Good job Mommy

Over the past few weeks I have noticed Lauren telling me "good job Mommy" when she thinks I am doing something well. Like when I eat all the food on my plate, I hear, "good job mommy." Or when I brush my teeth, I hear, "good job mommy." Or when I put her hair in a pony tail or hold the ice on a boo-boo in just the right place, I hear "good job mommy." I even heard Lauren say, "good job grandma" the other evening when we were at grandma and grandpa's house. I just wish I could remember what grandma was doing because her approvals always take me a little by surprise. I never expected my 2 year old to be telling me "Good Job."

Halloween

Halloween night as Colin was going through some his candy, he held one piece up and asked me what the ball shaped candy was. I told him it was a Jaw Breaker. He looked a little confused. The next morning, while trying to decide what to take in his lunch, I overheard him ask Jordan how soon his jaw would pop back into place and if it would hurt. (He was referring to the jaw breaker again.) Needless to say, I piped in and explained that a jaw breaker would not break his jaw (well at least if he sucked on the candy).

While trick-or-treating a few people asked Lauren what she was. She would look at them and with a smile say, "Lauren." I don't think she totally understood why she was dressed up. However, she did understand that if she said trick-or-treat, she would get candy.

Riding Bikes

This afternoon, the sun started peaking through the clouds so we decided to go outside. It was great bike riding weather so we pulled the bikes and helmets out. Pumped the tires and took off.

First it was the boys and I. While we were waiting for Colin to find his helmet, Jordan took off and found a snail. It was a good sized one. I encouraged Jordan to return it to its home, but instead he decided he needed to carry it on our bike ride. After we had been riding for a few minutes, the snail started coming out of its shell and Jordan didn't want it attaching to his hand. I finally suggested we put the snail on the foot holds of the child carrier on the back of my bike. Let me tell you, that snail enjoyed its ride. It crawled all over that foot hold during the rest of the ride, while we made the loop around the school.

Then Lauren got up from her nap and came outside. She wanted to go for a ride so I put her in the child carrier on the back of my bike and we rode. She had a lot of fun. She liked going fast.

After that, Lauren got her bike out of the shed all by herself and decided she wanted to go for another bike ride. Her most common question during her ride was why the sidewalk had different coloring in it. She had to stop and look at each discoloration along the way. She only allowed me to walk behind her. Every time I got beside her she told me to walk behind her. She also did tricks along the way...like gliding on her bike with her feet lifted up, pedaling with one foot and trying to ride sitting on the bar between the seat and handle bars. She followed the sidewalk all the way down and around the culdesac and back. She did great pedaling. Then on the final stretch as we turning onto our street she was going to fast, turned to sharp and went splat on the ground. She scraped her knee a little bit, but was otherwise okay.

Now I'm looking forward to our next ride.

Craft Time

The other day I talked with one of the daycare educators to see if they could use some "junk" for arts and crafts. I had remembered that they have asked for stuff in the past. She said they would love to have some. Since I had collected some egg cartons, paper towel tubes, toilet paper tubes, etc and was getting tired of them laying around my house I brought them into the daycare yesterday morning. "Yeah! I was getting one more bag of things out of my house," I thought. Until I picked my kids up that afternoon. Both of the boys had done arts and crafts at daycare that day. Not only that, but do you know what they used? Yep, at least half of the egg cartons and cardboard tubes I thought I had gotten rid of. Now they are laying around my house again with some markings, tape attached and filled with lego guys. The boys were so excited to bring their space ships home. I can't say I had the same level of excitement.

Food Fight! and Kiki

Today while we were listening to General Conference, the boys were in the other room playing. Then I heard the following, "Mom can we have some food for a food fight?"

Yeah, I'm sure I will give them some food so they can have a food fight in the living room. (Sarcastically)

My response, "Use the plastic food and remember you have to clean up when you are done." Next thing I knew, there was plastic food flying across the living room.

***

This morning I could smell something stinky when I came downstairs. I suspected Lauren. I asked her if she was stinky and she told me "No". A few minutes later she joined me in the kitchen so I asked her again. At that point, she told me she was Kiki. I asked her if Kiki was stinky and she said "Yes".

(Kiki is a little puppy that Lauren becomes when she doesn't want to be Lauren.)

Reading

I love it when the kids express a pure joy of reading. Whether it is Jordan reading for hours when he should be going to sleep or Colin willingly doing his best to read a book and sounding out new words or Lauren asking for 10 books to be read to her before she goes to bed. Reading is a wonderful thing and something I hope my kids develop a lifelong love for. We spend time each day reading our kids and I love that time. However, I know reading is not one of those things I choose to do for enjoyment, but after recently hearing about some studies of the value of reading to children and the importance of children seeing their parents read, I know I need to spend more time reading for enjoyment where my kids can see me.

The other night the boys were all tucked in bed and quiet. I assumed they had both gone to sleep since I was sure they were tired from the jog-a-thon they had that day. Then 1 1/2 hours after they had been tucked in, I heard some movement upstairs and some footsteps. Then I heard a quite voice say, "Mom, I just finished reading my book." I turned to Tim and said Wow! First of all, I didn't even know Jordan was still awake reading. Second of all, he had just started that chapter book the night before. I hope that Jordan can continue to indulge himself in reading good books as the years go by. I know he will be more successful in school if he does and I know he will learn so much.

Jordan seems to have a fondness of history and historical events. He clings onto what he learns in school and comes home to tell us about these people and events he is learning about. He can often tell me things I don't even know (or remember). He reads articles in his lego magazines and comes up with creative things to build and enter into contests. He is even willing to read to his brother and sister sometimes. What a great example he is to them when he reads to them. I love watching Jordan grow and develop even though I think it is all happening too fast.

Jog-A-Thon

The boys participated in the school jog-a-thon the other day. It is the one big fundraiser the school does each year. To me, I think this is a great idea so we don't feel bombarded with fundraisers throughout the year to buy overpriced candies and cookies and other random things we don't really have the need for.

The day of the jog-a-thon I was able to take some time off work and volunteer to help setup, count laps, and cheer the kids on. Even though my feet got soaked and it was cold, I had a blast and I think most of the kids had fun too, except most of the sixth graders. I think overall they were the least enthusiastic group I saw. ;-)

My boys seem to be natural runners. They are not the fastest runners in their grades, but they certainly have the stamina and willpower to do great. Throughout the day the size of the course changed a little (depending on the grade running), but Jordan ran 17 laps and Colin ran 16 laps (on a slightly smaller course). I was so proud of them because they jogged/ran for almost the entire 20 minutes allotted. They each only stopped once to get a small drink of water and they had fun. In terms of laps run, I think Jordan was 2nd or 3rd among his classmates of 2nd and 3rd graders. I think Colin was 1st in his class. There was one boy that started off faster then Colin, but after 2 or 3 laps he lost all his energy and his mom pulled him around for the remaining time. The funny thing is once the kindergarteners were done running, we put the last lap mark on the papers on their backs as they finished their last lap and then took the papers off their backs. Next thing I realized, Colin was finishing another lap. I told him they were done running and he said, he didn't want to be done. He said, "I am not even tired." That boy had just run for 20 minutes straight and he claimed he wasn't tired. The crazy thing is that he didn't even look that tired. He was a little sweaty though.

I loved watching my kids do well in the jog-a-thon. In my eyes they are the stars. They did so great and I am proud of them. They didn't complain and they just kept on going. It makes me want to get out there and run so we can all run together as a family. However, I have never enjoyed running. It has always been difficult for me, but I want to do it for them. Or maybe, I will let them run with their dad. He enjoys running and is good at it. I think they can all help each other become better. I look forward to watching my boys run more in the future. (Oh and did I mention they were so well behaved that night after expending so much energy.)