Tyrus is full of tales about things he's learning at school. Sometimes he'll tell me outright what he's learned, other times, I hear him talking about things to himself, and I have to listen in...
Tonight was one of those times...
After he got out of the shower, I heard him sing "A, B, I, O, U!"
I peeked around the corner, and said, "what are you singing about?"
And this point, he got this sheepish look on his face, and then giggled.
Then, I said, "are those vowels?"
And he said, "yes, how did you know?!"
Ha ha. He's cute.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
So my kids are amazing, have I told you?
So my kids are amazing, have I told you? They are all so cute and are doing fun things that I thought I'd update a bit about each of them.
~TYRUS~
Tyrus did great for his first week of organized school. His teachers said he was right where he needed to be, and according to his first report card, he mastered every concept they asked of him. The only thing he was unable to do was recognize the letter V. I felt great about the fact that he got everything else, and knew the other things they asked (colors, shapes, letters, numbers, school rules, holding pencil correctly, positioning paper correctly, etc) and felt like we could work extra hard on the V and he'd be doing great.
On another note, one of the girls in his class has been basically raised with him. She's three weeks older than Ty and me and her mom have commented and watched the two of them grow together. Well, her mom was the one who told us about this school, and so I'm pretty grateful to them. Anyway, Nicole was in Ty's class, which he thought was cool - especially on the first day when he was a bit nervous. Turns out, she only lasted four days in Kindergarten, until the school decided she was more suited for first grade! So, starting tomorrow, she begins grade 1! Wow! How very cool for her!
So, Ty's told me lots of things so far about his school that he's learned. It's cool to pick him up, because he's just so bubbly and full of excitement and stories! I guess they had some gingerbread scavenger hunt around the school, and "mom, did you know that the earth is spinning?" And that "when you put things in water, it makes the level of the water go up!" And, "have you heard this song? 'Sunday, Monday, Wednesday', - what comes next?" So cool! I love seeing him excited about school and enjoying it! I think this is a great fit for him, and he's off to a great start! Way to go Tyrus!
~ALEXIS~
Alexis is also loving being "mommy's big helper" when Tyrus is away at school. I find this somewhat amusing, because for the three hours he's gone, she's sleeping for two of them! But, for the rest of the time, it is super peaceful and she and Carsten have really played a lot together. I think I'll take my friend's advice and get her some special workbooks that she can work on some so that she feels like she's doing schoolwork, too. And really, she's old enough to learn stuff!
I've also been able to just spend some much needed one-on-one time with her reading and talking. I've seen quite a change in her - for the good - over the last few months. She's getting older and maturing and it's nice to see. She is a lover or a fighter - there isn't much in the middle.
Recently, she's picked up the phrase "Mom, I'm tired." She says this about 20 times a day. At first, I was worried thinking maybe she was really sick or lethargic or something, but she's not. She'll say this when she just woke up, or when she's sitting on the couch, or in the car, or when she's playing. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. It's just something to say, like she's bored or there's a lull in activity. What ever, weirdo.
The other thing she's doing a lot of recently is combing the hair on her My Little Pony. She discovered where I kept the hair clips and so now her Pony has, oh, 45 clips in her hair. Now, when I try to comb her own hair, she still her screams bloody murder, but I've told her she needs to get over that, since I won't quit combing it until she's fully able to do it on her own. Perhaps the Pony thing will help though, who knows?
We've also been working on trying to cut out the nail biting. I told her that if she didn't bite her nails for one whole day, at the end of the day, I'd giver her a Jelly Bean. She loved that idea, and it worked for keeping her dry over night, so I figured it was worth a shot for her nails, too. And so far, it seems to be working pretty good! She's got some nail growing there which I haven't seen any of in a long time. If this works, then perhaps we'll move on to her thumb sucking which her dentist says is causing a major overbite. One thing at a time, I guess.
~CARSTEN~
Carsten, my baby, is 11 months old as of yesterday. How is this possible? It just suddenly struck me the other day that he's almost a year, and moving more toward toddler hood than babyhood. Amazing.
I'd guess that he'll be full time walking by his birthday next month. Last night, he took quite a few steps toward me, giggling the whole time. It's so cute to see and he loves the challenge. Josh says we're crazy for trying to encourage him to become more mobile, but hey, whatever. He's still a peanut - wearing 9 to 12 month clothes, and weighing right around 20 pounds. Today I put on a 12 month onesie, and the snaps were down by his knees! And his pants! They fall off constantly because he doesn't have enough to keep the crazy things up! He's SO different in this way than his siblings.
I'm really trying to cut down the nursing with him and work on him sleeping in his own bed for the whole night. Easier said than done. Part of the issue is that we live in an apartment and we've already had some complaints about noise. (I just think or neighbors are crabby, but eh, what can you do.) Anyway, so with the other kids, I let them cry for a bit one night, and they figured it out. But I feel paranoid to do that with C because I don't want to disturb the other people in the building I'm not sure really how much they could hear, but I don't want another complaint issued, either. All that said, I'm having difficulty teaching Carsten to stay in his bed and that mommy's asleep, without being able to keep him quiet. So far, if he cries, I've just been going in, giving him his paci, and laying him back down. And, I'm also putting him back in his bed, vs keeping him in bed with us, after I'm done feeding him in the night. I think these are all steps in the right direction. Hopefully he'll get it soon. One can hope, right? :)
~TYRUS~
Tyrus did great for his first week of organized school. His teachers said he was right where he needed to be, and according to his first report card, he mastered every concept they asked of him. The only thing he was unable to do was recognize the letter V. I felt great about the fact that he got everything else, and knew the other things they asked (colors, shapes, letters, numbers, school rules, holding pencil correctly, positioning paper correctly, etc) and felt like we could work extra hard on the V and he'd be doing great.
On another note, one of the girls in his class has been basically raised with him. She's three weeks older than Ty and me and her mom have commented and watched the two of them grow together. Well, her mom was the one who told us about this school, and so I'm pretty grateful to them. Anyway, Nicole was in Ty's class, which he thought was cool - especially on the first day when he was a bit nervous. Turns out, she only lasted four days in Kindergarten, until the school decided she was more suited for first grade! So, starting tomorrow, she begins grade 1! Wow! How very cool for her!
So, Ty's told me lots of things so far about his school that he's learned. It's cool to pick him up, because he's just so bubbly and full of excitement and stories! I guess they had some gingerbread scavenger hunt around the school, and "mom, did you know that the earth is spinning?" And that "when you put things in water, it makes the level of the water go up!" And, "have you heard this song? 'Sunday, Monday, Wednesday', - what comes next?" So cool! I love seeing him excited about school and enjoying it! I think this is a great fit for him, and he's off to a great start! Way to go Tyrus!
~ALEXIS~
Alexis is also loving being "mommy's big helper" when Tyrus is away at school. I find this somewhat amusing, because for the three hours he's gone, she's sleeping for two of them! But, for the rest of the time, it is super peaceful and she and Carsten have really played a lot together. I think I'll take my friend's advice and get her some special workbooks that she can work on some so that she feels like she's doing schoolwork, too. And really, she's old enough to learn stuff!
I've also been able to just spend some much needed one-on-one time with her reading and talking. I've seen quite a change in her - for the good - over the last few months. She's getting older and maturing and it's nice to see. She is a lover or a fighter - there isn't much in the middle.
Recently, she's picked up the phrase "Mom, I'm tired." She says this about 20 times a day. At first, I was worried thinking maybe she was really sick or lethargic or something, but she's not. She'll say this when she just woke up, or when she's sitting on the couch, or in the car, or when she's playing. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. It's just something to say, like she's bored or there's a lull in activity. What ever, weirdo.
The other thing she's doing a lot of recently is combing the hair on her My Little Pony. She discovered where I kept the hair clips and so now her Pony has, oh, 45 clips in her hair. Now, when I try to comb her own hair, she still her screams bloody murder, but I've told her she needs to get over that, since I won't quit combing it until she's fully able to do it on her own. Perhaps the Pony thing will help though, who knows?
We've also been working on trying to cut out the nail biting. I told her that if she didn't bite her nails for one whole day, at the end of the day, I'd giver her a Jelly Bean. She loved that idea, and it worked for keeping her dry over night, so I figured it was worth a shot for her nails, too. And so far, it seems to be working pretty good! She's got some nail growing there which I haven't seen any of in a long time. If this works, then perhaps we'll move on to her thumb sucking which her dentist says is causing a major overbite. One thing at a time, I guess.
~CARSTEN~
Carsten, my baby, is 11 months old as of yesterday. How is this possible? It just suddenly struck me the other day that he's almost a year, and moving more toward toddler hood than babyhood. Amazing.
I'd guess that he'll be full time walking by his birthday next month. Last night, he took quite a few steps toward me, giggling the whole time. It's so cute to see and he loves the challenge. Josh says we're crazy for trying to encourage him to become more mobile, but hey, whatever. He's still a peanut - wearing 9 to 12 month clothes, and weighing right around 20 pounds. Today I put on a 12 month onesie, and the snaps were down by his knees! And his pants! They fall off constantly because he doesn't have enough to keep the crazy things up! He's SO different in this way than his siblings.
I'm really trying to cut down the nursing with him and work on him sleeping in his own bed for the whole night. Easier said than done. Part of the issue is that we live in an apartment and we've already had some complaints about noise. (I just think or neighbors are crabby, but eh, what can you do.) Anyway, so with the other kids, I let them cry for a bit one night, and they figured it out. But I feel paranoid to do that with C because I don't want to disturb the other people in the building I'm not sure really how much they could hear, but I don't want another complaint issued, either. All that said, I'm having difficulty teaching Carsten to stay in his bed and that mommy's asleep, without being able to keep him quiet. So far, if he cries, I've just been going in, giving him his paci, and laying him back down. And, I'm also putting him back in his bed, vs keeping him in bed with us, after I'm done feeding him in the night. I think these are all steps in the right direction. Hopefully he'll get it soon. One can hope, right? :)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
And He's Off!
Well, he survived!
I was pretty teary on the way to the school as I was driving Tyrus for his first day of Kindergarten. I just kept thinking about what a big kid he is, and I was questioning myself if we've taught him everything he needs to know (don't goof off, listen to instructions, don't go in anyone's car you don't know... etc). Josh came and was able to kiss Ty and tell him good luck! Then, the tears in Josh's eyes made me tear up, of course too.
When I picked him up, he was all cheerful, blabbing up a storm! His teacher said he had a great first day, so that made me happy. I asked him lots of questions about his day and the things he did and he happily answered everything. Then we got home and the tears started! He said his head hurt and he felt sick and all itchy. I think he was just overwhelmed with the new day and all it's activities and he was ready for some down time. So, he changed his clothes and just relaxed for a bit.
Tonight, as I was putting him to bed, he was all excited and giggling - thinking about tomorrow's day of school!
I was pretty teary on the way to the school as I was driving Tyrus for his first day of Kindergarten. I just kept thinking about what a big kid he is, and I was questioning myself if we've taught him everything he needs to know (don't goof off, listen to instructions, don't go in anyone's car you don't know... etc). Josh came and was able to kiss Ty and tell him good luck! Then, the tears in Josh's eyes made me tear up, of course too.
When I picked him up, he was all cheerful, blabbing up a storm! His teacher said he had a great first day, so that made me happy. I asked him lots of questions about his day and the things he did and he happily answered everything. Then we got home and the tears started! He said his head hurt and he felt sick and all itchy. I think he was just overwhelmed with the new day and all it's activities and he was ready for some down time. So, he changed his clothes and just relaxed for a bit.
Tonight, as I was putting him to bed, he was all excited and giggling - thinking about tomorrow's day of school!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Is that a step I see?!
Carsten is beginning to take steps on his own! Can you believe it?? He'll stand unassisted for quite a while, and then he sort of leans forward and his toes wiggle. It's like you can see his brain clicking and willing his feet to go forward. The most steps I've seen him take is two before he comes crashing down again to the floor. So cute!
I wonder if he'll be in the middle of his brother and sister? Alexis walked at just shy of 10 months, and Tyrus was 13 when he started, so who knows where Carsten will end up? He's almost 11 months now!
I wonder if he'll be in the middle of his brother and sister? Alexis walked at just shy of 10 months, and Tyrus was 13 when he started, so who knows where Carsten will end up? He's almost 11 months now!
