My Avid Reader

Let me just start out with saying that I am not an avid reader. I was a good reader in my early elementary school years, but reading was never one of those things I developed a love for as I grew up. Actually, I have struggled with reading most of my life. I have not necessarily struggled with the reading part, but the understanding part has always been a challenge for me. I am also a very slow reader, so that has hindered me slightly as well. I have always known the importance of reading though and Tim and I have always tried to instill the importance of reading in our children since they were babies. However, I never thought I would have a child that I could not keep up with. A child that before the age of 8 would read books I had never read. Well, I do, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Jordan is my avid reader. He reads all kinds of books and has all kinds of interests. Anything from science fiction, to history, to plain silly books. He loves his Lego Club magazines too. Finding books for Jordan to read and reading with Jordan has actually been a great opportunity for me. I have had the chance to read books that I should have read when I was younger, but never did. Well recently he voiced an interest in reading Harry Potter. I haven't actually read the Harry Potter books, so I went to my sister (a school teacher) to ask her advice about whether they were appropriate for his age. She said that books 1 and maybe 2 would be alright, but she would not let him read beyond that yet. So with that advice I let him borrow book 1 from my mom. He began reading it right away. He read it every night. Before I knew it, he reported to me that he had finished the book. (As a side note: Whenever Jordan finishes a book at night when he is in bed, he always walks to the top of the stairs, calls down to us and reports that he has finished another book.) Anyway, so soon after that, he came home from school with book number 2 that he had borrowed from the school library. It did not take him long to read that one either. I wondered how much he really understood in these books, but when we watched the movies and he could tell me everything that was going to happen in the movie before it actually happened, I figured he was mostly understanding what he was reading in the books. He told me that he likes reading BIG books and is a little disappointed that he has to wait a while before I will let him read anymore Harry Potter books.

I remember when I read my first BIG book (in 6th grade). It was a little over 200 pages long and it took me FOREVER to finish it. I was reading it for a book report and struggled to get through it. I didn't think I would ever finish it. It amazes me that Jordan (in the 2nd grade) can read BIG books and actually looks forward to the challenge.

Jordan also loves reading Geronimo Stilton books. He can zip through one of these books in a day or two, so they don't keep him busy long, but lucky for us there are a lot of books in the series.

I hope this love of reading continues as he gets older and we can continue to find books he enjoys reading. Jordan truly is blessed with a wonderful talent and ability to be able to read and understand the way he does.

Choir Concert

Several months ago, Jordan decided to join his school choir. When he told me, I was a little surprised, but I encouraged him to do it because I know that he has potential. Singing has kind of been one of those love/hate relationships for him. He likes music. He likes singing along to music he hears on occassion. However, he often refuses to sing in Primary at church. He says he just doesn't like too and he doesn't like the songs. He chooses not to sing at daycare concerts because he just doesn't want to. I asked him what makes school choir so different? Why did he want to sing in the school choir? He did tell me a couple of his friends were in the choir. He also told me that he would get to go on a field trip and miss school. Then he told me he joined because he liked the songs they were singing. He was learning some Beatles songs like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Drive My Car", and "Twist and Shout". He liked these songs, so he liked being in choir. So last week, he participated in the NE Quad choir concert for the school district that included the high school and middle school choir's as well as 4 elementary school choirs. He did well, and I am happy to see him try new things. Personally, I hope he can find a joy in singing and recognize that he may not always get to sing songs he loves to sing, but we will always enjoy listening to him.

Where's the Birthday Cake?

On Saturday we went out to an early dinner with my parents to celebrate my mom's birthday, which is today. We had not really planned any other birthday party celebration, but when we realized we would not be able to get together on Sunday afternoon to celebrate, we stopped to get grandma a gift of some pretty flowers on our way back to their house after dinner. When we got their we were relaxing and chatting while the kids were playing. Then someone mentioned cake. Unfortunately, we had not planned ahead, so we did not have any birthday cake for grandma. However, Lauren did not believe this could be possible. She insisted there was cake and pulled grandma out to the garage to find the cake. (Usually, when we celebrate a birthday at grandma and grandpa's house the cake is kept in the garage until we celebrate.) Anyway, so Lauren was puzzled when she couldn't find a cake in the garage. She had grandma even open the freezer to look in there. Instead of bringing in a cake, grandma and Lauren found some cookies they could bake. In the meantime, my younger sister left to run a couple of errands. She returned while Lauren and grandma were cooking the cookies and when she came in the door, Lauren ran around the corner to greet her and ask her if she got grandma's cake. My sister said the look on Lauren's face was priceless. Once again Lauren was disappointed because my sister had no cake for grandma. From this experience, I have learned how important birthday cake is for all birthday celebrations, or there may be a little girl that is very disappointed.

The good news though is that my dad brought home some cheesecake to share with my mom and they were going to enjoy that for her birthday tonight.

He Can Ride

The other night, the sun was shining when we got home from work and school. Of course, with any sign of sun, the kids want to play outside. Colin asked for his bike, and asked for me to take the training wheels off. He has asked several times in the last several months, but I had not taken them off since I spent the first month or two of summer taking the training wheels off and then putting them back on because he was not quite ready. By the end of summer when he asked, I told him he would have to wait a while longer. However, I had noticed that he seemed to be balancing better and relying less on the training wheels, so I decided to let him try again. Once the training wheels were off, I held the back of the bike while he got on and helped him get started. He rode all the way down the street and I hardly hung onto his bike at all. I didn't actually let go all of the way because I thought for sure if I did, he would topple right over. I told him I was barely hanging on and that I would let go next time. He started riding back up the street and I let go. He rode all by himself. It took a little more practice for him to be able to start, but once he got started he could ride. Before we know it, he will be able to zoom around the neighborhood on his bike with his brother.

State Capitals

We went to my parents house for dinner last weekend to celebrate Lauren's 3rd birthday. During dinner we were talking about the names of the states and their capitals. I asked the boys if they knew what the capital of Washington was. Colin quickly responded, "W". We got a chuckle out of the total innocence and correctness of his answer. Afterall, the capital letter of Washington is W.

"I am 16"

I was getting ready for church today and while I was putting on my makeup, Lauren comes in and says she wants makeup on too. Tim overheard and he told her, "Not until you're 16." She said, "I am 16."

On another note, Lauren is officially potty trained and has gone more than 2 weeks with no accidents. Once we finally got her to go in the toilet, she was like a pro pretty much overnight. We are very proud of her for being such a big girl.

Potty Training

Lauren thinks she is potty trained. The only problem is that she is missing one key element of potty training. She doesn't actually put the potty in the toilet. She has everything else perfected though. She tells us she needs to go, she pulls her pants up and down all by herself, she gets on and off the toilet, she sits on the toilet with no potty seat, she washes her hands. You'd think she was potty trained watching and listening to her, but we are still missing the key element... ACTUALLY GOING POTTY.