Reed can manipulate his iPod Touch (handed down from Tod) better than I can my own iPhone. He loves to reorganize the apps into categories. He also loves to play all kinds of games on it.
But music...he's gone through a few iterations of playlists. The longest-running list had all his most favorites on it, which was Trout Fishing in America and They Might Be Giants, plus soundtracks from the Phineas and Ferb show. Oh, and his most favoritest of all - Weird Al Yankovic (or Weird Al Yovac, as Reed calls him).
The current favorite playlist has just two songs. Two. Over and over and over again while he falls asleep each night. It's Weird Al's "The Saga Begins" (which is a Star Wars song set to "American Pie") and "Yoda". Over and over. It would make me totally crazy, but he loves it!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The reading vacation
We just returned a few days ago from our spring break trip to Florida. We spent a couple of wonderful days in Amelia Island, then stopped through St. Augustine to see the Fountain of Youth, then on to Daytona, with a one-day trip to Legoland. Great time!
But what strikes me about the trip is that, along the lines of my last post...Amy became a real, true, crazy-for-books kid on this trip. She spent hours reading. She read through almost all of our 2.5 hour boat tour around Amelia Island, only stopping to take quick looks at the wild horses or dolphins. She even became one of those kids who you see walking around and reading a book. It's been a quick progression, but she is all over it. The Puppy Place books are her obsession, she can't get enough of them. On her last trip to the library before vacation, she checked out about 8 of those books, along with five or six others. I think it's official...she loves books as much as her brother does.
I also read a lot on this trip, including Reed's recommendation of "Trumpet of the Swan," which is his all-time favorite book. I read a few other grown-up books as well. Tod did a bunch of reading. Oddly enough, Reed probably did the least reading of all of us...though he did manage to fall asleep reading one night.
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| Amy reading on the boat |
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| Sometimes even Reed wears out and has to quit reading! |
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
A tale of two readers
With apologies to Charles Dickens, I'm here to write about our two readers.
First, we have Reed, who seems to have been born to read. I often say that for him, reading is as necessary as the air he breathes...and that is not much of an exaggeration. I cannot think of one single day since he learned how to read, when he has skipped it. It's a necessary part of his day – sometimes he even gets up early so that he'll have extra time to read. He also checks out the Washington Post newspaper each day over breakfast...mostly he reads the comics, but he'll also check out the sports section, and sometimes the front page.
Other parents, especially those who have sons Reed's age, always ask "How do you get him to read so much??" as if our situation is foreign - well, for us, their situation is foreign. They want to know how we "made" him so interested in reading, since they can't get their sons to read at all. I just tell them we didn't do anything other than read to him each day at bedtime since he was very small. The continuing interest is all his. How great is that?!
Reed is so in tune with books, I swear he has a sixth sense to know if new books have come into the house. And when I order Scholastic books through his classroom (which I do, entirely too often), the teacher has to leave them in the office for me to pick up, lest Reed have every single one of them read before he even arrives home that day.
He also has not slowed down in the speed of his reading. From when he was 4 years old and taught himself to read, he has been a true "speed reader". He read so fast that we would quiz him on what he'd read, to be sure he'd really read it all. When I read a book that he's recommended to me, he can't believe how slow I am!
And Amy...her emergence as a reader has come at a slower pace, but I suspect ultimately she's going to be every bit as avid a reader as Reed. She has always enjoyed being read to, and loves that part of our day. This school year, Amy has gained so much confidence in her reading ability. She can read longer chapter books now, moving beyond titles like the "Magic Tree House" series. Amy takes her time with books, and more and more she likes to take time to herself in her room, with a stack of good books.
She is currently obsessed with a series called "Puppy Place," which is about a family that takes in puppies that need a home. We're both glad she's (mostly) moved past the "Rainbow Magic" fairy series, which was just so very formulaic, repetitive and awful! She comes back to the "Magic Tree House" books from time to time, too, sometimes listening to the ones that we have on CD.
Amy is taking great pride in the "Accelerated Reader" program at school, where she can take online tests on the books she reads. She's so happy to tell us that she's done well, and she does great at them.
We hope that we're raising a couple of life-long readers...I think they are well on their way!
First, we have Reed, who seems to have been born to read. I often say that for him, reading is as necessary as the air he breathes...and that is not much of an exaggeration. I cannot think of one single day since he learned how to read, when he has skipped it. It's a necessary part of his day – sometimes he even gets up early so that he'll have extra time to read. He also checks out the Washington Post newspaper each day over breakfast...mostly he reads the comics, but he'll also check out the sports section, and sometimes the front page.
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| Reed reading with Dad |
Reed is so in tune with books, I swear he has a sixth sense to know if new books have come into the house. And when I order Scholastic books through his classroom (which I do, entirely too often), the teacher has to leave them in the office for me to pick up, lest Reed have every single one of them read before he even arrives home that day.
He also has not slowed down in the speed of his reading. From when he was 4 years old and taught himself to read, he has been a true "speed reader". He read so fast that we would quiz him on what he'd read, to be sure he'd really read it all. When I read a book that he's recommended to me, he can't believe how slow I am!
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| Amy reading in her room |
She is currently obsessed with a series called "Puppy Place," which is about a family that takes in puppies that need a home. We're both glad she's (mostly) moved past the "Rainbow Magic" fairy series, which was just so very formulaic, repetitive and awful! She comes back to the "Magic Tree House" books from time to time, too, sometimes listening to the ones that we have on CD.
Amy is taking great pride in the "Accelerated Reader" program at school, where she can take online tests on the books she reads. She's so happy to tell us that she's done well, and she does great at them.
We hope that we're raising a couple of life-long readers...I think they are well on their way!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
What you can't know
Before you have kids, you really can't know how fast the time is going to go. Sure, people tell you all the time that time goes by in the blink of an eye when you have little ones, but you can't really understand it (even though you think you do). Maybe you've got an infant who needs to eat every 3 hours, and it's feeling that has been going on f-o-r-e-v-e-r and that it will continue to go on f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
The reality is that each stage goes by pretty much as soon as you get used to it. And then you turn around and your baby boy is nearly shoulder-high and getting taller every day, learning more and more about the world and his role in it. Your baby girl is a competent, spirited first grader. You stop and say to yourself "But they were just babies ten minutes ago!"
I know we're not perfect parents, but we do the best we can. Sure, we lose our tempers, we lack the patience we're asking for from our kids (irony!). But we always do the best we can to make the best decisions for our kids, who are such a gift to us. Time is so fleeting and it's not going to be long before they're grown.
I always say that I wish there were a way you could 'record' a day in your life at each age with your kids, so you can replay it and relive it. I know that those baby days would be even sweeter if I could get back to them with the full knowledge of how quickly they will pass. I look back at pictures of the kids when they were one and two...seems like so long ago! Thankfully, every age has its own special elements, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for these beautiful children of ours!
The reality is that each stage goes by pretty much as soon as you get used to it. And then you turn around and your baby boy is nearly shoulder-high and getting taller every day, learning more and more about the world and his role in it. Your baby girl is a competent, spirited first grader. You stop and say to yourself "But they were just babies ten minutes ago!"
I know we're not perfect parents, but we do the best we can. Sure, we lose our tempers, we lack the patience we're asking for from our kids (irony!). But we always do the best we can to make the best decisions for our kids, who are such a gift to us. Time is so fleeting and it's not going to be long before they're grown.
I always say that I wish there were a way you could 'record' a day in your life at each age with your kids, so you can replay it and relive it. I know that those baby days would be even sweeter if I could get back to them with the full knowledge of how quickly they will pass. I look back at pictures of the kids when they were one and two...seems like so long ago! Thankfully, every age has its own special elements, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for these beautiful children of ours!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Picture of Determination
Our Amy can be so very determined when she wants to be. After taking a month off from tae kwon do (it was getting to be a fight every single class day, so we thought a little break would be helpful for all of us), she's back at it with a lot of energy. She's been working to earn the tips she needs to get from her green belt to her green stripe belt. This week was a review week and she earned the second of four needed tips on Wednesday, then the third of four during tonight's class. After class, she bravely went up and asked Instructor J.P. if she could test for her black tip (forms) – he said he couldn't test her then, but she could come back at 7:15 p.m. when there was a review time that was open to anyone.
Tod and Reed left this afternoon on their trip to Montana to celebrate Grandmother Holt's 100th birthday, and Amy was really excited to share her news with them. Tod taught her how to send texts on the iPhone a week or so ago, so she asked if she could send him a text. I said sure. She got busy typing...
We came home from Top Kick, she had a bowl of cereal for dinner, did her homework and back out the door we went for the practice session. She worked for about a half-hour, practicing her form with another girl and with Instructor Jeremy, and she was able to earn that coveted 4th tip. Here's her second text to Dad...
When this girl wants to do something, she does it. I am so very proud of the way she works hard to achieve her goals. What an amazing girl she is!
Tod and Reed left this afternoon on their trip to Montana to celebrate Grandmother Holt's 100th birthday, and Amy was really excited to share her news with them. Tod taught her how to send texts on the iPhone a week or so ago, so she asked if she could send him a text. I said sure. She got busy typing...
Today Feb.9,2012 I got my blue tip it is for KICKS I know that I will get my black tip. I even think i'll get before you get back form Montana.Love Amy.We added a picture to tell the whole story.
We came home from Top Kick, she had a bowl of cereal for dinner, did her homework and back out the door we went for the practice session. She worked for about a half-hour, practicing her form with another girl and with Instructor Jeremy, and she was able to earn that coveted 4th tip. Here's her second text to Dad...
I went to the 7:15 practice class and instructor Jrmmy came and tested me on my Form and I earned my BLACK TIP!!! As you have noticed it is for FORMS I will graduate Feb.22,2012 at 5:15.
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| Success! |
Monday, January 30, 2012
Pants problem
No, this isn't about the dog (Shelby, who Amy nicknamed Shelby Pants). This is about Reed. He has a problem. A pants problem.
I will take the fall for starting this one. When he was small, I put him in nothing but elastic waist pants. Come on, they're more comfortable, and cheaper too. Lots of people dress their young sons in impossibly adorable and expensive pants and jeans...but not me. I went for comfort and low cost.
Consequently the poor child has not learned how to manage pants buttons. He's gotten a lot better at shirt buttons (on the rare occasions when he wears them), but he is flumoxed by his pants problem. His thin, reed-like (get it!) fingers just can't manage to properly manipulate the buttons without what he feels is Herculean effort.
Lack of practice combined with a lack of dexterity. What are you gonna do. I have decided to not be bothered by it - he'll figure it out sometime before he goes off to college (or else be outfitted solely in sports pants with elastic waists). Meanwhile he will either skip going to the bathroom (yikes) or, since his waist is so skinny, just pull his not-designed-to-be-pulled-down-without-unbuttoning pants down over his hips. I guess we should applaud his problem-solving skills.
One day, probably in the next two years or so, peer pressure will maybe get the better of him and he'll want to wear blue jeans like all the other boys. Or maybe not. But either way, no worries on this end – just smile!
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| See...sweatpants. |
Consequently the poor child has not learned how to manage pants buttons. He's gotten a lot better at shirt buttons (on the rare occasions when he wears them), but he is flumoxed by his pants problem. His thin, reed-like (get it!) fingers just can't manage to properly manipulate the buttons without what he feels is Herculean effort.
Lack of practice combined with a lack of dexterity. What are you gonna do. I have decided to not be bothered by it - he'll figure it out sometime before he goes off to college (or else be outfitted solely in sports pants with elastic waists). Meanwhile he will either skip going to the bathroom (yikes) or, since his waist is so skinny, just pull his not-designed-to-be-pulled-down-without-unbuttoning pants down over his hips. I guess we should applaud his problem-solving skills.
One day, probably in the next two years or so, peer pressure will maybe get the better of him and he'll want to wear blue jeans like all the other boys. Or maybe not. But either way, no worries on this end – just smile!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Migraines? At 6 years old?
A week ago Friday, I got a call from one of the Daisy moms that Amy came down with a terrible headache at the Daisy meeting and wanted to go home. (Geez, I just realized that day was Friday the 13th. Ugh.)
Turns out it was more than a headache, it was her second migraine headache.
The first one happened on December 5. I picked her up from school as usual and she was fine. All four of us walked the dogs around the block and she was fine. We got back home for her to get ready for tae kwon do class (which was a fight, as it sometimes can be) and she was fine. Until she wasn't. Suddenly she said her head was really killing her. We thought we'd try making it to tae kwon do class anyway, but as I drove her there she continued to complain about her headache, and added that she felt sick to her stomach. When we parked the car, she said she didn't think she could do class, she thought she was going to throw up. We sat on the curb for a few minutes and then decided to go home. She laid on the couch for a few minutes, and threw up all over the family room not too much later. That improved her headache some, and her sick tummy feeling went away. Within an hour or two, after some Tylenol, she was feeling a lot better. She stayed home from school the next day, but was fine. We chalked it up to a really fast-acting tummy bug.
And now here we were again, same set up. She's fine, and then she's really not. When I got there to pick her up, she was sitting outside with a Mom, trash can nearby. Face as pale as a sheet, clearly in a lot of pain. We made it home fine, and again within 15 minutes or so, she'd thrown up (this time in the bowl I'd given her - yay, no vomit to clean up!). That made her tummy feel a lot better, and improved her headache some, but the headache continued for a while. Within an hour or two, she was laughing her head off at the Smurf movie we'd all settled in to watch, clearly feeling a hundred percent better.
After this happened, I did some online research to find out more about migraines. Her symptoms all fit, and of course we have the family history with my Mom suffering terribly from migraines from age 19. One of the things I read was sometimes people experience an "aura" - a visual disturbance of some kind, sometimes blurred vision, sometimes seeing colors - before a migraine starts. I asked Amy if her vision changed at all when she got this headache, did she see anything funny. She told me that when her head started hurting at lunch time at school, she'd had a bright yellow and purple/pink light in the corner of her eye that she "couldn't make go away". Sounds exactly like what I'd read.
We visited the pediatrician on Wednesday just to make sure everything was (relatively) okay. She told us what we already knew, that we should try to watch for patterns that go along with these migraines, and try to help Amy recognize when one is coming on so she can get some ibuprofen immediately and hopefully lessen the effects of the headache. So we'll be keeping an eye on things and I really hope this doesn't become a terrible problem for Amy. She's as tough as nails, so I can only imagine how terrible she was feeling in the middle of that headache - she looked so miserable. We're also going to get her eyes checked to rule out this being caused by eye strain. The school nurse told us there are lots of kids in the school who suffer from migraines. We'll see what happens - so far this has only happened twice, so maybe it will stop just as quickly as it started.
Meanwhile I'll be sending positive thoughts to keep this pain away from my baby girl.
Turns out it was more than a headache, it was her second migraine headache.
The first one happened on December 5. I picked her up from school as usual and she was fine. All four of us walked the dogs around the block and she was fine. We got back home for her to get ready for tae kwon do class (which was a fight, as it sometimes can be) and she was fine. Until she wasn't. Suddenly she said her head was really killing her. We thought we'd try making it to tae kwon do class anyway, but as I drove her there she continued to complain about her headache, and added that she felt sick to her stomach. When we parked the car, she said she didn't think she could do class, she thought she was going to throw up. We sat on the curb for a few minutes and then decided to go home. She laid on the couch for a few minutes, and threw up all over the family room not too much later. That improved her headache some, and her sick tummy feeling went away. Within an hour or two, after some Tylenol, she was feeling a lot better. She stayed home from school the next day, but was fine. We chalked it up to a really fast-acting tummy bug.
And now here we were again, same set up. She's fine, and then she's really not. When I got there to pick her up, she was sitting outside with a Mom, trash can nearby. Face as pale as a sheet, clearly in a lot of pain. We made it home fine, and again within 15 minutes or so, she'd thrown up (this time in the bowl I'd given her - yay, no vomit to clean up!). That made her tummy feel a lot better, and improved her headache some, but the headache continued for a while. Within an hour or two, she was laughing her head off at the Smurf movie we'd all settled in to watch, clearly feeling a hundred percent better.
After this happened, I did some online research to find out more about migraines. Her symptoms all fit, and of course we have the family history with my Mom suffering terribly from migraines from age 19. One of the things I read was sometimes people experience an "aura" - a visual disturbance of some kind, sometimes blurred vision, sometimes seeing colors - before a migraine starts. I asked Amy if her vision changed at all when she got this headache, did she see anything funny. She told me that when her head started hurting at lunch time at school, she'd had a bright yellow and purple/pink light in the corner of her eye that she "couldn't make go away". Sounds exactly like what I'd read.
We visited the pediatrician on Wednesday just to make sure everything was (relatively) okay. She told us what we already knew, that we should try to watch for patterns that go along with these migraines, and try to help Amy recognize when one is coming on so she can get some ibuprofen immediately and hopefully lessen the effects of the headache. So we'll be keeping an eye on things and I really hope this doesn't become a terrible problem for Amy. She's as tough as nails, so I can only imagine how terrible she was feeling in the middle of that headache - she looked so miserable. We're also going to get her eyes checked to rule out this being caused by eye strain. The school nurse told us there are lots of kids in the school who suffer from migraines. We'll see what happens - so far this has only happened twice, so maybe it will stop just as quickly as it started.
Meanwhile I'll be sending positive thoughts to keep this pain away from my baby girl.
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