Me: Augie do you want to go to Publix?
Aug: Yeth.
Me: Augie, do you want liver for dinner?
Aug: Yeth.
Elek and Beata have fun using his automatic response to their benefit.
Beata: Augie, do you want me to eat some of your ice cream?
Aug: Yeth
The rest of his speech development seems to be at a bit of a stand still. He will say "arf" for dog and knows the sounds made by horses, pigs, cats, owls, and a few others. He loves to retell the story of Pop Pop taking him out to see owls in our backyard a couple weekends ago by pointing to the backyard and then saying "Pop Pop Who Who," always making sure that you then retell the story to him so that he knows you understood him. While he does seem kind of behind for his age speech wise I'm not concerned because his language seems right on track. He's a boy of few words but he knows what's up:) He still loves to sit at the table and draw and loves riding his scooting toy, strider bike, and Elek and B's rip riders in the front yard.
The other day I gave Elek and B a reading test online. The test had them simply read words until they could no longer get them right and then I calculated their score. Based on this test, Elek is reading at a second grade level and B is reading as if she was 6 months into 2nd grade! I am very proud of how well they are both reading and excited that they seem to enjoy it more. B especially will pick up a book and just start reading it to herself or one of her brothers...it's awesome! Elek's drawing has gotten very good. He loves drawing with his dad and by himself. 99.9% of his drawings show a good guy giving it to a bad guy with a bow and arrow. Believe it or not, Donkey Kong Country has also become a thing of the past in the 2 short months since I last wrote an update. Now he is drooling over War Craft. That's right, the same game that Andrew spent COUNTLESS hours playing when I first met him. The same game that he would hang up on me for. The same game whose character's little phrases like "work work" and "we need more lumber!" will forever be ingrained in my memory from the nights where I would be doing homework on his bed and hearing it play in the background. That's right....War Craft has re-entered my life and it sure looks like it's here to stay...at least for the next 13 years. Because Elek was being a bit of a punk to other kids and he and B had both been being punks with one another and with Augie, I recently started a new "punishment" initiative. Any child (i.e., Elek or Beata) who hurts or harasses another child shall heretofore be sentenced to writing that child an apology letter. On day one of the new rule, I am pretty sure that Elek had submitted 2 apology letters before 8:30AM. Since then the pile has grown a bit but I do think that it seems to be working. Neither of the kids are crazy about being forced to sit down and write legibly so they will usually do what it takes to avoid it. Elek was also giving his teacher a hard time about doing his morning work so now, in order to earn the privilege of using screens after school, I have to get a good report from his teacher. So far screens have only had to be taken away on the first day, other than that he has been excellent at school. Hooray for, as Dr. Phil would say, "finding his currency!" All of my kids are obsessed with the song "Roar" by Katie Perry. Beata in particular loves to sing it in the car, at the park, wherever. Augie requests to see the video on the computer all the time by pointing to the computer and saying "oar oar oar oar oaar" to the tune of the song and then saying "on." My parents brought Sy and Liam in town last weekend for the chess tournament and Sy competed in his very first tournament. Beata was actually the only one to walk away with a trophy this time. She placed by the skin of her teeth, and got the 7th place trophy. We are still trying to figure out why Elek will play so well online and when he practices with his dad but then have such a tough time winning matches against other beginners during the tournament. Being a perfectionist and pretty competitive this is hard for me to accept but luckily I have Andrew here to remind me that what matters is that they ENJOY the game.
Ok that's all that my exhausted brain can think of for now. Every single one of my kids drives me nuts one minute and make me want to eat them up the next. I was looking through old pics tonight and couldn't believe how fast the time is flying. Would love to freeze this time in my life.
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