September 27, 2007 - Reluctant Poser

I was trying to get a few pictures of Nick, while I was
 trying some of his new clothes on for size. Ben was with me when I was shopping so I tried them on him in the store. Nick likes putting on the new clothes but then does not want to take them off. He was also not very cooperative in my picture taking endeavor.


In this picture, I think he was trying to undo the rolled up pant legs. I have to roll them up a couple of times. I may have to break out the ole' sewing box and tack them in place to get them to stay up. If any of you have an easier solution, I am all ears. I'm not much of a fan of sewing, sadly enough. I wish I was because I would love to be able to sew some dress up costumes for the boys but, oh well. That's the way it is.









So, he started out happy enough and was actually posing for my camera work. As you can see, these jeans are pretty big on him. The smallest size that The Children's Place sells in adjustable waist band jeans is 24 months, which are really big on my little guys. But at least they will be able to wear them for a long time.
















It didn't take long before he was bored with my picture taking and ready to move on to other more interesting things.















When I tried to get him to pose "just once more" for me, this was the response I received. You may not be able to tell very well but he is definitely NOT smiling. Needless to say, I gave up soon after this:).

September 26, 2007 - Family Celebration of Ben's Birthday

We celebrated Ben's birthday with a small group 

of family members recently. The birthday cake was really cute and very tasty. It was a teddy bear 'cake' made of cupcakes. Some of them were white cake and some were chocolate and they were all covered with chocolate icing (lots of it). It had a ribbon around it's neck and was very cute. Unfortunately I could not find any napkins or plates with teddy bears but, oh well, Ben didn't notice and he kept quacking at the ducks on the plates and napkins, which was cute.  The birthday party was a lot of fun. Everyone had a fun time, watching Ben blow out his candle and open his gifts.

Ben was so cute when we were singing happy birthday to him. He was sitting on the table, next to his cake, and everyone was gathered around the table, singing to him. He had the cutest, most precious little closed-mouth grin on his face, kind of shy like, but happy that everyone was singing to him. It was really adorable. I taught him how to blow out a candle before we went to the party. It was the first time either of the boys had ever seen a candle lit. They liked blowing them out a lot. So he did very well with that and then he stuck his little finger in the icing of one of the cupcakes and put it into his mouth. It was too cute and perfect timing. Everyone laughed and took lots of pictures.

He really liked the cupcakes and ice cream. I was eating it with him and helping him and he would give me the funniest looks when I would take a bite. Between the two of us, we ate two cupcakes and lots of ice cream....and I really don't think I ate that much!

The boys really enjoyed opening the presents. 

The first present opened was a fire truck and Ben really enjoyed playing with it and kept going back to it. He was mildly distracted by having to open other presents. Nick was happy to help open each present. He was a big help and even opened one of them himself, I think.

My nephew, Trent, watching Ben play with his new fire truck. My mom gave this to Ben. It is really cute and came with a little book titled "Ben's First Ride". How's that for a perfect gift?






And here, Nick is playing with the cute little guitar that his Papa and Mimi got for Ben.

Ben received several other very cute gifts but these were the only ones that were caught on  camera.

Now for my latest wonderful discovery. You know how very noisy some toys can be? And, every time you switch the toy to the lower volume level, your child will switch it back to loud? Well, I have figured it out. Two words: Duct tape:).  Yay for Duct tape!!

My mom, who the boys call MaMa, was there.
She is sitting in the armchair on the right.

The dad helping Nick eat his cupcake and ice cream.

Cards aren't as interesting as presents.

Cousin Trent, Nick and Mommy

Cousin Jana showing Ben a book.

Nick, checking out Ben's new guitar.

Ben and Cousin Trent, trying to figure out how this works.

Jana, Aunt Kathy, and Mommy trying to open toys.

 

Ben, playing with his new truck that hauls cars.

September 25, 2007 - Big Boys Sit at the Island

I have started putting the boys on the bar stools at the island for their breakfast and snacks. It is really working out very nicely because I can visit with them while I do dishes and clean up. I think they enjoy it and they feel closer to me while I work. When they were sitting at the kitchen table, they would pat the chair next to them and tell me "chair" or "sit" because they wanted me to sit down next to them while they ate. They are not doing that now, so it works out nicely that I can be near them and still get a few things done, while also still talking to them and singing to them while they eat.

 




The boys were looking so cute on this day that I just had to take a picture of them.  I know I'm a bit biased but, aren't they cute??  Ben has started this thing about smiling so much that he squints his eyes almost shut. It's pretty funny. They didn't really want me to take their picture and were not real happy about having to stand still for this, so they did pretty well considering.











Both boys try to open the fridge on a regular basis but, fortunately for us, they are not able to yet:).  We have not had to deal with that one yet but they really like to get their little hands in there and play with whatever they can reach when they can sneak by us.












Here is one of the few pictures we have of me with the boys (notice Ben with his eyes squinted almost shut:).  My husband took this one recently. I am usually the picture taker so we have a ton of pictures of the boys and quite a few with them with my husband, but not so many with me. I don't really like pictures of myself that much though, so I am OK with that:).

September 24, 2007 - Living the Dream

Yesterday I started wondering what we were doing this time last year because I knew it was around this time that we finally got "the call". I think it was October 3rd of last year when we got "the call" to head over to Russia to meet our sons.

How incredibly blessed we are! Everything with our adoption and during our past 8 months home has gone so very well. We prayed so much for our boys when we were waiting to find out who they were and also between trips and there were so many other people praying for them too. God has answered our prayers and they continue to do so well. They have attached incredibly well. We have never seen any attachment issues. Both of our sons have always made great eye contact, have enjoyed our hugs and kisses and have never seemed to be grieving anyone or anything. They have always seemed so happy and content to be with us, wherever we are and they are both very healthy.

And what a wonderful blessing they are! When I look back at the early pictures, I just can't believe how much they have changed in 8 months. They are so sweet and such good friends to each other. They really have a lot of fun together. I know it is a risk to adopt two children at the same time, in the event that one or both of them have major issues. We are very blessed that neither of our children have had any issues and I am so happy that they have each other. I really enjoy watching them play together and it is so much fun to watch their personalities emerge. They really enjoy each other a lot and we enjoy them immensely.

I sometimes remember back to sitting in their empty room and trying to envision what it would be like when they were home. I did not even come close to imaging what it would be like.  Now, I am used to our new routine and so are the boys. I enjoy their company, although there are still times that I pray that they will take an extended nap and give me a longer break....but it is usually when they have been extra cranky/whiny in the morning and it is clear they really need the extra sleep. They are much better about letting me get things done while they play, which has made my life a lot easier. Part of the difficulty when they were first home was that they would really start acting out when I needed to cook dinner, or something like that. Now, they normally play pretty well together during these times and they understand that "I have to cook dinner so we will have something to eat when daddy gets home", or "I am fixing you a sandwich to eat". They get what that means now so they normally don't fight for my attention when I am doing these sorts of things.

I frequently think about the fact that I feel like I am living my dream right now. I am happily married to a wonderful, thoughtful, Christian husband. We have two beautiful, happy, healthy, sweet little sons and I get to be a stay at home mom, which was always a dream of mine. We are living near my family, so I get to see them much more often than I have been able to for about the past 20 years. We really like our church. We have a comfortable home, where it is a joyful place to raise our sons. Yes, I am an older mom and am dealing with some back problems but the flip side of that is that I have already been there and done that with the career thing, am happy to be out of corporate life and appreciate my new life so much more because of having been through the career ladder/corporate life thing, and we have had time to save our money so we can live debt-free, comfortably and not worry about having enough money to live on one income.

The best thing of all is that I have a wonderful, loving Heavenly Father, who is always there for me, no matter what I am going through. He never gives up on me, even when I forget to pray or read the Bible or act unbecoming-like. He is always willing to forgive me and give me a new start. He has given me the desires of my heart, even better yet, He has made the desires of my heart to be those things that He desires for me. He brings me blessings every day and I am so very thankful, most of all, for Him.

There are some days when I don't feel as if I have been a very good mother. But when that happens, I wake up the next day and am comforted by the thought that each day is a new day and I have another chance to do better. I think God is a lot like that. We have our good days and our bad days but He gives us new chances to do better each day and He is rooting for us to do better, to be more like Christ, each day. I thank God for all the blessings He has given me. I thank God that I am living my dream.

September 23, 2007 - Ben's Birthday in Words

We have been very busy the past couple of days with all of our social activities. We went to dinner with two other families from our church Bible study class on Friday and we all had a really nice time. The boys behaved wonderfully the whole evening. They are such a delight.

The first half of yesterday was spent running errands. This time we split up. My husband took Nick and I took Ben to run our errands. We had been discussing that we really need to start spending one on one time with the boys and this is a good start.

The other benefit of this is, oh my goodness!, how much easier and faster it is to run errands with only one of the boys with me!! I couldn't believe it.  Ben and I went all over the place. It was so quick and easy, although, poor little Ben was getting pretty tired by the time we got home....but that was OK because it was time for his nap.

We celebrated Ben's birthday with a small group of family members recently. The birthday cake was really cute and very tasty. It was a teddy bear 'cake' made of cupcakes. Some of them were white cake and some were chocolate and they were all covered with chocolate icing (lots of it). It had a ribbon around it's neck and was very cute. Unfortunately I could not find any napkins or plates with teddy bears but, oh well, Ben didn't notice and he kept quacking at the ducks on the plates and napkins, which was cute.  The birthday party was a lot of fun. So it was a small, informal gathering and everyone had a fun time, watching Ben blow out his candle and open his gifts.

Ben was so cute when we were singing happy birthday to him. He was sitting on the table, next to his cake, and everyone was gathered around the table, singing to him. He had the cutest, most precious little closed-mouth grin on his face, kind of shy like but happy that everyone was singing to him. It was really adorable. I taught him how to blow out a candle before we went to the party. It was the first time either of the boys had ever seen a candle lit. They were very into blowing them out. So he did very well with that and then he stuck his little finger in the icing of one of the cupcakes and put it into his mouth. It was too cute and perfect timing. Everyone laughed and took lots of pictures.

He really liked the cupcakes and ice cream. I was eating it with him and helping him and he would give me the funniest looks when I would take a bite. Between the two of us, we ate two cupcakes and lots of ice cream and I really don't think I ate that much!

The boys were both very into opening the presents. The first present opened was a fire truck and Ben was very into playing with it and kept going back to it. He was mildly distracted by having to open other presents. Nick was very into opening each present. He was a big help to his brother and even opened one of them himself, I think.

September 21, 2007 - The Trick for Cutting Hair

We changed our hair cutting approach. We had been cutting hair upstairs, sitting a child on the bathroom counter, and it wasn't ideal. Here is our new approach.  The boys are watching a DVD:). Yes, we are breaking our no-TV rule for the sake of happy hair cuts...at least for now.  This is the typical face we see when a DVD is turned on at our house (when we are sick or when we travel)...mouths dropped open and a continuous stare at the TV. It's pretty funny.









Here is Ben, ready for his hair cut. This little guy has a LOT of hair so it takes a bit longer to cut his hair and he gets a little impatient with us by the time we are finished...even with the DVD, although it was not nearly as bad as when we were doing it in the bathroom without any entertainment.








 



And here is Nick, ready for his hair cut. His hair is still coming in and getting thicker every day, but it is still fairly thin so his hair cut does not take very long. He was really looking forward to getting in the chair with the cape though. It was funny. We may need to consider doing his hair first next time, since he is so into it. He thought it was great fun to kick up the cape, while dad was trying to take his picture. I'm not sure what he was looking at though.










The next two pictures are from the high school football game we went to last weekend. My niece, Jana, was the senior attendant at the coronation. This first picture is Jana with Ben. That's me and my brother-in-law, Don, in the background.











And this picture is Jana with Nick. Looks like he was told to show his "happy face" for this picture.












Here are the boys, sporting their new sneakers. They have worn sandals for so long, I don't think they remember what it was like to wear real shoes and these are actually their first pair of sneakers. So they have been very excited about their new sneakers. They love running around in them on the hardwood floors and stomping and jumping in them. The other day when we were getting ready to go shopping, when Nick saw that I had gotten their sandals out, he asked to wear his sneakers instead. Ben is always the first to ask to take them off when we get back home. He is very hot natured.












Here is Nick on his tricycle. They love their trikes but they have not figured out how to pedal yet.

















And here is Ben on his tricycle. They are learning to get on and off and still need some help. These things turn over too easily.











This is what they spend most of their time doing. It's pretty funny to watch. They steer them all over the driveway and try to push them up onto the grass and even into those two big evergreens.

We had some really nice, cool weather last weekend and on Monday. I am so excited to see the fall! It is even more special now, since I also get to see the seasons through the eyes of my precious sons.

Aren't they just too cute?!!

September 20, 2007 - 1st Play Date

Today we had our first official play date. Nick enjoyed playing with Daniel a lot and wanted to do everything he did. Ben was kind of funny about it. He kind of stayed off by himself and played on his own. They were all in the sandbox for only a few minutes before Ben got out and started playing in the yard on his own. While the boys played outside, the moms sat and watch them and visited. My good friend Francie came over to join us. We sat on the patio, under the ceiling fan (it was a bit warm out), and then eventually made our way back inside the house for lunch. The boys sat at the little kids table and they were pretty much finished eating before the adults began. When Nick saw me eating, he wanted into his booster seat at the big table and then he preceded to eat everything in sight, when he had previously said he was finished so he could run and play with Daniel.  Overall, we had a very nice first play date.

On Saturday evening we will have a small get together to celebrate Ben's birthday with my family. In another week or so, we will be heading to Arizona for a week, which I am really looking forward to. I think it will be a really fun time for us all and I am looking forward to introducing the boys to my husband's family and friends, most especially to his sister:).

September 18, 2007 - General Update

So, the latest thing the boys can do is reach and turn the upper lock on the door that leads to the garage. Although they have not figured this out yet, this also means they can reach and turn the upper lock on the front door. The door that goes outside from the kitchen and the one that goes to the side yard are both too hard to open (they stick) so we are safe there. But, I will be going to Wally World today to buy the big plastic door knob covers for all outside doors, just to be on the safe side. I really dislike those things but they are now necessary. I am teaching them not to play with the doors but I can't trust them 100% yet and it's just to risky for now.

Today, I sat and read to the boys for quite a while, which was very nice. Ben always loves this. Now Nick is finally starting to let me read to him sometimes. He sat in my lap and wanted me to read four books in a row this morning, which is a shocker for him. He normally prefers to hold the book himself, turn the pages in whatever direction he wants and may turn several at a time, and look at the pictures while pointing to them and either saying what it is or wanting to know the word for it. The other thing that was so nice this morning was that they played so well together, after I had spent some time reading to them.

They are really starting to play together so much more now. When they sit in their car seats, they are always handing things back and forth, holding hands and then pulling as hard as they can on each other, talking to each other in their own little language, pointing to pictures in a book and telling each other what they see, etc. They have so much fun and make each other laugh so much that it cracks me up. They used to be so quiet when they were in their car seats. I think those days are over.

I would say that Nick and Ben both have about the same number of words in their vocabulary. When one of them learns a new word, it doesn't take long for the other one to learn it too. They have at least one word that they use between them, when talking to each other, that I can't figure out. They both clearly know what it is and what it means but I can't quite figure it out, which is kind of funny. It is amazing to watch their communication skills explode like this. I know it is normal and this is a normal age for this sort of thing but, since they are my only children, it is the first time I am seeing it first hand and I am constantly amazed at how quickly they learn and how much they want to learn. I was explaining the word "animal" to them today and they both sat quietly and listened to my explanation and then they tried to say the word. It is so fun to watch them learn and to help them. By the time the morning was almost over and it was time for their nap, I was thinking "man, I sure have talked a lot this morning!". They are really into talking ALL THE TIME now and I really love it. One of the things I love about it is that I really get to start seeing more of their personalities emerge, as they talk more and they are just too cute! They both have a great sense of humor.

A funny thing that happened yesterday was that the boys wanted to go outside but it was time for their snack. So I suggested we take their snack outside and eat at the table on the patio and they really liked that idea. But then I realized that it was closer to dinner time and I really needed to fix something more substantial or they would be hungry at bedtime. So it took me longer to fix them something to eat than I had anticipated. So, thinking they would forget what I had said about eating outside, since they normally don't remember things like that for very long and can be easily distracted, I started to put them at the kitchen table to eat. Nick got upset and ran to the door. He clearly had not forgotten, so that was a new one for me. I will have to watch what I say from now on because it won't be as easy to distract them and change plans. Needless to say, mommy kept her word and they ate outside on the patio.

They are starting to pretend more, which is very cute. I would so like to get them a bunch of dress up clothes, like for a firefighter, a police officer, a cowboy and a doctor, for instance. Maybe birthday and Christmas gifts:).

September 17, 2007 - Peeeze?

The boys like to gather up a few books, climb up into chairs at the table and sit and look at their books. It is very cute to watch. They talk ALL the time now and their vocabulary is huge, although they are still not using two words together, other than a few things like "big bear" or "nite nite" that they learned more as one word in the beginning. I did get Nick to say "night night Nick" into the mirror last night. Normally when I ask them to repeat something I say using two words, they only say the second word.

One of their favorite words now is "another". Ben especially uses this word all the time, pointing to a tree in a book, saying "tree" and then pointing to every other tree in the book and saying "another, another, etc.". He does this over and over again about everything, including pointing to birds when we are sitting at a stop light. It still takes a mom to understand much of what they are saying, although their speech is getting clearer every day.






Ben has figured out the power of saying words in just the right way when requesting something to touch the heart of the person from whom it is requested. Yesterday we were all outside and enjoying the cool evening weather. We had eaten outside and the boys were playing in their sandbox and with their other outdoor toys, when Ben decided he wanted to go to the backyard and play on the swingset. My husband and I were sitting at the table on the patio, enjoying the peaceful evening while he was reading and I was writing a summary of all of the information I have been collecting for the lifebooks. So I told Ben to stay with us in the side yard and play with his toys / sandbox there and that we were not going into the backyard right now, unless daddy wants to go with you. They can't go by themselves yet because they are not quite steady enough on the slide and could easily fall and they really wanted to swing and cannot do that alone yet. Ben had been standing there, pointing towards the backyard and saying "peeeze" in the sweetest little pleading voice. So when I said "unless daddy wants to go with you", he promptly said "daaaaady" in the same sweet little pleading voice and daddy couldn't resist it. If he had said mommy in that same voice, I couldn't have resisted it either:). But I enjoyed my quiet time while they were in the backyard.




These last two pictures, you can see the posters I mentioned (in a prior post) that I had bought at the Christian book store.  The boys enjoy looking at them, pointing to the various shapes, colors and the alphabet and trying to state what each of them are. I think Ben is probably a visual leaner because he seems to pick this stuff up pretty quickly. Nick may be more of a hands on learner but I'm not quite sure yet.
















Nick's clothes were in the dryer because this was the day the boys played outside in the pouring rain.

September 16, 2007 - 1st High School Football Game & Homecoming

We had a memorable event to attend on Friday
evening. My niece, Jana (the one who stayed with us for 10 days when I was recovering from pneumonia), was the senior attendant at her high school coronation. So the boys went to their first ever high school football game the other night (her dad, Don, is driving the car).

Actually, this was the first time they were in a large crowd, and a noisy large crowd at that! It was also the first time they saw and heard a live band. And, from what I can remember, it was the first time they were out that far past their bed time (yes, we need to get out more:).  They were in total awe of everything, with big round eyes and mouths hanging open. But they did not seem at all scared, just very interested, and they seemed to have a good time.

It was an hour and a half drive each way and we actually only stayed through the coronation and the very beginning of the game. By then, it was already 8:00pm and we still had the 1.5 hour return drive, plus my husband and I had not eaten dinner and were very hungry so we headed for a drive thru and then headed home. The boys fell asleep very quickly and slept the entire way home. When we got home, we brought them in, changed their diapers and put them to bed in the shirts they were wearing and they went right back to sleep.

 

September 8, 2007

It is raining today and I'm loving it! I'm not doing much of anything today, except playing with the boys, reading and now updating this blog. It makes for a very relaxing day.

It was pouring down rain earlier today and the boys wanted to go outside. So they had their first day of really playing in the rain. They had the best time. Nick was laughing and running around and even climbed into the little pool, although he didn't sit down and I was kind of happy about that. I emptied out the pool last weekend and it is probably at least 1/3rd full already, just after rain from the past couple of days and today. Our rain gauge was even full today. Ben pushed the play lawnmower around and really didn't seem to notice the rain at all. They were both very funny to watch and my husband taped them, which is great because we have not been very good about getting the boys on DVD.

I am very into reading and learning about homeschooling these days. The boys are not quite two yet but I still find myself drawn to learn more about it. The more I read about it, the more excited I become about being able to do this with my sons. I feel so fortunate that there is so much information out there and so many blogs by moms who are doing this every day already. So much to learn and so little time.....actually, I have plenty of time to learn it before the boys are school age but I tend to want to learn everything and read everything NOW. I would like to find a good book about determining learning styles of children and also one about the various education styles. There is so much information available on homeschooling these days, it can be a bit overwhelming at first. Hopefully, since I am investigating it early, I will be ready when the time comes.

Yesterday, I made a trip to our local Christian bookstore, which is an awesome bookstore, and I bought three posters. One is very colorful and has shapes, another has the alphabet and the other one has the colors that are in the small pack of crayons. I hung the first two in our kitchen, where we spend a lot of time, and the third one is in the library. The boys really like looking at them. It's great because, while I am cleaning up the kitchen or preparing a meal and the boys are playing nearby, I can ask them "where is the letter B"' or "point to the circle". They love doing this so I think it will be a good way for them to learn these things. Our little preschool:).

I also found a great book on active devotions for children birth to three. They mix small Bible verses and prayers with a cute little activity that will have a rhyme or song to go with it, along with a little game, such as paddy cake or something like that. I thought it might be a good way to start setting aside some family time for devotions. We can start out with a very short amount of time and then build on it as the boys get older but at least we would be setting aside some time for this starting when they are young. We already do some reading from a bedtime book or their toddler Bible story book and we say a prayer but they are normally very tired by that time so it is short and sweet and it is not really a devotions time but more of a bedtime routine.  Boys are waking from their nap so I must go.

September 7, 2007

The boys and I went to my sister's house yesterday to visit with her and my mom and we also got to see my niece, Jana, and my nephew, Trent, for a few minutes too, which was nice.

The boys were so excited to see "MaMa" and "Kat-y" (her name is Kathy but they can't pronounce the "th" sound yet. They pronounce the "a" as you would when saying "Kathy") that they did not sleep at all on the way there. This was a first...and NOT a good first. I was so bummed that they were not sleeping. But they were so cute. They would hold hands across the back seat and then pull as hard as they could on each other's hands while making these grunting sounds. Yep, all boy! They were making all kinds of noises with their mouths and noting every large truck and bus that we passed.

An aside of a funny story. I have recently noticed that when Nick sees a bus, in a picture, while playing with the toy bus we have or in real life, it sounds like he calls it "beep beep". For several days, when he would say this, I would say, "yes, that is a bus", "can you say bus?" and he would try to say it and it did not sound like "beep beep". It took me a while to figure this out but I finally figured out why he calls buses beep beep. The boys have a really cute book that is called "My Car". It starts out "My name is Sam", "This is my car". It goes on to tell how he loves his car and takes good care of his car, changing the oil, etc. and how he drives it everywhere. Toward the end, it says he drives his car to work "and, when I work" (turn the page), "I drive my bus" (shows a picture of the guy in a bus). Then you turn to the last page and it says "beep beep" and shows a picture of houses and a street with lots of cars, trucks and this guy's bus. It is a funny, cute book and the boys love it. So, I think I finally figured out why Nick calls all buses "beep beep".

Anyway, back to our story. They didn't sleep at all during our drive but they still did very well during our visit. They had a fun time, playing with everyone and it was so nice to see my mom and sister again. Mom is doing very well right now and, other than her lack of hair (she wears scarves and a wig) and a little bit of shaking in her hands, you would never know she was taking chemo.

When we left, it didn't take long at all for the boys to fall asleep. The funny thing was that Ben fell asleep before Nick, which was a first. I have never seen this happen before. I happened to look back there and saw Ben asleep and Nick, leaning forward in his seat, staring at Ben as if he was trying to figure out what he was doing. It was really funny. Nick had never seen Ben fall asleep first so he was trying to figure out what Ben was doing. I think Nick was asleep within about 3 minutes after that.

We are suppose to have a rainy weekend here, which is fine with me. After such a hot summer, the rain is nice. The boys and I got rained on twice the other day, while out running errands. They thought it was great fun.

September 4, 2007

We are all in the process of getting over our colds.  Monday we spent most of our day outside, enjoying the beautiful day. It was really nice and the boys always love playing outside. I don't think Nick would ever be ready to come inside, if it was left up to him.

Yesterday, I received a book I had ordered from Amazon called "The Well-Trained Mind". I started reading it last night and am finding it very very interesting. The author recommends the book "Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready", which I ordered at the same time (thanks again for that recommendation Tonya!). I haven't received that one yet but I am really looking forward to it now. My husband and I have always thought we would like to home school our children so I am excited about learning about the different education styles and also learning about what I should be doing now to prepare. The Well-Trained Mind explains how to go about teaching your children to read at an earlier-than-normal age (before they would normally start school), which I am very interested in also.

Onto another subject. Yesterday morning, the boys were playing in the bean box and I was in the laundry room, when I heard Ben start crying, as if he was hurt. He was rubbing his head and crying and I could not figure out what happened exactly, since he was just playing in the bean box with Nick (there's a clue). I sat down and rocked him, while watching Nick continue to play in the bean box, as if nothing was wrong (there's another clue; he is usually very compassionate and concerned if Ben is crying).

I have to add a little history here. Monday, we were getting ready to run an errand, when Nick was running in the living room. He fell and hit his eyebrow on the edge of the molding along the floor. I was around the corner and did not see what happened but he came to me crying and already had a bluish area appearing on his eyebrow (it looks better today but his eyelid is a bit swollen and on it's way to turning black and blue). I held him and calmed him down and, when he was feeling a little better, I asked him to show me what he hit his eyebrow on. He immediately showed me so I understood what had happened and also realized he is sure understanding a lot these days.

Back to Ben's injury yesterday. So, Ben is upset, rubbing his head and Nick seems unconcerned, which is really unlike him. I asked Nick what Ben hit his head on and he patted one of the metal bowels in the bean box (don't you just love the honesty of children of this age?). Putting two and two together, I believe that brother Nick hit brother Ben on the head with the metal bowel, probably because he was not getting his way with something. However, I didn't see it so I was not positive. I did ask Nick if he hit Ben on the head and he didn't respond but I gave him a toddler-style lecture on how that is not nice and it hurts.

Move forward an hour or so. I was cleaning up after snack time in the kitchen while the boys were playing in the living room. Ben was happily minding his own business, standing in front of a chair, where he had placed a book through which he is looking. I heard Ben start crying again, loudly as if he is again hurt, and I glanced up just in time to see Nick whack Ben once more on the head before running away with a little wooden hammer in his hand. This little hammer has a square block of wood for the hammer part so I am sure that being hit in the head with it didn't feel very good. At least this time I caught the child in the act and was able to take action so that said child now knows without question that this behavior is not acceptable. I also gave him a more serious toddler-style lecture about how he hurt his brother and this is not nice, while he was sitting on a little stool in time-out.

I find it so surprising that a child who normally displays so much compassion would do this type of thing. It just seems so odd. If Ben is crying while having his diaper changed, Nick will quickly hand him several different toys or books. If Ben is crying while standing in the corner, Nick will point towards him and make sounds, indicating he is very concerned. Nick does not normally like to hear Ben cry.

Not long after the boys were home from Russia, we had a biting incident two days in a row. We never had a problem with it again, most likely because the child who was bitten on the first day returned the bite on the second day:).

Well, my little roughhousers are awake so I had better go get them up. Have a wonderful day!

September 1, 2007

I can't believe it...we are all sick again!  We caught it from Nick who caught it from church. We had not been in 4 weeks. We missed three weeks because of my hospital stay and recovery from pneumonia. We missed the fourth week because we wanted to visit my mom, who is taking chemo and can't be around anyone sick, and my grandmother, who is 96, was in the hospital with a broken pelvis and didn't need to be around anyone sick either. We finally made it back to church last Sunday and now we are all sick again.