Now that Elek and B don't nap I pretty much never have time to post updates. I suppose I could at night after all the kids are tucked in to bed but by that time I am totally tuckered out myself and just want to spend time with Andrew and veg in front of the TV.
Right now is one of those rare moments where I am forcing E and B to have some "quiet time" in their rooms while Augie naps. However just as I sat down to type I heard Augie start to whimper so we'll see how far I can get!
Elek:
- I swear my little guy has changed more in the past year - maybe even 6 months- than he had during any year prior. I think the biggest changes came after hanging out with his big cousin Sy this summer at Weeta's house for a month. I know that Sy isn't entirely to blame for all of the changes that we have seen in him but he certainly worshipped/s the kid and loves to hear that he has done something that Sy would do. So if I had to describe my oldest son in one word it would be...actually...it really requires two words..."smart ass." He has become such a little smart ass, I swear. A couple of weeks ago I walked by him in the hall and he says, "hey mom, I think you forgot something." "What?" I asked. "To make me some lunch! I'm hungry!" And then last night Andrew had us play chess against each other on the computers and he is shouting out from his room, "hurry up and make a move, mom!" Also last night, as he was playing someone else online, he shouted from his room, "shut up you guys, I'm trying to concentrate!" After getting all of his laughter out, Andrew of course put on his serious face and went into Elek's room and gave him the it's-not-ever-ok-to-talk-to-anyone-like-that talk and put him in time out. So really, if I had to name the two culprits charged with changing my sweet little chubby cheeked bebe into a snarky little stinker it would be Sy AND his own father. Other than being a pain in my butt with his quick witted comments, Elek is for the most part still very well behaved. He usually gets in trouble for messing with Augie since he cannot seem to keep his hands off the kid. Not that he is necessarily ill-intentioned about it but we keep telling him to leave him alone because he gets so over-excited and we are worried that Augie might accidentally get hurt. He does like to harass his sister quite a bit but no more than what I am sure is normal and no more than she harasses him. When he does get a time out he always goes and serves the whole thing without a fuss (usually because he knows he deserves it). Andrew has been working a lot with the kids on drawing and since these new dining room table lessons started a couple months ago Elek's artwork has really taken off. And the progress is not just seen in the details that he includes but in the way he clearly has grown to really enjoy sitting down for stretches of 15-20 minutes and really working on a particular drawing. Just 3 months ago it was like pulling teeth to get him to sit down and throw a couple of scribbles on a paper for 5 minutes! His favorite things to draw are swords, zombies, scenes from Harry Potter, and, lately, "outriders" from a comic book that Andrew brought home for them. The last soccer season recently wrapped up. He showed a lot of progress there from last season but he still doesn't totally LOVE it. I am going to keep him in it for at least another season since it is the only organized sport he does and I think the forced exercise is good for him. Oh, and how could I forget Elek's latest addiction....video games. Andrew brought home a Nintendo set up maybe 6 months back. Elek definitely got into Mario Brothers when it first arrived and showed some signs of becoming an addict, but nothing like he has shown in the past month for Donkey Kong. Holy heck, that kid is obsessed. When he wakes up in the morning, he wants to play. When he gets home from school, he throws his book bag down and hops on the controllers. All throughout the day he hovers around the TV, obviously itching to get another fix. When I tell him "no video games," he clearly realizes that I have made a semantic error and pounces on the opportunity to play "Angry Birds," or online chess on the computer before I realize my mistake and shout, "no screens, Elek!!" But these computers are just fillers. He would much rather be a gorilla with his monkey side-kick being shot out of barrels and dodging flying bees. I try to limit the time he is playing as much as I can but having a husband who also enjoys riding swordfishes underwater and swinging on vines through the jungle doesn't make it too easy. Andrew sent me an article about a study that was recently done on the brains of people who did and did not play 30 minutes of video games each day. The study found that the ones who did play had better eye hand coordination and increased brain volume, (here is the article: http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4703/20131031/playing-video-games-increase-brain-volume.htm) so that does help me justify the games a little when I need to cook dinner and I need him out of my hair :) And here is the thing, he is really good at it. He flies through levels that I wouldn't last 1 minute in. His timing for being shot from those barrels and dodging those mega-bees is pretty impressive. Even Andrew is impressed! Let's see...what else on Elek? He is reading pretty well. He struggles a little more than B does with it because he is not as good at using context clues and is often too lazy to sound words out so he will guess based on the first letter. But still, he is doing very well with it. And his handwriting is really improving as well. He hates when I sit him down and make him read and write but the time spent doing those things is clearly paying off so I plan on continuing to enforce the boredom sessions:) At the last chess tournament (which Andrew will hopefully do a blog post on soon), Elek took home first place for the K-1 under 500 group and would have had a chance to win 1st in the next group up if it hadn't been for an error in the recording of the score on his first game.
Beata:
- My sweet B. It is hard to put this girl into words. She is crazy, smart, loving, serious, and strong, all wrapped up into one, big brown eyed adorable package. She would go barefoot everywhere if I let her and likes to climb trees but also loves picking out her outfits for the next day, playing princesses, and dancing around the room singing, "I feel pretty" and "I am 16 going on 17." Her latest thing is that she loves to help me in the kitchen. Which I am not going to lie, can seriously slow me down when I am trying to make dinner, but I am really loving it too. She drags a chair over to the countertop and will stand there as long as it takes to prepare dinner or bake something delicious. She peels potatoes (well, kind of), zests limes (again, kind of), and chops veggies. She will take any job that I will let her do. I think she likes the mommy and me time but I would be a fool to think that part of it wasn't also so that she could get her little fingers into all of the ingredients and lick 'em up. I've found that girl eating everything from raw sweet potatoes, to butter, to baking soda, to lemon rinds, to onions (see "crazy", above). For the most part she is very sweet with Augie and she and he definitely play together more than Elek and Augie do. She will run giggling through the house while he tries to find her in games of "hide-and-seek" and they will sit for quite a while playing with cups and dolls in the bath tub. B is my born reader. The girl is good! When she comes to a word she isn't sure about you will see her eyes darting around the page to pick up some context clues and then, 9 times out of 10, she freakin' gets it right! She has shocked me with some amazing ones before. Of course I can't think of any examples at the moment but I will try to log the next big shocker when it happens. At school, her teacher, Mrs. Risner, has started giving Beata her own "challenging work." Usually a worksheet where she has to match a word to a picture. B wasn't that into soccer either. We thought after the first practice that we had a soccer prodigy on our hands but by the second practice that thought quickly went out the window and we started to look to Augie as our only hope for an athletic kid in the family. B likes drawing more now too. Her favorite thing to draw is rainbows but she will also attempt the same scary comic book characters as her brothers and the occasional girl in a dress will pop up. She doesn't get into playing the video games but is totally enthralled watching her big brother level up. She tells Elek what he needs to do when he gets in a tough situation but won't pick up the controllers herself. We need to work on that. She went to her first playdate at a friends house without me a couple weeks ago. It was at her classmate, Catherine's house, with two other classmates, Thad and Ian. She had a blast! At their second tournament B took home the 2nd place trophy for the K1 under 500 group while her brother took home 5th place. I am so proud of her for always completing her games while she is there and for having the confidence to sit across from and play kids that are up to 5 years older than her! I so hope that the confidence she has in herself now lasts a lifetime!
Augie-
First of all, don't worry. That whimpering I heard earlier subsided pretty quickly. He hasn't been screaming his head off the whole time I have been writing this. He did just wake up for good a few minutes ago though so I will have to keep this short and sweet. Augie is....well, he's my Augie. He is a little stinker but mostly because he has to be I think. He can be quite a screamer but in a house where there are always little voices, it is kind of required to be heard. He used to come up and hit me when he wanted something but after I started issuing time outs for this behavior he turned this hits into kisses and now comes and gives me a smooch on the leg to get more milk, a ball, some help, etc. It is very sweet. Usually it's a kiss and then an immediate "mama" as he motions toward something. I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post but since he was itty bitty, he has twirled his hair when he is tired. And he continues to do it now. Typically, as soon as I mention nap time or "night night" time his hand finds it's way to the back of his head and starts twirling away. He does this while I am reading too. So sweet. I love it. Just today Andrew got him to use a word with two different syllables. He used to say "dada." That changed into "daaee." But today Andrew finally got him to say, "dadee." There was a lot of applause for that one. Other words in his repertoire: ball, bye bye, mama, milk, more, book. But pretty much all of those sound alike. I think only I can discern their meanings. He pants like a dog when he sees a dog. He clicks his tongue when he wants food. And when he wants the drawing board in the car or wants to draw at the table he points and makes this lateral lisp sound. Don't know how in the heck he came up with that one but it's adorable and it works for him so I'm pretty sure it is here to stay for a while. And speaking of drawing, this kid loves his artwork, man! He will sit at the table for stretches of 15 to 20 minutes with the container of colored pencils and draw and draw and draw. He also loves to paint and to mess around with glue. Can't wait to see his artwork at Elek and B's age. If he were bigger in size he could probably beat Elek and B in a game of soccer. He knows exactly what to do to get the ball in a goal and has a mean kick. Definitely our last hope at an athlete:) He will now sit down in my lap and let me read a book to him and will even bring me a book to read to him. This was unheard of just a few months ago.
Ok, have to go get him from his crib! Andrew and I are doing well. Andrew's latest interests are of course chess but now also kind of remote control sailboats. Don't think this one will last as long but he is going to Vero tonight to buy one off of a guy so that he can sail it with grandpa over Thanksgiving. He is also really loving spending time with Elek and B at their current ages. It is clear that he is just not into the baby stage but really shines as a father when the kids are 3 and older. Every night he teaches them something new about space, chess, language, math, art, you name it. He is a wonderful dad.
I have recently really started enjoying playing chess online. It started mostly because I have a vendetta against my 10 year old nephew who beats me every time I play him. I have yet to win a game online. Or one against my 4 year old son. Basically, I suck. But I have fun playing and I guess that is what's supposed to matter? At least that's what Andrew tells me but I think he is just excited that his wife is finally sharing one of his interests. I told him thought that it has to be scary for him to see his wife's score plummeting toward the 300s online. Who in the heck did he marry? Since the time change Augie has been waking up earlier so I haven't been able to get my morning exercise in which is a real bummer. I miss my mornings at the beach that charged me for the rest of the day. Hopefully soon I will be able to get back out there. In the meantime I am trying out yoga with some friends in the evenings starting tonight.
