Overheard

Benny (4-yrs-old): "Andy, you do [should] not move your legs when I change your diaper."

Benny has now changed two of Andy's soggy diapers on his own and he loves it!

small update in pictures

The last weekend in August we had a good time with Spencer around. He had worked some weekends that month and it was nice to have him around. That Friday we drove up to Bartlesville (about 45 min away) to go to the Kiddie Park. It's a bunch of carnival rides for kids up to age 10. Most rides are a 25 cent ticket, some are two. Adults get in free. We met up with a couple of other med school families - one in our ward and the other in the stake - and had a great time watching the kids have a ball! It was the latest we've stayed out in quite a while, but it was definitely worth it. Benny and Andy are definitely about cautious fun. Lilia was confined to the stroller the whole time, but she did well. We really didn't do all that many rides, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed it - particularly the train ride at the end - complete with tunnel that Benny still mentions ever once-in-a-while.

First Spencer took the boys to ride the "horsies" on the carousel. They were a little scared.

They loved the airplane ride! Unfortunately Benny wasn't able to pull back hard enough on the lever to lift them up. They still had a great time, though.

Lilia enjoyed watching.

One of their favorite rides (they went twice) was this horse and carriage ride. It just went around in a small circle. Very tame, but right up their alley.

Spencer with Lilia on the train. We all had a great time!

The next day we went for a short walk on the river walk after enjoying some good frozen yogurt (you get the cup, pick your own yogurt from a large variety and put in any number of mix-ins and pay for the weight). The kids really enjoyed the frozen yogurt and the walk. They loved seeing the bears!

Yes, Andy is wearing a cape!
I'll put up more pictures of the capes I made for the boys some day. They both really enjoy them, but Andy especially. He wears his often to the store and anywhere else we go!
If you ask him who he is he answers, "I am Pince Phi-yip!"
He also loves Sleeping Beauty. :)

Pre-K and Reading Lessons

Here in Oklahoma they have what's called Pre-K. I don't remember knowing about anything like it in Utah, but I didn't have any kids that age at the time. It's basically just another year of kindergarten. Just a year earlier. What I came to find out, though, is that almost all of the programs in our area are a full school-day M-F. Honestly, it seems absurd to be to send a 4-year-old to school all day, every day. I think I am the only one I know who is not putting their 4-year-old in. I don't regret it. Benny has a lot of years of school ahead of him. Spencer's still in school, so I don't feel bad about keeping Benny out right now. It's a good decision for us. We've been doing something else instead.

A while back my sister told me about a book she has used to teach some (I'm not sure how many) of her kids to read. Back in July at my family reunion my sister-in-law told me about the same book. It turns out she had originally told my sister about it. It's called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. You can get it from Amazon for $15. Not bad at all.

image from here.

I am really enjoying it and Benny does well with it. He's already starting to read some words. I really like the system as it seems really effective. Benny already knew all of his letters and their sounds so it hasn't been a hard transition for him. I really recommend this to anyone with a kid/kids ages 3-5. If you do get it, be sure to read the whole introduction. It's quite long, but it gives good background on the system and information on how to conduct the lessons. I don't think I'm one of those parents that things their kid/s needs to be reading before kindergarten, but if they're showing signs of being ready (knowing all letters and sounds), I say go for it. Benny has been ready for something more for a while and I'm really glad I'm doing this with him. It works out really well that Andy and Lilia usually take naps at the same time in the afternoon and I can take 15-20 minutes (that's really how long they take!) with Benny after he has a little quiet time. And it's very rewarding to see him learning more things.

I wrote the above a while ago and we've since amended things. I started doing lessons in the morning and now we've slowed things down a bit, but I'm still a believer in the system. I'm trying to take things at a better pace for Benny to make sure it's a pleasant experience for him. I want him to love reading like Spencer and I do.

I've also got a good routine to help him with his counting. I got the idea from my friend Kira. I picked up a big wipe-off calendar from a school supply store that we have close to us (I love those places). Every morning Benny will count to the date and will put up a picture that shows the day's weather. He started getting better at counting right away. That's been fun to see.