The boys love Legos, so I subscribed them to the Legos club, which means they get a little magazine/catalog in the mail. One came, and they went all through it showing me all the stuff they like (pretty much everything).
One of the things was a "knights and trolls" chess set. Ben like this (they both play chess a little). A little later he tells me, "I saw a chess set in the Legos magazine and I was thinking I could make one." So I say, "Yeah, sure you can do that! Great idea." and offer to help him.
So yesterday I dug out a bunch of little squares for the board while he made "Lord of the Rings" (we just got the cartoon from the library and Eli and Ben both like it a lot) themed guys. Ben didn't have quite enough guys for all the chess pieces, so Eli lent him his. And we played chess with Legos guys. Way cool.
On the other hand, recently Ben also got quite frustrated because Eli "just wanted to build stuff" and "that's boring". I think the was on the 4th of July, which we spent at the beach. I'm farly certain it had to do with building sandcastles and Ben wanting to have a battle.
The 4th of July was great. The weather was nice (little windy, but not bad) and we played at the beach all day. The boys even did some body surfing. We stayed until dark and watched fireworks - predominantly ones shot from the beach by locals. There were an amazing amount of fireworks being shot off the beaches, in spite of signs warning of one thousand dollar fines and a fairly impressive presence of park rangers, private security, county sheriffs, and even some firefighters. (I'm not kidding.) And we were at a relatively less crowded beach a little ways down the coast (though it was still the most people I've ever seen at that beach). The evening was beautiful, with clear skies, a crescent moon, and an orange sunset fading into a purple night sky. And then the fireworks, while we ate BBQ hamburgers.
Ben Riding his bicycle (well) for the first time (on July 1):
And Eli is getting quite good and pretty confident by now. Only thing was, he tried to zoom past Ben on the track at the school where we were riding, just as Ben was getting kinda wobbly and they had a pretty good crash. We've got it on video. Maybe I'll post it later.
So, we went camping with some friends, who also have kids. They were playing in a "secret area" behind a tree in front of the parking strip. The adults were eating dinner (or something) and suddenly one of my friends (who happened to be sitting closest to the kids, says "Oh my god!"
So of course the rest of the adults were like, "What? What!?" But he just sat there with his mouth open and his eyes very wide, and we all went "What is it???"
Finally he says that he heard one of the girls, who happens to he 6 (Ben's age) say something. She said, "Hey guys, wanna see some boobies?"
The boys and I went down to Marina State Beach (the nearest sizable sand dunes that I know of) and tried out the sandboard today (the one we made from formica and one-ply hardwood plwood). It worked! Well, I think it's a little too wide because it's kinda slow and we had to ride it on a pretty steep slope, but it works! So I'll probably shave a little off the sides, and see if that helps.
We also went for a walk in the dunes, read all the nature signs, and saw a lot of native plants, and lizards. Bunchs of lizards, a few up close. Eli and Ben really liked this lizards.
We also found out that the beach we went to a place for hangliders to take off - there was a wooden ramp where apparently they jump off to soar over the dunes, beach, and possibly ocean. Eli thought that was crazy.
So, Eli and Ben have both told me about a school rule that says there is no touching. know that can't play tag, or have any kind of contact like that, but they both insist that the rule means no touching. So we talked about nice touching, and unwelcome touching, and that I was sure that it was okay to offer a hug to another child if they looked like it might be appropriate.
But they are sure there is no touching.
That would be quite a cold environment, and I have a hard time accepting that. From knowing the school, and some of the teachers, and from meeting the principal and having an idea of where he stands, I doubt that they really mean that. So, I emailed him with the story and with my concerns. I hope to be able to got back to Eli and Ben and tell them I was right...
We'll see...
UPDATE: I talked to the principal, who is a very genuine and sincere nice guy. I explained the whole deal to him. He said that the did have a "no touching" rule, but that it was really about games and pushing, that kind of thing. He agree that hugs (as long as the other child wanted a hug, and it wasn't distracting to the class) were of course okay. It was nice to be able to report this back to Eli and Ben.
(Copied from an email to my dad a couple days ago...)
The boys are going through a round of colds; Eli is in the middle of
it, and Ben is just getting over it. Fever, sore throat, lasts a
couple days. Poor Ben missed the "Walkabout" day at school, which he
was pretty excited about, but we just couldn't see sending him to
school with a fever and sore throat. The Walkabout thing was cool -
it's a fund raiser where the kids walk laps around the field and get
pledges of money. The fire department was there with the ladder truck,
and the hooked it up, raised the ladder, and shot water out over the
field. Those things pump an amazing amount of water. Whe we were
underneath it, it was like a good hard downpour. So, now Eli and I can
say we've been sprayed with a firehose
(I went down for about 45 minutes to hang out with Eli while he was walking.)
They
went to a birthday part Saturday, and thankfully they were both pretty
healthy at that time, but I had an inkling when afterwards Eli was
complaining of being tired. So we bought a few plants at the hardware
store and put them in the garden but otherwise had a pretty mellow
day. Eli spent yesterday lying on the couch. He's reading a lot now;
we went through a whole "Goosebumps" book yesterday. A full 32
chapters. Ben's reading amazingly well too - in the last couple of
months he's become quite proficient. Several times now at night, I've
gotten out a book to read to them and Ben has said, "I think I can read
that" (and I reply, "do you want to?" so he ends up reading the book to
us). Academics are seeming to come pretty easy to him; he's reading
and doing math apparently without struggle. Things have gotten easier
for Eli too - he reads for fun, and he's doing multiplication in math.
They're taking soccer (through the "Kids Love Soccer" program) on
Saturdays - this is a very fun program that de-emphasizes competition,
and focuses on playing fun skill-building games. They both enjoy it a
lot.
A few nights ago (late last week) after I had put the boys to bed, Ben came out of the bedroom (into the living room, where Joann and I were). This was his second time that night, and while this used to be common when he was younger (3 or 4, for example), anymore he usually stays in bed, or perhaps comes out once. He had already come out for a drink of water (the most common reason).
So I asked him what was up. You could tell that his brain ws really working and he was trying to get the words out, becuase he say something like, "Well, uh, you know that move 'Night at the Museum'?" And I said "Yeah..."
He said, "We haven't watched it in a long time and, uh, how about not tonight but another night we can watch it?"
It took me a second to digest this, but then I did and said "Oh, sure! That sounds like a fun plan. Were you just thinking about that?" To which he answered "Yeah" and I said, "Okay, well yeah we haven't watched that in a long time... that will be fun. But now go back to bed, okay?"
So anyway, I remembered this conversation the other night, and we put on "Night at the Museum" and we all watched it together, cuddling on the floor on a blanket. Very nice evening. At one point in the movie, Larry (Ben Stiller) is arguing with Dexter the monkey, and Dexter slaps him. Larry slaps him back, and they start this fast-paced slapfest. So, Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams) walks up and tells Larry to stop. Larry complains that Dexter was harassing him, and Teddy Roosevelt asks Larry, "Who's evolved?"
A night or two after that, Ben and Eli were arguing about a video game. Usually Ben gets frustrated first, but this night Eli gets frustrated and walks away. Ben mutters after Eli has left the room, "Who's evolved?"
We went to Soda Springs to go play in the snow over the weekend. Before going, we had the usual scrounging for snow equipment, having the kids try on last year's stuff to see if it still fits, etc. Ben needed snow boots and (at the time) I couldn't find any gloves for Joann or myself, so after calling around a bit on Thursday, I took Ben to Mel Cotton's sporting goods.
At Mel Cotton's we found some rain/snow boots for Ben, and we bought wool socks for both boys (I remembered their feet getting wet and freezing in their cotton socks in previous years), and we also looked at some clearance stuff just for fun. Well, Ben found these red and grey sneakers and fell in love with them. He wanted to buy them, but they were $30 and I was concerned about the money (we were spending a bunch anyway) and not really convinced he needed new shoes yet. We talked a bit and I could tell he really liked them, but I told him I'd think about it. So we bought some more snow stuff and went home.
We headed out the next day, and the snow trip was great. I had been concerned that there would not be much snow (the weather forecast was in the 40's and even though I knew they had snow at the ski resorts, I didn't know how much there would be near where we were staying). There was tons of snow. Like eight feet deep kind of tons. So we played until we were totally exhausted, sledding (there were hills right outside our place) snowball fights, building a snow fort, the whole thing. Eli even tried some of the faster hills and had a good time. Ben seems to have developed a real skill and did an outstanding job sledding - he steered around obstacles (people) at the bottom of the hill several times, and at a pretty good speed.
So we got back Sunday night, and unpacked and so forth. Monday I thought about Ben's red shoes, and yesterday I went back and bought them (in a half size bigger than his current shoes, which just fit, so he has a little room to grow). I gave them to him when I got home, and he was so happy and surprised. He opened the little box and exclaimed, "The red shoes!". When he was trying them on, after he put the first one on, he grabbed is foot (with the show) and pulled it up to his face and kind of hugged it (he's very limber).
Totally adorable. One of the best uses of $30 in my life.
Eli's become quite a proficient reader - so much so, that he often reads words that surprise me. But recently he pronounced a new word in a way that just made too much sense. We live near Union Avenue, and he was reading signs on our way home... he read, "Onion Avenue".
I actually had to think about it for a moment... oh yeah, it does say that, doesn't it?
Joann and I were cooking dinner tonight and the casserole was done around the edges, but not in the middle. I observed, "isn't it wierd how it takes time for heat to travel?"
Joann replied, "Yeah, it's like heat is lights stupid brother."
Today we started putting up Christmas lights, and took down the Thanksgiving / Fall decorations. The boys helped me quite a lot - the last two years,Tim and Trina are here for Thanksgiving, but this year we went up there (just got back yesterday) - so Eli and Ben helped me out. Well, mostly they played with toys we found in the garage (including some from last Christmas!) but as it was an all day project, they helped out a lot. Eli untangled lights, but Ben found it too frustrating. Ben did an impressive job trimming the rose bush back from the fence so we could get behind it with the lights.
The found a stuffed pokemon toy in the garage, which immediately became something very desirable. (I think it was a Charizard?) Ben found this by crawling under a bunch of stuff, like my surfboard and some plywood. I got out a stuffed Santa Claus for Eli.
Working backwards through the week somewhat, yesterday on our way back, Ben fell in love with a bomber jacket at a truckstop, which we had to buy him. It is in line with the boys' recent foray into playing "World War One Flying Ace" since receiving a computer game in which you play Snoopy flying a biplane against the Red Baron.
Oh, and Ben drew a really cute Santa Claus to replace a turkey drawing of his which we took down and put away.
Went to the beach today - got a bit of a late start, as usual, but after running around getting ice, firewood, groceries, and gas, were were happy to be there. Chris and Logan met us there, which was nice - Eli and Ben were happy to have a playdate at the beach.
Chris and the boys found clams, sand crabs, and even small sea snail. The boys put them all in a bucket with water and sand to have their own aquarium.
At first it was a bit windy and cool, and I was thinking we'd have to make it a short day, but around 5 o'clock, the wind pretty much died, and the weather was just incredible. Without the wind, it was just clear and mild and beautiful.
Logan is pretty fearless about the water and Chris was telling him how to bodysurf. Eli and Ben were playing in the water too, and for some time now have enjoyed played at the water's edge, where they lay on their bellies and wait for a wave to come. The love it when a wave is big enough to begin to carry them, so I though they'd probably like the feeling of bodysurfing. We were at Manresa beach, which has a really shallow grade and consistent waves, so what happens is the waves break a ways out and then just roll in, getting smaller as they come. The shallow water is great for the kids.
So, I asked Eli and Ben a few times (I wasn't pushy, just encouraging) if they wanted to try bodysurfing, and they decided to give it a shot... and absolutely loved it. So of course, I bodysurfed with them.
We stayed in the water until the sun started to set, then dried off and watched the last hint of the big red disc sink below the horizon. Breathtaking. Then we had a prolonged orange sunset almost the whole width of the horizon, and a silver sliver of a crescent moon that gradually sank and turned orange as it went. After we showered and changed, we had a fire and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and enjoyed the stars, which were very bright and twinkly. The night was clear enough to just see the milky way stretched accross the sky. Chris and the boys saw a satellite and I saw a meteor.
Finally, as were were having marshmallows, we had to leave because the parking lot was closed (the ranger told us we'd have to move our cars) even though the beach was not. Oh well - the only wrinkle in a nearly perfect beach day.
Joann, today: "So I was sleeping peacefully until I heard a tiny little voice say, 'I see a booger mama.' So I went back to sleep, but a minute later he was back, shoving a kleenex in my face."
I figure it's payback for all those times we've wiped their noses, often over their objections.
