Learning Curve

I am fascinated by the learning curve my children are on. (Yes, I know this is true for all children!) The part that fascinates me the most is watching the differences in how and what they learn. It is most obvious between Katie and John...
Katie is coloring inside the lines and sounding out words. She writes names and short words without help. She draws pictures with details that (almost) anyone would recognize. She will excel in a traditional classroom.
John scribbles most of the time. (He does draw trees and write his name when he feels like it so I know he is capable, yet uninterested.) He has no patience for sounding out words or learning to spell anything. Instead, he can explain to you how the natural gas line coming into the house works. He can build machines, tanks and homes with Lincoln Logs. He can take things apart and put them back together. He is an engineer in the making. Will the teachers in his future recognize these strengths?
We played a game of Scrabble Junior one night. Katie spelled all of the words. John understood all of the rules. So interesting to watch!

To the tune of 5 Little Monkeys

4 little Andersons asleep at home, John rolls off and breaks his bone. Mama calls the doctor and the doctor says... Yep, it's his funny bone.



4 same Andersons asleep without a care, John screams aloud with a night terror. Mama calls the doctor and the doctor says... Nothing to do, could anything be rarer?



4 kiddie Andersons asleep without hollers, Allison tumbles down and knocks her collar. Mama calls the doctor and the doctor says... After this week you will be a certified bone scholar!

To borrow a line from Molly Lang, OH FOR THE LOVE!

Sunday night I was just turning off my light... The kids went to bed almost four hours prior. THUMP! Scream!!!!!!!!!!!!! John rolled out of bed. I scooped him up quickly and knew within minutes that something was broken. After a fairly quick trip through the ER it was confirmed, broken humerus. The next day we went to see an ortho where they put a cast on him (camo, in honor of his daddy). He sat so still and merely tensed up and said a quiet 'ouch!' while they manipulated his arm. What a big boy!

We battled through some itching problems that night and went out to get some children's Benadryl the next day. I gave him a dose just a few minutes before bed time. An hour later I had a boy who could have starred in the Exorcist. That medicine gave him night terrors and made him crazy. He was thrashing, screaming, stomping, pushing something away from him. His eyes were open and he was in a severe panic. It went on for 30 minutes. He never woke up through it. I just followed him around, soothing and protecting him from falling down the stairs or bumping into furniture. My mother witnessed it as well. I don't think she would believe the extremity of the attack if she had not. He had a shorter one an hour later. And no more to speak of since then. Before that night I had only seen such an event on TV. I hope never to see one again! (Thankfully we haven't had any repeats. Note to myself: NO MEDICATION FOR JOHN.)

Saturday evening, just after putting the kids to bed, I was sitting downstairs chatting with my mom and looking at photos from our recent beach trip. I heard the kids moving around in their room. Before I went up to investigate I heard THE scream. Allison, diving into her crib, must have turned her head the wrong way. She calmed quickly. I put her on the couch for a few minutes then evaluated her arm. She was pointing at her clavicle. Sure enough, when I moved the arm forward she screamed. Good grief! Off to the ER we went. She was Super Hero like in the ER. Laughing at their jokes (even when she was scared and hurting), telling them that their camera (the x-ray) was so wonderful and saying they were going to fix her. For now her arm is pinned to her side with an ace bandage. We are off to see the ortho for an expert opinion.

Who knew going to bed could be such a DANGEROUS night time activity!?!?!?!?!?

We are at the beach!

What a great week we are having. Thanks Mom & Dad! Check out the photos...

Thanksgiving

We say a prayer of thanks at dinner. Katie and Allison tend to say structured prayers. John is more likely to go free form. Tonight, as my mother listened (and laughed!), the end of his prayer went something like this:
Thank you for not letting us eat trans fats and always eating organic. When we have candy we have only one slice or one piece for not too much sugar. Amen.
And to that I say, AMEN BROTHER!

Happy Birthday America

Today we celebrated our country. We dressed in red, white and blue. We had a birthday party (a neighborhood picnic at the pool). We said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang America, America the Beautiful, the Star Spangled Banner and the Army Anthem. We ended the night with a short walk to the edge of the neighborhood where we sat and watched the fireworks show across the river. It was a wonderful day. We have many reasons to celebrate. Happy Birthday America... And many more!

Look, we can swim!

John, without taking a breath...

"Underwater Katie" earning her self-proclaimed title...