Merry Christmas!

We hope you and yours have a beautiful Christmas holiday.

If you need a laugh to alleviate the stress of the season, check out Lisa and Logan at this link: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/XTqPurjTC66Y10YoWNxA

Or this one:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/CqmAEdGKLZQWMJO6tZrv

Isn't is Just Amazing How Our Little Ones

help us be better?


Here are a few lessons I have learned from Logan lately:



1. He insists on picking up litter and throwing it in the garbage can. I find myself spotting trash in parking lots, and trying to steer him clear. He inevitably spots it and reminds me,



"Mom, if we don't pick it up, who will?"



2. While getting my shoes on the other day, he looked at me, smiled, and said,



"Mom, when you are old, I am going to tie your shoes for you."



3. He reminds us to say testimonies during family home evening, and at church. He eagerly volunteers to go first.



4. Recently after a long exhausting day, Logan was following me around the house whining. I turned and snapped at him,



"Logan, I have had it! Go get ready for bed!"



He dropped his head, turned to walk out of the room, and started to cry. He looked over his shoulder and tearily said,



"Mom, I'm going to say a prayer for you that you can be nice."



He knelt down right there in the doorway, bowed his head, and prayed aloud through tears that I could be a nice mommy, and that he could forgive me.



Here I thought parenting was about helping and training him, but it just amazes me how often the tables turn.

Onety

Logan,

You made a very logical conclusion this week. You counted to nineteen, and then proceeded to onety, onety one, onety two, onety three, etc.

It really does make sense, right?

Onety
Twenty
Thirty
Forty
etc...

As I considered your logic, I did determine that according the pattern in the Base 10 system, onedy might be a more logical replacement for 10 and the subsequent teen numbers, rather than an insertion prior to twenty; however, your observation was still a very good one.

Unfortunately, despite your insightful discovery, we'll have to work on returning to the universally used number system.

Your conceptual understanding of place value at age 3 is absoultely delightful. Nice thinking, son.

Love, Mom

Raking

takes longer with 3 year olds, but it is much more fun than raking alone.

My 3 Year Old Has a Job that Pays $30 an Hour

We had a very plentiful pumpkin crop this year. After all of Logan's sweat and toil by my side in the garden, I thought he might enjoy selling a few. Well, word of the sale traveled through the neighborhood of grandmas and grandpas we live in. Even after his Saturday afternoon sidewalk display ended, we had phone calls requesting a visit to Logan's pumpkin patch. Despite the low prices he offered (well, they were low after we helped him adjust his original suggested price of $20 a pumpkin), he made a killing. Pictures of the pumpkin sale will have to wait. They are on Topher's computer which is being repaired.

For now, here is Logan with a few pumpkins he saved to carve.

Grad School

I may not be blogging much for a while. I'm headed here for a Masters Degree. I'll pop in when I can.

Fall Pictures in the Backyard

Ready for School?

This week I had a short conversation with a barely 5 year old boy. He is entering kindergarten. My heart ached as I saw several behavioral and academic indications that he would struggle in school. He is delayed. Sadly, he may have been ready to enter school by now if his parents had worked with him on some academic and social skill development. He may not catch up without intervention. He is a bright child who hasn't had much training or adult interaction. I wanted to tell his mom to keep him home another year. I didn't. It really isn't my business. I probably couldn't have extinguished her determination to get "free day care" as soon as possible anyway.

I'm not writing this post as a parent. I'm writing it as a teacher. Being a parent is hard, and sometimes there are factors outside our control that impact our children's ability to be successful in school. There are, however; many factors within our control. Moms and dads can do much to prepare their young children to be successful in school. Seeing this young boy reminded me to re-double my efforts to teach Logan. I don't want him to struggle because I didn't help him prepare. Below are some skills we have been working on at home. While this teaching is very intentional, it is rarely formal. It just happens as opportunities arise throughout the day:

1. Coin recognition
2. Rhyming
3. Letter name and sound recognition (while shopping, reading books, driving in the car)
4. Sight word recognition
5. Tracing/writing names of family members
6. "Reading" books (Even if they are memorized, this is a great confidence builder. Logan has a pile of books in his room that he can "read" to me.)
7. Following directions the first time
8. Social problem solving skills
9. Taking turns
10. Simple math story problems (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
11. Following the rules in games
12. Measurement (How many blocks long is the couch?, play with a measuring tape, measurement while cooking)
13. Counting
14. Shapes and colors
15. Exposure to narrative and informational texts (I often ask Logan to predict words or events as we read, I also ask him to re-tell portions of the story as we go.)
16. Singing
17. Story telling (Logan tells the stories)
18. Working on a difficult task for an extended period
19. Address and phone number
20. Fine motor skill activities (stringing beads, coloring, playing with small toys)
21. Respect for adults other than me
22. Saying thank you
23. Cleaning up after himself
24. Geography (we look at maps and discuss where animals live and why)
25. Drawing pictures

I am amazed at how receptive Logan is. He is like a little sponge, and he longs to be involved and to be taught new things. Sometimes children lose that desire for interaction. I guess I'll take advantage of it while I can.

Pet

As you may have noticed in previous posts, our Grandma is cool. Sometimes, she catches pets for Logan. Her latest catch was a very small toad she found hopping through the grass in her yard.

My idea was to let Logan play with him for a few hours, and then let him "live in our ditch"... (let him go). After a mild chastisement from my mother for denying my child the joy of such a wonderful pet, I conceded.

And built him a terrarium.

Logan named him, Caterpillar Toad Boy (The toad eats caterpillars, and he is a boy... what brilliant logic.) He also eats ants, which we catch and feed to him daily.

He eats them like this... sort of.

Ribbit.

Irrigation Day

Sometimes I struggle to get a good smile out of Logan when it is time for a picture. Not on irrigation day.
It is the best day of the week.


What more could a boy want than to go fishing off a bridge in his own back yard? Who cares if there aren't even any fish!

We know our Uncle John would not approve of this rudimentary method of recreation...

but we do.

On irrigation day, we don't wash our faces.

Potato bugs are abundant. Today there was even a bonus (not pictured). Logan caught a "swim worm". It was a worm swimming in the water. It is now living in a jar in his bedroom.

Please notice the twisted overalls. Logan dresses himself in his best watering clothes on irrigation day, and heads for the ditch.

According to Logan, there really isn't a better way to cool off than sitting in the cold gutter...

and visiting with fellow irrigation day lovers as they ride past.