The school district near us started school on August 8. It sounded crazy early to me but we do like to take days off along with Atticus's friends, so we decided to get going along with them. I must say, it was so nice to get back to our school routine.
Atticus started second grade this year. We have scaled things back with language arts (basically we gave up the Good and the Beautiful curriculum and instead are focusing on handwriting, free writing/journaling and more reading) and it has made our days infinitely more enjoyable. There are days when he flies through his tasks. This is partly because he enjoys everything we have (except some chores) but also because his reading and piano skills have taken off so much. It's a real relief to have him working independently!
One fun day we used the clay to make the boys favorite animals. No surprise what Atticus made with his. His love for woles continues. He got help with this but I thought he did a great job.
He can be such a pleasure during the day and then a pill in the afternoon (as soon as he's watched any TV or spent time with friends.) His piano playing brings us all great joy (he has been playing the beginning of Fur Elise all month and it is beautiful.) I ask him almost daily to play Mozart's Sonata 11 because it calms us all down so much. He jokes about just keeping the sheet music out so he can play it for me.
Atticusisms:
- "I am done. I am sweating to the soul."
- "I hate soccer! I don't want to play this season!" ("We will fulfill your commitment to this team and then we can talk.") "Well then next season I am NOT playing!" Later that evening at soccer practice when asked how it was going he replied, "I changed my mind. And I'll play next season, too."
- "Which would you rather do? Bury me or ash me?" (After hearing about funeral urns.)
- "Go and get the Bill head, Hinckley." ("The Bill head?") "Uh... the Tom head?" ("Ah- you mean the Philips head screwdriver!") "Yes."
- "I'm a candle with no wax." (Feeling exhausted after soccer practice.)
- "Oh my gosh, I am NOT eating that for you!" (After hearing me say to myself, "Uggggh, I don't know if I can eat this..." Hinckley very bravely piped in, saying, "I'll eat it for you , Mom."
Hinckley is officially in Pre-K this school year. After two years of Joy School with the same awesome group he is at home and loving that he gets to go to school with his big brother. There are days when he is so motivated to do everything that Atticus does and other days when he just wants to play. I am totally cool with either. He most recently learned to play "Hot Cross Buns" on the piano and loves writing letters and asking me what they say.
When we were playing with clay he made his favorite animal which is a lion- probably because of his great love for The Lion King. He got a lot of help, too.
While there are days when Hinckley loses it and I have to carry him to his room (no small feat right now with how incredibly tired I am!) there are many days when he is so easy. He is so happy to play imaginatively with his toys. When Atticus can temper his energy and squelch his desire to annoy/push buttons (which is a very strong impulse for him), their imaginative play is just dreamy. From dreaming up and performing in their own circus, being detectives together, playing animal store, to mining for treasure out in the yard, they have so much fun. Even when they got mad at Dane one night and tied him to the bed frame the next morning...we couldn't help secretly smiling at their creativity. We absolutely love it. It's messy, but we can work on that.
Hinckley speaks:
- "Look at that man. He has all that he needs." (When he saw a man at the park with an umbrella attached to his chair and his feet propped up on a cooler. I died.)
- "Look! We're following the directions- ummmm hm, mm hm..."
- "Fat mommy, fat mommy, fat mommy!" (Yelled in anger on only one occasion. I'm surprised this hasn't happened more with my prematurely growing belly, to be honest. The boys have been really, really good.)
- ("Okay, you need to go outside and play.") "No! All my socks hurt my feet." ("You can't stay inside forever because your socks are uncomfortable.") "Yes I can. If I want to."
- ("Will you please share some of your noodles with [Lucy]?") "NOOO!" (Said while shaking with anger... but a few minutes later I see him feeding her some of his noodles.) "Sharing feels good."
- "Mom, can I make some eggs?" (Both boys learned to make scrambled eggs in the middle of the month and things got really messy for a few days as they wanted to make them for lunch every day.)
- "I don't mind this mark on my face. I like it. I think it makes me look cool! Brock is going to see me and think I look really cool." (About a sore under his lip caused by sucking on his lower lip. We think he does it while sleeping.)
Oh, Lucy. Look at this little cutie.
She started swim lessons this month- the infant survival swim lessons we put Hinckley through three years ago. The are so brutal but she has been a little champion. It is taking her a little more time but she can roll to her back, has learned to float and is really great at swimming forward to our hands.
The biggest problem that is setting her back is that she kicks. She just can't seem to keep her legs still. Even though every time we talk about swimming she holds her hands out and says, "Sill" (or "Still") the way we do to remind her, when she's in the water she seems to forget She starts kicking and thrashing after a while, which sabotages her other efforts. This is because, when you kick, it gets water in your face, which makes Lucy panic. Then she'll throw her body out of alignment. As frustrating as it is to watch her struggle, even with this problem she could buy herself a lot of time in an emergency (she can float for a good 10-30 seconds before things really go south.) So the lessons have already been worth it.
It's been interesting to watch her struggle with this. Four days a week I've heard her amazing instructor tell her to "Keep your legs still," again and again. It was this month that we studied the book of Psalms, where we are told, "Be still and know that I am God." Again and again I had to think of the times and ways that, rather than be still, I panic and sabotage myself with anxiety or by trying to do things myself. What I really need to do is be still and let the Lord's hand be revealed.
As I'm writing this she has two more weeks of lessons left, so we'll see if she improves.
Unfortunately, for the first month I have to report that there are days when our little sunshine is less than cute. We aren't sure if it's because she's nearly two but we have had days where she seems to cry all day. The boys were adorable at two so having Terrible Twos will be a first for us... We're keeping our fingers crossed that this will pass soon.
She continues to be a little tornado. She is pretty willing to help clean up her messes but some of them are just so infuriating. She stuffed a bunch of wet wipes in a toilet downstairs and one of the boys flushed the toilet, causing it to nearly overflow. Thankfully, we were able to get them down with some plunging.
She has some funny pet peeves that I don't think I've mentioned before. She hates it when my hair is down. I have it in a ponytail most of the time so when I come to her with it down she throws a fit, saying, "Ayohs! Aiyohs!" This is her way of demanding that I put it up. She does something similar if I wear a hat inside the house. I always wear a hat outside the house but heaven forbid if I keep it on inside. She will start to yell, "At!" repeatedly, wanting me to take it off. It's funny but we know we can't indulge this kind of bossiness without politeness so I make sure that she has asked the right way before complying.
As you can see below- she wanted some toast one day and used a spatula to stuff bread down deep- she actually folded them in half as she stuffed them. Fortunately, we keep our toaster unplugged so all was well. We might need to store it under the counter for a while, though, just to be safe.
Probably my favorite things about Lucy this month, even though it's a bit of a struggle, is her obsession with dresses. It began in the latter half of the month when I would say, "Let's get dressed." She started getting so excited, saying, "Dess?! Dess?!" She thought I was saying let's put on a dress. Then nothing but a dress would do. It's very cute but can be a little frustrating. I have tried to only say, "Let's get some clothes," instead, but it doesn't work. She will still ask for a dress and the fight can be strong if I can't find one she likes.
A related problem happens at night when I'm trying to put on her pajamas. She wants to keep her dress on- she doesn't want to change! Thank goodness, I found a nightgown in her 3T clothes. I think we'll just have to purchase more nightgowns, going forward. I didn't know little girls could become so fond of dresses at such a young age. It's adorable and we'll work with it.
My other favorite development this month has been how she prays. She can say her version of Heavenly Father ("Evee fa") and really thinks of people to pray for- generally her grandparents, immediate family, Jesus and my sister Laurel (who had to have her appendix removed this month.) I love how she asys my sister's name- "Wawoo." She is also gettng good at saying, "Eeemen" (for "Amen.") She wants to pray very often, telling us, "Buy?" (for "Pray?") It is a desire I am more than happy to accommodate. Little one's prayers are so precious!
As always, we ended the month with Dane's birthday. He's a simple man and so he asked for very little. The boys and I experimented with a recipe called Reese's Monkey Bread. The boys actually didn't' absolutely love it but Dane sure did. It was fun to put together. A couple days later he got his real wish when we went to his favorite Mexican restaurant up in Utah.
For Homeschool this month we studied the South Pacific Islands and Scandinavia. We read a really fun book, Call it Courage, in which the main character eats some fire roasted bananas. As we read it Atticus told me he wanted to try that... so we did. We grilled up bananas and peaches and the boys loved them! It didn't hurt that we let them put some chocolate chips in while they were cooling.
The boys liked them so much that they have requested roasted bananas a few times since.
We spent a fair amount of time talking about Australia so we drew Aboriginal dot art, which was fun.
We decided to let the boys see some episodes of "The Crocodile Hunter" and we've been watching "Bluey" ever since. We talked about Hawaii, New Zealand (we drew our own designs for a Maori war mask) and Tonga (so watching The Other Side of Heaven was a must!) and we got some Hawaiian barbeque. I tried something new called Lau Lau where the pork was steamed in taro leaves. I'm not sure if it was because I was feeling so much morning sickness but it tasted awful! I don't want to be a hater but I don't think I'll ever try it again.
We decided to include the Philippines in our studies so we ate some yummy Filipino food- chicken lumpias and pork pancit after reading Cora Cooks Pancit. There were no complaints that night.
We studied Scandinavian countries for the second half of the month. When I read about Danish puff pancakes called Aebleskivers ("apple slices" because traditionally you put apple slices inside) I had a hunch that my family would love them. They were a huge hit!
Since the vikings came from Scandinavian countries we studied them again. We made a viking longboat using popsicle sticks. We were all really pleased with how it came out.
Another side project that might not sound school related has been slowly building our own fairy garden. I heard it recommended a year ago as a great way to help children play and build their imaginations ("Play is the work of childhood" and I've more recently come to understand that it is an imagination- not lectures or self-help books that help children develop empathy- so you can' imagine how others feel!) It has been SO fun to work on this and see the boys take off with it. We started out together, creating clay doors, popsicle stick fences, a stick mailbox and stone walkways. Since then they have created chairs, umbrellas, a rock riverbed, a bridge and a swing for our fairy friends. I look forward to seeing where they go with it.
Oh, how we love these cuties. As sick as I've been this summer (we are expecting Baby #4 in February!) they make every day worth it.
