August 11, 2010

We are getting back in to our routines around here and that feels nice. I can tell everyone is feeling a bit more settled and behavior has improved greatly.

I am noticing a number of changes as the boys approach the 5 year-old mark.

They are now spending time each day very contentedly playing alone. Typically this means that Ben is pretending something, which is what he spends the majority of his time doing, and Nick is building, coloring or playing with some type of vehicle.

Behavior is improving in ways I have read about for 5 year olds, that generally they tend to want to obey and please more.

They are really getting tall and really looking like older boys rather than little guys. Maybe it is just that they recently got their hair cut and it had gotten so much longer but they just look so different to me.

I am constantly amazed at how much they can do for themselves and how well they do it. It is a pleasure to watch them. What a blessing it is to watch them grow and change each day and, my goodness, how much I learn and change along with them.

We had a long meeting with our potential GC guy. In short, he is still coming in very high on his numbers, although he is still gathering numbers and trying to fine tune them. He ended up staying in our guest room Friday night and we all drove up to the property on Saturday. We had a chance to go through a house that is being built so he was able to see how these homes are really being decked out. We also had a chance to pick up a flyer at the office that listed new homes for sell and square footage, so we all saw how overpriced his numbers were. It was definitely what we all needed to see. So he is reworking his numbers and we have contacted three local builders who have all built multiple homes in the community where we own our lot. All three of them are going to provide bids and we have also just received a new bid from another SIP dealer. This is all great because it ensures that we will end up getting a decent, fair price for the SIP materials and also for the rest of the materials and labor. The husband and I are both feeling much better about the situation this week. I am just hoping that we can get these numbers together quickly so we can get moving. It would be nice to have the house dried in before winter weather hits.

Of course, we are still dealing with 100+ degree weather around here. This is the hottest summer we have experienced since moving to Oklahoma. It is so hot that you really just can't stand being outside unless you are swimming or playing in water in some form or another. Even if we go out first thing in the morning, it is not long before the boys are wanting to come back in because they are too hot. It really is brutal. I have lost track of how many consecutive days we have had of 100+ degree weather but I would not be surprised if we are setting a record. I really feel bad for the boys because I know they miss playing outside and we all end up feeling a bit couped up. I try to think of things that we can go do but I know they are not getting the exercise their bodies really need. We still have swimming once a week and soccer once a week so that helps a little...but not enough.

I am just so very thankful that we have air conditioning. I can't imagine going through this without it. I don't know how we did it when I was a child because we did not have air conditioning until I was in 7th grade. We slept with the windows open and the fans on, but the world was a safer place back then, or at least it seemed like it was (of course I was living in a small town of around 900 people at that time, where everyone knew everyone).

Oh, the other news worthy thing is that we have started having an official reading lesson every day. Now, we have only done this for three days so far but it has really gone well. The boys are really enjoying it and Ben even asked to do it this morning. And they are both doing extremely well with it too. Today we were learning about words that end with 'ck'. One interesting thing is that Nick seems to be catching on very very quickly right now, even faster than Ben, but Ben was catching on faster the last time we were working on it.  Interesting how they bounce back and forth. Probably has something to do with who is going through a growth spurt or something.

Regardless, it is so fun to see them learning to read and to watch them get excited about their successes. They really enjoy learning to spell also so that is probably the next thing I will introduce 'officially', once we get a routine down with the reading lessons. I am starting slow and adding on as we go, a little at a time, and we will be keeping it fun and lessons will be short. Today we finished our reading lesson in probably about 10 or 15 minutes tops. Yesterday's was a bit longer. Tomorrow they are so short we will probably be able to do two but I will play it by ear and see what they are up for, as I don't want to push too hard.

I am just so relieved that we have this year to learn to read and start getting used to the idea of doing school. Hopefully by next year, when they officially have to start K, it will be easy for all of us because we will already know the routine and we will simply be adding some additional subjects.

It's late. Time for bed. Goodnight.