In an effort to keep the kids a little less rowdy and a little more safe, there is a flat rule of no running in the house. Unfortunately it is something that needs to be reminded constantly. Today Nels came to me very distraught and said as best he could, “Gavin…running…in…house!”
Yes, he was tattle-telling but it was the most complete sentence I think he’s used.
I have really creaky knees. I’m not sure at what age it started but they’ve been that way for a while. I even have a story of my creaky knees from when we lived here, in Washington, before.
I worked at a company in Tacoma that was in a two story building; the bottom floor was a “store” and warehouse and the top floor was corporate offices (where I worked). We usually went up or down stairs at the employee entrance in the middle of the building. Occasionally I would have to go down to the “store” area to sort things going in the mail to other locations, and when returning to the top floor I would take the stairs leading the front corporate offices. At the top of this staircase was the corporate receptionist. She told me one day that she could tell when I was climbing up the stairs because she could hear me (my knees) coming.
Today while walking up the stairs with Gavin to put him down for a nap, he heard my creaky knees and asked, “Will I have creaky knees like you when I get big?”
Gavin likes to think that he doesn’t need a nap anymore. But if he doesn’t get a nap most days, I’m about ready to lock him in his room before dinner. For a while I would lay down with him so he would go to sleep faster and not play around trying to keep himself awake. But then he started to throw fits and refuse to go to sleep, if I didn’t lay down with him. After many days of him getting in trouble for not napping, and my telling him that I can never lay down with him again because of his behavior, we think we have discovered why he wanted it so much. That was the only time that he had my attention all to himself. So I am now making a conscious effort to make sure that I am spending a few minutes with just him between lunch and nap. This makes his nap not quite long enough but he doesn’t fight me about going to sleep.
Since he has started to show such an interest in letters, we have been practicing his reading during “our time.” I write down a word and have him sound out the letters as I write, and then he puts the sounds together. He’s doing really well. Then I sound out a word and he writes the letters that make the sounds to spell the word. I don’t think it will be too much longer before he’ll be reading street signs that we pass, like Saedi did in Monterey.
We had a neighbor family over for dinner tonight, and Nate overheard this little snippet. Saedi was talking to Cassie (the neighbor her age) about a book. They were probably not including him (as usual) so Gavin declared, “You know Saedi I’m going to be reading books someday soon, too!”
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You know your child is growing up when they can see the impact of small things. Watching “Olivia” today with the kids the story is about Olivia trying to get away from her little “bother” – aka brother – by going on a “trip around the world.” She tells her mom she is going and her mom says, Okay, but don’t cross the street.
Saedi turns to me and says, in a you’re-being-ridiculous tone-of-voice, “How can you take a trip around the world if you can’t cross your own street?”
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When it’s time to go grocery shopping, Gavin always asks if he can write a list while I am writing mine. He used to just scribble lines all over the paper while saying out-loud what he was “writing” – things like cereal, baby food, coffee, gummy bears, candy bars, brownies, bananas. He’s been getting really good at writing his letters, so now he wants to write an actual list and asks me how to spell what he wants to write. Today’s shopping trip, he even made sure each item was on a new line instead of mushing all the words together. I’ll bet you’d even be able to read what he put on his grocery list.
We have a fridge phonics toy that the kids have always played with, and I swear that helped Saedi learn how to read. Another good influence has been the PBS show “Between the Lions.” I watched that a lot with Saedi and even though Gavin claims he doesn’t like it, he watches it sometimes too. Both of these things help to learn what sound(s) a letter makes. Gavin is starting to figure out that he can put the letter sounds together by himself and they make words that he knows. This morning at the breakfast table, he sounded out a word on a box in front of him, “D-O-N-U-T, Duh-Oh-Nn-Uh-Teh, Hey! That spells donut!”
Solvei and Nels are learning a lot more, too. They understand so many things. Last night as I was making dinner, Solvei found my hoodie and brought it over to me (I think she wanted my to put it on). I told her thank you, but I didn’t need it right then, and set it down on the bar stool. A minute later she came back over to me, dragging my sweatshirt behind her. So I took it from her and put the hood of it on her head. She was so proud and walked away happily. Next Nels brought me the sweatshirt, so I put the hood on his head and he walked away giggling. I then made a phone call. Solvei came back over to me a few minutes later with the sweatshirt. Because I was talking on the phone, I didn’t pay attention right away. Solvei then picked up the sweatshirt with both hands and started pushing my leg with it, as hard as she could, until I paid attention to her.
Birthdays are big when you are little. They mean that you are growing up and can do more things. When I woke up Gavin on his birthday (after I sang to him), he said “I feel bigger today because I am four.” So now everything he does is different, because now he is four.
Walking to the bus stop everyday, he runs as fast as he can. Now he can run a lot faster, because now he is four.
He always likes to tell us how strong he is and how he can lift this or that. But now he is stronger, because now he is four.
His arms are longer now, he can reach “all the way to here” because now he is four.
He’s also asked me if his nose is bigger because he’s four, I asked him what he thought, and he said “I think it is?”
He reminds me all the time, or asks if he can do something better, because now he is four.
wadmanclan
Wadman Clan 