Kindergarten

We had purchased for Nicholas a special gift that we wanted to give him when school started.  It was something he wanted, but was not expecting to get yet.  We bought him a “real” Bible.  He didn't want one with just stories in it.  He wanted one like bigger kids.

We decided to give it to him Monday night because Evan wanted to be there to give it to him.  I’ve never seen a little boy so excited.  He jumped up and down.  He thanked us profusely.  He kept saying, “I’m so excited.  I can’t stop thinking about it.”  I told him that I wished everyone felt that way about God’s word.  He didn’t hide his disdain over his old storybook Bible though.  He wanted to throw it in the trash.  Besides, it was ripped.  He failed to mention that it was ripped because he made it that way.

He realizes that there aren't really any pictures in his new Bible and that there a lot of big words.  But, he is looking forward to me helping him read it.  I told him that some people take a year to read it.  We will be using it for school each week though.  I told Evan that when we get frustrated with his behavior, we should remember these times. 

Our real first day of school started off yesterday with a special breakfast that he chose – a cheese-filled coffee cake. Then, he started his new jobs of sweeping the kitchen floor and wiping off the kitchen table.  He told me that he would clean my whole house.  While that offer did seem appealing, I fear that it would create more work for me than I want.  I do like his attitude though and I will be giving him more age-appropriate work as time goes on. 

We spent the next couple of hours working on school.  We’ve increased the workload a bit this year, but it still isn’t too overwhelming.  He did three subjects yesterday.  We also made sure that he spent time practicing his violin.  I think moving up to a bigger size violin has made him sound even better.  It isn’t squeaky anymore. 

Many people probably wonder how or what Daniel did.  He was great.  He sat on my lap; laid on his play mat; and took a nap.  If I needed to give my full attention to Daniel, I gave Nicholas some independent work to do.  It worked out well.  Will everyday be this smooth?  Maybe or maybe not.  I guess that will keep it interesting. 

We still have nap time for Daniel and rest time for Nicholas (and me) in the afternoon.  Overall, I think it was a successful first day!

14 Weeks (aka still 3 Months)

This has been our last full week of summer break.  It was weird to wake up Wednesday morning and realize I could have sent Nicholas off to Kindergarten.  I think he and I are both ready to get school started though. 

Daniel has been on somewhat of a schedule this past week.  He has slept past 7:00 every day.   Granted, he has a couple restless moments at night, but he does not wake up starving.  His first feeding of the morning usually revolves around me trying to get his attention because he is smiling and laughing at our ceiling fan.

Nicholas has really been more interested in Daniel this week.  Even today he was playing a game where he hid behind Daniel to get him to turn his head to the sound of his voice. They had a great time playing yesterday too.  I think Nicholas has really taken off in his role as big brother.

Nicholas starts violin lessons back up tomorrow.  He took out the violin this week for the first time in a long time.  He wasn’t too bad.  He was just a little rusty. 

Overall, things are not always easy, but they’re going really well.  I think with our new routine starting next week that things will get even better.

Helping Daniel to sit up

Daniel will hold things if you give them to him.

Brothers!

Nicholas had Daniel babbling a lot during this book.

Thankful for these boys

Watch Me Grow: 3 Months

A lot of people told me that this is the age where things get “better”.  The baby sleeps a little better.  The baby cries a little less.  So, while I never wanted to wish any of Daniel’s life away, I have been secretly counting down to this milestone. 

We’ve already seen some vast improvements, especially in the area of sleep.  Daniel consistently had been sleeping until 5:00 AM if he was fed at 11:00 PM.  He even stretched that out to 6:15 and 7:15 a couple of times this week.  Now, if only we could get me to sleep through the night.  As long as he is in our room I can hear every move he makes.  He’ll be moving to Nicholas’ room when he sleeps from 7:30/8:00 PM to 7:00 AM.  Nicholas sleeps like a tank, so he shouldn’t be bothered by Daniel’s active sleeping.

Daniel has been making more sounds and we even find him laughing to himself.  He grasping onto to anything he gets his hands on.  He also loves to shove his hands in his mouth.  Sometimes he even gags himself.  He likes to kick anything he can reach, which includes your stomach if you are too close when changing his diaper.

Speaking of diapers, he’s moving to size 2.  He’s also graduating to 3-6 month clothing.  It just seems like overnight that everything is getting too tight. We think he is around 13 lbs.

Daniel still loves me a lot and wants to be with me almost all of the time.  He loves Evan too.  But, he loves to watch Nicholas.  He has turned his head to try to find him when he hears his voice.  Nicholas is a great helper and will entertain Daniel when I need to do something or run upstairs for a few minutes. 

Daniel watching me make dinner in the kitchen.

Trying to grab Nicholas

Do you see me, Big Brother?

Finally, onto today’s pictures . . . They were not easy ones to take.  First, I set everything up and then went to get Daniel out of his bed and dressed.  When I came down I found that Gabby had ripped my sign.   Then, as I tried to take Daniel’s picture, she would not get out of the shot.  I kept moving her, but she came right back.  I guess she feels like she has the right since her 6^th birthday is tomorrow.  But, I got the best I could.

Notice the cat "hiding" behind the chair

She's now moved out to the side.

Now I got her good side.

Finally, she's gone!

3 Months Old Today!!!

13 Weeks

I don’t know when I’m supposed to stop counting weeks, but Daniel is 13 weeks old today.  Tomorrow is another milestone, but we’ll save that for my next post. 

We’ve been pretty busy this past week.  On Sunday we went to our church picnic.  Since we had a lot of people signed up (at least 500) we went to a bigger venue – a Christian camp about 50 minutes away.  Nicholas had a great time!  He was able to swim in Lake Erie.  Also, he and his friends worked on digging a hole “to find water” for hours.  It was nice to see them all work together as a team.  It was just the right temperature for Daniel too. 

I took Nicholas to speech therapy for the last time for a while.   He’s still going, but they have new school hours.  The only day that they have appointments all day is MONDAY!  That means Daniel and I can stay home and Evan can have the pleasure of staying in the waiting room waiting for him.  I think it will be good for them to go out alone together.  I know Evan’s taking him out to lunch this coming Monday.  I’m sure they’ll be a lot more treats during their special time each week.

This was Daniel's reaction when I told him we didn't have to sit in the waiting room anymore!

We went out with my mom yesterday.  Daniel did really well.  It worked out that I was able to feed him before we left and we got home just in time for his next feeding.  He's not a fan of his car seat, so he sat on my lap while we ate.  My mom says that helps me eat slower (I'm super fast!).  Nicholas was a good helper to me at Tr@der Joe's.  They have carts for his size and he loaded it up with what we needed.  Then he handed everything to the cashier when we went to check out.  I know a lot of people don't like to take their kids grocery shopping, but 90% of the time, he's a huge help to me.  

Tomorrow we're signing Nicholas up for swimming lessons again.  They'll start in a couple of weeks.  Violin lessons will also begin soon.  We're trying to do them both on the same morning, so Daniel will be able to come home and have a good afternoon nap.  

We have a very busy weekend planned.  Tomorrow marks a special day for Daniel, so I'll probably have a post up then.

Our Official Kindergarten Year

School starts a week earlier around here this year – August 28^th (in the past we started after Labor Day).   It is weird to think that I could have sent Nicholas to school this year.  However, I am happy to begin another year of homeschool.

I have been planning which curriculum I wanted to use for a while.  Then I bought it piece by piece when there were good sales.   Here’s what we’re doing this year:

Math:  Nicholas has enjoyed this workbook so far.  He’s really doing well and is grasping the concepts pretty quickly.

Horizons Kindergarten Book 2 (He should finish this one after the first few months of school)

Horizons Math Grade 1, Book 1

Spelling:  I can’t say enough about this spelling program.  It uses auditory, visual and kinesthetic techniques to help your child learn.  I think this program also helped Nicholas learn to read.

All About Spelling Level 2

Reading:  This program has been fun for Nicholas.  Because he did spelling first, it seems a little easy and more like review for him.  I really enjoy the worksheets that help with reading fluency though, as well as the stories he has to read.

All About Reading Level 1 (We will finish this before the school year ends.  We’ll probably pick up Level 2, but I haven’t purchased it yet).

I am going to read him various chapter books throughout the year.  Also, he will have independent reading time.

Social Studies/Geography:  Nicholas is going to learn about maps, continents, animals, land formations, etc. in this book.  We’re going to work on it probably twice a week.  I also have different topics throughout the school year that we will work on, such as the American flag, elections, and President’s Day.

Beginning Geography, Grades K-2

Various topics and library books

Science:  This very interesting text book (I read it from cover to cover in just a couple of days) also includes an accompanying junior notebook.  There are no tests, but activities, experiments, and projects that will help him grasp the material.

Exploring Creation with Astronomy (He is very excited about this one.  In fact, he and Evan are going to do most of the experiments and projects together on Evan’s days off.)

  

Bible:

We are going to read the Jesus Storybook Bible and then later in the week we will read the actual text from the Bible.  I think I am going to have him draw what he hears me read.

Grammar:  This book involves a lot of oral work.  There is a lot of memorization which will be great for my little sponge.  He will be learning about nouns, pronouns, verbs, as well as memorizing poems.

First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind – Level 1

Handwriting:  We did the Kindergarten book last year.  It is not his favorite subject, but he doesn’t hate it. 

            A Reason For Handwriting A

It sounds like a lot, but other than handwriting, no subject will be done every day.  I’ve split it up so each day is not too overwhelming.  He will also be taking art/music classes at a local homeschooling school for the arts. 

We’re both excited to get started.  We’ve already purchased his school supplies.  I ordered a couple more surprises for him yesterday.  I think it will be a fun year.  We don’t have to report him to the school district this year, but we will next year, so I’m going to work on my record keeping skills as practice. 

Onto my next student:

Daniel – Baby School

Learn to roll over (back to front)

Sit up

Eat Baby Food

Crawl

And, maybe even walk

I’m not really worried about homeschooling Nicholas while having an infant.  Our schedule is flexible and Daniel has naps and also loves to spend a good chunk of time on his play mat. 

Here are my little students:

 19 Days and Counting!

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

I am so glad that the temperature has gone down a lot this week.  It has been so nice.  Even Daniel has enjoyed some fresh air the last couple of days.  However, I think I sweated more last week than I have all summer.  I thought I was coming down with something the whole week.  I was experiencing night sweats every night and just didn’t feel so well during the day.  Then last Thursday I noticed that our thermostat was showing that our house was not cooling down.  We had the A/C repairman come out on Friday and I found out that we had no Freon at all.  It’s all fixed now and we’re back to feeling cool.  No more night sweats!

Daniel keeping cool during his nap.

Keeping cool while playing on the computer

Then we went to my cousin’s wedding on Saturday.  It was outdoors on a 90 degree day!  Thankfully, we had a huge fan by our table where Daniel and I camped out. Once the sun went down a little, it felt a lot better.  It was a very nice wedding and we all had a lot of fun. 

An attempt at a family picture

Our view of the ceremony

Daniel's hair was getting blown by the fan.

My guys

Jim and Jessica

Look who joined them!

I put this one in black and white because the coloring was all off in the picture.

I know Nicholas enjoyes the candy on the table (for ice cream sundaes) and the cupcake and candy table.  When they announced that the cupcake table was opened, I have never seen a little boy hurry so fast to get over there.

We also had a good time being silly in the photo booth. 

Daniel did really well.  He got stroller rides around the pavilion by G.G.  And, he even took a nice long nap during part of the reception.  Both boys made it easy for us to enjoy ourselves.

Taking a little nap

He definitely had a good time!

We headed home after 9:00 though.  We like to go out on a high note and it was way past Nicholas’ bed time.  Also, we had to teach at church on Sunday, so we wanted to get some sleep ourselves.  Daniel was nice enough to take an 11:00 feeding and then not again until 5:30. 

We finished our weekend (Monday is part of the weekend for Evan) at his sister’s house.  Nicholas swam a little bit with his cousin Haley.  At first he seemed timid and I wondered what level I should sign him up for swimming lessons if he was acting so afraid.  But, after a little bit, he got comfortable and raced Haley across the pool without any floaties. 

We’re looking forward to a little more down time most of this week.  My goal is to get Daniel on a better nap schedule.  He’s doing okay, but we haven’t been consistent enough.  School is starting soon, so hopefully, he’ll be more regulated by then!

Closing in on 11 Weeks

It has been interesting experiencing both domestic and international adoptions.  We love having Daniel home since birth, but at the same time, it is hard to be reminded about how much we missed with Nicholas.  Nicholas often asks us if he did certain things or how he looked as a baby.  I think the earliest picture I’ve seen of him was from about 11 months old.   I am happy for all the milestones we’ve experienced with him so far, but I continually pray that God would give him peace and an understanding of His sovereignty as he gets older. 

In regards to God, Nicholas talks about his faith on a regular basis.  Often times in the car he asks me some pretty hard questions.  Sometimes he is giving me a theology lesson.  This past week we were talking about church and how it is important not to just think about Jesus once a week, but how we should think and talk about him every day.

Nicholas had his last session of summer camp this past week.  He had a lot of fun.   When I was driving him there on Wednesday he told me a story about Monday’s camp.  He said that they were going over the days of the week and he answered two questions while he was going to the bathroom.  I guess the walls are paper thin.  From what I hear from other people, especially at church, my Nicholas likes to answer questions.  Apparently, even a bathroom break couldn’t stop him from participating.

I also got some positive feedback from Nicholas’ speech therapist.  Not only is Nicholas doing well with his letter sounds, but he blew his therapist away with his other knowledge.  He was reading and telling his speech therapist about different punctuation he knew.  I can only take credit for so much because Nicholas is such a little sponge. 

Daniel continues to be a joy.  He smiles a lot now!  He babbles too.  I think it is safe to say that I am one of his favorite people.  He has been watching me a lot.  If I dare to leave his line of sight for any reason, he often lets me know he’s not happy.  His fussy time is shortening in the evening too.  But, we have found that a good view of a ceiling fan can pretty much bring him back to contentment. 

One thing that Nicholas never had was a strong attachment to a stuffed animal or blanket.  Sure, he liked one of his animals for a brief time better than others, but not enough to need it to sleep with or bring him security.  It will be interesting to see if Daniel has a strong attachment to something.  For now, he has Gerald.  That’s what I named his giraffe.  I put him in the crook of his arm and he holds onto him.  Since he’s started trying to grasp things, we started bringing Gerald with us to keep him entertained. 

Finally I love Daniel’s hair after I wash it.  It gets pretty wavy.  He doesn’t seem to mind when we give him a bath.  I love how much hair he has though.  I see an early haircut in his future though. 

We have some busy weekends ahead.  We’re hoping there is time to rest in there.  Evan’s been working like crazy and I haven’t had a good nap in some time.  But, we are looking forward to all the activities that are ahead.