A.C.K's

Sweet Pea loves her letters, she sings the ABC's all day, runs through her letter sounds and spells things (incorrectly) throughout the day.  The only thing is that she doesn't call them letters or ABC's.  She calls them ACK's....because guess what she hears spelled all day long jACKSon.  Yup, Little Man's name. 


Peanut has similar issues, he may be singing the ABC's beautifully and then he hits H, I, J and then he pauses like he forgets what he is doing/saying and goes to H,I, JACKSON, O,P, ....

Clearly, Little Man likes to be and has succeeded in being the center of his siblings world.


Other things Sweet Pea can often be heard saying:
-  Wait for me boys!
-  Time for dinner boys!
-  Heads or Tails?  (whichever you pick she says, "No, insert other option here, better luck next time."

Tricks of the Trade

Little Man is starting to catch on in ways that I wish he would stay naive to for a while longer.  The other day we were all in the basement and Little Man asked me if I would play store with him.  I looked around at the messy playroom and said "Sure, go get me the cash register and then you can go shopping.  The only rule is that you can only buy things at my store that you find on the floor!"  He ran off to get the cash register and then began shopping from the toys on the floor.  It only took about 2 minutes before he looked up at me and proclaimed, "Hey, you aren't really playing with me, you are just trying to get me to clean up!"  I laughed and laughed that he saw through to my true motive and then we both decided that he could be the shopper and Peanut and Sweet Pea could help with the "restocking" of the purchased toys. 

Peanut is learning some tricks of his own.  The other day I saw that he wanted a toy from Sweet Pea and he told her that if she gave him the toy he would give her a treat.  So she gave up the toy and then he yelled that he had tricked her because he didn't have any treats.  She marched over to me, told on her brother and of course, I decided that she could have a treat for sharing but Peanut didn't get one because he lied - I am not sure that he learned the lesson though because later on I overheard this one way conversation " I think you really want this stick.  Tell me if I give it to you, I can have a treat and then yell tricked you to me"  Sweet Pea said no and Peanut started to cry.  I guess there are easy ways and hard ways to earn treats in this house....Peanut hasn't got that quite figured out yet.

So the other day we were all eating breakfast together and Sweet Pea yells "Look Mama, a bird!" and points behind me.  I turn and look behind me and when I turn back around my strawberries are gone.  Yeah, Sweet Pea has learned early and from the best. 

My Basketball Boy

We want to encourage our children to pursue whatever their interests are without added pressure from us.  Yes, that is what I say and mostly actually believe.  But I spent the afternoon working on basketball drills with Little Man.  We worked on bounce passes, chest passes, pivoting, squaring up to the basket, ball handling skills and working on his shot.  I am in heaven.  This is my sport and while I will encourage all of my kids to pursue their interests - I won't pretend that I don't have a preference and Peanut has a mean bounce pass and Little Man has skills on the court.  I am a proud and happy mama!

Worms and Trees and other such things

Peanut has these beautifully large hefty hands as I have mentioned before and he tries very hard to be gentle with the ants and worms and other creatures that he picks up, but he is not always successful.  Many times he brings me a bug that he has so gently manhandled and informs me that it isn't moving anymore but that's ok, he can find another one.  I cringe slightly both at the handling of bugs and their ultimate demise in his hands but try not to discourage him too much.  Yesterday he was very much in love with some worms that he had dug up in our yard.  He even brought it to me in the house because he wanted me to see his favorite worm.  (The last time he brought me a bug in the house it was a bee that ultimately stung him so the worm was an upgrade) He wanted his worm to go on a bike ride with him but the dilemma was how to hold onto the handle bars, not let the worm wiggle out of his hands and keep the worm alive.  Peanut decided that he would use the loose flap on the handle bars as a holding place for the worm and in his not so careful way he opened the flap that covers the end of the handle bars and shoved the worm into the hole and then took his worm friend for a lovely bike ride.

Peanut's love for nature doesn't stop with insects.  If you can't find him in the house, check the trees.  The second he gets outside he climbs the nearest tree and gets as high as he can go.  My little linebacker is faster than he looks and can get fairly high.  So if you lose him, look up to the trees, he may be faster than he looks but he is still fairly easy to spot - he is my little linebacker after all.

Oh and we have a snake friend living in our front yard.  We are going to try and relocate it to our back woods because he keeps appearing where the kids play the most often and we don't want any mishaps.  Have I mentioned that I can't stand snakes?  Yeah, I am trying to be cool for the kids but I want the darn thing gone.  I know it is a harmless snake, but slithery creatures are just not for me.

I think Peanut is going to love the cicadas that are supposed to swarm the area, I wonder how many we will find clutched in his hands.  Oh, the joys of nature!

Meet Sunny and Slimy, Peanut's "best friends" that are currently living in a dirt pile in the back bucket of his tricycle.  He likes to hold them, take them for bike rides and let them smell him. 

6 is a very Grown Up Number

Recently I have noticed some very grown up changes in Little Man.  Just last weekend we were running some errands as a family and Little Man complained that he would be bored and asked if he could bring a book and read to himself in the car and in the stores.  It was a request that really touched me because when I was young, it was rare to see me without a book in my hand and even now it is rare that I don't go out with my kindle in case I can squeeze in a few minutes of reading.  On the way home he remarked that he only had a few more pages to read and asked that we drive a bit slower so he can finish and ended up staying in the car for a a bit to finish it up.  And twice in the last few weeks, Little Man has had karate after school and then went home with a buddy for dinner only getting picked up around bedtime, spending most of the day away and loving being so independent.   Then today, Little Man scored a goal in soccer like it was no big thing, cheered for his team mates when they scored and then came home and asked if he could go out and play basketball in the driveway while we were making dinner. 

Every day there are more signs that he is growing up which is probably why it still makes me deliriously happy to hear Sweet Pea ask for "wagger" instead of water.  At least there is still a bit of littleness left in this house.

Bubble Wrap

On my good days, my kids fall down and I yell "pop up" or "you're ok" even if inside I am cringing on the inside.  On my bad days, I cry with them and want to wrap them in bubble wrap to keep them from ever getting hurt again.

Little Man recently got a skateboard from MeeMom for his birthday.  He loves it and Papa Bear is so happy to have his son following in his skater boy footsteps.  (Although Little Man may be the only kid at the skate park wearing a tie and vans.)  And on my good days, I love it too. On my bad days, I worry about broken arms and concussions.

Peanut is getting so much more proficient at the playground, jumping from high levels, going down the fireman's pole.  I love it especially since he has had gross motor difficulties since he was little but I still worry when he goes down too fast or jumps from too high of a height.

Sweet Pea, well I worry every time she runs.  Every. Time.  She is not graceful and with her full on crazy Phoebe run, legs flying in all directions, head bobbling and arms thrown out in front of her I am always yelling at her to slow down, be careful, watch where she is going, look out for the wall/door/tree...

And then today, she was full out sprinting down the sidewalk and when she fell I watched her forehead bounce on the sidewalk.  I am investing in bubble wrap at least until we get our family pictures take in 3 weeks! 

The Woods

The weather is finally turning nice and we are getting to play outside more and more.  When the weather permits, we spend most of the day outside.  Parks, picnics, sidewalk chalk and mudpits are the staples of the summer.  Recently, the boys have just loved playing in the woods near our house.  To clarify, we live in the suburbs, there are parks and woods for the kids to play in, but the woods to which they refer are the 4 large bushes in front of our house that have a crawl space between them and the house.  If you hear them shout, let's go play in the woods - you would see them run to the bushes and wonder if they were poor deprived children who didn't really know what a land filled with trees and animals looked like.  But I love that they have a hiding spot in the bushes called "The Woods".  It takes me back to my childhood where my brother and I had a bush we hid in together and played for hours. Although to be fair, we spent much more time actually roaming through large wooded areas then we did in that bush, it still was a special hideout.  I think I am going to have to take the kids to more wooded area hikes though, just to be safe.