Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I am sure that we are NOT alone in being so grateful for these books. They have sparked Ben's interest in reading. I had bought the first 2 in the series from the school book fair, but they had sat on the shelf for quite a while because Ben couldn't read well enough. When we started reading together at night, Ben picked up one of the books & struggled through it. We started off by each taking a turn at reading a paragraph and it was pretty painful at times. Now, Ben has started reading to himself & I am always concerned at how much he is reading & how much he is skipping over. However, after we went to see the movie, I realized that he's at least understanding something & I also realize that we all skip over words that we don't understand or can't read when we are starting out. I found the only book that he hasn't got when we were in Sam's yesterday and he sat in the car & read it all the way home and then he sat on the couch and read it all last night. His goal was to finish it in one day & I told him that he doesn't need to rush through the whole thing. I also pointed out that you can re-read a book, but he didn't look too convinced about that. His goal for today is to get the movie book (yes, they made a movie out of the book & now made a book of the movie!!) to complete his set. Unfortunately, I am so excited that he's reading that I can't bring myself to say no to buying books.....

This is a HUGE step forward for us


Ben reading
Ben irritated that I am taking pictures of him YET AGAIN!!!!!

So full of himself!!!!

Spring break précis.....

Well, Sam & the kids made it through Spring break unscathed. They have been running around like crazy. During the past 4 days, they have been to see 2 movies, been back to the ice skating rink and been to the skateboard park twice. Ben & I even went to Time for Dinner last night & made 8 full meals (16 half meals, which is enough for us). We have found a new time slot-4 pm on Fridays, very quiet....
The skateboard park appears to be the latest hit. They can take their scooters there if they want to. We had two beautiful sunny days and they spent their whole time outside. They have been able to watch movies at night and sleep late in the mornings. They should be ready & refreshed for school next week. Even though I have worked all week, it is so nice to not have to sort things out for school the next day & do homework. Now, back to the routine.....

Running around on Spring Break

Sam & the kids had a busy day yesterday. They went to the ice skating rink for 2 hours and pretty much had the place to themselves. Maggie said she fell down a lot, but still had fun, she used the chair to balance herself. Ben did his usual skating and falling. Ben said that Sam was very slow & skated like a turtle!!! After lunch, they went to Monkey Joe's for a while and jumped around for another two hours. When they got home, Ben's movie (Treasure Planet) had arrived, so his day was totally made. After the gymnastics assessment, they were both incredibly tired & will probably sleep very late this morning.

Gymnastics

We took Ben & Maggie to the St. Louis Gym Centre yesterday to get them assessed. Maggie has been very interested in taking gymnastics lessons and we have wanted Ben to take lessons for a long time. They both did really well. Maggie definitely has the ability to do it, but still lacks the attention span to keep up with the other kids. She started off very well, but it was clear that after about 20 minutes she was going to do her own thing. The teacher gave up with trying to get her to do what the other kids were doing. However, at the end of the session, she told me that she REALLY had to go to the bathroom, which could have explained her constant jumping up & down and her inattention. We decided to sign her up for a session anyway and see how she does, but it may just be too early for her to take lessons. Ben was great, he definitely has an innate ability to do gymnastics. He was able to do almost everything that the other kids could do, so with a few lessons he should progress very quickly. I had no idea that he could do some of the things he was doing. He was really excited about taking classes and said that he wanted to go back. Obviously, he was right to wait until now & we would have made a mistake to force him to go to classes earlier. I am hoping that both kids can do well and stick at this as they would be so good. I told Ben that he should be in the 2020 Olympics and he can represent either Ukraine or US-no pressure!!!!

Sir James Black dies

Sadly, I found out the Sir James Black died yesterday. He was one of my heroes & when I started out on my research career I wanted to be as successful as he was. What he achieved in his lifetime was what every researcher aims for. He discovered two major classes of drugs that have been used in millions of patients. His success story also illustrates how someone can achieve great things with humble beginnings. He was truly a great man.

Trip to the movies

I took the kids to see Diary of a Wimpy Kids yesterday. Ben & Xavier sat in front of Maggie & me. This was the first movie that Ben had seen where he has read the book previously. He kept turning around and saying "I've read this part" or "this doesn't happen in the book". He sounded just like me!!!! After we came out, he was telling me what happened in the book and said "they made a movie out of just the red book. I bet they'll make movies out of the other books now". I think I've said that as well. It was cool to see that he really had paid attention to the books when he'd read them. I always thought he was just flipping though & not paying attention!!!!

I'll be the first to admit I'm surprised

Two weeks after the challenge started. I'll admit that I have picked up one or two things & I have had to tell the kids to put clothes in the laudry room, but so far, things are going well.....

Ice cream

Sam went to the store to get ice cream for us (Dove Unadulterated Chocolate of course).
Ben: Mum, can I have a lot of scoops like you?
Me: No Ben, you only weigh half as much as me, so you can only have half as much. The amount of ice cream goes by how much you weigh
Ben: Oh, come on Mum. You can be a better Mum than that....
Later......
Ben: Mum, can you please, please give me more ice cream than you?

Finding things to do on Spring Break

Ben never seems to run out of ideas.

Spring break

Today is the start of Spring Break for Ben and Maggie (and for Sam who has taken time off work to be with them). Ben has enough things planned to take up several weeks worth of time. Hopefully, he'll get to do some of them, if not all. Last night, he had his friend sleep over. They insisted that they were going to sleep in the basement, so I set up the futon for them. I knew it was only a matter of time before they wanted to sleep in the basement and away from us, but I didn't think it would happen this soon. I was secretly expecting them to eventually make it back upstairs to sleep, but if they moved, I didn't hear them....

What to do.....

We have reached a point that I am sure all parents get to. What do you do when your child has friends that you don't want in your house, that don't listen to what you tell them or you just think your kids would be better off playing with someone else?
It seems like third grade is the time when the kids start to form their future personalities, identify their likes & dislikes and start developing the traits that are going to become their adult attributes. It certainly seems to be the year when I enjoy some of Ben's friends but wish others would move on.
During the past week in our house, we have had one of Ben's friends that appeared to think that we didn't mean anything we said and one who broke a valuable object and then told his parents a complete fabrication of the event. To enforce the theory that children are shaped by their home environment, this latter family chose to believe their child's story rather than the one that came from all four of us that were there at the time. Who do you blame, the child or the parents? How do you talk to your children about accepting responsibility when they see how advantageous denial is? How do you persuade your child to hang out with friends you like rather than ones they do?
I have tried to enforce the importance of telling the truth to Ben & Maggie. I have told them that when I was young, I did something to get my sister into trouble. I told them that I don't remember specifically any of the good things I did or any of the friends I played with, but I remember that. I told them that Ben's friend will always know what he did & that he lied about it. Does that mean that ultimately you get away with something? I'd like to think that, if you are a decent person, you aren't really getting away with anything and you will always remember this event. Sadly, the outcome (complete lying by the friend, refusal of the parents to believe us rather than him) of what was basically an accident means that the friend will not be welcome in our home, will not be taken anywhere by us in the future & the family friendship is gone for ever. Maybe it was never there to begin with.
Hopefully, my children have learned something positive from this, but I wish there was a parent manual for times like these....

Maggie sings the blues

When Maggie is in the car on her own, she will quite often make up little songs, they are usually highly entertaining. Yesterday, I had given her a dollar for sweeping the floor with Ben & when we were in the car, she started singing about it:
I love my one dollar bill. I got a one dollar bill
While I was in bed, my mum stole my one dollar bill
When I got up, I told my mum I want my one dollar bill
Right now, right now, right nowoooooooooooo

Talent show

Ben's scout troop did a talent show at the school last night. It was hilarious. We had a couple of magicians, a violinist, karate, bike riding, acrobatics, joke telling and a very interesting rendition of Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana". Ben took his pottery to show everyone and LeonMarie helped him show it to everyone. He did a great job & the kids asked him a lot of questions at the end. He told us that he had stage fright when he did it!!!!

Ben the food critic

Ben wanted pancakes for breakfast this morning, so I am standing here making them. I split the first one & gave Ben & Maggie half each. Ben said "these are better than the pancakes you usually make". By the time I had made the second one, Ben was done & came over for more. I said "Wow, Ben that was quick" and he replied "oh, you can trust me when I say they are good". He's now ploughing his way through his second one and they are HUGE!!!!!

Chick night

Jan & Julie took Maggie to the Wash U ladies basketball game last night. They had arranged to do this last weekend, and Maggie talked about it non-stop for a couple of days. By the time Friday rolled around, Maggie had completely forgotten about it. When the kids got up on Friday morning, Ben told Maggie that she was going to the basketball game & she vehemently denied it. So, Sam tried to put her straight.
Ben: Maggie, you're going to the basketball game tonight & I'm going to the scout talent show
Maggie: Nooooo Ben
Sam: Yes, you are Maggie, it's chick night
Maggie: Yeah, I get to eat chicken
Sam: No Maggie, you're going to the game with Jan & Julie
Maggie: Yeah, I get to eat chicken with Jan & Julie!!!!!

The Challenge, Part II

On to Ben's room, what can I say? It took me 2 hours to sort out Ben's room. He is a major pack rat & can't get rid of anything. I have tried to organize his room several times, all to no avail. He has a rack for toys, a rack for his art stuff & now 2 bookcases!!! Oh, and don't forget the laundry basket full of stuffed toys!!! His floor was also covered in toys and clothes when I started. This is the bookcase that used to be in the hallways until Ben & Maggie shared out their books and got their own bookcases. This is how he populated it.

I have tried to sort out the flotsam & jetsam into some kind of order, I don't hold out much hope for it staying that way for long.

I keep forgetting to put some of his photos on top of his bookcase to make it look "trendy", then I'm done. Yes, I am sure my kids are going to grow up complaining about how their mother was always picking up after them. I know I'm going to have to give them their privacy one day, so it's good that I am practicing now!!!! Look out for the "after" photos on April 8th!!!!!!

Challenge Part I

Being the "somewhat compulsive" person I am, I am constantly cleaning the kids bedrooms when their floors are completely covered. I don't even want them cleaning their rooms because they won't put things back where they should go. Yes, I am that bad!!! As a course of therapy, I decided that I am not going to do that for the next month. I told Ben & Maggie that I am not going to make their beds, pick up their clothes or their toys for the next month. That's April 8th!!!! I'm determined to stick to it, but I'm not totally sure that I will make them go to school in dirty clothes (maybe!!). I started with Maggie's room. It is smaller than Ben's and she has a lot less stuff in there (Ben's room is play central). It only took me 15 minutes to clean up Maggie's room. as you can see, the before pictures have clothes and toys liberally strewn on the floor

I sorted out the books on her new bookshelf and put some of her animals on one of the higher shelves. Maggie wanted me to put her dolphin on the top of her shelf.

Maggie lasted about 3 hours before she left her pants and shoes on the floor!!!!

irony

Ben found this dead butterfly in the insectorium at the zoo last week. I didn't notice the irony until I looked closer at the photo!!!!

School progress

We had parent-teacher conferences last week & they went as expected. Both Ben & Maggie are doing fine. Maggie has finally got into the stride of being at school. All the bars on her school report were at the beginning level, so she still has a long way to go. Ben's bars are at the developing level, so pretty much where they always are. The good thing is that they will both easily qualify for Summer school, so that is a huge help for us. We are so lucky that both of them are getting so much help at school and I think they do much better in small group settings. At least they both enjoy going to school, which is more than half the battle....

Day at the zoo

Well, it's official that this Winter has been cold. We have had 94 consecutive days below 55 degrees and that's the longest since 1978. Luckily, we had a pretty decent day that coincided with a half day at school this week. We took the opportunity to go to the zoo, which was a good decision because the animals were active and there were hardly people there. The kids wanted to go to Turtle Park first, so we saved on zoo parking. It will be a sad day when they outgrow the turtles. They still love to get inside the turtle's mouth and Mum can't resist taking photos

The zoo looks very different in Winter when the trees are all bare. I love pictures of the kids walking together

We rode on the train and Ben got to say "All aboard" a couple of times. It made his day

More pots

Ben has completed his second pottery class and we now have more pots in the house that are up for grabs. Luckily, I had ordered some soap dishes and I wanted blue (evidenced by the dishes on the left). Unfortunately, I can't come up with enough uses for all of them & some will need to go.
They are ranging in quality, but I think overall they are not too bad. Compared to some of the others I have seen, they are brilliant. I thought he was getting tired of pottery classes, but then he decided at the last minute that he wanted to go again. He told me he was going to make teapots this time, but after 3 weeks he is still making pots and plates-oh, no. There are not many kids in the new class and there are some offerings this time that take your breath away, I'm not even sure what they are supposed to be!!!! I hope that Ben does get around to making teapots eventually.
He has now enrolled one of his friends to take the class with him. This may never end.....

The demise of the blog....

I am a little worried that I don't seem to be posting at my usual rate of trivia sharing. I'd like to think that it's because I've been so busy recently and just haven't had the time. However, I read an article the other day that suggests that things like facebook are responsible for the demise of the blog. People are posting short lines on facebook that are instantly accessed by their friends and the longer posts on blogs are losing vogue. I have to admit that I check facebook every day, but I don't want to lose my blog. It is amazing how quickly technology moves these days and how quickly we are dragged along with it. I'm going to have to do better in future!!!

For your viewing pleasure!!!

One of Ben's school assignments was to do a biography on someone. He chose his first grade teacher. They had to interview the person they chose, make a poster and then present it to the class. Ben wanted to dress up as his teacher, so they found him a wig and he shoved a pillow up his shirt because she is 8 months pregnant. She loved the whole presentation, especially because he dressed up as her. Luckily, his teacher taped it for us.