Soccer Season

A year and a half after our previous less-than-successful soccer endeavor, Marcus decided it was time to give it another try. Thankfully, the results have been much better with a 4-and-half-year-old Caleb than they were with a just-turned-3-year-old Caleb :)

The season started in early September and wrapped up this week. When we were filling out the registration paperwork, Marcus checked a box to indicate that he was willing to be an assistant coach. I guess they were a little short on volunteers because when we went to the soccer meeting, he was listed as the one and only coach of Caleb's team :) Over the past two months, there have been a total of eight practices and eight games scheduled (two practices were rained out). Even though I was sick most of the season, I made it to at least part of every game. (Getting a shower and putting on make-up beforehand rarely happened, but at least I got to see him play :)

At the U5 level (U5 = Under 5), games are played in four 6-minute quarters. (You'd think that would equal a 36-minute game, but the games were usually just over an hour from start to finish.) There are six players on a team and three of them are on the field at a time. We had a bit of a hodge-podge team this year. Some never showed up to practice and only made it to some games. Some were very, very distracted on the field and never seemed to quite figure out what was going on. The others developed well over the season and play pretty well together now. Regardless, despite the best efforts of coach and players, we have been soundly defeated in every game. They don't keep score at this young of an age, but the kids all realize that they get scored on a lot more than they score. On the positive side, you should see our parents go wild every time one of our kiddos gets that ball in the goal! Caleb scored more than anyone this season, and even Ethan would jump up from his little game chair and yell when he saw his brother get the ball in the goal.

Overall, I'd say this season has been a success for Caleb. He enjoyed himself, he got better at soccer, and he made some friends. I don't know if we'll play again in the spring or if we will wait until next fall, but I definitely see more soccer on the horizon.

Halloween (and Fall Festival)

The boys and I had to do Halloween on our own this year, since the most important annual radiation oncology conference took place over Halloween (again). Last year, he skipped the first day or so of the conference so he could do Halloween with us, but this year is job-hunting year and he really needed to be there the whole time. So Marcus departed for sunny California before sunrise on Saturday morning. That morning, the kids and I went to Caleb's soccer game and that afternoon we attended a Halloween party hosted by some church friends. The kids had fun playing with their friends and painting pumpkins in the thoroughly-bedecked and very spooky basement of our host's home.

On Sunday afternoon, the kids got their costumes on again and we went trick-or-treating at the Hoover Library and then to a Trunk-or-Treat at the Riverchase United Methodist Church. The Trunk-or-Treat was great: the boys loved looking at the other kids costumes, and especially enjoyed the adults dressed up as Snow White, Bert & Ernie, and a few others. The highlight for Caleb was a HUGE blow-up slide that made me nervous just to look at. At first, I didn't think I was going to let Caleb do it, but I watched lots of kids younger than him shimmy up that huge ladder and fly down, so I let him go a few times. (In the picture, he is the little red speck in the bottom left corner.) Ethan was very disappointed that he couldn't go on the huge slide, too, but he was easily consoled with a little bag of Skittles from his candy bucket. For Ethan, the highlight of the evening was petting and talking to a big Labradoodle: Ethan can never get enough of the animal kingdom.

(We did go to our church's Fall Festival last weekend, but we were so busy following the kids around that we forgot to take any pictures.)

Old Baker Farm

Two Saturday's ago, after Caleb's soccer game, we spent the day at Old Baker Farm. We started out by making our way through the cornfield maze. The kids enjoyed it, but it wore me out. It just went on and on and on. I can see why farming mothers feared losing their young children in the cornfield: the corn stalks are taller than a man and it would be virtually impossible to find a lost toddler in acres of corn. We finally found our way out (thanks to a couple of "shortcuts" by Daddy), and then got in line for the boys' first horseback ride. Caleb had been on ponies before, but this was his first time on a horse. The boys rode together and they loved the way the saddle bounced up and down as the horse walked. (I loved the beautiful pictures of them on horseback with corn fields and cotton fields in the background.) Next we headed to the cotton bounce. The cotton-picking festival at Old Baker Farm had taken place the week before, and a lot of the cotton collected had been piled into an enclosed wagon. It was like a cotton bounce house, and the kids loved it.

The barn and the farm animals were our next stop. We saw turkeys, ducks, chickens, goats, pigs and even petted a fluffy rabbit. Next was climbing and sliding down the huge haystack. We stayed there until Caleb's 5-year-old friend took a tumble from the top and all four parents agreed it was time to move on. We took a bathroom & snack break before boarding a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to choose our pumpkins. Just like last year, Marcus went to the furthest corner of the huge pumpkin patch, believing that the "pickin's" would be best in that untraveled area. He found a nice big pumpkin that he liked, while the boys and I chose smaller ones closer to the center of the field. We hopped on the hay wagon for a ride back to the main farm. Ethan and I were wiped out by now, but Daddy and Caleb had enough steam to close out the day with some fun in the hay maze.

It had been a full day when we finally headed home around 5:00 pm. The boys hadn't napped, of course, so they fell asleep immediately in the car. It was a 40-minute drive home, and when we got home, we gambled and lost: we tried transferring the boys into the house when we got home, hoping that all the sun and activity would render them tired enough to sleep the night through. Alas, neither of them transferred, so we had two very tired and grumpy boys for the next few hours. We made it through baths and dinner and finally all collapsed into bed.

To School or Not To School

So, my blogging reticence of late has been due to the big question that has plagued me relentlessly for the past couple of weeks. As I've mentioned here before, we had planned all summer to send Caleb to a church preschool this fall. The class I wanted him to be in, which meets 3 days a week, was full, so we had him on the role for a class that meets 4 days a week. The closer we got to school starting, the more and more apprehensive and doubtful I was feeling. Being me, I made long lists of pros and cons for preschool vs. keeping him home, but I just couldn't make a decision.

What I most wanted to do was keep Caleb home this year and enjoy the last year (assuming I don't homeschool) for all three of us to be together all the time. Unfortunately, I live in Alabama, and there is tremendous social pressure to do things "THE WAY" (for you foreigners, this means "the way everybody else does things in Alabama"). I had moms looking at me like I was insane when Caleb wasn't in preschool at age 2, and now they look at me like I've grown horns if I mention the possibility of keeping him home at age 4.

Here are some of the favorite questions:

"How will he be ready for kindergarten?"

"How will he learn to line up with other kids and be a part of a group?"

"What about socialization?"

"How will you get anything done if you have your kids all the time?"

Although I think these are valid questions, and I have turned them all over in my mind ad nauseam, it does bother me that I get such a one-dimensional response from almost everyone I talk to. I wish there was a little more room in the culture here to do things a little differently without encountering so much resistance. Besides, Caleb did go to preschool two days a week last year, and I think he has a good handle on lining up now :)

Regardless of the self-doubt created by so many incredulous people, I finally decided that Caleb (and my housework) could survive another year without preschool. I am planning for us to do homeschooling activities 3-4 days a week, and then just go places and play the other days. I am really happy with this decision for a lot of reasons. I was dreading separating my two little buddies so that Caleb could go to school. They play so well together and love each other so much, I would hate for school to change that, especially a year earlier than necessary. I was also dreading having Caleb gone four mornings a week. If he continues to nap, that would mean that I could spend time with him before 9:00 am when we left for school and after 4:30 pm when he woke up from his nap. That's just a little bit more than Marcus gets to see him while working full time! The biggest reason that I feel very good about this choice is that there are so many more things I want to teach Caleb myself before I send him out into the "school" world. This is such an ideal time for learning, and I want more time for his good character traits to solidify and to work on more good habits and attitudes before he is bombarded with academics and competition and peer influences. There will be plenty of years in the future for all that.

So, for better or worse, we are going to be a homeschooling family this year. Below is the daily agenda I put together (modeled after a friend's who is using the same curriculum) for the days that we do school. I plan to start on Monday, August 30th, after the curriculum and other materials I have ordered come in. It seems like a lot, but the structured activities will only take 15-20 minutes each, in keeping with a preschool attention span. Plus, most of this stuff is pure fun for them anyway.

Breakfast--Practice weekdays, months, seasons, weather, address & phone numbers

Devotional--Recite Lord’s Prayer together and practice this week’s memory verse

Bible Reading--Mommy reads her Bible silently while boys look at picture Bibles

Exercise--Push-ups, abs, squats, stretch; kids participate as much as they can

Get Ready--Get dressed, brush teeth & hair, tidy room, make bed

Read--Read Five in a Row book and other books aloud

Cleaning Time--Mommy does chores for day while kids play (or help if they can)

"FIAR" Activity--Alternate subject lessons throughout week from Five in a Row

Table Time--Coloring, scissors & glue, handwriting, drawing practice, etc.

Spanish Time--Listen to Hear Say CD, look at pics and practice saying words

Games/Puzzles--Play board or card game or do a big puzzle together

Outings/Errands--Groceries, gym, outside, etc.

Lunch & Nap--Ethan & Mommy sleep…Caleb sleeps or has quiet time in his room

Phonics/Math--Alternate starfall.com reading practice & math workbook with Caleb

Swimming Party

We went to a birthday pool party this weekend, and it was a lot of fun. It was from 6:00 to 8:00 in the evening, which is my favorite time of day to swim: we can be outside and the temperature is perfect and nobody has to wear sunscreen. Caleb was willing to wear his goggles for the first time, as well, so he spent more time underwater than he has before. He is still doing very well keeping himself afloat in the water. He hasn't worn any flotation help all summer, and he is getting more and more comfortable handling himself in the water. Ethan, armed with his swim vest, is a little fish. He absolutely loves the water and has no qualms about going completely under. He loves his goggles as well. He is so comfortable in the water that he may be swimming on his own next summer. Enjoy the pictures!

It's In There Somewhere

I had the funniest and, at the same time, most rewarding conversation with Caleb the other day. It was just after his nap, and he was grumpy. He was sitting in the playroom amongst some toys with a sour expression on his face. I was folding clothes a few feet away from him, and I decided to use a little humor to cheer him up. I told him that I was glad to see that he was complying with the "No Happiness" hour I had declared. I warned him that if I saw one drop of happiness squeezing out of the corner of his mouth, he would have to go to time out. Of course, he started grinning a bit in spite of himself, so I kept going. I told him in a very sour voice that I was grumpy and I wanted everyone else to be grumpy, too. He surprised me by replying very seriously that it wasn't right for me to try to make other people grumpy with my grumpiness, and I needed to go to my room until I had a better attitude. I loved hearing one of my sermonettes from his little mouth, so I kept the game going with more phrases and ideas that he frequently sends my way.

Mommy: (glowering) I am just grumpy because nobody ever does what I want them to do!

Caleb: (very seriously) Mommy, you can't make other people do what you want them to do.

Mommy: (angrily) But I HAVE to! I will never, ever be happy again 'cause nobody does what I want!

Caleb: (very soberly) Mommy, it is your choice whether you will be happy or not, but you can't make people do what you want. (a bit more cheerfully) You can ask them nicely, and they might do what you want, if you ask nicely.

Mommy: (glumly) But sometimes I ask nicely and they STILL don't listen to me.

Caleb: That's just the way it is, Mommy. There is nothing you can do to make people do what you want all the time.

At this point I laughed out loud, and he joined me, effectively ending the role play. But I was very happy to hear him articulate so well the lessons that I'm not ever sure are sinking in. I guess this proves that they are in there somewhere!

Potty Seats & Pull-ups

This past week, the boys have said two big goodbyes. The first goodbye was to the two Baby Bjorn potty seats that Ethan has been using for the past six months. He is big enough to use the "big" potty all the time now, and I am tired of emptying/cleaning the small ones. So they have enjoyed one final thorough cleaning and have been retired to the closet with all of the other baby/toddler things we don't use anymore.

The second big goodbye was to Caleb's nighttime Pull-ups. This happened more by accident. We ran out of 4T/5T Pull-ups and I didn't realize it until a couple hours before bedtime. He had been complaining about wearing Pull-ups at night for a while, but since he is still wet 2-3 times a week, we had been making him wear them. So, since we ran out of them, I decided to give nighttime dryness another try. (We tried this almost a year ago, and he was wet half the time, so we went back to Pull-ups.) I stripped the bed of all bedding except the cotton mattress cover and Caleb's little "blankie," so there would be less bedding to wash. It has been a week without Pull-ups, and he has been dry four times. The trick seems to be to wake him up about an hour-and-a-half or so after he falls asleep. He seems to be emptying his bladder at the end of his first sleep cycle (about 90 minutes into his sleep). If we catch him before that happens, he stays dry all the rest of the night.

Writing & Numbers

Lately, Caleb and Ethan have both been really into writing their letters. We have these Kumon Write-and-Wipe dry erase cards that they can trace each letter on. Both boys seem to be right-handed. Caleb can write his name without tracing, but he still likes tracing the letters. Ethan absolutely loves it. I am amazed at his attention span. He writes all 26 letters five or six times a day. He traces all the cards, goes back through and erases each one, and then starts over again. He likes tracing his name on handwriting worksheets, too, and he is trying valiantly to write his name on his own without tracing, but he's not quite there yet.

Last night, Caleb finally understood how to recognize numbers higher than 20. He did a connect-the-dot picture with 60 dots, and while we were doing it together, he figured out the pattern. We have explained it to him before, but this time it clicked.

It is SO FUN to see them learn new things. Yesterday was one of those days that I really wanted to ditch the idea of school and teach the boys at home. I just wish there was some way to do half-and-half. Like half a day of school, in which all the subjects I don't like are taught, so I could teach everything I love at home :)

Little Teacher

While cleaning up the dishes from breakfast, I heard this conversation:

Ethan: Ca-web, will you share your fruit snack with me? (Caleb's reward for waking up dry)

Caleb: Yes, I will, but you need to wait until after I finish my waffles.

(a few minutes later, while both boys are eating waffles)

Ethan: Ca-web, please give me some fruit snacks?

Caleb: I will give you just one fruit snack now, Ethan. I wanted to give you two, but you didn't listen to me and wait until I was done with my waffles, so you can only have one.

Hi-lar-i-ous :)

Insightful Moment

Yesterday, we spent the morning at a friend's pool. We haven't been swimming much since our trip to Florida because Caleb got burnt out on wearing sun screen while we were on vacation. Since then, every time we have been invited for a pool play date, I have asked the boys if they wanted to go, and Caleb has consistently declined (and convinced Ethan to do the same). Today, I decided that we really needed to go again before summer is over, so I didn't give him a choice.

All the way to the pool, he talked about how much he doesn't like sun screen and how much it burns his face and his eyes, and how he really doesn't want to go to the pool. When we arrived, I put sunscreen and hats on both boys, and they jumped in the pool. Sure enough, the first time Caleb's eyes hit the water, he started wailing that the sun screen was burning his eyes. I truly don't know how much is drama and how much is real discomfort, because I only put the sunscreen on his nose and on his face up to just above his cheekbones, staying clear of just under his eyes and his forehead (since he wears a hat). I think it is actually the chlorine that is stinging his eyes, but he thinks it is the sunscreen, and nothing can convince him otherwise.

So Caleb spiraled down into a full-out angry meltdown about the sun screen. Public meltdowns have been few and far between with Caleb, but this one was a doozy. I picked up a furious Caleb, placed him in a lounge chair and told him to stay there until he was done with his fit. He wailed that he wanted to go home and stated vehemently he would NOT stop crying unless I took him home RIGHT NOW. I told him that we were not going home because we had just arrived and Ethan and I were going to have a good time, whether he chose to or not. He kept crying loudly, so I told him that he could cry quietly as much as he wanted to, but if he continued to disturb everyone around with his crying, he was going to get a spanking. He lowered the volume right away and soon ceased crying altogether (since most of the motivation was disturbing everyone around him).

Ethan and I were having a blast in the kiddie pool and on the splash pad, and, after a while, Caleb piped up with: "Mommy, why don't you and Ethan go somewhere else and I will stay here." I knew he was wanting to get up and play, but he didn't want to be observed swallowing his pride. He watched us for a few more minutes, and then he finally got up and played happily with all of us for the next three hours. I had almost forgotten about the original incident when we were packing up our stuff to leave, until Caleb initiated this conversation:

Caleb: Mommy, you were right earlier.

Mommy: About what, son?

Caleb: You know, when I was crying? You were right that going home was not the best choice. I stopped crying and I had a lot of fun.

Mommy: Yes you did, Caleb. I'm very proud of you for getting control of yourself and changing your attitude. It is very hard to do that, but you did it.

Caleb: Yes, I did. Sometimes I am stronger than I know I am.

Mommy: (chuckling) Yes, you are, my son. Yes, you are :)

Imaginative Play

Caleb and Ethan's imaginative play has really been something else lately. Many days, they play together for hours, with virtually no conflict. The seven hours of morning and early afternoon that used to be full of going to the zoo, the science center, etc, are now filled with creating elaborate imaginary worlds in the play room. Caleb's imagination seems to know no bounds, and Ethan is becoming just as creative as his brother.

In the midst of whatever story/situation they set up and play-act in, they are usually pretending to be some character from a book or a movie that is completely unrelated to the current scenario. For example, Superman (Ethan) and Ursula (Caleb) will be orchestrating a pirate adventure in which the pirates are kidnapping animals from a zoo and selling them on the black market (in their words "selling them to ugly guys for lots of money"). Usually, they take on a "main" persona for the whole day, and even like me to call them by that name. (Sometimes I oblige them, and sometimes I don't.)

Ethan almost always pretends to be one superhero or another. His current favorite is Wolverine (though he has absolutely no knowledge of Wolverine, other than a page in his superhero coloring book), though Batman, Superman, and a pirate are frequent favorites as well.

Caleb, at the moment, is on a Disney Princess kick. He was"Ariel" for about four days in a row, and yesterday he pretended to be Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty) all day. Before the princess kick, his favorites were Aladdin, Spiderman and Venom.

I let them pretend as much as they want at home, but they do have to shed their persona's and answer to their given names when we go out. This is not accomplished without resistance, but, when it comes to a conflict of wills, nothing much is :)

Thanks, Buddy

Caleb (running downstairs): Mommy! Something terrible happened! (a common introduction to some accident or mess)

Mommy: What happened?

Caleb: Let me tell you...I had to go pee pee, so I ran up the stairs to the baf-room, but my pee pee was coming too fast, and some of it went on the floor.

Mommy: Oh, well, can you show me where the pee pee is so we can clean it up?

Caleb (head cocked thoughtfully): Let me see...how about this: go upstairs, and, if you slip on something wet, that is where the pee pee is.

Thanks, buddy. Really appreciate the help.

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

I have always really enjoyed reading, and so there are always grown-up books laying around the house. Caleb and Ethan frequently pick up one of my books and ask me to read it to them, so I explain that there are no pictures and it is a story for grown-ups. The other day, Marcus was reading Total Truth, one of his favorites, and Caleb asked him to read it out loud. So he did, for a few minutes. Caleb listened so well that I thought it might be time to break out a chapter book for him, so I went upstairs and got The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I'm not sure how old I was when my mom started reading The Chronicles of Narnia to me, but I'm pretty sure I was older than four. I was very surprised when Caleb (and Ethan) sat and listened to a whole chapter of the story. Since that day last week, we have read five more chapters together, and the boys (especially Caleb) are really into it. Ethan goes around fighting (invisible) white witches and saying "The Lion...The Witch...The War-dobe" in a sing-song voice. Caleb likes to pretend that he is the trouble-making Edmund in the story, and Marcus and I are assigned various parts, according to the game at hand. It is very fun to have them so excited about one of my very favorite stories from childhood.

Summer is Flying By

I looked at my calendar just now, and nine of our fourteen weeks of summer are already over. I can't believe how quickly these weeks have flown by! In just five more weeks, Caleb will start attending prekindergarten four mornings a week at a local church (thanks to the generosity of his Nanna & Papa) .

Side note: even though my son is already registered and I fully intend to send him to preschool next month, I have to take a moment to make fun of the idea of "prekindergarten". When my grandparents were kids, kids started school at age 7. When my parents were kids, most kids started school in first grade at age 6. When I was a kid, almost everyone went to kindergarten at age 5. And, now, we've got this new thing called pre-kindergarten that 4-year-olds are expected to attend! Will my grandkids be learning how to sound out words & write their names before they are potty-trained?

Anyway, though I am very on-the-fence philosophically about preschool in general, I do think that this particular situation will be the best thing for Caleb. The only problem is, after nine weeks of summer, Caleb has gotten really used to being with me all the time again. And he is starting to exhibit some of the clinginess (to me) and disinterest in his peers that prompted me to enroll him in that 2-mornings-a-week program last fall. He told someone the other day that his favorite part of church was "when Mommy comes to pick me up from my class." Even though I haven't been away from him much at all this summer, he regularly asks me when we are driving somewhere whether or not I am going to stay with him or leave him there. Now, the positive side of this extra closeness is that he has been very considerate of me lately. The other day, I was sitting on the couch and he asked me if he could go get me a blanket because I looked cold. He's also started to imitate the way I talk to him, like this: "Mommy, can you get me a cup of juice? You don't have to if you don't want to, it is your choice, but it would make me happy if you would." Another one I've heard recently is: "Mommy, what movie are we going to watch for movie night tonight? I want to watch Aladdin, but if you want to watch the Ariel movie because it's your favorite, we can watch what you want." It is so sweet to hear him talk like that!

I'm sure the clinginess is just a phase, like everything else, but I hope he moves out of this phase before school starts, because it will be so difficult to send him if he doesn't want to go.

Disney Books

Nothing like having our video camera stop functioning to make the kids do the cutest stuff :). Several times in the past week, Caleb has offered (to Ethan) to read Ethan a book. Ethan eagerly accepts, and the two snuggle down into my big brown recliner. Caleb picks one of the Disney books from the library pile (Aladdin, Snow White or Bambi) and "reads" it to Ethan, page by page. Caleb has heard these stories so many times that he can actually recite sentences from every page verbatim. It is hilarious to hear him bust out with complete sentences like "Jafar, adviser to the Sultan of Agrabah, was searching for a magic lamp hidden in the Cave of Wonders." He never uses that many words in a sentence conversationally, but he has memorized so much of this book (from hearing it 3 or 4 times a day for weeks). Last night, just before bedtime, Caleb "read" Aladdin to Ethan for more than 20 minutes. I joked to Marcus that this is how people have families with 10 kids: the older kids take care of the younger ones.

Sleep

Marcus and I are a little worn out this week. Part of it is that we're both getting over a cold, but the other part is that the kids seem to need so little sleep these days. For at least a month, maybe longer, Caleb has only been taking a nap once or twice a week. He's gone on nap strikes many times before, but the BIG difference this time is that he is still staying up until 9 pm or so on the days that he doesn't nap, and HE'S NOT WHINY OR TIRED in the late evening. It is looking to me like he doesn't need any more than the 9-10 hours of sleep a day that he has been averaging this month. The problem is, if he keeps going to bed at 9:00 pm and getting up at 6:30 am without napping, my child-free down time is pretty much over. According to my favorite child sleep "expert", Elizabeth Pantley, a 4-year-old should be sleeping 11-13 hours in a 24-hour period. Until this year, Caleb's sleep patterns have matched up with Pantley's chart very well, but for some reason, his sleep needs seem to have taken a dive, without any negative behavioral side effects.

Ethan, as well, is sleeping much less than Caleb did at 26-months. He has always been a more erratic sleeper than Caleb, but it does rather amaze me that he goes to sleep with Caleb at 9:00 pm (or later) and consistently rises right at (or before) 6:00 am. He does take a 2-3 hour nap every day, but that still puts his overall sleep at ~11 hours a day, on average. (Pantley says that 13-13.5 hours per day is average for a 2-year-old.)

So, for whatever reason, both of my kids seem to need about 2.5 hours less sleep each day than the average kid their age. This could be genetic, since I generally need much less sleep than the average adult, and was always a very early riser as a child. Or, it could be our lifestyle, which includes a couple of late nights each week. If the kids spent more of the day being whiny and irritable, I would be more inclined to buckle down and get them to bed earlier; but they are usually pretty good-natured and content, especially between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm (which are the extra hours I would be trying to get them to sleep), so I don't know.

If Only I'd Gotten a Picture...

Yesterday, I came down with a bit of a cold that dear hubby brought home from his trip to El Salvador. (I have to mention the origin of the bug to justify why my normally-stellar immunities failed me: who could expect them to be prepared for foreign cold viruses?) Anyway, I wasn't feeling well, so, when Ethan went down for a nap and Caleb didn't seem tired at all, I put a movie in for Caleb, got a few chores done, latched all the external doors (to make sure Caleb stayed housebound), and then went upstairs to sneak in a 45-minute nap.

When Ethan woke up, he immediately came to my room and woke me up, demanding that I get up "right now" and get him some food. To hammer home his point, he insisted that it was "9:00 o'clock" so I "have to get up!", which I guess in his little mind is the universal waking up time.

Anyway, he dragged me out of bed and we went downstairs. The hilarious sight that greeted us in the kitchen was Caleb, sprawled out with his blanket on the kitchen island, fast asleep. All I can guess is that, when his movie was done, he went into the kitchen (toting his blanket) to eat the snack that I'd set out for him at the bar. I guess he got tired while eating the snack, and, seeing his blanket where he'd put it on the island, just crawled up there to rest his head on the blanket. Next thing he knew, he was fast asleep. Ethan, always quick to state the obvious, exclaimed "LOOK! Bubba asleep on the table!" Stifling a laugh, I ran to get the camera, but the blanket dangling off the island was too tempting for little Ethan, so he pulled the corner and Caleb woke up before I could get a shot. Based on how groggy and disoriented he was when he woke up, I'd guess he was at least 15 minutes into a nap.

Homebodies

For the past few weeks, our days have started out with this conversation:

Mommy: Well, guys, what do you want to do today? We can go to the pet store and then get some groceries, or we can go to the pool with John & Ava, or we can go to the McWane Center, or the Rec Center & the library... What do you think?

Caleb: I just want to stay home.

Mommy: You want to stay home? Don't you want to go to any of those fun places?

Ethan: I do! I want to go!

Caleb: No, I think I just want to stay home. Staying home and playing with toys is more fun.

Ethan: I not want to 'tay home! I want to go to the pool!

Caleb: But, Ethan! Let's just stay home and play! We can build a fort with a blanket and make a giant train track. And we can do puzzles and color and dress up like spider man and you can be a pirate. And we can fight all the bad guys and look for monsters!

Ethan: Okay, we can 'tay home and do all dose t'ings.

Mommy: Are you guys sure? You don't want to go anywhere?

Caleb: We're sure, Mommy. We just love staying at home and playing.

And that is the end of it. We've been spending 3-4 weekdays each week at home, ever since we got home from Florida three weeks ago. I make the kids go out with me once a week for grocery shopping, and once or twice a week so I can work out, but other than that, we've spent a lot of time at home. We've foregone play dates, story hour at the library, and mornings at McWane Center, all in favor of uninterrupted imaginative play at home. The only time Caleb voluntarily leaves the house is when we are going to his gymnastics lesson or going to a friends house (where he can enjoy uninterrupted imaginative play with more people).

Part of Caleb's shift to being a homebody is the heat, since both he and I prefer not to be outside when it is warmer than 80-85 degrees, so that eliminates the zoo, all the parks, the botanical gardens, and any hiking. But the rest of it is just that he and Ethan have a lot of fun together at home these days. And Caleb definitely delivers on the exciting plans he sells to Ethan each morning. We build forts, throw parties, set up superhero wars, create animal jungles, play Memory & Candyland, dress up in costumes, construct train track mazes, build zoos and farms with the Legos, do puzzles, read books, and play chase, tickle & hide-and-seek, not to mention the hours each day that they sit at the craft table: drawing, painting, coloring, writing, stamping, cutting and glueing. I guess maybe I can see why Caleb likes to stay home :) And as long as they are getting along and busy doing & learning, I am a happy camper.

Marshmallows & Shark Tanks

We were driving home from church small group last night, and, about five minutes down the road, Caleb pipes up with, "I've got to go poo-poo." He has this habit of "having to go" a few minutes into every car ride, even if I ask him just before we leave. We were still about 20 minutes from home, but I asked him if he could wait until we got home. He said no emphatically, so I brought out the big guns and offered him a marshmallow if he was willing to wait. He quickly and cheerfully agreed. Without missing a beat, Ethan cries urgently from the backseat, "I've got to go poo-poo!" I knew he didn't have to go, but he had me in a corner, so I promised him a marshmallow, too. I've got to give the kid props for making the most of every opportunity :)

The other story happened at the McWane Center on Friday. I hesitate to even post this because it is hard to describe exactly what happened, but here's my best shot. The McWane Science Center has a touch tank that contains stingrays and bonnethead sharks (follow the link for a picture). Children stand on a sloped step that is flush with the tank, lean over a little, and reach into the tank to touch the rays and sharks as they swim by. My kids have touched these sharks and rays many times since the exhibit opened about a year ago. I always keep my finger looped into Ethan's back beltloop while his arm is in the tank, just in case he loses his balance. I never expected that Caleb would be the one to tumble in.

It was just a bad combination of Caleb being too tall for where he was standing and the step underneath him being a little wet and slippery. He leaned a little too far forward to touch an approaching shark and his right foot slipped out from under him. His waist was too far above the side of the tank, and his center of gravity quickly shifted and caused him to tumble forward. I was standing right behind him, but my right hand was tied up holding Ethan's belt loop. I grabbed Caleb's left arm with my left hand, freed my right hand, and grabbed Caleb's flailing leg with that hand. The poor little guy was literally parallel with the water, with all of his upper body hovering over the shark tank, his hips resting on the side, and his legs sticking out behind him.

I pulled him off the tank and was amazed that only the left sleeve of his shirt had gotten wet. I was with a friend, and we were both pretty stunned by what had just happened. We'd both heard that a kid had fallen in there once, and now we finally knew how that could happen. Caleb was a little shaken up by it all and he cried a little bit...I think more from embarrassment than fear. I was a little shaken up too, but mostly just glad that I was able to catch him before he went all the way in. (As well as grateful that I hadn't inadvertently dumped Ethan in the tank while trying to free my hand from his belt loop :)

Little Mockingbird

Here is Caleb in our back yard with a very young mockingbird on his arm. This little guy (or girl) has been hanging around for about a week, and we hope he will be strong enough to fly soon. The boys love watching him hop around. Caleb has named him "Honger, because he is always squawking for more food" (not sure what the connection between "Honger" and "squawking for more food is", but that's probably an irrelevant detail :).