Good-bye, August.
I’m not a big fan of August. Never have been. My irritation probably stems from my dislike of hot, humid weather and August is 31 days of said weather, following 31 other days of said weather the previous summer month. It could also have to do with the fact that I spent most of August, 2005, on forced bed rest (in a poorly air-conditioned room), hoping Heath and Amelia would bake in the uterine oven just a smidge longer.
No matter, because August, 2010 is ending as I type this. To give August a proper farewell, we trudged down the looooong, steeeeeep hill from the house (if you’ve ever been here, you understand) to the neighborhood playground. Chaos? Ensued.
(Click on the pictures to view larger versions.)
Of course, Heath was styling in his blue sunglasses. While on the spiral slide. Which he climbed up. Because these kids are all about going against the grain.
Amelia and Jarrod gave me 20 separate heart attacks as I watched them climb these bars to the top. I pictured broken teeth, split skulls, and our second-ever ambulance ride. Thankfully, they proved me wrong and nimbly scaled these things like lemurs. Minus the striped tails.
“Show me your muscles, Jarrod!” Our youngest is most definitely the family comedian.
When asked to show his muscles, Heath gave me a modest smile. Love my sweet, quiet Bubba!
Amelia easily conquered the long, covered slide. She’s grown into such a brave, beautiful young lady!
And speaking of my sweet daughter, she’s going to kill me someday for that picture up there.
See ya later, August! If you know what’s good for you, you won’t come back until next year!
Young Scholars
At the end of May, all I could wonder was What do I do with these guys for two and a half months?
The next thing I knew, the end had arrived. The summer craft projects I put together and didn’t think would last the season are hanging around the kitchen, extra sunscreen litters the kitchen counter, and the faint smell of chlorine lingers in the laundry room. Even with the first day of school, summer is holding on by the skin of its teeth.
They were ready to go. All morning, the kids were energized and jumping out of their skin. In fact, Jarrod and Amelia raced around the kitchen island for ten straight minutes while Heath and I just watched and shook our heads.
We loaded into the car and headed off to another year of adventure.
In between greeting other children coming into the school, Ms. Denise hugged each of our amazing kids and posed for a quick picture.
And off they went with nary a glance behind them. I’m so proud but I also fervently wish I could have them back as tiny babies. Even if it was just for a day.
Amelia, the Storyteller
Amelia’s Grandpapa Charley started a new tradition this summer. Amelia would climb up on his lap while he worked in his office. He would promptly close whatever work he had open and pull up a blank document. She then would begin telling a story. As she unwound this yarn, he would type exactly what she said until she reached the end. He would then print the story and Amelia would add the illustrations.
Yesterday, I transcribed my first Amelia story and below is the result. Click on the image to make it bigger so that you can (maybe) read the words and see the illustration:
The story is titled “Dolphins” and the illustration at the bottom is, from the left (as described to me), a mermaid, a seashell, and the dolphin. If you are unable to read the text from the image, Amelia’s story is as follows:
Dolphins
by Amelia Dobson
The dolphins were sleeping. One dolphin was not sleeping. It was swimming around a corner and found a seashell. The dolphin was swimming all around and was near the coral reef. The dolphin was swimming all around and it was night. The dolphin was so tired that it went home into the cave. On its way, it saw a sea turtle and the sea turtle snapped. And then, the dolphin went on. Then the dolphin spotted some jellyfish. He knew they stung but the dolphin went around. The dolphin forgot and went back to get the seashell. It got the seashell, but on the dolphin’s way, the seashell got out of the dolphin’s fins to the ocean floor. The dolphin swam to the ocean floor to get the seashell. The dolphin was swimming around. It was late. All the other dolphins were at the cave sleeping. The dolphins were waiting. They were counting on the last dolphin. The dolphin was near a boat. The boat tried to get the dolphin, but the dolphin was too fast. The dolphin was so fast that the scuba diver caught the seashell. The dolphin got the seashell out of the people’s hands. The people were so mean that they went after the dolphin. The dolphin swam so fast that it was almost to the cave. And the dolphin swam around the bend. It swam up and then it swam down low. The dolphin even went under the water and the scuba diver went back to the boat with his scuba gear. The dolphin was so tired, it can hardly swim faster. With the wind blowing the dolphin swam even faster. Then, a leaf fell on the water and made the dolphin sneeze. The dolphin ate the leaf and was almost to the cave when it found a rock to eat! It ate the rock. The dolphin found a part of a seashell and the dolphin ate it! And the dolphin made it to the cave safe and sound! The dolphin cuddled up to its family and the mommy had some eggs for the little dolphin. And they lived happily ever after.
The End!
Summer Slow Down
Summer is coming to a close. In one week and three days, school begins again and our three young ones will find themselves back at Furtah Montessori for another year of Pre-K. For now, though, there’s still a lot of coloring,
poolside eating,
and napping,
left to do!
Bathing Beauties
Now that the neighborhood swim team has ended their season and morning practices no longer take up pool time in our subdivision’s swimming pool, we’ve made use of our HOA dues at least three times a week. Honestly? The pool is empty on weekday mornings and we have the whole place to ourselves. Best of all, the kids love it!
Since starting their swim lessons just after Christmas, our goal has been to get all three kids safe in the pool. Amelia doesn’t need the noodle or kickboard. Little girl will put on her goggles during swim class, let go of Mr. Rob, and take off for the side, putting her face in the water and coming up for breaths as she kicks and freestyles her way to the edge.
And away she goes! Tell her to kick and she’s off like a shot.
Heath eschews his kickboard for what he calls a Rainbow (or a noodle that’s been curved around his torso). He props up his elbows and is happy as a clam for the duration. When not lounging in his Rainbow, Heath is still my dog-paddler. Take away the noodle and he’s completely vertical in the water, cycling those legs and arms as fast as he can to keep his head up. His technique leaves a lot to be desired, but he’s just a hairsbreadth away from figuring it all out and matching Amelia stroke for stroke!
With the noodle? Our Heath is a streamlined stealth swimmer, kicking like a pro.
Since his “nose job”, Jarrod hasn’t been allowed to frog-jump during his lessons and Mr. Rob has taken it easy with the J-man, so his swimming has fallen off. Our youngest still requires help when swimming without any flotation (read: two fingers under each arm), but he’s getting there. Give him the noodle and kickboard? And he’s very happy.
He’s so excited to be in the water and I have no doubt that by next summer, our Jarrod will be as good as his sister.
All in all, this summer has been great and the swim lessons have been worth it. We’ll keep going, getting even better. Until then, the summer memories are just precious!
Jarrod. Post-Accident.
I haven’t posted in a while because, well, life has been a bit loony. I remember my parents sighing with frustration at the beginning of every summer and I never understood. Now? I get it.
I love my kids, but the thought of keeping them entertained, and myself sane, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for two-and-a-half months has left my mind boggled.
Jarrod, it seems, knows how to bring in the summer with quite a bang. Many of you know that he tripped and fell, at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, and broke his nose. With snarled-up cartilage and two very black eyes, I thought about telling everyone at the local Kroger’s that our son single-handedly beat up a bar full of Hell’s Angels and that he’d now like to be known as Guido, thankyouverymuch. I didn’t take any pictures of him in the immediate aftermath because, well, I don’t want to visually remember his poor face one, five, ten, even fifty years from now. According to the plastic surgeon everything will fall back into place on its own, but that may take six months to a year. Since I can’t very well give up picture-taking for 12 months, I have made a couple of forays into the realm of “It’s OK. I can take pictures now because someday we’ll laugh about this.”
We took the kids out for ice cream at the local Bruster’s and all three asked for strawberry with sprinkles. Little did they know that ice cream, outside, in 90oF melts. Quickly. Down your hand and arm. They weren’t too thrilled but enjoyed themselves anyway.
(Note: I downloaded a new app for my iPhone called Hipstamatic. It’s a funky camera app that gives me different film and lens texture options. I’m enjoying a phone camera way too much!)
My pensive Amelia holding her Snow Angel Kitty. (Seriously. That’s its name.) She’s loved and cuddled that stuffed animal most of her life. He’s more like Dirty Side-of-the-Highway Snow Angel Kitty.
Getting Heath to cooperate when a camera is around is nearly impossible. He either won’t look at you at all or will look straight at the lens with his lower lip caught in his teeth in a toddler grimace. Someday, I’ll get him to smile properly.
And here he is. Jarrod “Guido” Dobson. Eight days post-accident. Will he ever look the same? I hope so. The boy definitely has character and his crooked nose just adds to it.
Getting Schooled
Once a year, the kids at Furtah Prep Montessori are given the chance to teach their parents and grandparents Montessori work (in Montessori, the lessons are called “work.”). For one hour, adults dwarf the small tables, chairs, and shelves in this one-room school. We hunker down around floor mats while our children teach us how to count color cylinders and place them in size order. They may teach us how to count, how to spell, how to stack blocks, or how to identify sea shells. Whatever the lesson, these kids are excited to learn and to show us what they’ve learned.
Last Friday, Nana Jo and I had the honor of “getting schooled” by Amelia, Heath, and Jarrod. We learned many things, the most important being that our kids are thriving and loving every minute of their Montessori experience!
Amelia demonstrated how to stack color blocks corresponding to the number tray.
Heath enjoyed naming and matching his letters.
Jarrod (with a little help from Ms. Denise) stacked the red rods. These rods teach the child how to properly determine length and how to count to 10.
This exercise teaches Amelia how to count and to problem-solve (if there are three green blocks, then those blocks must go on the leaf with three dots).
Heath has been into letters lately! Each packet of letters teaches them about different sounds. This packet teaches them about y, z, q, u, and w.
With this exercise, Jarrod has to match the shapes to the cut-outs. And these shapes aren't easy. Many are similar and Mama had some difficulty. Jarrod, though, had no problems!