The Rundown

My kids are in such funny places right now (or maybe I'm just in a place to better appreciate their humor!).  I've really enjoyed watching them figure things out and put new ideas to use.

Nathan is starting to put together the things we've been learning all year.  The other day we were walking somewhere and Brenna decided to count our family members.  Apparently there are 17!  So after she performed this amazing feat (just last week she counted to ten for the first time) and I got all excited, Nathan decided to show off.  He counted to 100!  Then he did it again!

His imagination is working overtime.  A couple weeks ago for their date, Brian and Nathan went to see How to Train Your Dragon... dragons are pretty hot around here.  That week we got this awesome old book from the library:

It's a book of short stories that were originally published in 1899.  The stories are written in a style that you just don't hear anymore, and they take a good bit of time to read, but oh, they are fun!  Anyway, between the language and the length, I can't read an entire story straight through; so we've taken to reading until a really suspenseful part, then getting up and doing a task around the house, like unloading the dishwasher or picking up a room.  While this has been a great method for quickly getting things done with a good attitude (woohoo!) an unforeseen pleasure has been listening to Nathan process the stories aloud while he works.  There have been some very dangerous and thrilling battles played out in my boy's imagination!

*****

Isaac is my wild card.  I realized why youngest children are such clowns and people pleasers.  This kid ALWAYS has someone looking at him, and gets constant feedback on his behavior.

He started walking a couple weeks ago, so now he only stops when tied to a chair.  At the library this morning, I was ready to lay down on the floor and take a nap after about 40 minutes of chasing him through doors, up stairs, behind the librarian, around the stacks.  And every time I picked him up, he went into the full-body-writhe action.  It seems to me this is a skill that some kids really perfect more than others, in which they're throwing their weight and twisting so much that you have to put them back down because otherwise you'll drop 'em!

Isaac's other newfound passion is throwing things away.  At least once a day, usually twice, we'll mention/hold/be looking for something.  Then it goes missing.  An all-out search is underway, my frustration mounting because I just had it/where did you put it/it was right there! when it occurs to me look in the trash.  And there it is.  Shoes, dry erase markers, library cards, sippy cups, plates, silverware, etc.  All have been found in the trash.  Who knows what I haven't found.

*****

Brenna has been a joy to know lately.  She is suddenly putting ideas from different places and times together in stream-of-consciousness statements that leave Brian and me in stitches.

(Okay, I just have to note here that I wrote Brian and I first, then thought about it, and changed it to me, and it just doesn't feel right!  I'm a little stressed about that right now.  'Cause I'm a grammar nerd.)

Anyhoo, we cross a bridge every week on our way to church.  The bridge crosses the Mississippi River, right over where the cruise ships load, including a dinner cruise that we'd like to take sometime while we're here.  So in the past, Brenna's commented on the ship, or the bridge to church, or eating dinner on a boat, whatever.

Then last week as we drove across, she was all, "This is the bridge we go across to church on the river that goes over the ship where we're going to eat dinner in October when Nana and Papa come from California to visit us.  When is Aunt Jo's wedding?"

("Dis i da bidge we do atoss to tutch on da wibbuh dat does obuh da sip whe we doin' to eat dinnuh in Otobuh when Nana an Papa tum fum Towfonia to bisit us.  When is Aunt Do's weddin'?")


So as you can see, it's go-go-go all the time around here with these three.  Little brains and bodies are in motion from sunrise 'til we throw those little suckers in bed at night (and then the four or so times we get up for water/potty/blankie/teddy bear/pacifier/books/stop talking!  Last night Brian and I were calculating that in about ten years, maybe, we'll be able to sleep in.  Until then, we'll be on our toes!