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 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!
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?”
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.
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!
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.)
Today was Xander’s first day of preschool! He was so funny about it all morning…”Mommy, I don’t want to go to preschool” then “I go to preschool two days” then “Mommy, I don’t want to go to preschool” then “Do they have snacks there?”…up and down (so clearly illustrative of anyone’s heart, if they’re honest, stepping out into a new situation). He got a little nervous when we started walking down the hallway, so we asked him to help us drop Jonas off first. Because it was the first day, Mrs. Cathy let us come in and get him settled. We helped him find his cubby, put away his backpack and lunchbox, and find his favorite toy from Get Acquainted Day (magnets). He puckered up when we said our goodbyes, but we got an email a short time later from the preschool director saying that he was doing great and busy painting. Roman and I stopped by the park on the way home and had so much fun playing…just him and me. It reminded me of not too long ago when Xander and I went to that same park after we said goodbye to Jonas on his first day of preschool. Time is a funny thing. I’m starting to sense a little bit of that speeding up thing that people keep telling me about that I’ve always had such a hard time believing. Now that I’m beginning (key word…beginning) to emerge from the survival mode fog, I’m seeing some truth in it…pretty sobering yet inspiring stuff.
Jonas smooth-sailed through his first morning back to preschool. After hugs and kisses at his classroom door, Xander, Roman, and I met a small group of moms and kids from our moms’ group at the park for a play date.
We went out to MeMe and PaPa’s this morning for a visit. The boys picked tomatoes with MeMe in the garden, chased the cat, played play-doh with PaPa and Aunt Jean, joshed around with Aunts Julie and Jeanne and Cousins Jordan and Dylan, and ate a lion’s share of the super yummy lunch MeMe made. Here are a few pictures of our Sunday fun…
Jonas had his first soccer practice tonight. It was so fun suiting him up in his shin guards and cleats with his little brothers circled around him.
When he went into the backyard to test everything out before dinner, Xander wanted to take a turn not with just kicking the ball but with wearing the shin guards and cleats as well. We just so happened to have some extras in the closet from our sweet next door neighbors who have three older boys…everything was a little big but it did the trick.
Jonas was WORN out after practice but seemed to have fun with all of the different drills (his favorite of which seemed to be chasing his coach while holding a neon plastic square with a hole in the center in front of his face).
Xander and Roman were just free styling…rolling in the grass, climbing on camp chairs, hanging upside down from the bench, trying to move the cones in the field, drinking Jonas’ water, pushing buttons on the coach’s calculator clipboard…I mean all over. We had fun though!
I love Xander’s drawing of “a fruit and me”…
Xander had his Get Acquainted Day at preschool today. I was probably more nervous than he was about it (amazingly enough) and was SO excited to see him being a little cautious but not totally freaking out like he normally would have in that new situation. Thanks be to God for reminding my heart to pray for him last night and this morning when I was starting to get anxious about how he would react…so many times that’s not my first response as a parent and oh my how it needs to be! Xander met his sweet teachers and classmates, checked out his cubby and rest mat, said hello to “Marshmallow” the class guinea pig, tried out the kid-sized bathroom, played with cars and puzzles and magnets, and even worked on a few art projects. I’m so excited for my little Xan-Man and for all that he will learn body, soul, and spirit in his first year of preschool…I know it will be so good for him and for us.
Here’s Xan-Man posing with a foam letter house he built for his little lambie and dinosaur yesterday. This morning he was having fun cutting pieces of painter’s tape to make a solid space to put his alphabet magnets.
Tom found a little baby bunny in our backyard this morning! Luckily, he was able to rescue him from Petra. I called a small animal hospital, and they recommended putting the baby bunny back in his spot and keeping Petra away from him during the day and overnight in hopes that his mommy will come back and move him. If he’s still there in the morning, they suggested that we take him to Walden’s Puddle, a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Joelton, TN. I’m so thankful for places like this that take care of all creatures great and small!
We stopped off at the train yard this afternoon for a quick look at the trains…look at those four handsome boys!!!
Here’s my little tree hugger…and kisser…
The boys and I dug up some of our carrots from the garden this morning. (Some of them weren’t quite as ready as others…see the ones in Xander’s hands…but we’re still learning which ones to pull up and which ones to leave in the ground…Xan-Man loves “the baby ones” anyway, so no loss.) As I was digging them out (I love the look of them fresh from the garden with their green tops and clumps of dirt), Jonas said, “Mommy, maybe that’s why we have rabbits in our garden because we have so many carrots!” True, true…we have a little furry friend who has made a home under our huge rosemary. Yay for carrots fresh from the garden and yay for little boys who love to hold, wash, and eat them!!!
We were out in the front yard this morning, just tootling around…Jonas and Xander were playing with bubbles, and I had set up the water table for Roman. Pretty soon after, Roman found a big clump of mud on the driveway and squished his hands in it and then proceeded to smear it on both sides of his face and all over his chest. I’m talking Native American warrior here. He climbed up into the water table because he’s not much for just standing around, so I decided to just rinse him off a little bit with the water. Then, Jonas and Xander started grabbing dirt and mulch and leaves and flower blooms and dropping them all in the water table, complete with neon plastic frogs and snakes and lizards…a wooden spoon and a few plastic shovels later…and what do you have?!? Mud soup. Some days you just have to go with it, right?
Since Xander will be starting preschool this fall (his first day is in just a few short weeks), I thought I’d give him a lunch bag practice round at home today. Jonas joined in too…they were so adorable…almost made me want to pucker up at the preciousness of their sweet little hearts being such big boys and such little boys all at the same time. (Oh and yes…that’s marker on Jonas’ face…and arms and legs…he wanted to be a Christmas tree today…ha!)
Xander is starting to share a little more and throw crying fits a little less (hopefully this is the beginning of a new phase). He read his first word, “love”, on his favorite “All You Need Is Love” Beatles shirt several days ago. And he’s getting geared up for preschool with his new backpack (he liked Thomas the Train) and his new rest mat cover (he picked out a really great fabric for me to make him one with white shooting stars on a red background…I loved that he gravitated towards a non-kid/non-charactery fabric…so cool). He’s also riding his tricycle like a BOSS (he got away from me the other day on it, pedaling steady as she goes up two big hills…and I was running like a crazy woman to keep up with him).
Here’s one of his most recent breakfast table statements to Jonas, as he was contemplating jumping out of his chair:
“If you jump on your head, you’ll die and die and die until you’re all the way to God. That’s silly.”
