These Two

I haven't been blogging much about my big guys. I think I might have mentioned this before. There just isn't much that is noteworthy from a day to day basis once kids get past a certain age. (Not that I blog every day by any means.) But in the big picture, these two are growing and learning and making us laugh (and pull our hair) on a daily basis.



Last summer Greg and I were watching Marcus and Will play together at the swimming pool. They were having a great time laughing while they threw a ball back and forth. I wondered out loud what would happen to their relationship as they grew older. They are still in that age where they like what other kids like their age just because that is what is cool to like. At their core, they are very different little boys. As they grow older, will opposites attract or will they cause friction? Will they learn to agree to disagree or just butt heads? Or maybe they will find that they really do agree!

Marcus is loving kindergarten and loving his teacher. I ask him sometimes who his best friend is and it is almost never the same kid twice. During recess lately he has mostly reported that he plays freeze tag. Sometimes he plays with the other boys in his class. Sometimes he plays freeze tag with girls only. His teacher reports that he is funny and gets along well with everyone. Each time he mentions a friend, he follows that up with whether that friend is faster than him or whether he is faster than his friend. All the teachers I have talked to at the school mention at the forefront how incredibly quiet Marcus is. The thing we have to remind him at home most often is to stop being so loud! He is a perfectionist (always has been) and his fear of saying the wrong thing at school, I think, leads to him being so quiet. He is learning to read which is just a fascinating process to watch. Marcus struggled a bit with reading at first but suddenly it seems that it is all starting to make sense to him. Marcus loves Fridays because that is art class which is his favorite.

Will is finishing up his final year of preschool. After many sleepless nights, talking with teachers and doctors and friends and anyone who would listen, we decided that next year he will be off to kindergarten. Will just has more important things to do in his life than to sit down and learn letters and numbers. Sometimes I get panicky that he doesn't know what he needs to, then a day later he surprises me with knowledge and skills I didn't realize he had. It's in there, but he just doesn't bother to pull it out unless he is in the right mood. Mostly he would rather play and socialize... but who wouldn't? Whereas Marcus likes to try everything, Will is pretty set in his ways and the things he likes and doesn't like to do. He is obsessed with anything Star Wars and also loves tools and trucks and dirt. He is quite content playing alone and entertaining himself with his imagination. As much as we try to keep violence out of our house, that kid grasps onto anything related to shooting or fighting like there is no tomorrow.

And they are both still playing soccer! And they love it! We were going to try out karate but, long story short, it just didn't seem to work with our schedule. Marcus is really quite remarkable on the soccer field. Often times when they head out to soccer Marcus tells us that he is going to try to help Will score a goal. I just love how these two look out for each other. I took Marcus out alone one day to do errands. He made sure to get a sticker to take home to Will. The following day Will and I went to do errands. When a cashier handed him a lollipop, he told her right away that he had a brother at home that would like a lollipop too. Makes me so proud to be their mother.

Toothless

Another event in January I forgot to post about...

No, this is not a post about how Sean is nearly 14 months old and still doesn't have a single tooth and Aaron has 7. This is a post about my BIG kid Marcus and his teeth. Or lack thereof.

Back in October when Marcus went to the dentist, the dentist pointed out that his bottom two teeth were loose. I had no idea. At first I was shocked that there was something going on with Marcus that I wasn't aware of. Then I remembered that he isn't my little baby anymore and I don't brush his teeth or stick my fingers in there. Thinking back to the days when my teeth were on the verge of falling out, I recall it being a cool thing, a status symbol almost that you finally hit that monumnetal moment when teeth fall out. I recall having a loose tooth and ripping that sucker out just so I could show everyone. Marcus is not me. That kid pretty much ignored his loose teeth. Had it not been for Greg and me wiggling them periodically as per the dentist's instructions, those teeth probably never would have fallen out.

As it was, it took almost two months before the first one was really ready to make its exit. One evening, just after the first of the year, Greg reached in there with a paper towel and came out with a tooth. Marcus was a little shocked at first.



But slowly he realized the awesomeness of losing one's first tooth.




It was so cool that a couple days later, he didn't mind much at all when Greg reached in and grabbed another tooth out of his mouth. I'm sure the lure of another visit from the tooth fairy played a part as well.

January

Some random photos from January so I can feel like I am kinda caught up in blogging...

Sharing...


A rare moment of everyone playing together nicely...


We set up the ball pit/slide thingy that used to be Marcus and Will's back in the day. Now we have that instead of a living room...




I went to school with Will to celebrate his birthday a month late...


There was some unseasonably warm weather so Will set up his tent on the back porch to play in...


And this is just one of many times that Sean managed to get his hands on a box of Kleenex...

Happy Mother's Day!

Yes, I know I am really behind on my blogging.



Happy Mother's Day!!

Baseball

Marcus and Will decided to put away their soccer shoes for a few weeks and give baseball a try this summer. A bunch of 4-6 year olds playing baseball turns out to be nothing more than organized chaos. There are no rules, or very few. Everyone bats. Everyone plays in the field. There are no positions, no out, no score, and everyone gets a single. The coaches pitch to the kids and if they don't hit the ball after the first 5 or so pitches, they hit from the tee. When the ball is hit, every single player in the field goes running for it. Greg said it reminded him of feeding the carp at the spillway. But, the kids have fun and that is what it is all about. Marcus has said a few times that he prefers playing soccer over baseball. I think there is just a little more action in soccer.

These pictures are from early May when it was still a bit cool out, hence the sweatshirts. Go Will!



Here is the mass of kids/carp going after the ball/bread. Sometimes there is even tackling involved.


Go Marcus!

The Pool is Open

Today the babies are 5 months old. Hard to believe.


Sean and Aaron put on their board shorts and wanted to go surfing. I convinced them we better start slow and our whole family headed off to the pool that we frequent instead. Marcus and Will were so excited to get back in the water. Aaron was content splashing his toes in the water a little bit. Sean was not amused by the cold water.

While the big kids splashed around, the little kids hung out in the shade.


Looking cute wore them out so they took a little nap.


Marcus was a little wild man, as usual. He was all about heading out of the "baby pool" and into the "big pool". He even ditched his life jacket this year for the little arm floaty things that people call lots of things but we always called "water wings". Marcus insisted that he go off the diving board, something that he only did once last year. I couldn't believe it but he did it! Of course I had to catch him and make sure that he didn't go under water. (Making sure he didn't go under water required me to go under water.)


Will was a little more reserved about swimming, as he usually is. He was excited that he could go all the way to the deep end of the little pool this year. He did a pretty good job in the big pool, but preferred to be holding on to someone. He opted to skip the diving board but did love floating on his back, with the help of his life jacket. I was pretty bummed that when I tried to take a picture of him in the pool, my card in my camera was full. By the time I cleared off some pictures, he was out of the pool so I just got this photo of him and his crazy hair.


Speaking of his crazy hair, it was hair cut day around here. We thought maybe we would give Will a cool summer cut since his long mop just ends up sticky and gross in the heat. This is what he looked like before he faced the clippers:


And then after:


Greg, Will, and I all agreed that he will be growing his hair back to his shaggy mop style.

The Job of the Policeman

We were at a birthday party recently and Marcus overheard someone telling a story about how she was involved in a minor traffic violation. I didn't even realize that he was listening until a day later when he observed some sort of wrong doing around our house. He responded with, "You're going to get stopped by the policeman." Two weeks later and Marcus is still keeping the local policeman very busy, coming up with reason after reason for them to be stopping people in our community. Just so you can't say you haven't been warned, here are several reasons Marcus has stated that you too can be stopped by the policeman:
- getting flour on the kitchen counter
- not being nice
- breaking a wheel off the monster truck
- not picking up your toys
- parking your car in the fire lane (he might be on to something here)
- not slowing down for a yellow light (oops, that was me)
- hitting
- coloring on the table instead of your paper
- not getting all the bubbles off your hands while you are washing them

Writin'

I've really slacked off in the past on teaching my kids writing skills. I just don't think Will is ready yet and as for Marcus, well, I just haven't had much of a clue on how to teach him to write. Plus, I know it is something that they work on with the kids at his preschool so I kinda just let it slide and figured his teachers could handle it. I know. Bad mom.

Marcus loves his letters and has been able to identify almost all his uppercase letters since he was 18 months old. He is starting to get the hang of the lowercase ones now. So he knows what they look like, just isn't quite sure how to make his pen move in the right direction to make them.

For part of Marcus's birthday celebration, I got to go to school with him. It was a fun day to act 4 years old again and not have people look at me like I was a complete weirdo. I was singing and dancing and playing on the playground and swarmed by all Marcus's classmates who called me "Marcus's mom" and wanted to play with me because I was someone different. (I even got reprimanded by one of the teachers for breaking a rule!) During art time, one of the kids across the table from Marcus and me finished her project and the teacher told her to write her name on the back. Like a whiz, she printed her name with no help. Marcus asked me to help him write his name. The teacher told me they really haven't worked on that yet and I admitted I hadn't worked with him with it yet either, and then was pretty much blown away by what he did.



I held his hand and we wrote the "M" together. He wrote the "a", "r", and "c" all by himself! I couldn't believe it! It was kind of strange watching someone write who has never really been taught. The letters look correct but he didn't write them in the standard way, such as starting the "c" from the bottom and curving up to the top instead of top down. He ran out of room so we just went up the page a bit to finish off his name. He did the "u" with no instruction at all, although it was rather creatively formed. He made two parallel lines for the sides, drew the little curve to connect the two at the bottom, and then made the tail. The little squiggle was his decent first attempt at an "s" and then I wrote the other "s" next to it so he could get a better idea what it was supposed to look like. Then there were high fives all around for an amazing job!

He has been really into learning to write now. Before his "rest" time each day, we work on writing together. I got him a workbook that teaches letters (among other things) by first tracing the letter and then practicing on your own. He asks everyday now if he gets to do some writing and cheers happily when I tell him yes. Some letters are more successful than others but he most certainly has a thrive for learning both how to write the letters and the sounds they make.