Bunnies

Zizzlingers

Blue

Dora Outfit

Package from Grammy

UH OH! Sadie just discovered the harmonica! *cackle*

Benny got his out and they're now harmonica-ing all over the place.

Parade

This parade is today, downtown at noon. I feel like I should take the kids but I don't know if it's rowdy or weird. I get stressed out in crowds if it's rowdy or weird, especially with the children.

I taught him something

Typically Benny learns in this mysterious osmotic way. He kind of absorbs the information or skill without my input. In fact, I purposefully refrain frome explaining things, many times, just to give him more of a challenge.

He's been blazing ahead in his "Time and Money" workbook which he loves. Today it moved to telling time on the half hour and he *didn't know how to do it.* I actually had to teach him how to make the hand between the 2 and the 3 or how if the minute hand points to six it means 30 minutes, etc. Somewhere in this house I have one of those learning clocks where you move the hands around and it tells you the time below. I at least have SOME CLOCK SOMEWHERE that I could use to give an example. But I could not find it. So I taught it to him, and he learned it!

IT WAS ALMOST A TOTALLY NEW EXPERIENCE FOR BOTH OF US. *cackle* He actually paid attention and understood what I said and then applied it to the workbook and put down correct answers. I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing all the time, but I actually feel PROUD TODAY because I was able to teach my child something he didn't already know.

Sadie

Keyboard

Play

The children seem to just want to play all day. I am trying to think of why I shouldn't just let them.

Time

Spirotein

Math and breakfast

The Day

Today we started off with gymnastics at 9, then playtime, lunch and bike ride with the delightful and nutritious Porterfields, and then I broke down and took them to the playground instead of coming home for a sensible nap. It was such a nice day, I would have felt even meaner than usual if I'd stood firm on the nap issue. So, Sadie went down the slide a million times and Benny fell in with gang of children in some kind of after school care. Well. Those children were a little rough around the edges, I must say. And Benny was richly, thoroughly, absolutely entertained.

First there was the sand throwing, which seemed to be ignored if not sanctioned by the caregivers (I hollered a little, just to be officially opposed) and then there was a golden moment: Benny was down at the bottom of the slide, having made a sand pile, and he looked up to the top of the slide where there was kind of the ringleader of this gang of boys.

Benny: Hey look down here at this sandcastle I'm making.
Ringleader: *cavernous burp lasting like 30 seconds*
Benny: *gaze of total instant adoration*

He just loves being in a big herd of kids. They didn't seem to be... actively killing each other so I just let him join in however he could. It was pretty funny. Sadie stayed clear, thank goodness, so she was just giving me faints trying to go up and over those half-circle climby things that she insists she's big enough to do. She's not. Leroy ate a bunch of sand. A good time was had by all.

Ebay

Oh my goodness. I'm selling something on Ebay. I haven't done that since I was pregnant with Sadie. I will tell you what prompted me, honestly, to do it. I had this Stride Rite box and I had Sadie's old sandals, and I thought, "With this box, and these sandals, and the sunny day, I could make a nice product photo. I should sell these on Ebay." And I did.

Here's the listing. Weird, isn't it? I promise I'm not broke or anything. At least, I don't think I am.

Studydog

Benny spent the last hour working on free software called Studydog. He was using the first/second grade level and it looked to me like it was way too easy for him. It held his attention though, and it had a good section on making contractions where you have to squeeze things into a box and add apostrophes etc. He liked that part.

Letters

Dog operation

Icy Buoy

Play doh

Off to work

Time and Money Workbook

Leroy

Benny

A few minutes ago we were engaged in our morning ritual of greeting Leroy. We let him out of his crate, feed him, and then he jumps around on us on the sofa and kisses us and we laugh.

Benny: Hahaha!!! A giant man with a tiny puppy might be quite outstanding!
Me: Wha??
Benny: Like Daddy at the dog school with Leroy.

Okay.

Now he's playing "Frere Jacques" on the keyboard, transposed into a E minor.

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone

2006/03/27 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 2 100% 0:06:36 B1
2006/03/27 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 3 98% 0:13:44 B1
2006/03/27 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 4 98% 0:06:24 B2
2006/03/27 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 5 100% 0:09:28 A1

Sheep and Lunch

Yesterday, when we were waiting for pizza, Sadie was plaintively carrying around a can of chicken noodle-O's and also a can of spaghetti-os. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? I have no idea.



This is a toy where you balance wooden sheep on top of each other. There are lots of different configurations to try, to make them balance. Benny is OBSESSED with this, at church, and rushes to it every week, and gets in awful trouble fighting the other kids off it. I tried to find it on Ebay, and of course it's not to be had, except from NEW ZEALAND and it probably costs more to ship it than the actual product. I have to find it on Ebay! Have to! I must have it!

Jr. NATURALIST

Listing local fauna

?

Cool Latin Fun

I'm trying to decide whether Benny needs to learn Latin next or much later. Here's a SO COOL site where you can make Latin sentences by dragging things around on the page:

South America

Finally got Sadie's South America workbook up to date, at least up to G. They love flipping through their workbooks, and I've needed to add the next few pages for... hmm.... weeks and weeks? :) Done. Now to do Benny's. Here's a screenshot of Sadie's E is for Empanada page:



To see the whole E lesson, with Ecuador and equator and empanada, go here.

Here's one of Benny's pages, F is for Flores.

Excitement

Ms. Charlie, aka the Director of Children's Ministries at church asked me today if Benny would like to lead the children in the procession on Easter Sunday. This means he will wear vestments and carry the cross and whatnot. VERY COOL. What, Benny? Want to lead? But he's such a shy, timid little thing, so eager to let others show the way... Yeah right! He practiced today with the cross.... have to learn to carry it straight up and down and not like a stick horse or something. So we will practice with a broom. :) It should be cool -- he told everyone who would listen all about it on the way out of church. :)

Another Benny story:

Benny was at Ahno's and she had a neighbor over. Benny was in his uberpolite, senatorial mode and shook the guy's hand, saying, "Hi, I'm Benny. It's so good to meet you!" Later he was interrupting urgently when the guy was talking about dogs, and Ahno said, "Benny, hold on a minute" so the guy could finish talking. Benny left the room and came back carrying a sign that said, "I have a puppy too." Hehehe. That's my little hyperlexic chickenhead!

Ihop

Mr. Bob

HUZZAH

The curse is lifted! Last night Dan brought home yet another coffee pot to try, and this morning he made coffee in it, and he is *DRINKING IT* with actual pleasure. No wrinkled nose. How do you like that?

Test

CHECK ONE TWO.

Rosetta Stone

I've been letting him just play with Rosetta Stone for a while now, but now I've decided to get systematic and actually do the tests and time it and whatnot. Here's how he did today:
Test results for Benny
2006/03/24

Date Chapter Score Time spent Activity
2006/03/24 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 1 100% 0:04:04 A1
2006/03/24 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 2 100% 0:03:49 A1
2006/03/24 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 3 85% 0:04:11 A1
2006/03/24 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 4 100% 0:04:23 A1
2006/03/24 Spanish (Lat. Am.) Level 1 Unit 1 Lesson 3 92% 0:05:17 A2

One Thing Done

Today's nap time was supposed to be spent getting myself up to date with the South America pages both on the web and in the children's workbooks. That didn't happen. However, I did finish formatting and polishing this little unit study on Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham. KABOOMINARS are unit studies so small they can fit in one day, and so fun they have to be done with friends. This is the first one that I've finally gotten around to writing down and posting.

Whew!

We had a great morning! Benny did a fantastic job in gymnastics again -- this time in addition to letting other people go first in line every time, he also did not try to "win" the warm-up exercises. They do crab walk, bear walk, run, jump on one leg, etc. all from point A to point B and typically Benny will kill himself to be first, while other more virtuous gymnasts trot along behind actually doing the technique they're supposed to be doing. Today I saw him making the conscious decision to hang back and let someone else be first -- that is huge for him. No milk/cheese today. Also no peanut butter. One of those things is making him buggy, I'm becoming convinced.

Then we went to the Porterfields and played. We played in the backyard, then had lunch, then Veronica had a great game where they tasted different things, blindfolded, and wrote about what they were tasting and tried to guess what it was. Very fun. Benny was EXTREMELY distrustful and could hardly stand to keep his eyes closed while tasting. Then gave up halfway through, just couldn't manage it. Oh well! It was great for the other kids. :)

More Puppet Show

The Galapagos puppets are really earning their Kleenex stuffing. The children are putting on yet another puppet show. Just now, the marine iguana threw off the shark mask he had been wearing and said, "ATTACK!" and the land iguana said, and I kid you not, "This highly motivates me!"

Sadie is being the tortoise. The tortoise's lines are thus: "Puppet show! Puppet show!" He also jumps around a lot in a very inauthentic way.

Two Bennyisms

Two quotes from Benny.

Me: I'm going to give you chocolate milk today, and if you're naughty, we'll know it's because of the milk
Benny: Oh, Mommy, sometimes I'm naughty and sometimes I'm not. That's just the way it goes!

Later.... after hollering at me about not having time to play Chinese Checkers etc.

Me: I think the chocolate milk did make you crabby, Benny.
Benny: No, it wasn't that.
Me: Then what was it?
Benny: It's just the way I'm made!

Sign - Out

Sign - In

Morning

Benny got right up and learned about plural and singular nouns. Spent some time on that, and then moved on to music class where we ran through all our South America songs. Now he's doing some more "predicting outcome" thingies while Sadie plays with the guitar. His favorite singular/plural pair was puppy/puppies. Natch. And he pointed out that child/children doesn't add an S or an ES or an IES. Thank you.

I must, this week, without fail, catch myself up on the South America web site and also the memory books for the children. He loves doing that book, and currently it's only up to E. DUH. And Sadie's is still on C! Maybe today during the nap I'll wade into that.

Dad's chair

Cat

Luge

Benny reports he got first place in luge.

Rainy and Gross

Today is VILE. I can't believe yesterday we were at the playground saying, "When you're not in the sun it's a little nippy." Today it's frigid, wet, and windy. Totally vile.

BUT! Benny had a great violin lesson. We need to work on the steady tempo in Gavotte from Mignon, and work on the 4th finger being up tall in Gavotte by Lully, and we're kinda previewing Minuet in G now. He was really good -- a couple focusing issues where he gets staring off into space and forgets where he is. But nothing major. Great. He's now playing Playstation, singing the Olympic theme, and digesting his reward cookie. On our way home from Ahno's house after picking up Sadie, I said, "We are not leaving the house for the rest of the day!" And Benny said, "What, we don't have any business to take care of?" Huh??? He had a good swimming lesson too. Excellent day all the way around so far, in terms of Benny's bee hayve yor.

Not so excellent in terms of weather. But hey.

Tooth

Benny's fourth tooth came out as we were changing into our clothes after his swimming lesson this morning. He was determined I would not pull it out (OOOO -- I wanted to!) so it was hanging by the proverbial thread. Then he ate a cheese cracker and it fell out in his mouth -- trauma! Ah, son, this is just what I warned you about! He retrieved it from under his tongue however, while narrating in hushed tones. He carried it carefully all the way home, telling everyone within hearing that he'd just lost a tooth, "THIS VERY MINUTE!"

BLAST.

So, we've been discussing the issue of whether Leroy can spend the night in his actual crate, instead of his crate-inside-a-crate where he can get out and relieve himself if he needs to, during the night. We're trying to be correct about the potty training now. Instead of incorrect, which we have been. So we've been taking him out on a leash, trying to get him to go in one spot outside, giving him treats for it, and shutting him in his crate to prevent accidents unless we know he just went, etc.

He went to bed at 11:30-ISH. I got up at 1:30 and took him outside, since I was already up with Benny. Then he was in the crate until 7:00.

AND HE POOPED AND PEED ALL OVER IT. !!! He is NOT supposed to want to poop and pee in this crate! It is too small for him to think it is okay to do that. So, can he really not hold it for five hours? He's supposed to be able to, at five months, hold it. Do I need to set an alarm for 4AM or something? Or does he just not HAVE that instinctive crate-protecting urge that ALL DOGS are supposed to have?

UGH! I'm just so irritated and disappointed and naturally I'm out of paper towels so I had to use and throw away ratty dish towels, which is probably all to the good, but... !!!! Of course Benjamin thought it was hysterical beyond measure.

BLEEEAARRRGH. Flush him down the tullet.

Sock monkey

Leroy

Playground

Jungle

Tra la

We're eating strawberries and doing math. There was another puppet show early this morning. Can't find my copy of Mill on the Floss! And just when I was getting to the exciting part where someone does or does not go fishing with someone else! How will I live through another hour not knowing which of whose Aunts has what kind of sleeves on her dress, indicating what social class or what moral virtue? *thud*

Oatmeal

Today

Benny was excellent today. He had learned about verbs and practiced his violin all by EIGHT O'CLOCK. Went to Sunday School *and* Children's Chapel and was borderline excellent. A couple times the meltdown threatened to emerge, but he fought it back, and was victorious. Huzzah. After church he went to Ahno's to play, and Sadie went to sleep, and I worked on the endless job of fixing pictures. Getting close to being caught up. Maybe.

When Sadie woke up, we went and got Benny. He was good at dinner, good at bedtime... good good good. Lovely day. Very charming. His best thing today, he said, was church. I reported to him that my best thing was seeing him get school and violin done so early in the morning. If *that* is the reason he gets up at six, I'll whole heartedly support his early rising.

Brainstorming for Happy Tales Book Club, and getting ready to go with H is for Hats, and also I very much need to upload everything from F is for Flower and G is for Galapagos. And update the kids' South America books with all the new pages. If I get the South America stuff caught up this week, it'll be glorious. GLORIOUS I SAY!

Uiolin

School

Participant!

Leedee McRoy & Benny Too

I'm finally getting around to fixing the Christmas pictures. WHY must I take SO MANY. *shrug* And here's one of Leroy as a 9 week old puppy, and one of Benny at Christmas too -- I love this picture!

Painting

As usual, Sadie wanted to paint. And did. Then Benny came along, and he was painting away, and I started asking him math problems and having him paint the answer. Then I was crayoning some math onto his painting paper and having him paint around it. Then I gave him a page of crayon and paint math to finish. His comments: "I'm not going to paint anymore if you're going to start mathing it up."

*cackle*