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!