Trunk or Treat

Our neighborhood had a trunk or treat at the pond on Friday. People decorated the trunks of their car and passed out candy. It sure was a time efficient method. Once again we came home with a perfect amount of candy. Bohdin and Nyla have both come down with a cold today. Unless they get significantly worse I suppose we'll take them trick or treating tonight. I'm hesitant but the kids would be crushed. Halloween only happens once per year although I could argue that it has already happened twice here already.




Bohdin had soccer practice again on Friday. It went okay. He cried twice. Once when he had trouble doing a side shuffle and another time when he fell and scraped his knee a little. He's still enjoying it though. It didn't make sense to drive all the home and then back out again for Bohdin's science class so we stopped at the bookstore. I picked up a copy of the Ames Institute book about six year olds. I briefly looked at it before putting it back on the shelf in horror. Bohdin is already exhibiting some of the behavior mentioned in the book. He is bouncing off the walls. He does laps through the house in between bites of food. He has a lot of trouble sitting still right now. He's becoming more adventurous and willing to try new things. The book says that six year old children are very indecisive. They want two opposite things at the same time and have trouble deciding. Bohdin has been at this stage forever. He has always seemed painfully indecisive. I can't imagine it getting worse. Maybe I'll be brave enough to read more next time I go to the bookstore.

I have the copy of the three year old version. I don't think Nyla is that bad as a three year old. I'm not sure how much of that is because she was such a trying one year old that I'm just used to her being difficult. On a positive note, Nyla has learned how to buckle herself up in her carseat. She has been able to do most of it for several months but one of the bottom clips challenged her. Now she can finally do it consistently.

Cora has been exhausted the past two Thursdays.  The first one she went to sleep around 11 and didn't wake up again fully until 5:30.  She would wake up briefly to eat but then would fall directly back asleep.  This past Thursday she fell asleep about 5:40 and didn't wake up again besides eating and peeing until almost 8 the next morning.  I slept horribly that night because I was so worried that she would wake up in the middle of the night and be done sleeping.  

Interview with Nyla

Interview with Nyla. This was done over two days. Nyla was in a silly mood when I first started asking the daddy questions so we had to stop and take a break

1. What is something mommy/daddy always says to you?

mommy - Sure you can have some turkey.
daddy - Daddy. (Buddy says the correct answer would be "Where are your clothes?".)

2. What makes mommy/daddy/ Nyla happy?

mommy - I don't know
daddy - doing pants
Nyla - Cora makes me happy when he hugs me.

3. What makes mommy/daddy/ Nyla sad?

mommy - I have an idea! What makes Cora sad?
daddy - Doing not what he says
Nyla - Hitting me (Nyla is the only hitter in the family. She is not the one getting hit.)

4. How does mommy/daddy make you laugh?

mommy - Telling funny stories to me. (I wish I told funny stories but I don't.)
daddy - Doing jokes

5. What did mommy/daddy like to do as a child?

mommy - What? I don't know. Just tell me now now now!
daddy - Cry!

6. How old is mommy/daddy?

mommy - 4 weeks
daddy - 5 weeks

7. How tall am I?
mommy - Let me see. She runs a finger up from my toes to my head then says "This is how tall you are!".
daddy - 5 weeks

8. What is mommy's/daddy's/Nyla's favorite thing to watch on TV?

mommy - Clifford
daddy - Dancing shows
Nyla - Clifford with you

9. What does mommy/daddy do when you're not around?

mommy - What? (When Nyla asks what, it's not a sweet inquisitive what. It's more like a curt demanding what. Picture some tough guy in Jersey who catches you looking at him the wrong way.)
daddy - hammer

10. If mommy/daddy become famous, what will it be for?

mommy - I don't know
daddy- Doing math work.

11. What is mommy/daddy/Nyla really good at?

mommy - Tricks
daddy - Tricks
Nyla - Spinning. Catching stuff.

12. What is mommy/daddy/Nyla not very good at?

mommy - Eating candy
daddy - Watching some videos like me
Nyla - I'm not very good at sharing. (This was her truest answer.)

13. What does mommy/daddy do for a job?

mommy - Do computer
daddy - How about we do some Nyla answers?
Nyla - Watch tv

14. What is mommy's/daddy's/Nyla's favorite food?

mommy - Chicken
daddy - Salad
Nyla - Gum

15. What makes you proud of mommy/daddy?

mommy - Cora!
daddy - Painting a picture for me

16. If mommy/daddy were a cartoon character, who would I be?

mommy - A spaceman
daddy - A pirate

17. What do we do together?

mommy - Play
daddy - Play together

18. How are we the same?

mommy - When we are peeing.
daddy - When we are wearing pink

19. How are we different?

mommy - When we are not wearing pink
daddy - When we are not wearing pink

20. How do you know mommy/daddy loves you?

mommy - Cause I do what you said
daddy - When he tickles me

21. What do I like most about daddy/mommy?

mommy - When he gets the mail
daddy - Taking pictures

22. Where is mommy's/daddy's favorite place to go?

mommy - Grocery store
daddy - Chocolate island

I just noticed that the last time I posted a picture of Cora in the chair she was wearing the exact same outfit.  Nyla likes to pick out Cora's clothes. I had chosen something last night but Nyla insisted that she should wear this instead.  Nyla tried to make Cora's outfit coordinate with her own.  Her way of doing this is basically making sure that they are both wearing pink.


Bohdin has been doing a lot of art this week which is great because he hasn't done very much since we've moved here. Nyla always joins in because she loves art. Here are some of the creations from the past few days. I guess it's pretty easy to spot Nyla's art since it is pink.

Bohdin interview

It's been about one year since I last did the interviews. I copied this from Facebook over a year ago and it just dawned on me that the questions are really focused on me. I changed that this year a bit. I asked the questions for both myself and Buddy and when appropriate for himself as well. The questions were asked several hours apart. I haven't asked Nyla the daddy questions so I'll post her interview tomorrow probably.

Interview with Bohdin

1. What is something mommy/daddy always says to you?

mommy - You love me
daddy - I don't know. (with further prodding) I can tell you something he does to me. It's tickle me.

2. What makes mommy/daddy/ Bohdin happy?

mommy - I don't know
daddy - I don't know
Bohdin - almost everything makes me happy

3. What makes mommy/daddy/ Bohdin sad?

mommy - When Nyla hits you. (Nyla does not hit me. She hits Bohdin a lot though.)
daddy - I don't know
Bohdin - Falling down the stairs

4. How does mommy/daddy make you laugh?

mommy - Telling jokes
daddy - Tickle me

5. What did mommy/daddy like to do as a child?

mommy - I don't know
daddy - I don't know

6. How old is mommy/daddy?

mommy - I don't remember. Something close to 50 or 60.
daddy - Probably 60 or 70. (He looked at his previous answer before guessing how old daddy is. After this I covered up the answer he had given for me.)

7. How tall am I?

mommy - maybe 50 feet
daddy - 5 feet?

8. What is mommy's/daddy's favorite thing to watch on TV?

mommy - That dance show
daddy - Football

9. What does mommy/daddy do when you're not around?

mommy - I don't know
daddy - I don't know

10. If mommy/daddy become famous, what will it be for?

mommy - I don't know
daddy- I don't know

11. What is mommy/daddy/Bohdin really good at?

mommy - Well one thing is cooking
daddy - Well he is really good at tickling me
Bohdin - (He glances toward the hanging art project we just completed and says) Well I am good at art.

12. What is mommy/daddy/Bohdin not very good at?

mommy - One thing is running. (I must be the worst runner ever because this is Bohdin's most consistent answer over time.)
daddy - One thing is hmmm. I'm thinking. Hmmm. Running with me. He's not a very fast runner.
Bohdin - Taking pictures or making Cora stop crying

13. What does mommy/daddy do for a job?

mommy - Watch me
daddy - work at the Army

14. What is mommy's/daddy's/Bohdin's favorite food?

mommy - Hmmm. Cereal
daddy - Nuts
Bohdin - Mashed potatoes. Asparagus. I aslo like rice.

15. What makes you proud of mommy/daddy?

mommy - I don't know
daddy - I don't know

16. If mommy/daddy were a cartoon character, who would I be?

mommy - A superhero
daddy - (He saw his previous answer) I can't think of anything different. An explorer?

17. What do we do together?

mommy - One thing is talk together
daddy - One thing is read

18. How are we the same?

mommy - Well, there is one thing i can tell you. ugh. I'm thinking. (He never answered so I asked him today and he said we both help.)
daddy - We're both boys

19. How are we different?

mommy - I'm not a girl.
daddy - We're not as big as each other.

20. How do you know mommy/daddy loves you?

mommy - You say you love me a lot of times
daddy - I don't know

21. What do I like most about daddy/mommy?

mommy - I can't guess.
daddy - I don't know. That's a hard to answer question

22. Where is mommy's/daddy's/Bohdin's favorite place to go?

mommy - I don't know
daddy - I don't know
Bohdin- Outside! (Bohdin saw Buddy pull up and ran out the door as he answered the question.)

Here is a link to the interview from last year. http://buddyhelen.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview.html

Pictures

Another one gone

When I was doing yesterday's blog post Cora was on a blanket on the floor with Bohdin and Nyla playing nearby. Nyla likes to take the baby toys out and pile them around Cora. It's really fun to watch Nyla interact with her sister. She does such a great job. I think Nyla is her favorite. Bohdin is sad because he thinks Cora doesn't like him as much. That's probably true. I think Cora likes Nyla better than me. Buddy is Cora's definite least favorite right now. She cries whenever she is with him. In the picture below Cora is getting her diaper changed.



I thought Bohdin's tooth was going to come out last week but I was wrong. When I saw it yesterday I thought again that it was imminent. About 30 minutes after I took this picture yesterday the tooth was missing. Once again Bohdin probably ate it. He apologized when I told him that it was gone. I don't care if he eats all of his teeth. It's his loss. He's been saving up for a toy and just ate his one source of money.



A strong line of thunderstorms is supposed to be coming through in about 30 minutes. Bohdin brought all the toys inside this morning. Buddy called with concern a few minutes ago because he's been watching the weather channel. I have the local news on and they are doing a good job of playing it up. We'll see soon how severe these winds will be. I'm doing this blog post now just in case we lose power. I'm also letting the kids watch tv right now which is unusual. We can finish school work later if the power does indeed go out.

Fossils

Last week was a really busy week and by Wednesday I was burned out. After storytime we went to the grocery store. I was impatient and hungry so it didn't go well. I was so frazzled that I didn't let Bohdin do the self checkout. I was unloading the groceries when the lady behind me offered to help. She unloaded the rest of my cart including a heavy watermelon and frozen turkey. That was really nice because it is more difficult to bend over the cart when Cora is strapped to my chest. I spoke with her for a minute and continued with the checkout process. As I was paying she said to wait but it was too late. She gave me a coupon for $4 off a purchase. She told me to go redeem it at customer service and buy some candy for the kids. That lady could not have been more awesome. I didn't need to buy candy with Halloween coming up so I gave Bohdin three dollars and Nyla one dollar. I explained to Bohdin that he received more because he was older and also because he actually helped in the store unlike Nyla who made the experience much worse. Cora got nothing. Sometimes it's good to be the oldest.

On Friday Bohdin started soccer practice. He was initially going to play with Gavin but he is attending preschool now. Bohdin still wanted to do it even though he wouldn't have his friend there. We put him in the 4-5 year old class instead of the 5-6 year old class. Bohdin only cried once. The kids were in a line and had to kick a cone down. When Bohdin went to retrieve his ball another child beat him to it. Bohdin was devastated that the kid took his ball. I gave Bohdin a quick hug and made him get back out there even though he didn't want to. By the end of the class he was loving soccer practice and is looking forward to next week.

We are in a drought right now so the timing was perfect for visiting Falls of the Ohio which is a geological site just over the river. You can't take a step there without stepping on a fossil. The kids had a lot of fun running around on all of the rocks. There were so many fossils it was actually hard to appreciate.






Yesterday I took a much needed break from the older kids. I've been really busy with them the past several Sundays. We went to the zoo last weekend, the science museum the week before, and three Sundays ago we were in Arkansas. It was nice to not talk to kids for several hours. It's probably good for the kids as well. Maybe not. Nyla said she didn't play with daddy. She just watched tv and played computer. Bohdin said he played by himself because daddy was too busy playing computer and watching football. I suppose I should get off the computer myself and play with him. Right now he's reading a book to Nyla and Cora.

Catch up

Bohdin and Nyla have spent countless hours playing with a piece of rope. Mostly they chase each other around the house while holding it. We knew we wanted a house with a circle and it sure has been fun for them. We actually have two circles for even greater fun. The string is worn out now. It frayed from multiple times. I just realized the molding took a beating as well. No more string games for them.

 

Bohdin't tooth looks like it could fall out with the gentlest of nudges. I predicted it would fall out on Saturday but it is still hanging in there. Once again Bohdin's patience for letting it come out naturally without even loosening it with his tongue is astronomical.

 

It took some time but Bohdin's costume is finished and Nyla's is nearly done. I'm actually not quite sure what her costume is. She chose the fabric with something in mind. I've already forgotten. Then when I was looking at ideas for how to make it Nyla saw tons of costumes she liked. At one point she wanted to be a dog dressed as a lobster. She is most likely an insect or princess but this morning she used her costume to be a frog. We went to the zoo last night for their Halloween event. It was the last free night for members so I had to work hard to get those costumes done in time. We walked the length of the zoo among thousands of other people. There were stands giving out candy, costumed characters available for picture taking, and decorations. Bohdin and Nyla enjoyed it and want to go again next year. Maybe I can get Buddy to take them next year. It just felt like a long walk to me shoulder to shoulder with tons of people. I let them choose one piece of candy to eat that night. Nyla chose right away and ate it quickly. Bohdin took much longer to decide then waited a while to open it. He chose fun dips which neither child had tried before. As soon as Nyla saw what Bohdin had she wanted that one also. I reminded her that she already ate her choice of m&ms. She argued that she hadn't liked them and had just thrown them on the floor instead. She told me she had left one in the package because it wasn't good. When I asked about the others she said "them were good".

 

 

I almost forgot some stuff from last week. It's a good thing I wrote them down. Bohdin came out with a long plastic plumbing pipe and started to go to the basement. I asked him what he was going to do. He told me I probably didn't want to know. I thought for a moment and told him not to destroy anything. He said maybe he should use something else instead and put it back.

I was playing Playmobil with Bohdin and Nyla but they wanted to do different things. Bohdin had a knight and Nyla had given me one of the kids so my kid and her kid could go to the beach together. Bohdin's knight comes over to my kid and says "Excuse me. I think you went back in time. You're somewhere between ancient times and modern times.". I tried to convince the knight that he had come to the future to no avail. The knight took me to the castle to prove his point. I told him castles still existed in the future. Bohdin said "Castles turned into fancy palaces instead of castles as time went on.". I let the debate end at that point.

Bohdin and Nyla have very different interactions with Cora and very different responses to her crying. If she starts crying or fussing around Bohdin he feels that it is his fault and gets sad. Nyla on the other hand will just skip toward me and announce happily that Cora needs me. Nyla plays with Cora a lot. She includes Cora in her tea parties. Yesterday with Cora laying on a blanket Nyla pretended that it was a boat and she and Cora were going somewhere together. This morning I had Cora on the rug while I was cleaning up. Nyla was alternating playing with her and near her. At one point she hit Cora on the head accidentally I think. Cora started crying and I went over. Nyla leaned over Cora and asked what was wrong. Cora made a little squealing sound. Nyla said in a very sweet innocent voice "Oh. Was it because I hit you? I'm sorry."

Sigh

Bohdin has acquired the very annoying habit of loudly sighing to express displeasure. He most likely got it from me but I am positive that my sighs are not so loud or frequent. Too many times per day I hear a loud "ugghh" in reply to a question.

I wouldn't have mentioned this if Bohdin hadn't found it so important. The other day at playgroup Gavin wasn't there so Bohdin and Nyla played with each other. There were lots of other kids there but Bohdin wasn't that interested. He did meet a boy who just turned six that I hope he spends more time with. Anyway Bohdin and Nyla were playing hide and seek. After they had played a few rounds I guess Nyla was done but Bohdin was not. He started counting for Nyla to hide but she didn't want to. He counted to 313 before I made him stop so we could leave. It was a nonevent to me but Bohdin has mentioned it several times and wants me to call Gavin to tell him also.

We've been reading a lot of stories set in Iraq and Iran. This is the best region for stories so far. They've been great. Bohdin has been playing a computer game that has uranium in it and he has been very interested in it. Yesterday we were discussing uranium and nuclear weapons after reading a book. I told him that Iran is trying to get nuclear weapons. His response was "uh-oh". We had a discussion about nuclear weapons that seemed odd to have with a five year old. There is no way he can truly comprehend what they are at this age. All of this talk of uranium has helped him settle on a costume though. He will be a uranium miner for Halloween. Sort of. He'll be wearing a radiation suit. They don't wear those suits to actually mine the uranium but they probably do at some point in the enrichment process. I think it would be weird for him to tell people that he is dressed as a uranium enricher.

One of the books about Iraq was set during the early 2000s. The book mentioned having bombs dropped on various buildings in the city. The next day Bohdin was holding a small airplane and was pretending to drop bombs on a city like we had read about. I had an immediate negative reaction to hearing this. It seemed wrong and insensitive. Maybe I have guilt about the Iraq war. I wouldn't have had this reaction if he were recreating Rome vs Carthage. That would have been cool. The Civil War may have been okay but the Iraq war is a huge no for me.

 
 
 
 

More pictures

 
 
 

Meeting

Buddy had a four day weekend and we headed to Arkansas for a shareholder meeting and family reunion. My half sister Eva and aunt both came from Europe. I saw my aunt briefly during my honeymoon but I haven't seen Eva since I was 15. The drive there was brutal. Cora doesn't car to be in the car for long periods and three hours in she was completely done. Prior to leaving we put one of the back seats down and set up a bed back there. She and I lay down together and she eventually fell asleep. The first night we made it to just past Memphis. The next day we thought it would be a relatively easy drive but there was a massive backup on I-40. After almost two hours we turned around and found an alternate route. Nyla has finally reached an age where she is okay in the car. The borrowed dvd players helped immensely though. It took much longer than expected but we made it to Ft Smith and then headed to dinner at my dad's house. I forgot the camera the first night. There were group shots taken but I don't have any of them yet. We went out again the following night and Buddy took a few pictures. Niether my aunt or Eva speak much English. I speak even less Slovak but I can still understand a little bit. That made it difficult to communicate. I should have tried harder.

I skipped out on the shareholder meeting and took the kids back to the hotel for a nap instead. Buddy went as my proxy. It was a long meeting and I don't think the kids would have had much fun. They might have even made the meeting longer. Riah, my kids 10 month old cousin, went and Drucilla said she had to leave often. Nyla napped while everybody was gone but Bohdin just bugged me asking to go to the pool. He had already been swimming that morning but couldn't wait to get back in. When Nyla woke up we all went down and Bohdin played in the pool by himself while we watched. He spent as much time as he could in that pool. The day we left Paul and Bohdin were in the pool for about an hour racing back and forth.

Our drive back was uneventful. I've given up keeping Cora in her seat so all went well. We drove through Missouri this time. Cora lasted in her seat about 10 minutes yesterday before starting to cry. I held her in the back seat and she slept the entire way home. It's illegal but I cannot listen to her cry for very long. It made everybody happier. None of us like seeing her so upset.

 
 
 
 

Insomnia

Nyla woke up quite early Tuesday morning and woke up Bohdin, Cora, and I in the process. We were very grumpy the rest of the way. Bohdin spent the day saying he was tired. We weren't able to do anything that day as a result. I thought Nyla would go to bed early that night but she didn't. She was actually the last one to go to bed. She laid in her room listening to music. I fell asleep at one point but woke back up again. She finally came into my bed and said she couldn't sleep because she had lost her powers. A few minutes later she was asleep. The late night didn't cause her to sleep in yesterday morning. She was up at 8 which is her usual time. She had a short nap in the car and once again she couldn't go to sleep in the evening. She lay in her room listening to music. Eventually I convinced her to come to bed with me and she was asleep in no time.

Bohdin

Buddy introduced Bohdin to computer games which he will play way too much. During the weekdays I don't want him playing at all. His job is schoolwork and playing with things that don't involve screens. When I came down with my new laptop to kick him off the computer he asked me why I could be on the computer and he couldn't. I pulled out the book I had made from the blogposts when he was three and read several entries to him. He enjoyed hearing it. I told him I needed to write down what five year old Bohdin is like. He wants me to write that he likes popcorn.

I'm continuing with schoolwork on weekday mornings. This morning he practiced the letter G, spelled eleven words, and did two pages of math. It was a page with subtraction and the first problem was [ ] = 9-2. I completely misread it and waited for him to answer 11. When he said 7 I told him to try again. He said "Didn't you say 9-2?". Oops. Our study of Japan and India have fizzled out probably partly because we were doing them at the same time. The other problem is that we didn't find engaging books like we had for China. We read a ton of only fair books. Last week at storytime I decided to do a little about Iran and Iraq since they are in the news so much. I picked up a few books and we have one definite winner. It is the Stories From the Arabian Nights. He was loved them so far. This morning we read Sinbad the Sailor which was really entertaining. Since I've kicked him off the computer Bohdin is sort of recreating Alladin and Ali Babba. He's filled up a cave with treasure. I'm not sure what will happen next because organizing the treasure is actually his favorite part.

I was looking through Bohdin's math textbook on Saturday and asked him what 43+20 equals. He was able to figure out the correct answer easily using his blocks. This morning he explained how he figured out that 60+60 equals 120. I'm really impressed with his grasp of math especially since I haven't taught him a thing.

On Friday we went to a class on the solar system taught by a homeschooled teenager. I thought it would be interesting for him and also get him in a situation where he is among the youngest. It didn't work out that well. The teenager teaching the class is very knowledgeable but was unable to keep the subject appropriate for an elementary audience. It was college level stuff and I found it fascinating. Bohdin was tired and combined with his young age it was awful. He was squirmy and couldn't even pretend to pay attention. I brought Nyla a blank notebook and crayons which kept her occupied.

Bohdin has another loose tooth. I noticed the other day that his other bottom tooth seemed a bit skewed so I asked to feel it. By Halloween he will be missing four front teeth.

We have no more chickens. Our last two died a grisly death. We suck at keeping chickens alive but are very good at feeding the local wildlife. Something broke into the chicken coop and found dinner. Maybe we'll try again next year.