Ryan
Full of
love and life. He runs up to me every so often at the park or around
the house to give me a kiss. I trimmed the hair on the sides of his head
and he loves it when I get it wet and comb it into a Mohawk so he can "be
a shark". He likes to build Lego creations for Michael when he is
out of town and leave them along with little toy cars by his bed.
When Michael goes out of town for work or is gone before the kids are awake
and home after they are in bed, Ryan thinks he's on a plane the entire time.
He often talks about how is getting bigger "like a Daddy".
Gracie
Gracie's
been working tirelessly to cut and color Valentine's for all of Ryan's
classmates at preschool. Despite Michael banning any Disney princess
movies, she will read any princess book she can get her hands on. Don't tell, but I sing Little Mermaid songs to Gracie while she takes a bath
because it's easier to wash her hair while she's pretending to be a
little mermaid. Last week I decided it was about time to teach
her to ride a two-wheel bike. I took Ryan and her to a church
parking lot to practice. The police officer sitting in his car must have
laughed at us as we were quite the sight. Me, running next to Gracie
with little chants of encouragement, and Ryan running along kicking a soccer
ball which got stuck behind the wheel of the police car.
I figure if Gracie can maneuver around Ryan running in front
of the bike, our little bike rider is good to go around
the cul-de-sac. I was able to to substitute teach in Gracie’s primary
class the other week. We made CTR crowns, blew bubbles, put together
a puzzle, sang along to primary songs, practiced sitting reverently and I
had a chance to use some of my pinterest ideas. Quite a lot for one hour! The other day she made up little songs about how kind and sweet her mom is- now that's the life.
James
James got
up early the other day to make breakfast for Gracie and Ryan. He
even included little words and pictures of them on napkins. He
asks me to write him little notes in his lunches. He loves it when I tell
stories at night. Between stories, songs and back scratches, I guess I'm
officially an expert tucker-inner. His teacher told the class what good printing
he and another girl in the class have. He thought it was rather odd that
the other girl have good printing because although she's eight, she is the
smallest person in the class. I thought it was funny that he thought just
because she was small, her handwriting wouldn't be good- funny boy. He's
working on a 100-piece puzzle.
Jonathan
Jonathan finished his Bear in scouting and will be turning
10 this month. His teacher has two class competitions going on associated
with MobyMax, an adaptive on-line learning program. The winners of the
reading and math portion each get 5 Dojo Points, a no homework pass and a
coupon for a free BJs meal. I asked him how he is doing and he assured me
that he will come home in the next couple of days with 10 Dojo points, 2 no
homework passes and 2 BJ coupons. I gave him a skeptical look and he
explained the second next in the class in both areas are less than half to
where he is. He gave a me a Valentine with nice handwriting to trick me into thinking James wrote it. He and James sometimes do their homework while walking home from school. I have yet to figure out how they do that.
