Author: Jodi

Xan-Man…

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Xander had his first week of no tears at preschool a few weeks ago (about four weeks into the school year) and has not looked back…yay! It’s been so amazing to see the difference that even just a month has made in his confidence level.

He’s also taken really quickly to his Sunday School class (one of my dearest friends is his teacher and her son is one of his good buddies and classmates) and is enjoying his bible study class as well, learning about the book of Matthew.

Here he is having a blast at gymnastics, and here are some of his sweet, most recent one-liners:

“I love God because he’s so nice. He just hugs me and kisses me.”

“Dad, there’s a sad little dinosaur at the beach that wants me.”

Playing in the Rain…

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We woke up to a rainy Saturday morning, so the boys and I donned our rain gear over our pajamas after breakfast and checked it out. While Xander decided to work on his Fun to Cut book at the kitchen table and Roman enjoyed toodling around in the backyard with Petra, Jonas and I harvested all of the carrots from our garden (they made for a fun gift for a clean eating neighbor and a delicious base for some crock pot vegetable beef soup). I love slow and easy, rainy weekend mornings with the boys.

Wagon Ride…

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After we dropped Jonas and Xander off at preschool, Roman and I spent some quality time together outside. We went for a walk around our neighborhood trail and listened to music, birds singing, and airplanes flying overhead. He rode in the wagon some and walked around quite a bit, gathering up some of his favorite things to stash inside the wagon (like rocks, sticks, leaves, and acorns). I am so thankful for one on one time with my precious little Roman.

Creative Thinker…

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Jonas is such a creative thinker…

The other day on the way to school, I was talking with him about four way stops and taking turns (trying to tie it in to why it’s important for him and his brothers to learn how to take turns), and he asked me why fire trucks don’t. I was totally amazed by the fact that he would think about something like that!

This morning he came downstairs and showed me a race car he had built from an airplane…way cool!

Letter Sound Toy Wash…

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While I was pulling together pictures for Jonas and Xander’s All About Me projects at school, I realized that it has been a while since I’ve been intentional about planning fun learning activities for the boys. (I think the energy for it comes and goes in waves and lately I’ve been a little overwhelmed with our new fall routine and with the idea of trying to differentiate for three different stages and styles of learning…bless all of you homeschooling moms and teachers of every kind.) All of that to say, I thought I’d try to baby step back into it with this Letter Sounds Toy Wash that I saw on Pinterest (I’m loving my Activities for Kids board…it’s such a great way to collect and store links to ideas).
I ended up setting it up with two sets of sidewalk squares with the letters B, C, and D to try to give the big boys separate spaces to work in (I figured I’d put Roman near Jonas since Jonas doesn’t mind his toddler-ness quite as much as Xander does). They each had their own soap pump, washcloth, and bucket of water. Jonas and Xander both had fun running inside to find toys for their squares that started with a certain letter sound. They both also enjoyed being big brothers by finding toys for Roman to wash too. It’s always interesting how these sorts of activities morph…haha…but we all still had fun.

Xander’s X…

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Xander asked me to show him how to draw an “X” this morning. So, I used Aunt Mary’s dot-to-dot trick, and he whipped several out with a big smile on his face. I decided to step away to give him some space to do draw a few on his own, and he ended up getting really frustrated and wanting to quit. My heart just went out to him because I know so well that inner critic with the impossibly high self standard that compares itself with others and what they’re able to do. One of my daily struggles, as a mother, is trying to learn how to embrace that imperfection. So, I hugged him and talked with him about all of the X’s he drew that looked how he wanted them to and all of the X’s that were his practice in getting there. And because they’re both so important, and a part of the process, we decided to give them all a success sticker. I’m so thankful for how God uses my children to teach me.

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Table Time…

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I finally found a set of tracing and cutting books for Xander (he’s totally into both right now) and a beginning math book for Jonas (he’s all about numbers lately). They were both completely engaged with them this morning at the kitchen table…and even Roman stayed in his seat (he is a tireless climber) for stickers and dot markers which are two of his current favorites. Yay for table time!!!

Jonas’ First Soccer Game…

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Jonas had his very first soccer game this morning. He looked like such a big guy out there, running down the field…kicking the ball. He even got back in the game after getting kicked in the knee, playing defense…it took him a little while to shore himself up but he did it. I told him later that I was so proud of him for showing such good character by getting back in the game…having perseverance. He said, “Is that Spanish?” I laughed and said, “No…it’s English for hanging in there even when things are tough.” Yay for Jonas! Yay for perseverance! And yay for the patience and the heart of little people sports team coaches!

Fall Creek Falls…

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Tom and I went on a two day/one night backpacking/camping trip in Fall Creek Falls State Park this week!!! We are indebted to my precious mom who graciously took care of our three wild boys for us (they all ended up getting sick but were grinning from ear to ear when we got back from all of the quality time they got to spend with Maw). We hiked 12 miles (7 fairly level miles the first day and 5 very up and down miles the second day) with 20 pound packs. All I’m going to say is…I’m not getting any younger and…Ibuprofen is a good thing. HaHa! It was so much fun but it WORE ME OUT…it’s taken me a good two days to recover. It’s amazing how something so physically demanding can be so rejuvenating but it was…and spending time with just Tom in the mountains was the absolute best.

Jonas…

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Jonas is loving being back in preschool (and he hasn’t been the least bit phased by the jump from two days to four days in Pre-K). He’s having so many helpful moments these days…helping himself and helping others…and continues to crack me up with his creative way of thinking and talking:

“Where did you go wind? I want you to do that to my back. The wind was tapping me, and I liked it.”

Eighteen Months…

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In his eighteenth month, Roman is: verbally ALL OVER IT, saying things like “too” and “turn” and “share” in regards to his brothers , “yay” and “happy” when he’s having a good time, “nd” when his sippy cup is “empty” and “lahloh” for “water”, “now” like Mommy does when he’s all set after getting his hands and face cleaned up after a meal or after a diaper change and “hands” when he wants to wash his hands, “but” for “belly button”, and “breat” for “break” and “peat” for “peach”; delving into two and three word combinations like “Wow, fish bath!” when he saw the fish in the aquarium at the zoo and “Hi, fly fly!” when he saw a butterfly in the garden and “Go, GoGo!” when he cheers Jonas on at soccer games, “up high” and “down low” which is one of his favorite games right now, and my personal favorites…”GoGo” for “JoJo” and “ZanZan” for “XanMan”; doing a lot of pretend play; going down the stairs; taking one afternoon nap; wearing us out with his incessant climbing; and enjoying table time with stickers, dot markers, and play-doh.

Xan-Man…

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Xander is getting to be such a big guy all of the sudden…he’s starting to learn how to share and how not to whine, he’s amazed me more than once by asking if things have peanuts in them, and he’s really starting to love going to preschool two days a week. Here are a few of his most recent one liners:

“Look, Mom. It’s a volcano with snow on it, and it doesn’t erupt.”
“Where’s God, Mom?”

Lucky Ladd…

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Jonas, Xander, and I went out to Lucky Ladd this morning while Tom spent some quality time with Roman. They had a blast…feeding the animals, playing in the corn and sand boxes, going down the slides, eating picnic lunches, taking a tractor and a train ride, and cooling off in the splash pad.

Mascots…

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The boys were SO cute at Jonas’ soccer practice tonight. Xander had fun using cones as hats, and Roman enjoyed being Jonas’ soccer ball roadie. Jonas ran some tight defense which was great fun to watch…go, JoJo…or as Roman would say…go, GoGo!

School Picnic…

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We went to the boys’ school picnic tonight. They had a big time coloring on the paper covered picnic tables, playing soccer with Daddy, and rolling down a grassy hill with Jonas’ fun friend Keatyn (who was in his class last year). (Note to self…Roman and picnic tables don’t mix….notice the tired look on my face in the picture with him sitting on my lap. I saw a mom who had brought a booster seat and strapped it to the picnic table…she said she worried it was too much, which is probably what stopped me from bringing one, but it ended up being a stroke of brilliance for a more peaceful dinner for her family…next time I’ll trust my mommy gut.)