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New Words

Robert has had an explosion of words this last week. He seems to learn new words when he goes off of his medication. He was sick again a couple of weeks ago and on the breathing treatments for about a week and has been off of them for a little over a week now. Today he said "bus", "stop" and "rock" for the first time. This weekend he learned "eyes" and "teeth" and last week he started saying "night night" (nye nye), "outside" (ouse), and "bye bye".

This is his ornery face. It's one of my favorites.

I don't want to give the false impression that he's a perfect gentleman when he's not on breathing treatments. He still has his moments. Like when it's 100 degrees outside and I'm wearing pants and I don't want to chase after him while he chases a mama duck and her ducklings who are swimming across a lake.l]
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Or when he bangs on Mommy's keyboard while she's trying to write a blog post.

Speaking of Books

Clara started reading her first chapter book today. She's reading the first book in the Magic Tree House series and is so excited!

Not only is she reading books, she's also just written a book for school. She decided to title her book "How Babys Grow" and I found page two especially interesting.

In case you can't tell what's going on, "the mom is in a bathtub with people helping her and the baby's head is coming out but the body is still inside." Hahahahaha. Love it!

Books, Books, Books

As most of you know, our home is filled with books. Chris and Clara have been going to the used bookstore every Saturday after breakfast for several years now. And every Saturday, at least one new book finds a good home here. Even before Clara was born, Chris and I talked about instilling a love of reading in our children and that was one thing we decided we would spoil them with. Our motto: you can't have too many books.

We also make sure that Clara chooses most of them. We don't want to dictate everything that she must read. From what I've heard, allowing kids to choose their own reading material is an important part of instilling that love of reading. So although we would prefer not to have Dora or princess books, we do have some. She's chosen some real winners over the years but thankfully, Jill buys back books.

We all read a book together every evening after I put Robert down for bed. Chris and I usually do the choosing for our family reading. Right now we're reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I've had a lot of people ask me what books we've read, so I thought I'd put a short review of some of them up here.

I do have to interject one thing about our choices in reading material. I know my opinion differs greatly from a lot of other young parents, but I don't think we give kids enough credit these days. I think we shelter them far too much and as a result, they're unable to deal with the negative aspects of life. I believe that allowing some books and movies that have a little more sinister edge to them gives them a glimpse of real life in a safe environment. It allows them to imagine and work through some of these things in their mind before they actually experience them. I think if we wait until they're older to introduce the ideas that there are bad people or death or disease or hatred or poverty or even good people that sometimes do bad things, that it's much more difficult to work through those concepts. But as I said, this is just one person's opinion. I know there are others that disagree.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-- We're not quite done with it yet, but I've liked it and so has Clara. She didn't like it at first though because of the illustrations. They look like doodles and have a very messy look to them. She just couldn't handle the ugliness. I convinced her to stick with it a couple of days and she loves it now. There is some language that some may not approve of. The word fat is used to describe people and Willy Wonka and the oompa-loompas say pretty mean things about the kids. But to be fair, the kids are brats. I like that we've been able to talk about the children's behavior and how inappropriate they're acting. Clara gets this appalled look on her face when the kids aren't listening to Willy Wonka or are ordering their parents around. She's also beginning to understand why we don't allow her do everything she wants to do. The old movie follows the book pretty closely and there have been only minor differences. For the record, I hate it when movies deviate too far from the book. All in all, I think most of my friends with kids close to Clara's age would feel this book is a bit inappropriate.

Chronicles of Narnia-- We've read four of the seven in the series. Clara has enjoyed all that we've read. There is some controversy regarding which order they should be read in, whether chronological or by publication date. I personally think you should read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first. I think that discovering Narnia through the children's eyes is one of the most magical parts of that story. I did enjoy The Magician's Nephew, which is the first book chronologically. It is filled with Christian symbolism and describes the creation of Narnia. I loved the imagery. It's also fun to discover little details about Narnia after getting to know the land in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Prince Caspian has been my least favorite so far (and Clara's as well). Surprisingly though, she really liked The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It is filled with maritime vocabulary that neither of us was familiar with which made for a more difficult read. Now she knows what starboard, port, aft and oh, what's the last one? Bow? Fore? Anyway, she also loved it when they were on the poop deck. She giggled every time. There's lots of adventure in this one as they stop off at islands on a quest that takes them to the end of the world. The story does drag when they're on the water for days at a time.

I think if you have a child that loves stories and being read to, 5 is a good age. If they get bored easily though, you might want to wait. There are pictures every few pages to kind of hold their interest. There's not too much I think parents would find inappropriate other than a few words here and there. There is of course, quite a bit of good vs. evil but I think most people know that about this series. There's lots to discuss about honor, forgiveness, sacrifice, loyalty, humility, greed and the list goes on and on. They really are filled with wonderful lessons for both children and adults.

After you've read the books, check out the BBC's version of them on dvd. They're a hoot. They were filmed in the late eighties and are awesomely awful if you know what I mean. Aslan is a stuffed lion and the only thing that moves is his mouth when he talks and roars, and it only moves up and down, and not in sync with the words. See? Awesome. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are adult actors that walk around like normal, just in beaver suits. And the mythical creatures that Aslan calls to battle like the pegasus and griffon, are animated. All in all, it's a much more child-friendly version of Narnia than the Disney ones.

Books of Wonder-- You may not be familiar with this series, but you may have heard of the first book in the series, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I believe there are nine in the whole series; we've read the first two. Mr. Baum never intended to write a series. The only reason he wrote more was because he was flooded with letters from children wanting to know what happens next, so as they kept sending letters, he kept writing them. If I remember correctly, he actually used some of the ideas the kids sent him in some of the books. Because of that though, from what I understand, the rest of the series is not on par with the first book.

Clara and I both loved the first book. There is a lot more to the book than what's in the movie. The second book was only so-so. Clara has said she doesn't want to read any more from the series but I'm going to see if I can change her mind some day.

Little House-- There are nine in the series, but we've only read the first one, Little House in the Big Woods. Unfortunately, Clara wasn't too interested in it. I was actually a little bored with it myself. It's basically Laura's memoirs so there are lots of technical details. For example, you learn the entire processes involved in making maple syrup candy, butchering a pig, and making cheese. The explanations are long and drawn out and just didn't hold her attention. She hasn't wanted to read the next one but I suspect she'll be ready for them in a year or so. I would recommend getting the collector's editions. They're available in paperback and have full color original illustrations which helped keep Clara's attention.

Paddington Bear-- Neither Clara nor I liked the bear too much. I wanted to like him so bad, but alas, he was boring. The book we have introduces him and you find out where he comes from and how he got to England. It's divided into around 10 short, unrelated stories. The language was very formal. I just kept thinking, "why don't they keep a closer eye on that bear?!?" I mean really, don't take a bear home if you don't plan on watching him. (And for the record, I kind of like Curious George, so it's not just that he's a wild animal brought to live in the city and keeps getting into messes.) He's a very sweet, unassuming bear but I just couldn't bring myself to like him or feel sorry for the messes he kept getting himself into. So am I missing something? Is there a Paddington fan out there that can explain his appeal?

Raggedy Ann-- We've only read The Raggedy Ann Stories, which is a compilation of a bunch of short stories. I don't know much about all of the books, but I do know there are several longer stories that I've heard are very good. I don't think they're in print, so they are a little harder to come by. It took 3 or 4 stories before Clara got into Raggedy Ann, but by the end she loved the little rag doll. I was pleasantly surprised as well with the quality of the stories. Raggedy Ann is just bursting at the seams with wonderful character traits. She's the leader of the group of dolls but is very humble. The other dolls just adore her and she is very giving and compassionate to everyone.

One story in particular really tugged at my heartstrings. One day Marcella (the dolls' owner) is gifted a set of very expensive dolls that make fun of Raggedy Ann because she's just an old rag doll. That night, Marcella leaves them sitting uncomfortably at the table so Raggedy Ann gets out of her comfy bed, carries them to her bed to sleep and then sleeps on the floor. They wake the next morning with a much more pleasant attitude toward Raggedy Ann.

I would say most 4 year old girls would be ready for Raggedy Ann. I don't think she would hold the interest of younger girls though and I can see some girls never really getting into the stories much, but perhaps the longer stories are more engaging. Oh, and if you go looking for Raggedy Ann books, you'll find a lot of newer books with new illustrations. I don't know if they are remakes or are totally new stories by a different author, but I'm a snob about that kind of stuff and I prefer the originals. I don't understand why they feel the need to re-vamp these classic stories and illustrations. They're perfect just the way they were originally intended to be presented.

I have more books to add, but blogger isn't allowing me to save this, so I need to go ahead and publish it before I lose it. I'll add more to it later.

He's Still Got It

I just wanted to allay any concerns there might be that Robert's curiosity has been stifled by the recent lock-down. Unfortunately, not everything in our home can be nailed down.

Fall is in the Air

The weather here has been glorious the last few days. I think we're done with the triple digit temperatures and we've even had a couple of sub-90 degree days!! The mornings have been in the 70s. It's really sad when you feel the need to grab a sweater for temps in the mid-70s. And, we finally got some much needed rain for three days in a row over the weekend! Oh my goodness, we needed it sooooo bad. In case you didn't know, at the same time that the huge wildfire was raging near Austin, we had a very large one about 25 miles from us that started on Labor Day I believe. It's completely contained as of a few days ago but it destroyed close to 100 homes. Between the heat advisories and the smoke in the air, Clara has had recess twice in almost twenty days of school.

I took Robert to the playground at the arboretum yesterday and there were so many dead trees everywhere. It's so sad to see. With the storms over the weekend, many trees had fallen and there were a lot of branches littering the road. Crews were cutting up fallen trees to dispose of and you could see lots of fresh stumps from recently fallen trees. The trees around here are one of my most favorite things about this area; I pray this drought ends soon so they don't all disappear :(

Since yesterday's high was a balmy 87, I did something unheard of for me. I went to a second park after picking up Clara from school. No lie. Me, two parks, one day. Where's my medal?

Clara Was Not Amused

My Hubby is the Best!

Friday night as we started the kids' bedtime routines, Chris presented them with a couple of gifts that he had gotten them. Robert got a toy jeep and Clara a necklace making set. And then he handed me an envelope. Inside was some cash and a hotel reservation printout. He told me that Crystal would be at the house at noon the next day and we would be headed to Galveston for a girls only weekend!

I was a little shocked as is always the case. The guy is sneaky about this kind of stuff. This was the first time I've ever been away from the kids for more than a few hours without Chris, so it felt kind of weird. Neither of us knew quite what to do with ourselves without kids to hold, noses to wipe and food to cut up. Ahhhhhhh. It was glorious.

We decided to take the top off of the Jeep and drive it down there, so the drive there and back was a little loud. We talked up a storm anyway. Actually, that was the theme of the weekend. Talking, talking and then talking some more. It was great getting to know each other better and was a great, relaxing weekend.

We laid out on the beach, walked and browsed shops on the Strand (I got my obligatory caramel apple) and enjoyed great meals whenever we pleased. Sunday night we didn't venture out for dinner until 8:30. Thankfully Crystal is as laid back and go with the flow as I am. We didn't make any plans and because we didn't feel like staying out late, we were in bed at 9:30 on a Saturday night and that was ok.

I'm so thankful that Chris recognized that I could use a little time away. He knows me well enough to know that I would never plan it myself, so he saved up his personal spending money and arranged everything in order to send me off for the weekend. I'm most definitely feeling loved and appreciated over here :)

Update on the Big Boy

Robert and I are enjoying our one on one time now that Clara's in school. We've started going to storytime at the library. Last week the librarian read two stories about monkeys and then passed out these monkey masks at the end.

He's gotten over his illness and has been off of the pulmicort since last Monday with no other symptoms. It took about a week and a half of breathing treatments and he never had to have an antibiotic or steroid! His behavior went back to normal a day after stopping the medication again, so now we'll just wait and see how long before he gets sick again and hopefully the breathing treatments will work next time.

He's getting used to being locked out of everything in the house and it's been much more pleasant now that I'm not telling him "no" all day long. There have been several times he's screamed bloody murder in the next room and I've run to him only to find that he's discovered another inaccessible area of the house. He's doing much better with it now though.

I don't remember if I ever updated on Robert's bedtime progress. He now goes down without a problem almost every night. We ask him if he's ready for bed and he actually says "yes" (well, technically he says "dah"). We never thought we'd see the day that he would willingly stay in his bed. Occasionally he cries for a few minutes before falling asleep but he stays down and sleeps through the night every night. He's also adjusting well to his new earlier naptime due to Clara's school schedule.

All in all, things around here are much more tolerable now that were finally starting to get that boy figured out. He really is a sweetie and I'm so excited to see his real personality finally shining through.

Doing a Bit of Robert-Proofing

Oh Robert, Robert, Robert. What are we going to do with you? If it's not yours, you want it. If it's in drawer or closet or cabinet, you want it. If it's within 12 inches of the edge of a counter, you must swipe it. If it's on a table or a flat surface of any kind, you want it on the floor. If it has water in it, you want to play in it no matter how unsanitary it might be. If it belongs upstairs, it must be brought down (and vice versa). If it's Clara's, you want it 10 times worse than if it isn't Clara's.

If it's in the dryer, you require it be removed immediately so that you can have a cozy spot to read.

If it's a choking hazard, you want it in your mouth. If it's trash, it's good eatin'. In short, you have an impulsive need to cause disorder in your home by whatever means necessary.

Because of that, we were forced to take drastic action. Since you are able to open doors with child-proof locks, this made the task a bit more difficult. Your daddy was up for the challenge though. You don't know how to unlock regular locks yet, so a trip to Home Depot for some new doorknobs was in order. Now the pantry locks from the outside, as well as the laundry room and downstairs closet. There are no longer knobs on the television cabinet. And Clara is just giddy about the new sliding lock that's been installed on her bedroom door that can only be reached when she stands on her tip toes. Now Robert can't go digging around and pulling everything out of her room when she's not in it.

Daddy's drawer that holds all of his sundry items now boasts a lock as well.

You've been a bit dismayed at this recent change of events, but it's been absolutely glorious for the rest of us. You know what they say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Foot Troubles

One day when I was pregnant with Clara, I felt a strange pain in the middle of my foot. It felt as if there was a bone that needed to pop but it was in a location that made it impossible to flex and pop it. I took several odd steps trying to flex in just the right spot and eventually it popped and felt much better. I didn't think much of it and just chalked it up to one of the many strange pregnancy-related ills that I was experiencing. I felt the same sensation a handful of times in the years since then and then in the last few months, the number of incidences has gone way up. It was happening every 2-3 weeks.

It happened again when I was in Carlsbad in July, and I mentioned it in passing to Margaret. She said it sounded like fallen arches. Annnnnnd of course flip flops are the worst thing you can wear with arch problems. Just great.

Part of the reason I wear flip flops so much is because my little toes are a bit deformed and they rub against my shoes giving me awful corns and causing the toenails to become really thick. I'm sure you were just dying to know that about me :) They get bad in the winter when I'm wearing shoes all the time, but I get relief for 9 months out of the year when I'm wearing my flip flops and they are able to heal a bit.

When I got home from West Texas, I started having some other issues with my feet. The bones in the top of my foot started hurting a little as well as my ankles. I decided to say farewell to my flip flops and sandals without any arch support (which is the majority of my footwear) and splurged on a pair of birkenstocks. Linsey has a pair and I tried them on when I was in Pecos. They had arch support and because the straps are located so far back on the sandal, my foot hardly moved at all in the shoe.

I'm pretty cheap when it comes to my footwear, so I had to convince myself to splurge on a pair of expensive sandals. It's been several weeks now and I just realized the other day that I haven't had a single bit of pain since I've been wearing them. I'm actually a little amazed because I had convinced myself they wouldn't help. They have a weird ridge under the toes that bothered me at first, but I'm used to it now. I'm going to wear my shoes without any support on occasion, but they definitely won't be my choice for daily, all day wearing.

This has reinforced my decision to have the kids wear shoes and sandals with good support. Neither of them has ever worn flip flops. I've always thought that they were unsafe for feet that are running and playing and was uneasy because they don't offer a bit of protection. There have been several times that I've almost hurt my feet in my flip flops stepping off a curb wrong, it getting stuck, tripping, etc., so I can only assume the kids would have more problems since they've not been walking nearly as long as I have.

I think proper shoes are very important for young children whose feet are still growing. I've heard that foot injuries have skyrocketed since flip flops have become so popular in the last few years and I can only assume kids that grow up with no real foot support are going to have some major problems when they get older. I tried to find some new sandals for Clara once she outgrew hers and it's not going to be easy now that she's in big girl sizes. I haven't seen any that have a bit of support except for the sporty/water sandals. I can't wait until she has a strong opinion on what shoes she wears. That should be fun.