Scott's Gap

Bohdin was really into his Roman soldiers last week and decided he would be a Roman legionnaire for Halloween. He also wanted to learn to say trick or treat in Latin. This week he is really into Playmobil trains though. He talks about them nonstop and has spent his own money to buy some of the freight cars recently.



The weather was pleasant last week so the kids had a lot of time to play outside. Bohdin used the hose to create rivers and then tried to dam it up with rocks. Since Cora was out there as well I took advantage of some free time and scrubbed the floors. I wish I had picked something with results that I lasted longer.



Bohdin, Nyla, and Cora were having an afternoon snack yesterday while I was reading them some books. Bohdin announced that he was getting a drink of water and came back with a cup that had been in the fridge. I asked him if that was really soda and he said yes. I told him something about lying to me. Then he said "Sorry. What does sorry mean?" Bohdin apologizes often although he rarely seems to mean it. I laughed when I heard the question. Bohdin hid under the table crying and did appear sorry at that point.

Nyla said goodbye to Buddy before work yesterday and told him to have fun making money.

This morning Nyla suggested we go for a walk which I thought was an excellent idea. The Jefferson Memorial Forest is near us and I've thought about visiting it often. Today seemed like a perfect day. I packed a picnic lunch and we set off. We stopped at Scott's Gap and did the short loop trail which is labeled a strenuous 1.3 mile hike. They were not kidding about the strenuous part. There was some really steep climbing. The elevation changed more than 200 feet and it liked to do it all at once. The hills tired Bohdin and I a little but Nyla had no trouble. She even ran up the top of one hill while I was struggling behind her to not appear too winded. It was great and something we will try to do every week until the weather is too awful. There are numerous trails throughout the system so next week we may choose an easy one.

I asked Bohdin and Nyla to each find three interesting things for me to take a picture of. Some are below. The kids were my interesting subjects. Nyla was the leader and way ahead for most of the hike but at one point Bohdin wanted to be the leader. Nyla was mad and refused to go any further. It was several minutes before she decided to continue. In Bohdin's hands are the numerous leaves he collected. He finds a lot of interesting leaves when we are outside but as soon as they come into the house they are forgotten. I will probably throw away today's leaf collection as well.







Cora was in the backpack the entire way so after lunch she enjoyed the chance to run around. Next time we may choose a trail that will be more suitable for her to walk a short bit.

Your cheeks say yes

Nyla was playing with my head yesterday and singing the song "Your cheeks say yes and your head nods no". She either moved my cheeks up and down or nodded my head no while doing it. The tune was quite catchy and I still find myself singing it today.





Cora was enjoying scattering the popcorn on the floor yesterday. She likes the nutritional flakes we sprinkle on and was trying to get the popcorn out of the way so whe could eat the flakes at the bottom on the bowl.


I had a conversation this morning with Bohdin about schooling.
me: Do you wish that you didn't have to do school.
Bohdin: Yes but then I wouldn't learn anything.
me: You would still learn things.
Bohdin: But not as much. I wouldn't know how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism.

I tested him and he can't spell antidistestablishmentarianism which was not surprising. He did pretty well. All of establish was correct as well as ant and ism. He should have spelled ment correctly but did not. The rest is beyond what he has learned so far. It's a rather long word so I helped him break it down into syllables which ironically was the spelling lesson we had done earlier that morning.

Birthday

Buddy's birthday was Wednesday. I took the kids out Tuesday night to get a gift which was probably too last minutes. Buddy requested clothes but when I questioned if he really wanted the kids to pick out his clothes he recanted but because nobody could come up with anything better that didn't cost a lot we went with clothes. Nyla kept saying we should go to strawberry land to get the present because there are more choices there and it is cheaper or free. I heard "you should have" and "I told you" so many times over the past week about strawberry land that I never want to hear about strawberry land again. I wish Nyla could have provided directions but she was never able to.

Bohdin and Nyla wrapped the presents themselves, made a Happy Birthday banner, set the table, and picked flowers. They also dressed up nicely in their party clothes. I made Buddy pork and sauerkraut for dinner and cranberry cheesecake for desert. It was a quiet birthday but I guess it was okay especially considering that Buddy hadn't been feeling well. He even stayed home from work on Tuesday.

There wasn't a picture that everybody looked good in so I chose the one that Buddy looked good in since it was his birthday.



Bohdin and Nyla were way more excited by the gift of socks than Buddy.




Thursday was Lego league. I thought my allergies were acting up really badly but in hindsight it looks like I was actually sick. I had caught the same thing Buddy had. Bohdin still really loves Lego league. I'm glad he gets a chance to be around some really nice older boys. It's a great group of kids.

Thursday was a really busy day because there was a homeschool program at the library in the afternoon that Bohdin wanted to attend. Poor Cora had a short nap because I had to wake her up to go. At the library Bohdin was supposed to research Japan on the computer and make a brochure about it. He knew this going in but when he got there he just played games on the computer instead. I was mad. I didn't wake Cora up and wrangle her in the library for an hour just so he could play a computer game. He was sad that I was disappointed.



Cora has discovered how to open dresser drawers and took advantage of it. She emptied every single drawer and flung stuff around the room. She even took some clothes and took them down the hallway. Last week she emptied Nyla's closet. Cora is more mischievous than Bohdin and Nyla put together at that age.

Dino World

Monday we met an acquaintance and her 22 month old son at Dinosaur World. Bohdin and Nyla were super excited about going. It was an interesting place that Bohdin liked better than Nyla. Bohdin's favorite part was the fossil dig which was a large raised sand box filled with small fossils. The kids were allowed to dig them up and then choose their three favorites. Bohdin wanted to do it again and asked the person who ran it. He said no but did say Bohdin could help him clean up in exchange for another shark tooth. Bohdin agreed. Tonight he asked to go back there to do the fossil dig again. The place was fine but kind of pricey. I have no intention of ever going back. I told Bohdin to ask daddy to take him since he can get in for free.

After the fossil dig there was a replica of a dinosaur skeleton buried in sand that the kids unearthed for a while. Then we went on the dinosaur walk. They had several replicas of many different types of dinosaurs. As we walked along a path every so often there would be a group of dinosaurs with a small plaque containing a short description. There were lots of different dinosaurs. Bohdin wanted me to read each plaque. Nyla was not interested. Toward the end of the walk she started holding the hand of the little boy we were with. He was sitting in the stroller and Nyla was doing various things with him. We stopped one more time at the playground before leaving. Bohdin wanted to stay longer but it was kind of hot and getting late.







I can't believe I had three kids actually cooperate for a picture. It's a miracle.



Cora is a climber and her new thing is climbing onto the table. Normally she takes advantage of a chair that has not been tucked in but even if it is she is able to pull it out. She was looking for more food this time. After taking the picture I held her in my lap while she tried to feed herself with the giant serving spoon. Cora has begun eating more solids but she prefers to have a plate and utensils just like the kids. She also prefers to be in my lap eating off my plate. I give her the same thing I have but I guess it's not the same.

Decorating

I think I mentioned that Nyla decided to cut her hair last week along with Zippy's hair. We saw today that a My Little Pony has also had a recent trim. When she was done with the hair cutting it was time to decorate. After doing art on paper she moved on to her clothes and then her skin. I haven't washed the dress yet but I don't have high hopes of the marker coming out.



Bohdin had lego league again on Thursday and loved it. The theme of this year's project is snacks. Last week the kids decided on cheese so this week they made mozzarella cheese and we had pizza. I brought tomatoes from the garden and they also made the sauce for the pizza. It turned out really well. During part of the downtime the kids played with Thomas stuff. We have the meetings in the home of three boys between the ages of five and ten. They have accumulated a lot of Thomas stuff. The house is gigantic so there was lots of room to build a huge track. Nyla didn't want to play much with the other kids so she just moped around me. I had Cora on my back because she was tired and I thought she would go to sleep. She didn't and the one time I did put her down she ate cat food and walked away with the cat's water bowl. M-'s family had to leave before eating the pizza so Bohdin and Nyla sat down with the other boys. There wasn't enough pizza for four hungry boys and they started talking about numbers. Bohdin wished for a googol of pizzas and one of the other boys mentioned googol plex. Then they started talking about pi (which Bohdin was not familiar with). They sounded like a bunch of homeschooled kids.

There was another incident that made Bohdin seem like a homeschooled kid on Wednesday when he was playing with J-. J- and Nyla were arguing and J- told Bohdin that he was "going to tell on her". Bohdin had no idea what that meant and asked what "tell on" means. I should ask him but I don't think he ever figured out what that meant.

Bohdin has been spending some of the money he had earmarked for the Playmobil train. Perhaps he has given up hope. He does have several of the train cars but no engine. His recent purchases include twelve Roman fighters and some knights. Buddy saw them all crowded into the castle today and thought they were having a party.



Here is the finished wall of cabinets. We're still making progress. Today we stopped at two granite places. Shopping for granite is really hard. There are lots of really beautiful granites but all of them are more than we want to pay. It's really difficult or maybe impossible to find great cheap granite. I think we did finally settle on one today. Now I just have to find the right fabricator. Bohdin really hates looking at granite because he says it's really boring. He does like his collection of samples though.



Friday we went apple picking at a local orchard. It is a bit of a strange place since it is not very well maintained. The smell of rotting apples on the ground was almost overwhelming. We picked a bag of apples and not one of them was untarnished. There were a lot of interesting varieties but I can't remember any of them. No trees were marked. Actually I do remember one. It was called Russet I think because it looked like a potato. It was a tasty apple. The kids had some fun playing chase with the group we met there. It was the same group that we had met for playgroup a few weeks ago that neither Nyla nor Bohdin clicked with. We'll give it a few more times and see how it goes.

Busy climbing

It has been a busy few weeks.  Between Bohdin's schooling, the new kitchen, Cora, tomatoes, and a dozen other things I always have something going on but no time to write.  Today was no exception.  We went to a playground to meet up with J- so Bohdin could play.  We haven't seen him in quite some time because our schedules never synced.  I didn't really have time today either but I had put them off so long that I felt bad. Bohdin seemed to have a good time.  Nyla had less fun.  She got in several shouting matches with J-.  One of Nyla's Playmobil kids shares a name with his younger brother.  He wanted her to change the name since only one person could have that name and she insisted that she could name it whatever she wanted.  Twice they grudgingly called a truce.  Had we stayed longer it might have resurfaced. 

After playing we went to look at granite.  The kids are so tired of looking at granite.  We went on Saturday as well.  Bohdin actually ended up liking that place because they had little chunks of it around and he was allowed to take some home.  He didn't get as lucky today.  Shopping for granite is a little boring and time intensive.  We also have to make final choices on the sinks and faucets which is also time consuming.  This weekend we installed one wall of cabinets completely.  I was about to say we are more than half done but the island is the wrong height and needs to be rebuilt a little.  That could take a bit of time. 

On Friday, Nyla decided she was tired of her hair length and cut her hair.  She cut out a good chunk of it.  I did my best to even it out.  It's not as short as last time.  She just doesn't like long hair.  She was also in a hair cutting mood.  Since she could no longer cut her own hair she took the scissors after Zippy and cut out pieces of his mane.  I have a picture of her hair but the battery in the camera ran out this weekend and now that it is finally recharged it's in the other room.  I would actually post more often if not for the camera.  I always think I would like to take the pictures off first but then get sidetracked. 

Cora is a climber.  She has learned to climb onto the dining room chairs.  I was on the phone today and turned around to see Cora standing on the chair eating Nyla's leftovers.  I can't believe she hasn't hurt herself yet.  She is also trying to give us a heart attack by descending the stairs by walking down them.  She still stumbles when she's walking on flat ground.  There is no way she is ready to go down facing forward.  Buddy or I see her when she is on the first step and it's so scary.  We want to rush to get her but we can't startle her or she may fall.  I wish gates were designed for staircases like ours.

Museum week

It feels like museum week around here since we hit another exhibit. This time we went to the Da Vinci exhibit at the local history museum. We were lucky enough to arrive just before a tour was starting. Bohdin was really interested and stood in the front near the historian for most of it. Nyla was bored and stayed in the back with me. Cora had her loud moments and at the end we had to leave because she was just getting too disruptive. Bohdin was sad that for the second time that week he couldn't finish an exhibit because of Cora. I understand how he feels since he did that to me when he was a baby. After leaving the tour, Bohdin wanted to look around a bit more. I took Cora out of the carrier and Nyla went on Cora containment duty for a while. She grew tired of that so I was left to keep Cora from running away too far or touching anything. Bohdin finally seems to be at a good museum age.



The octagonal mirror was a favorite of both Bohdin and Nyla.




Thursday was the first meeting of Junior Lego League. Bohdin was invited to join last year but I felt he was too young then. This year I think he will be okay. It's amazing how much he has matured in the past year. He has really improved on talking to people. In the post office last week the lady told me he speaks better than some of the adults that come in. At the hospital after the checkups two people told me that he was really polite. He has ordered ice cream from a roadside place while I waited in the car with a sleeping Cora. It's such a change from a few years ago when he couldn't speak to people. Now he waves at people in the street.

Back to Lego League. Bohdin already knew most of the kids involved since there are only three families including us. The boys we didn't know are older. I think they were 8 and 10 but I'm not certain. Bohdin didn't interact much with them until the very end when they were all playing. The other mom, M-'s mom, was thoughtful enough to suggest working on the legos prior to playing because that would be better for Bohdin. She was right of course. We'll meet up with them every week for several weeks as they design and build their project. I was talking to the other mom so I didn't get all of the details. I think they have to design something that has at least one moving part and goes with the theme of snacks. I think this will be a good group for Bohdin.

Nyla dictated a letter to Cleopatra today. She still likes to do Zippy but isn't really interested in learning letters so we do other things usually suggested by Nyla. Her first letter which she dictated before I had pencil and paper out involved the phrase "lost king of Egypt" many times. Bohdin tried to correct her but she didn't want to listen.

Hi Cleopatra,
Cleopatra, I love you. I hope you come back sometime. Cleopatra, we visited your exhibit. We built a Nile River. Cleopatra, hi again. You know we love you so so much. I hope you visit our town sometime. I want to carry you around. You should try out our new toys and play with them. I also want you to try the dragons toys. And Cleopatra, hi again. We have a new barn that we got and try out some of the tomatoes that we growed. Cleopatra, we got a new car and got a flat tire when mommy was driving. And we also got a princess tent and a tv. And also we got jewel thieves. Bye. -Nyla, Cleopatra.

Bohdin was listening to her dictate the letter and said that Nyla couldn't carry Cleopatra around. Nyla said she could because she is strong.