for a rather distracting church service for me.  The boys were good and quiet, but with both of them there was still quite a bit of help that was needed.  I think next week I'll make Joshua go to his classroom after singing.  I don't mind him coming with me for that part, but I really do think he'd have a better time with kids his own age.

Isaac: 75, 76, and 77 months

75 months:

Isaac did an excellent job in school this year.  We got back some of his testing results and he did very well.  As mentioned before, his math skills exploded.  His reading has gotten really good too...in the chapter books we read he can sometimes get a full sentence or two (as long as I pick out ones that don't have words that are too long.)  He moved to a Scholastic Reading level of G, which easily sets him up for 1st grade.  He also seemed to interact well with the other kids...I heard names of assorted people that he played with at recess.  He also said hi to his classmates in the hall and his classmates said hi to him.

Attitude: still so silly.  I've had to ask him to tone it down a bit lately because it has been too much for me.  They also had behavior charts in school and his never moved off green.  (Which is a bit too bad; one or two yellows would have probably been good for him.)  Anyway, he wants to use it at home too...he will get some yellows from me.  Not very often, but there has been more push back on some items when he wants his way.

76 months:

Loving: Isaac is incredibly loving and often makes things that says, "Isaac loves Mom" or "Isaac loves Dad."  He told his teacher many times.  He gets Joshua in often...he runs through the family list.

Future: he currently wants to be an E.R doctor, but I've also heard police man or fire fighter as close seconds.

On being a puppy: while he still is a puppy, it rarely shows up anymore.  While a bit sad, it's probably appropriate. 

77 months:

Surprises: Issac loves surprises and never wants to know what we're doing until we get there.  This is usually helpful because I can change plans at the drop of a hat.  It isn't so helpful if I tell him something that he doesn't understand the reason for (like not having dessert because we're having surprise ice cream.)  And while not a surprise, he loves new experiences and new things.

Athletics: while Isaac isn't the most athletic person ever, he has been working on several skills.  Ice skating is getting better and he decided it would be the sport he continued through the summer.  Biking without training wheels is getting really close...he got a half-rotation at the store today.  The next two weeks are swimming lessons.  (And I hope that it isn't too many new things to learn all at once.)

Laughter: Isaac still laughs so easily.  He's starting to understand more jokes, but slap stick humor brings out the laughs too.  He and Joshua will laugh a ton together, and it is wonderful to hear.

Friday: Isaac's last day of school

He left the morning as a Kindergartner

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(And the first day of school, for comparison.)

At 9:30 it was graduation time.  Ben caught them lined up and ready to come in.

The teachers said some nice things and then the kids went through the alphabet.  There were three kids to a letter and they said the letter and what it stood for.  Isaac's N was super clear.

He got his diploma.  It had a nice picture on it with an "I want to be an E.R. doctor" [when I grow up].  There were also pictures of the kids on the back wall...both of Isaac's pictures turned out very well.

Time for some pictures!

And just like that, we have a 1st grader! 

Afterwards we went back to the bike shop.  The person that really knows what she is doing said Isaac was ready to try pedals!  He tried a few loops, but the loop in the store isn't all that big and he couldn't get going fast enough, have enough time to get his feet on the pedals, and not run into the bikes in the middle all at the same time.  I think we'll try a few more times and if it isn't quite working perhaps we'll just get the bike and try it at home with a bit more room.