Those Crazy Kids

It's been a while since I really updated on what the kids have been up to.  It feels like I used to say something at least weekly, if not more often than that.

Melinda:
Melinda has been very busy working on learning how to read, of course!  We've really been enjoying How To Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  I highly recommend it to anyone out there who is interested in teaching their own young children how to read!  I really love the method they use.  And we're now 28 lessons in (we do 2 lessons most days, because she's just been so eager to keep going), and she's reading 4-lined "stories", with hardly a hitch.  Her biggest difficulty is with words like "the" and "that", or "can" and "cat" - not paying attention to the ending and just guessing what it will be.  But she's getting better, practicing every day, and starting to be able to read words without sounding them out really slowly first, and recognizing a lot of words by sight.  It's really cool!  I'm so proud of her, and she loves it so much, too!  Here's a sampling of what she's read over the last few days (each "story" on its own line):

a sock is in the sun.  the sock is on me.
an ant is fat.  it can sit and eat.
a man sat on a ram.  that ram can not see.
the sock is near a man.  a cat is in that sock.

Melinda also learned how to skip this past week.  While we were singing "Skip to My Lou", she asked me what skipping is.  I showed her, and she picked it up in all of about 5 seconds.  I was so impressed!

Art Class is over now, and she's sad about that.  I think we'll try and find some swimming lessons next, even though we're just getting to the cold weather.  I think it will just be more worthwhile for her to learn how to swim than to pay money to let her hop around a gym or something. 

While I was out of town, Melinda didn't even miss me.  In fact, she only said "I miss" one time, on Sunday afternoon.  And that was to tell Jesse, "I miss Alex." She had a lot of fun with Jesse staying home.  Maybe a little too much fun.  I had to switch back to the time difference between coasts, and had a sluggish few days in the process while I was a little sleep starved (Yeah, Alex had to adjust, too.  What fun...).  She was less than thrilled that I didn't immediately rush them out to a playground or jump at the opportunity to play games.  But boy, oh, boy, did she ever get excited about having Alex home again.  Poor kid didn't know what hit him!!

Jacob:
Jacob has been eager to do reading lessons right along with Melinda.  The program, being meant for "bright" 3.5 year-olds or older children, is still a little bit beyond him, but he's known his alphabet for a solid year now, and he can sound out any word we come across in the lessons.  He just can't magically transform the sounds into the actual word just yet.  But I imagine he'll put the pieces together pretty easily once he's ready.

Jacob did something pretty unexpected while I was gone: He started using the potty again!!  We had been doing great on the potty training front before our move to the new apartment, but life in upheaval and a brand new carpet didn't mix, and when he went back to diapers it was like we were all the way back to square one again.  If I took the diaper off, he had accidents every single time. And no amount of naked time or underwear-only time was changing that.  Very, very, very frustrating.  Especially when he had to poop.  But when I got home from Washington, he was taking off his diaper in the morning to use the potty, and then having no accidents all day long.  And he hasn't had a pee accident since I've been home - not a single one!!  He's pooped in his diaper first thing in the morning or right after going to bed a couple times, but he's also gone on the potty a couple times.  I made a new deal with him, one I think he's more excited about than anything else I've tried:  If he poops on the potty (with no diaper/underwear accident first) 10 times, then we'll go play at "the bouncy place".  He is so excited.  Every time he poops on the potty (which, really, has only been twice), he says, "Can we go to the bouncy place now???"  Hate to disappoint the kid.  BUT, we've got a chart set up so he can see his progress.  And get stickers, of course.  Gotta love stickers!

And, is it just a boy thing, or what?  I cannot keep Jacob from hitting everyone and everything in sight when he gets excited.  He'll grab a toy, run around the house, start swinging it around with all his energy, and then suddenly focus it on something.  Usually, that something is Alex.  Or Melinda.  But mostly Alex.  And sometimes the walls.  Or other toys.  But mostly Alex.  And boy oh boy, does the mama bear inside me get upset about that.  And then I go and get upset that I'm getting upset with one child all while trying to protect the other.  I just keep thinking, "Jacob... just you wait until your brother is old enough to fight back.  You're going to have a revolution on your hands!!"  Alex wails and wails, of course, but he's usually easily soothed.  But really, Jacob isn't being malicious.  Just channeling all his energy in the wrong direction.  And he tends to be very rough with his siblings.  I suppose he doesn't realize what he's doing, but it's still really difficult to deal with, when Melinda starts wailing and throwing a fit because Jacob hits her, and then Alex joins in on it, and then if I try to separate Jacob from them both, suddenly things are getting banged on and crashing around elsewhere.  Winter's going to feel pretty long... isn't it?  And of course, none of this is helped by the fact that he really could use naps every now and then, but will only fall asleep if he's in a car.  And then he has to wake up to get out of the car, because I just don't have enough hands to carry in two children at a time.  I'm well-acquainted with the effects of being over-tired.  And I think Jacob is definitely being affected by exactly that, a lot of the time.  And yet, somehow, bedtime continues to be a struggle for him most nights.

Oh! I was so happy to talk to him on the phone while I was away.  Usually, when I have him talk on the phone with other people, he'll just sit and nod silently, or say "I don't know" in an Eeyore sort of voice, or grin a silly grin and still say only the occasional "yes" or what have you.  In short, he simply hasn't been able to carry on a phone conversation.  But when he talked to me on the phone, I could hardly tell it was him!  I thought he might be Melinda, at first, because there he was, spouting off full sentences with such enjoyment and vitality!  I was amazed.  And I've really been paying attention to how many big sentences he says now days.  It's amazing how much he's growing!

Alex:
Alex is being himself.  That is to say, I swear he wishes he were as big as Melinda and Jacob.  He looks and acts so much older than he actually is.  While we were in Washington, he was going crazy.  CRA-ZY!  There were several times that he was letting go of people or furniture to stand and take a step or two before he dropped down.  At SEVEN MONTHS!!  And if he started getting over-tired, he would just keep going, only with less control.  There was one day that he seriously rammed his head into something hard at least 5 separate times in 5 different places.  From whacking his temple and ear into the corner of the computer desk, to thwacking face-first into the corner of a door jamb while trying to climb one of my sisters, to flopping face-first onto linoleum while trying to play "King of the Aunt".  I wasn't sure if I was going to be bringing home a baby or a giant walking bruise, you know?  He really did have a great time with my family, though.  There was a dog to chase,

Cousins to tackle,

Aunts to help put him to sleep,

And cousins to walk him around the house.

Simply put, there were hours and hours of readily available entertainment!

He enjoyed all the attention and activity, and went to sleep easily pretty much every time he got tired.  Aaaand, then we came home.  And suddenly he wasn't falling asleep until 2am, and waking up after 20 minute stretches again.  Sometimes less.  I was about to tear my hair out, when I got a glimpse of his gums.  He's got a top tooth ready to come out any day, now.  I can see it just under the surface.  This kid is CRAZY, I tell you!  Not only is he trying to walk so much earlier than normal, he's also trying to get a 3rd (and probably at least a 4th) tooth months before either of my children ever had a single one!  And then bites everything in sight! 

Oh, speaking of my baby causing people pain, he's picked up a new habit.  When he's tired, he starts pinching.  Skin.  Only skin.  He'll pinch my arm with one hand, and my chest near the collarbone with the other hand.  Or, if he can reach my face, he'll pinch my cheekbones.  Or nose.  And of course, it should go without saying that he'll also pinch my breast any time he gets the chance while nursing.  And if Jesse's holding him, he'll pinch and grab arm hair at the same time.  And he pinches hard.  He grabs anything he can get a grip on, which is usually the skin and a layer of muscle along with it, and just squeeeeeeeze it between his fingers and thumb till you're screeching in pain.  I can't seem to distract him from it.  I've tried nursing necklaces, dolls, toys, and just trying to pin his arms down and away from pinching targets, but it's pretty impossible to stop him.  He is dead intent on pinching, and we already know he's determined and strong.  Things are not in our favor.

I wish he would take up Jacob's habit instead - it's much nicer.  He only fiddles with his ears when he's tired. 

At any rate, he's learning and growing like crazy.  He's already outgrowing the leather soft-soled shoes I bought for him just last month.  Most of the clothes he has that I thought would last all winter long are already starting to get tight.  And he just keeps on truckin', eager for the next big thing. 

So there you have it, updates of all three kids, in a sort-of nutshell.  :)