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Charlotte likes to brush the cats and collect all the fur that comes off of them into a ball.  The other day she was walking around with her ball of fur and she came up with a plan which she was very excited about.  She said that she would make a cat out of pink play-dough and then put the fur from her ball of fur on it.  Then she would read a book about magic and then make her cat into a real cat and she would name it Zelda since the fur ball looks grey.  Then she started composing a plan to make a fluffy cat and a white cat that she would name “Hello Kitty.”

Charlotte likes to make observations aloud.  Recently she was naming all the colors that cats can’t be, like blue and green.  She said cats are only pink with all their fur off.  Another time she was having a conversation with Isaac about age and Isaac said something about being 90.  I said, “if Isaac was 90, he’d be old enough to be a great-grandpa” then he said something about being 100 and Charlotte said “then you would be an even greater grandpa!”

Here is an example of one of her musings this week:
“Mom, I like pants and I like to wear them.  Mom, are you glad I like to wear pants?  But you can’t wear pants in the bathtub.”

She has been very amused at finding more than one cat in the cat bed.  Often when she finds both of our cats in the cat bed, she climbs up and tries to add more cats.  Sometimes I find that she has covered the cats with a blanket or left little toys by the cat bed for them to play with.

I have been fretting that when school was out, the kids would spend too much time in front of the TV or computer screen. I came up with idea to give the kids 30 minute media chips that they can spend and earn.  Here’s how it works:

Each morning they are issued their first two chips after they have gotten dressed and made their bed.  They can earn additional chips by doing reading, writing, or math activities.  Isaac loves to read, so I had to stipulate that they have to do all three learning activities before they can repeat any activity.

Media chips can be redeemed for video games, movies, or computer games. When they redeem a chip, I set a timer for them.  If they stop or manipulate the timer, they lose the rest of their chips for the day.  The only exception is that they can stop it to use the restroom. 

So far I’ve been pleased with the results.  The kids have gotten dressed and made their beds without me asking and when they want more media–they request school work.  Plus,  the majority of their time has been spent playing with toys or playing outside.

The picture above is of what I made for this program.  The media chips were made in a document on the computer then printed,cut out, glued on a piece of scrapbook paper and laminated.  I used a big yogurt container to store the media chips in and I laminated some envelopes with the kids names on them for them to keep their own media chips in.  I also added yarn to one and attached the other to a necklace so they could wear them or hang them.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for Isaac.  He has had a mixed experience with first grade. 

In Knoxville he had a kind and nurturing teacher and I was able to go into his class several times and volunteer.  I think he did well and I don’t remember him ever getting into trouble.

His teacher for the second part of the year couldn’t have been more different.  She is an older Asian lady with a strong accent.  I have had a hard time communicating with her at times, so I can imagine that Isaac has trouble communicating with her sometimes as well.  I often come out of a conversation with her not knowing exactly what she said or meant by something.  Once I even called the office back after speaking with her to ask them if she had wanted me to pick Isaac up because I wasn’t sure what she had said. 

It was really hard for Isaac to move into her class in the middle of the year.  She seems to have really high expectations and she didn’t seem to have compassion for the learning curve presented to a new student entering her class.  He got in trouble frequently right away.  She wanted him to jump right in and start writing paragraphs in a journal for 30 to 45 minutes a day and he just hadn’t had much practice at composing.  When I went in to talk to her she showed me how the rest of the class could fill a page in that time, but Isaac had only written a line or two.  She seemed to blame it on behavior.  She kept him in from Gym class, gave everyone in the class a treat except him, and sent him to the Principal’s office. 

We met with her and with the principal, but I don’t know if his situation ever really improved.  I know he’s progressed and learned much this year.  He has even gotten much better at writing which was his main academic issue. 

Based on things Isaac says, it sounds like she uses a lot of negative reinforcement, labeling and threats.  He says that his teacher calls him “a talker” and said something about her thinking he was “the baddest kid in the class.”  Last week he came home distraught and told me he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to go to the second grade.  He said that his teacher said he wasn’t passing or that she wouldn’t let him go to second grade.  Another day, he said that she gave the rest of the class “the best treat of the year” (an ice cream sandwich and juice), but he wasn’t allowed to have one because he was in trouble.  

I went to an awards ceremony at his school this morning and had a conversation with another mother.  She said that her daughter had started off in Isaac’s teacher’s class, but her daughter started refusing to get up in the morning because she didn’t want to go to school. As soon as she changed classes, her daughter woke up willingly, even sometimes extra early because she was excited to go to school again.  

I really hope that he gets a good second grade teacher next year.  He is a good kid who loves to learn. 

Here is Isaac’s Card for Grandpa Bird.  This is the front cover and the back.  It’s interesting to me that he often draws it raining since we moved to Seattle.  I asked if he was frowning in the picture on the back because he missed his grandpa, he said it was because he couldn’t play outside because it was raining.

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He was excited about the idea of having his sisters wake up to a surprise birthday breakfast of eggs and bacon.  Unfortunately, two of them were up before breakfast so he had to just surprise Charlotte. 

After breakfast we all walked to school.    Isaac carried a cupcake and a note he had written to his bus driver.  She wished him a happy birthday when he got on and thanked him for the cupcake. (We gave him some new clothes on his birthday eve to wear to school on his birthday).

It’s funny, in the early days of first grade when we were still in Knoxville, he asked if he would ever go to school on his birthday.  I told him that I didn’t think he ever would.  Little did I know we’d be in Seattle and schools out here end much later.
I spent the day baking, taking Nicole to the doctor, filling a prescription, and not finding any time to fold my mountain of laundry that I had procrastinated folding the night before.

We had made arrangements to bring a treat to his class and sing happy birthday at 2:15.  We were a little early and got to help him empty out his desk.  He he was given a choice of which  birthday song to sing.  He choose one that included a “cha, cha, cha” and clapping.  We passed out the cupcakes he had wanted (chocolate cream filled with chocolate gnache on top).  His classmates were shocked at how delicious they were and thought they were filled with ice cream.Isaac got to leave with us a few minutes early.  We were able to stop in the office and drop off some extra cupcakes and then make our exit before the rest of the kids were released from school and traffic got bad.  

I took them to Taco Bell where they were running a special; Crunch wrap Supremes for $1 each.  I bought one for everyone, except Ila.  Isaac thought it was the best treat ever. (I left my camera in the car, so my phone took the next picture)

At home we had a little less than 2 hours before his friend, Ryan came.  I let Isaac open two presents.  One from Charlotte.  It was a play dough ice cream set that she purchased with her own money.  The other gift was from me.  It was a long pipe and a variety of elbows, caps, and other such things.  He was so excited for Ryan to come that he kept asking me how much longer and then told me he’d like periodic updates on how much time before Ryan gets there.

He spent the 2 hours playing with the play dough toy, preparing a pipe configuration, and doing “art projects.” Ryan and Isaac enjoyed playing with pipes and other toys.

We ate dinner.  Isaac had requested spaghetti with vegetable enriched pasta.

At 6:30, Great-Grandma and Great uncle Gale arrived.  Isaac opened his presents and then played with his presents.  Zach’s aunt Karin came with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.  We sang and skyped the birthday song and ate cake.  After the cake, the kids put their PJs on and watched movies until they fell asleep.  Ryan reluctantly left in the middle of the first movie.

Last year, we enjoyed cheering Isaac on in field day in Knoxville, so naturally we thought we’d support him again this year.  Only Carriage Crest does a field day like I’ve never seen.  It was more like one of those elementary school carnivals than a field day.  They had 35 stations and at each station there was a game or an activity. The kids were paired up in their classrooms and given a list of stations/activities to choose from.  Isaac was paired up with A.  I don’t know how the partner selection process happened, but Isaac and A did not seem to agree much on which activities to do.  When I met up with them they had just finished an activity that she choose.  Isaac really wanted to do the bowling, but she didn’t so when he got in line, she just ran off and he had to follow her.  I was glad that I went if only to sort out how the partnership should run.  I caught up to them in a line I explained that they needed to take turns choosing the next activity.  She still ran off at times when it was Isaac’s turn and he had chosen something, but I reminded her that this turn was Isaac’s choice and she had to stay with him.  I didn’t stay for the entire field day because I soon found it very difficult to keep up since Isaac and A were running to each station and I had to drag a stroller and two girls with me.

Sunny and cool, and perfect for fun outside.Some days, life is not about having a perfectly clean house or having a nice dinner right on schedule.  These are the days to let go of the schedule and let the kids be kids.  I love the freedom that I have as a stay-at-home-mom.  I love that on the way home from the bus stop in the morning we can take a detour to the neighborhood park or stop on the benches to play.  It’s in those carefree moments that I find great joy in being a mom.  I love moments when I can forget about everything that’s hard in life and just enjoy the sunshine and watching my kids have fun—what could be better?!

I’ve been frustrated in the past that I can’t place any memories in Kindergarten.  Today, my kindergarten teacher posted a picture of our kindergarten class on Facebook.  Thanks to being friends with some girls I went to kindergarten with who were tagged in the picture, here it is:

(I’m the first one in the second row.  With short brown hair and a pink and white dress)

Now that I think about it, I remember a few things about kindergarten registration/testing.  I remember going into the little room by the stage (where we had instrument lessons in 4th grade).  I also remember that my parents had always called me Kathy and when they gave me a name tag that said Kathleen, I told my mom that they gave me the wrong name tag because that wasn’t my name.    It wasn’t that I disliked the name, I really didn’t know that my name was Kathleen.  I remember learning my middle name (Alicia) and trying to memorize how to spell it as I got on the school bus.  I also remember the night before my first day of school, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep.  I kept getting up and asking my mom if it was time for school yet. 

Grandpa Bird left some pipes and elbows for Isaac to play with.  Isaac really enjoyed putting them together in different ways. 

Last week, Isaac and his friend, Ryan experimented with a variety of different configurations.  Once they built something that they liked, they turned on the water and watched to see where the water would come out. 

They put little plastic balls (slightly smaller than marbles) into the pipes at different points and experimented to see where they came out.  It was fun to see them work together and make changes to the designs to get the desired results.  Ryan and Isaac get along really well because they both have the same level of interest in the same things and they work together well.

I always assumed that none of my kids were picky eaters because of something that I did.  Turns out I was wrong.  In fact, a lot of the things I took credit for with one child or another, I’ve learned had more to do with their individual personalities than anything I did.

So, for those of you who are really interested, here are the details of what she will and won’t eat: 

She still likes Snow Pea Crisps most of the time, although she’s started to only eat them directly from the bag.  Sometimes when I just put some on her tray, she won’t eat them, but if I put an open bag on the table next to her, she’ll eat them.

She really likes yogurt.  It’s a good thing since it’s the only dairy product she will eat.  She will not drink milk.  I have tricked her into taking a sip or two here and there, but most of the time I can’t even get her to drink that much and I have tried Chocolate and Strawberry milk.  She will not taste cheese (although she will sometimes eat a cracker that comes with some kind of cheese paste on it).  She will eat strawberry yogurt, but she will not try a strawberry.  If I put one on her tray she will look at it and cry until I remove it.

She will eat some varieties of crackers.  Naturally, I have offered her every cracker imaginable.  Crackers are hit and miss with her.  Some days she’ll eat them happily, other days she just rejects them.  She has learned that you can open up the Peanut Butter and Jelly crackers and just eat the middle out.  I wish she hadn’t learned that because she will often only eat the PB&J and reject the rest of the cracker.  Despite her love for peanut butter cracker filling, she will not taste regular peanut butter or taste a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I have even tried putting fresh peanut butter on a cracker once she ate all the filling and she rejected that as well.

She will sometimes eat bananas, but she will only take a bite if I give her the entire banana partly peeled.  She will not eat cut up pieces of banana or large pieces with no peel.

She will eat apple slices.  She likes to chew the apple and spits most of it back out after chewing it up into tiny pieces.  She will not try an apple slice if it has a green peel.  She will not taste applesauce.  In fact, her grandpa Cochran tried to offer her applesauce last time we were in Utah.  When she rejected tasting it, he put a little on her lip.  She cried and cried.  Even after all the applesauce was wiped off her lips, she continued to cry for several minutes.

She will sometimes eat bread or toast with cinnamon and sugar. She will not try a sandwich or bread sticks, or bread with anything on it other than butter, cinnamon and sugar.  She will eat muffins and banana bread.

I have gotten her to eat some oatmeal.  She will eat some types of cereal.  She has started eating raisins and Crasins.

She will not even taste any type of meat and if you put a small piece of meat on her tray, she will cry until you remove it.  She will not even try any other type of fruit (not even berries or oranges).  She will not eat anything at a fast food restaurant (including french fries and chicken nuggets).  She will not eat potatoes or rice or any vegetable.  She will not eat chips or Gerber Graduates puffs.  She refuses to even taste pasta.

She will mostly only drink water.  I have gotten her to try Pedialyte and Gatorade, but she wouldn’t drink much of either.  I have finally weaned her from nursing this week.

She does like sweets.  I don’t know how she knows which things fall into the cake and candy category, but she is always willing to eat sweets.  A few times i have made the mistake of breaking a cookie or brownie in half to make it easier for her to eat.  When I have done that she instantly starts to cry and tries to put it back together.  She will reject a broken cookie (or a broken cracker) just because it’s broken.

That is it.  I cannot think of a single thing that I have not listed that she will eat.  I have been giving her vitamin supplements to make up for some of the foods that she won’t eat, but I worry about how healthy she’ll be on a diet of yogurt, water, and crackers. 

It’s no secret that my little Charlotte is a cat lover.  She spends a good part of everyday chasing our cats around the house.  She brushes them and pets them and carries them around.  She likes books about cats and items adorned with cats.  She talks about cats, she draws pictures of cats, she probably even dreams about cats.  She is excited every time someone points out a cat or a picture of a cat anywhere.  The fastest way to get her out of bed in the morning is to tell her that a cat is doing something interesting.

(The other day Charlotte told me her cat was in the laundry room sink, next thing I knew, Charlotte was also in the laundry room sink.)She even enjoys talking to cats.  I’ll overhear her telling a cat about another cat she saw or something about one of her friends.  Sometimes she’ll come home from going somewhere and tell her cat everything she did while she was gone.

(Charlotte reading a bedtime story to her cat)She likes to tell people facts about her cat as well.  I’ve lost count of how many times she has told me that her cat (Jill Pole) doesn’t like tail petting. 

Circles are now one of her favorite shapes because cats sit in a circle sometimes.  The other day she was really amused because her cat was “in a circle” and she was laying next to the cat and she said that they looked like a “10” together.  Then she proceeded to make every kind of letter she could make with a line and a circle by moving to different spots next to her cat. Somehow, despite all the chasing and tormenting her cat endures at her hands, Charlotte’s cat seems to really love her back.  To Charlotte’s great joy, Jill jumps up into her bed every night and regularly seeks Charlotte out for love and attention.

So, what do we do when we actually get a sunny day here in Seattle*?  We pretend it’s raining:To be fair, we have actually had a lot of sunny days lately.  When the weather is nice here, it’s stunningly beautiful!

*Technically we’re in the unincorporated Fairwood area between Renton and Kent, but you know what I mean.

My Dad came to visit us from Ohio.  He arrived during breakfast on Friday and left just before 10:00 AM on Tuesday.  We had a good time and really enjoyed our visit.  This morning, the bus driver asked about Isaac’s grandpa and said that Isaac was very sad on the bus Tuesday morning after saying goodbye.On Friday Afternoon I drove in downtown Seattle for the first time so that I could pick Zach up from work.  It wasn’t as bad as I feared, but I was more than happy to let Zach take over the driving.  We ate dinner at Ivars, then drove to a park across the sound from the city.  The park had a great view and big hill that the kids enjoyed rolling down.  We drove along Alki point then got out and walked down to where we could see the lighthouse.  Ever the agronomist, my Dad looked at and talked about all the plants he saw.We stopped in with Great Grandma for a short visit before driving home and putting the kids to bed.Saturday, the boys (my Dad, Zach, and Isaac) drove down to the train station and took the train into the city.  They visited Pike Place Market and brought back pepper jelly and chocolate pasta.  They also stopped at Uwajimaya and picked up an assortment of Asian desserts and snack food and had Dim Sum.

Saturday Afternoon, my Dad built marshmallow guns for the kids out of plastic pipes.  Then they went outside to play with them. 

Sunday I stayed home from Church with a sick Nicole while everyone else went to church.  Charlotte gave her talk in Primary.

After church, Grandpa held Nicole while I made cookies and dinner.  We had Great Grandma, Uncle Gale, Uncle DeFord, and Aunt Charlene over for dinner.  The little girls both fell to sleep really early and we were able to sit and talk and put together puzzles. 

Monday morning we drove out to a beach with tidal flats and went clamming.  Unfortunately, the little girls were not feeling well so I spent the entire adventure sitting on a towel with two crying girls on my lap.  Zach and my Dad collected about 30 clams before we decided to take the girls home to rest.  Monday evening we ate clams and pizza and watched a movie together.Tuesday came too fast.  After a waffle breakfast and walking Isaac to school, we washed a batch of whites and sent my Dad off on his way.

I’ll be honest, this is a bit of a dull thing to blog about, but it’s been such a source of stress and anxiety this week, that I’m writing about it anyway.  One thing I’ve learned about being a parent is that it’s easy to fret yourself into turning a normal virus into a potentially life threatening illness.  There were multiple times this week that I imagined the worst, from fearing she had something as severe as meningitis, to fretting that some unknown illness was going to permanently diminish her brain function.

 

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Charlotte is giving the talk in Primary next Sunday and her topic is the Restoration.  They have been talking about the Restoration all month in primary (and her brother gave 2 talks early in the month about it), anyway, I thought I ‘d ask her what she knew and have her write her own talk.  I just asked questions like tell me what Joseph Smith did when he wanted to know what church to join and what did the angel Moroni do?

This is what she came up with:

Joseph Smith restored the true church by getting the missing pieces back on the earth and helping Jesus fix it.

He went to all the churches in the world and asked which one is true and they all said “I am.” So he read the scriptures and he went into the closest forest to his house and he prayed and Heavenly Father and Jesus came to him and he asked which church to join and they said None.

The angel Moroni was the one who hid the golden plates and that’s how he knows they were on a hill.  He told Joseph Smith that they were on a hill and maybe he told him it was a heavy box.  Joseph Smith translated them into the Book of Mormon into words that everyone could understand, even kids who can read, like Isaac.  So you can understand because you’re a mom that knows English.

So, do I have her give this talk the way she told it to me or do I take out the speculations and inaccuracies (I don’t think Moroni told him it was heavy and he didn’t go to every church in the world) and maybe polish it off a little?

Another option would be to compose a list of questions and practice having her answer them a few times then present her talk in a question in answer format (so I’m not whispering her talk in her ear, but she’s sharing what she knows).  Does that make sense?

The weather has been great this week with lots of sunshine.   On Friday we decided that we wanted to go somewhere as a family to enjoy the weather.  Zach came home a little early for our adventure.  We thought we’d got to Coulon Beach Park, but a lot of other people had the same idea and it was really crowded with no good parking.  We decided to try Lincoln park instead.  It was much less crowded.

We walked along beautiful wooded trails and stopped at some playground equipment to play.  After the park we followed a path down to the waterfront.  The tide was in so there wasn’t much beach, but we ate our picnic lunch on a bench and some rocks near the water.  We took a walk along the Sound and stopped to throw rocks into the water, until an urgent need to use the potty sent us back up the hill to the bathroomWe took a scenic route to go home and stopped at Alki point.  There were geese and goslings all around and they didn’t seem very intimidated by people. Ila loved them and kept chasing after them.  She might have even gotten close enough to pet one if it wasn’t for her mother grabbing her (I was afraid she’d get bitten).I love being so close to such neat places!

Nicole has figured out how to get her own drink of water from the fridge.  It’s a little unnerving.  She can just barely reach the very bottom edge of the water dispenser if she pushes with her fingers.  It means that when she’s done filling it, she has to let it slide down before she can pick up her full cup of water. She is not always successful, but sometimes when she does it flawlessly, she takes a sip, pours the rest in the sink and then gets some more water.  When I catch her in a cycle of doing that I often turn on the child lock on the water dispenser.