Sunday, May 16, 2010

In the eye of the beholder...

The boys came in and excitedly urged us to come outside. "Come see what we made," they said. "It's BEAUTIFUL." So Steph and I dutifully went out and this is what we saw:


That's right : A tippy tower perfect for jumping off of (and potentially breaking a few limbs). A thing of beauty if you're a 7-year-old boy for sure. The amazing thing is that just yesterday the same components had been used to construct a pirate ship. Arrr:

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

An early Mother's Day present from Chas

On the way homre from school today, the boys were discussing their plans to give us gifts for Mother's Day. Then Chas gave me the best one he ever could -- without even realizing it.

"Mommy, one of my friends at school thinks you're beautiful," he said. "And you know what? I think you're beautiful, too."

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

How sweet he is...

Chas may not have one iota of killer instinct on the playing field of any sport. And sometimes, Lord knows, the boy daydreams. He hates to color. Honestly, he's kind of lazy -- he'll spend an hour on a writing assignment trying to figure out how to write something with the fewest, shortest words so he doesn't have to write as much. But he is about as sweet as a boy can get. Sometimes to his detriment.

In his class good behavior and hard work are rewarded with tokens. Every so often, the kids get a chance to spend their tokens. They can spend a few and get a fun-sized candy. Or they can save them and get something bigger, like a toy or a special recess. I've given Chas a hard time because he spends 'em as fast as he earns 'em -- the boy loves candy. But the other day, he came out with two fun-sized candies -- one for him and one for his brother.  Pretty sweet. Then I find out that his friends have been asking him to buy them candy with his tokens -- and he's been doing it. This, perhaps is too sweet. He told me the teacher has put a stop to this and they're not allowed to do it anymore, which is probably for the best. He also told me one of his friends bought him candy once, which is nice. But I get the distinct impression that the other kids have figured out he's a soft touch.

I worried a bit about him letting himself be taken advantage of. And it's true, he is. But I think 7 is too young to really let that lesson sink in. At 7, I think I'm just going to be happy my boy likes to share his happiness.  So we told him he doesn't have to do that if he doesn't want to but we'll leave it at that. And keep an eye out for when things go too far.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Detective Eddie

Normally I don't crack a smile at mention of inappropriate dog pooping these days. This is the exception that proves the rule (Keep in mind that we only have one dog.):

Eddie: I think Peach just pooped in my bathroom!
Moms: Why?
Eddie: Well, I forgot to shut the door to the bathroom and she ran in there before I could stop her.
Moms: OK, but why do you think she pooped in there?
Eddie: Well, when I was in there before, there was no poop on the floor.
Moms: And now?
Eddie: There is poop on the floor AND Peach was standing right next to it. Sooo I think she did it.

Chas is just lucky Eddie has such good deductive reasoning skills or he may have been blamed.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

He's a nutty little insomniac, but he's OUR nutty little insomniac.

Put the boys to bed last night and then settled into the couch to watch some TV. We heard an occasional thump, but figured it was just restless boys. Soon, we heard Eddie up getting a drink and asking if he could "make a nest," which means pull his comforter and pillow onto the floor to sleep. Yes, we said, just go to sleep. Imagine our surprise when, a couple of hours later, we walked down the hallway to go to bed ourselves and found a trail of notes. ...






We had clear instructions...





Which we ignored.




This was the last one. The other side remains a bit mysterious to me:







This one was my favorite. Here's the front:



And the back:


Who wrote these?



Just to be clear:



Aha! Here's why we were supposed to wait until morning:




This one had us stumped until morning when we read it aloud and realized there is an implied "e" at the end of "by."


Seriously, does it get any cuter than this?

Friday, April 02, 2010

A dog. Have I mentioned we have a dog?

I've been remiss in posting, in part because I think I'm still in shock. We got the boys a puppy a few weeks ago. Life will never be the same. Among other things, she's cured my plantar Fasciitis. No, not a claim of having a miracle dog. It's just that I really, really, really want to avoid the sensation of stepping barefooted or sockfooted into a puddle of puppy pee. So from the instant I'm up in the morning, I'm wearing at least Crocs. A few weeks in I realized I'm not suffeirngb excrutiating pain every time I take my first few steps in the morning. Whoda thunk?

Anyway, her name is Peach, as in Princess Peach from the Mario Bros. I do not love the name, but the boys do. They also love Peach. I'm warming to her, albeit slowly. If she would learn to "do her business" outside, I'd warm more. But we can't have everything, so for now I'll settle for a dramatic reduction in foot pain and two very happy little boys.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

This is not your father's schoolyard bully...

I was working in Chas' classroom today when he came in from recess, approached me and said, "I need to get plenty of sleep tonight. You know that girl Elora from Eddie's class? She's going to try to beat me up tomorrow."

The student teacher overheard it all and said yesterday the little girl was trying to kiss Chas. Now she says she's going to beat him up. It's apparently some game the kids play. But it's not a game to Chas. His teacher asked him about it and he said he thinks it's real. I coached him -- just in case -- on not hitting, just using his arms to protect his face and running to an adult. "OK, but my first option is to run and hide," he said.

After school, the neighbor kid came over and told me, "Elora's going to beat up Chas tomorrow."

His teacher is on it and I'm sure the playground "doodies" as they seem to call the aids or "duties" will be all over it, too. But I think Chas is a little nervous. And I'm trying to get my head around the fact that my boy's first real bully is a sweet-looking little girl.