This boy, too

Due to some unfortunate icy weather back in February, we just barely got to the doctor today for Jack's eight year old check up. He's still a little taller than average and way skinnier than average, and healthy.

A few months back when we were coming up on his actual birthday and anticipating big life events that come with turning eight, my husband asked Jack what he was most looking forward to about turning eight. His immediate answer was, "making a car for the pinewood derby!"

Not the Big Talk that mom and dad have with our eight year olds, not getting baptized a couple of days after his baptism on the same day as his favorite cousin, not even joining the cub scout pack. It was making the car. Well, we've spent about a month on that block of wood.

Jack spent some of his own hard-earned money on a saw and a clamp so he could saw the shape he wanted. The neighbor having the estate sale congratulated me on teaching my kid about free commerce and the market system. I congratulated myself on inexpensive tools and a long project where Jack did most of the labor.

Daddy and Pa stepped in and helped him out with the sealing, painting, and finishing details while I was out of town for a sisters weekend. Last night I helped him wax the car and put the wheels on, and tonight he raced it. We did a cub scout only race and then a family race, where anyone with a car could race it on the track. Jack won 4th place in the cub scouts' race and was super happy with his car's performance. He also got an award for "Most Interesting Car." Lego driver. Lego spoiler. Lego windshield.

The adults were pretty much raced out after the first thirty minutes, but the kids would have gone on and on and on for hours longer. Girls, boys, older siblings, younger kids...it didn't matter how many times those cars went down the track. They got just as excited every single time.

Jack won one of the impromptu fun races, and the look on his face said it all. He might as well have won the whole contest with the jumping and whooping and fist pumping. So great.

I had a funny conversation with his school music teacher today. After getting his report card with the comment "Making limited progress," I called to find out what exactly that meant, and if Jack was having any behavior issues in class. She said Jack is very quiet and very well behaved, but he just doesn't participate much. She had no idea he has been taking piano lessons for over two years, that he randomly sings songs that he has only heard once, and that he is, in fact, one of the most musical members of our family. He's just flying under the radar with some hidden talents. Looks like he takes after both his mom and dad.

This boy is so great at helping out, doing chores, learning new things, and figuring stuff out. The whole time I was talking to the pediatrician today, he was up on the table playing with the examination tools, shining the light on the walls, and exploring what they can do. Mysteries of the universe, watch out. This boy is coming.

Another school year over

This year I volunteered to be a room mom for Ellen's classroom. Two other moms also volunteered, so we worked together. We helped with the Fall Fest fundraiser, Christmas and Valentine's Day parties, field trips, and field day. It was fun to get to know other parents and kids in Ellen's class.

Ellen and Jack both started out the year reading well, but they didn't do much independent voluntary reading. I started checking out chapter books and reading Ellen a chapter each night in bed. After a few chapters she asked if she could just finish it on her own because she couldn't wait another night to hear what would happen.

Ellen's self portrait

It worked so well with Ellen that I started looking for books to read with Jack. I read all the Sarah, Plain and Tall books, several Zach Nebulon books, and a few others. A couple of times I read a chapter and then said, "Jack, don't read ahead without me, okay?" I could tell which stories he really got into, because he read ahead anyway (which was the idea, of course). By the end of the year he was reading Magic Tree House books on his own in bed.

Jack's self portrait

Now that it's summer, there is enough light outside when the kids go to bed that they don't even need more than a light on in the hall. When it gets too dark to read, it's time to go to sleep. Summer reading is in full swing currently. One local library requires 20 hours, and another library has the kids read ten books at a time and lets them pick a prize or coupon. So we're doing both, and it has been really fun to read and see what the kids like to read. Ellen checks out Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew books. Jack likes Magic Tree House. Rose loves princesses and Pinkalicious, and Elijah will read/look at anything about vehicles, boys, animals and machines.

I love reading!

Finally, a rider

Jack has been riding a bike since he was little. We got him a bike for Christmas several years ago, which I spent Christmas Eve putting together, training wheels and all. Last year he rode his bike with training wheels to school all the time. Lots of kindergarteners still use training wheels. When he started first grade, I told him he could ride his bike to school when he could ride it without training wheels. Cautious, cautious Jack tried a couple of times and got frustrated at how much more difficult it was than he thought it would be.

Every once in a while he would go out and give it a try and come back in after about a minute. I got him a bigger bike around his birthday and gave him a few tips on starting, had cousins over to ride, and he looked like he was going to have a breakthrough, but not quite. Then we started talking about visiting his cousin over the summer and watched a video of said cousin riding his bike up and off a ramp.

After a super-rainy-cooped-up-in-the-house Memorial Day weekend, we let the kids go out and play Sunday after church. Jack came in after a little while and said, "Mom, come out and see what I can do. I'm awesome!" I go out and he RIDES HIS BIKE around the yard. I was appropriately excited for him and he was beaming.


















Monday morning he was up at 6:30 and dressed, something that has not happened since he was five years old, two years ago. I asked him not to wake any one else up. He said, "I'm not. I just want to go in the back and ride my bike." I say okay, but please put on some shoes. Inside I'm saying YES!! FINALLY!! This from the boy who thought it was a punishment every time I took him out to practice riding. He finally got it, just in time to ride his bike to school every day for the last week of school.

Piano teacher

I have always wanted my children to love music and learn to play an instrument. Piano makes the most sense, since I can teach them myself. In the past couple of years we have begun our journey of piano lessons. My mom taught beginning piano lessons for many years. When I was going through her music to find lesson books for Ellen and Jack, I found a notebook she kept with recital programs and a picture of her students and herself at the recital. What most amazed me was that every single youth in my ward who has some musical knowledge appears at some point in a picture at a piano recital with my mother. They were eight-, nine-, and ten-year-olds in the pictures, and they are now college students or finishing up high school.

Mom taught piano right up until she was too sick to do it anymore. Almost as soon as we moved here, friends were asking me if I was planning to teach piano. When I didn't have a piano of my own, I went to my students' houses. My kids played in the back yard with siblings while I taught. Two of those families have since moved away, and we miss them! Now that I have my own piano, teaching Ellen and Jack (and soon, Rose and Elijah) is my number one priority, but I have several other students as well.

I held a recital at the end of May, a first-time experience for all but one of my students. It was short and sweet, and I am really proud of how much these kids have worked and learned. I took a picture and kept a recital program to slide into the next empty page protector in my mom's notebook.

I love everything about this picture. The extreme concentration, the long, skinny fingers, the fact that Jack is walking music. If you sing it to him, he'll remember it... I just had a little epiphany. I may be singing a lot more as the summer goes on. Jack despises practicing and is a little resentful of the fact that I am requiring him to develop his musical talent. But he has lots of good role models and understands that there are things we excel at because we like to do them, and there are things we excel at because we work hard at them. He is a natural, and I am stubborn, so we will keep at it. Even Jack gets excited about being able to actually play a song after he has put in the hard work practicing.

Library Legos Lab

Because we don't have enough Lego bricks at home (hah!) Jack begged me to sign him up for the Saturday afternoon Lego lab at the library. You reserve a spot on the sign up list, arrive that afternoon to bins of loose Lego bricks, pick up a name tag and mat, and then build away. Rose wanted to go, too, so the three of us went to see what it was all about. For some reason Rose wanted me to help her make something, even though she is completely capable of making all kinds of creations at home. They built, had their pictures taken, had a snack, and then we went home. After the second Lego lab I realized that the real motivator was the snack. From the moment we got there, Rose and Jack were talking about what kind of snack would be provided and when.

So...

I think we'll be sticking to playing with Legos at home and leaving the library Legos to the other kids.

Field trip

The first graders go on a field trip every year to Homestead Heritage. They went on a hay ride, watched demonstrations in woodworking, metal work, weaving, and pottery making. Seeing the baby animals was especially fun.

Jack is seven!

Jack had a birthday!

Here he is a few days before his birthday coming home on Valentine's Day with all his school party loot.

On the morning of his birthday, we had letter pancakes for breakfast and sang to him.


Rose and Elijah helped me pick out a cake and frosting for him for dinner on his birthday. The sprinkles are little fish and sharks. It was really fun to make!  He picked take out pizza and root beer for dinner, his favorites.

Jack is having a great first grade year. He loves legos, vehicles, computer and video games, reading and drawing. He doesn't love practicing the piano so much, but he is a natural when it comes to music, so his mom is helping him develop that talent. He will thank me some day.

Jack is a runner, a deep thinker, and very creative. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for him!

How do you spell "peace"?

A friend gave me several printed pages and this frame as a housewarming/birthday gift a couple of years ago. I don't change it very often, and I still have a couple of pages I haven't displayed yet. I have it hanging over my stove in the kitchen where I can see it all the time, and last Thursday I retired "Charity Never Faileth" and installed "Peace, be still."

After school Jack Jack casually mentioned, "Oh, good. You finally changed the picture." Ellen looked over and exclaimed, "PEACH, be still?" I started laughing, and Jack responded, "No! PLEASE, be still." I laughed even harder, and Rose corrected them both. "PEACE, BE STILL!" Jack and Ellen looked more carefully, and then Jack said, "'Please, be still' makes more sense than 'Peach, be still.'"

Yes, yes it does. I'm going to like having this page up.

Jack o' lantern

I put the kids in charge of taking pictures of our pumpkin carving family home evening.

We did some prep work before Daddy got home from work.

The other kids have commented that Ellen looks like "Tow Mater."

"Two buck teeth for one buck!"

Elijah is appropriately attired, thanks to Nana.



There was a sprouted seed inside. Would another pumpkin grow inside our pumpkin? Weird. And interesting.



Everyone was a little more adventurous this year, and all the kids pulled out some seeds and braved touching the slime.





I love what kids take pictures of. It's all in the details, right?

Selfie.

Selfie with brother.















The end result!

And this being Texas, the next day our pumpkin was completely filled with mold spores, and the following day, Halloween, it was almost completely caved in and decomposing. Gross.

Crazy

Jack Jack asked me today why some kids we know (including some in our own family) do crazy things.

This led to a discussion about growth and development and the part of our brain that helps us make "safe" decisions.

I'm just glad that after Rose took my keys this afternoon and showed them to the assistant principal and he asked her, "Are you driving home?" . . .

she said, "No. I can't drive."

Wii rules.

I love the new rules our family (I) made for video/computer games and TV/movies! By 8:30 in the morning Jack Jack had unloaded the dishwasher, read 10 books, and practiced the piano. He got to play the Wii for 30 minutes, and I got to finish up some chores in peace.



That's Jack under the blanket, reading quietly to himself, while Elijah reads "HURRY! HURRY!" and the other three words he memorized from that book.

Note to self: the Wii rules only work if the kids don't have access to the remotes in the morning.