I am rather overdue for an update, aren't I? We are well, all in all. Don't the boys look so grown up all of a sudden? The'll be SIX in a few weeks! 1/3 of the way to legal adulthood. The boys like school, and are learning a lot. They are lucky to have science, art, and music in addition to gym and media every week (as not all schools do, anymore), but are also extremely into reading and math. They are both reading quite well, and our library trips now include a lot of leveled readers in addition to the Dr. Seuss, fairy tale and nonfiction fare they adore. I have very mixed feelings about kindergarten being the "new first grade" as it is these days, but thankfully, my own boys seem to do well with it and enjoy the more academic approach. There are kids in their classes who would have benefited from a year of the kindergarten of 20 years ago, I think--it's an awful lot, so soon. It helps that the Montessori approach is so hands on-- the manipulatives are really engaging -- and that they do have some control over what they're doing for some of the day and get to move around quite a bit. My boys are so very tactile, which can be a problem at times, but at their school, that can also be a strength. When I pass Olive*r's classroom on my way to volunteer in No*ah's, he is always deeply engrossed in a "work", looking quite focused and content, as is No*ah in his. The kids are sweet to each other, mostly, with lots of encouraging each other and hugs goodbye at the end of the day. On Friday, they are having an "in-school field trip"; the Co*mo Zoo is bringing a couple of live penguins right into the classroom and doing a presentation on Antarctica.
The winter has turned out to be quite brutal, and it isn't over. We've been sick a ton, as has everyone one we know, it seems. Viruses just spread so nicely when everyone is cooped up together all the time! Ollie had one night in the hospital for asthma a couple of weeks ago. We've had two good blizzards, and many more very cold days interspersed with snowfall. There are huge piles of snow all around the house, as our bungalow style of house is prone to ice dams and we have to rake the snow off of the roof. After the first blizzard, roofs all around our 1920's bungalow neighborhood leaked and caused major damage inside. We had a smallish leak as well, and now we're trying to prevent a basement flood when the thaw comes. Others will have it far worse, though - major flooding is predicted for this spring in many parts of Minnesota, including St. Paul. We're not in a flood zone, thankfully, but are nonetheless praying for a slow thaw.
Those who Faceb*ook with me know that I'm pretty good about writing down what the boys say, lover of words and humor that I am. Below are some to share with you non-Faceb*ookers:
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Oliv*r: "I still sometimes worry that gravity will end." No*ah, "That won't happen. But if somehow it does, let's hold hands, quick."
I asked Ollie where he got the idea for one of his "space adventure" drawings. He said, "From inside my 'magination. There's some really good stuff in there."
I have a sleeping little guy cuddled up next to me in our bed as I catch up on work. He had a bad dream. Lately, I keep thinking about how these tender moments won't last forever, and find myself being more patient with the need for reassurance, the band-aids for dubious injuries, a boy between us in the bed after a bad dream...
Found this next to No*ah's bed, after he spent a couple of happy hours by himself upstairs. He seems to have a head start on knowing thyself...
Oh good heavens - I am not ready for round II of Snowmaggedon. Blech. Time to start the seeds and dream of spring.
We walked past a decommissioned cannon near the Falls yesterday, and No*ah asked, "were people really tiny back then?" Because it didn't seem quite wide enough to shoot people out of at the circus.
No*ah: "Do chickens ever wish they were as smart as people?" Me: "I can't prove it, but I really don't think so." No*ah: "That's probably a good thing. Because we take their eggs and sometimes even eat them and everything - they might figure out a way to prevent that from happening."
Loved the Hiawatha Heartwarmer (winter festival) experience of standing on the lake making snowmen with about 50 other smiling kids and adults in the warm sunshine. Glorious.
We were talking about when the boys were babies someone dropped a huge box of diapers on our front step anonymously. Oliv*r's eyes grew wide, and he asked, "Did you need them because you were so busy you couldn't even stop to go potty?"
I got distracted by Oliv*r when I was decorating the cake, and wrote "O" for Oliv*r instead of "J" for Joel. Thankfully, I gracefully improvised...
Dentist today - 2 cooperative and polite boys, no cavities. Oliv*r wanted to know if there was anything he could do to move things along and finally get a loose tooth. I ♥ our dentist.
Me, in the car: "You're kinda quiet back there, No*ah." No*ah: "I'm just reading things as we go by them. Could you please slow down a little bit?"
Oliv*r: "I had a dream last night that the number 14 was made into an odd number somehow. It was TERRIBLE!"
No*ah: "I think people need to make up their minds. They can either *say* the d in Sun*dseth, or I won't write it in!" Oliv*r: "Yeah!"
Windchill of -25 to -35. My neck gator froze to my nose. Send tea.
Some kids count sheep. No*ah...recites the life cycle of the ant.
Oliv*r: "I think it's time for some tea and crackers, and some jazz, and maybe some drawing or a game of Uno in my slippers." Such a little aesthete - he has all his senses covered...
Oliv*r: "I just don't understand why *every* computer in the media center broke on the same day!" We had a little talk about the meaning of "the network is down". He asked if I got to watch a Magic Schoolbus movie at work when that happens too.
I have Magic Schoolbus-obsessed children. The original J. Cole ones only, though --none of those new smaller dumbed-down ones. Fun, though I'm not so fond of being "The Frizz" in their Magic Schoolbus games. Sensitive subject, the frizz.
Oliv*r: Mama, did you know that there are music people called "The Bare-Naked Ladies"? Me: Yes, I did. Oliv*r: I don't think they must play their music in the wintertime.
Methinks that perhaps only thing more beautiful than a man folding laundry is a man teaching his son how to fold laundry...
