retreat

I have to say that the WM retreat was really wonderful and certainly helped to renew our feelings of connectedness with our church family. Thanks to the generosity of my mom, we were able to have the freedom to talk and listen to other grown-ups much more than usual, since she watched Samuel for us all weekend. Jacob and Ethan came with us, but they were able to play outside with the other children with minimal supervision most of the time. I was reminded, as I frequently am, of just how special the people of WM are and how blessed we are to be a part of a community such as it. What a privilege to spend almost a whole weekend with so many of them. :-)

Heath took pictures and made them into a cool YouTube movie. You can see it here: Wheatland Mission Retreat Video

(I have waited several days to post this entry hoping Heath would make the edits he wanted to the video, but I have decided I can't wait any longer. So I'm sorry if some of the heads are still cut off.)

Halloween

kids update

In some ways, it seems that I have less to say on this blog as the kids get older. But in other ways, there is still a lot to say, but I simply don't have the time to record it all!

I'll start with the oldest child. Jacob is doing well in school, both academically and socially. It's such a blessing to not have to worry about either of my kids in school. He has friends and told us that he leads the kids at recess in their soccer games. Not that he knows the rules of soccer - but I guess he directs everyone as to what kind of game they are going to play on the soccer field with the soccer ball. I said, "Well, that makes sense that you would be a leader, because you know, Daddy is a leader at his work." Jacob said, "Yeah, I know." (Of course, Mom, I already thought of that.) He is a voracious reader, finishing a book every other night. After he plowed through the entire Magic Tree House collection we bought him this summer, I have started going to the library and checking out 10-15 little books at a time. He finishes them well before the 4 weeks are up, and I go get some more. We've discovered Encyclopedia Brown and The Littles now, so hopefully those series will keep him busy for a while. Luckily, I can still pick out educational historical fiction, like The Sword in the Tree, Riding the Pony Express, The Drinking Gourd, and Sam the Minuteman, and he thinks they are interesting. I have checked out many of the books in the Sonlight curriculum we were going to use for homeschooling, and he has enjoyed reading them. It makes me feel like we are still reaping some of the benefits that I was anticipating from using that curriculum, even though we're not actually home schooling.

Jacob is in "talent pool" for math, which means he gets taken out of the classroom to do higher level math during the regular math time a few times a week (I can't remember exactly how often). His teacher is also collecting information to get him tested for the gifted program by the end of the year, potentially to start the program in third grade. I'm not sure how I feel about that - I guess it could be really good for him. I certainly like it that he is getting more stimulating math at school now. The things they were doing in class he's been doing for a couple of years already. He just "gets" math. He told me that talent pool is way better than regular math, that they do things like 8+A=32. I said, "And you know how to do that?" He said "Yeah." (Again with the tone, like, "Well, yeah, of course, Mom.")

Jacob's behavior has become so easy and pleasant, although he still sometimes gets carried away with things with his brother and stops listening to us. We still have our conflicts with him, but they are much fewer and less intense. A firm reminder usually sets him back on the right path, with a few exceptions, like generalized wildness before bed.

Now to the second oldest child. Ethan also seems to be doing well in Kindergarten. He started a little "behind" by today's standards, in other words, not already reading. Ridiculous! He was not as interested in learning letter sounds or sounding out words as Jacob was during his preschool years, so I didn't push it, since I don't believe it is in any way necessary to read at that early age. When he started Kindergarten, the teacher put papers in his take-home folder with a page of letters in random order, to practice recognizing letter sounds, and columns of words, like cat, hat, rat, sat, bat, etc. The goal is to work through the pages - first recognizing all the letter sounds, then moving through the three-letter words columns. He took a while to get all the letter sounds, but now he has it and he is working quickly through the columns of small words. He's still behind most of his class in completing the columns, since he had to spend more time on letter sounds, but he's going to catch up pretty quickly now. I wanted to be careful that the process and the pressure to learn this didn't cause him to hate school or to think he "just wasn't good at reading" or something ridiculous like that. He's only 5, for heaven's sake! Thankfully, he has been mostly willing to practice (and I don't push it when he's not), and he is super excited that he "reads now!" They'll start sending home little books to read each night after Christmas, and I think he'll be ready. I have been thankful that his teacher seems to hold a similar view, that despite having goals and plans for them learning to read in Kindergarten, we don't pressure them, we still let them be kids. His teacher has been doing this for about 20 years, starting back when we only taught letters in Kindergarten. So he has a broad perspective that I appreciate.

I think Ethan is doing well in the friend arena, as well. He has always been extroverted and good at making friends. When I visited for lunch and recess, it seemed to me that he knew and was playing with everyone. But then when I ask about his friends, he'll say he doesn't have any, or that he only has one or two. His definition of "friend" must be a little bit different than mine. Also, he sometimes tells me things about school that are not altogether accurate in order to be dramatic or to get attention in the midst of Jacob sharing interesting stories about school, so I don't know. He had one friend that he really liked who sat across from him, who moved after a few weeks of school, and he was sad about that. But now he has made friends with two other boys who sit at his table, so hopefully those will be friendships that will last throughout the year. He also has two little girls he is friends with, identical twins in his class. I suspect one or both of them probably thinks he is her "boyfriend," but I think Ethan is clueless about it. So that's pretty cute. I don't think he can tell them apart, but he plays with both of them.

Ethan's behavior at home is still pretty crazy and difficult. He has an incredible amount of energy, is always moving, and physical with other kids and objects/furniture around him. He is loving and sweet at times, but he also pushes his limits constantly. I know he'll get it eventually, and I'm trying to be patient. But it can be maddening to tell him for the millionth time not to "discipline" Samuel, not to exact revenge on Jacob, to let us deal with his brothers instead; not to say "hate" or "evil" (as in "Sam is evil" or "Jacob is evil" - we think that is too strong and don't want him to say it) or to talk about bodily functions all the time. His teacher says his behavior is mostly okay at school, except for wrestling other kids during rug time. I can just picture it!

Now to the youngest child. Samuel has become two. He turned two five months ago, but he only became two a month ago. Since he became two, he has unrolled a roll of TP and tried to stuff it down a shower drain after removing the drain cover, taken handfuls of ashes out of the fireplace and spread them around the family room (including over the electronics), and removed about 15 keys from the laptop keyboard. On top of those major events, he also tries to empty soap dispensers and cover the bathroom counters, mirrors and floors with water whenever possible and gets into the Vaseline next to the changing table and spreads it all over himself and his bedroom surfaces whenever opportunity arises. I have put doorknob covers on a couple of doors and resorted to locking the bathroom downstairs much of the time. He also throws toys, but we have been working on curbing that habit for a while. It didn't seem like a big deal until all this other stuff was added to it. Onery! He is just so onery! It'll pass, I know. He had just been really ridiculously easy and pleasant up to this point, and we didn't think we'd go through this kind of stuff with him. He's also recently decided he's done with naps. What?!? Yeah, he's not even two and a half. I am not so happy about this development. But I'll put him in his bed, and he'll stay in there and talk for 30 minutes and finally wander out. He doesn't even act tired, so I don't feel like it's fair to force it. I really need my nap time break to survive, though, so I've got to figure something else out. He's been napless for at least a week now.

Samuel is talking more every day, and I am delighted about that. It is so fun to hear his words and ideas. He labels things as "BIG" in a deep, gruff voice, or "cute" if it is small. He is recognizing some colors. He's using many three or four word sentences, though I doubt people outside our family could understand him. He had started going in the potty, and I thought maybe we would potty train early with him, but now he has decided he's not interested. Maybe a couple of times a day he'll want to go in the potty, but he has no reservations about going in his pullup the rest of the time (or in his underwear if we put those on him again). I think it is probably not worth pushing the issue at this point. Maybe on a weekend, we will try again just with underwear and see how it goes. He may just be in an independent/rebellious stage now that is not conducive to potty training.

Well, that covers some basics for the kids. I'll try to post Halloween pictures soon. :-)