Sparky, A Cowboy, & #3

I went to Josiah's CC classroom this week.  I had never been in his class in our new group.  I was assigned to be in Henry's class for the first six weeks, and then it always seemed that Henry's class needed more help, so I kept going back there.  But, I was finally glad to see Josiah in action.  What I discovered was that he was doing just fine.  He sat nicely, was quiet when he was supposed to be quiet, and repeated after the tutor when it was time to do so.  Besides being a bit long-winded on his presentation, a habit of his, I don't know how often I'll be in there.  It was good to be reminded that he can do his schooling well and with a good attitude, something that tends to get forgotten when he's home.  When they did tin whistle time, one of the boys who was looking at the sheet music asked, "What's the hashtag for?"  Generational problems, I suppose.  (Sharps.)

Henry usually does school fairly well at home.  For handwriting one day this week, he decided to throw in a little humor.  He was supposed to write "M m," but instead wrote,

I think it's because this book taught him to start his M's at the top, then go down, then back up and do two humps.  I haven't liked that approach because he always turns it into a W, so I've tried to correct that teaching and tell him to start at the bottom.  The arrows, however, were all Henry.

Mid-week, Henry told me he felt like he had to throw up.  He didn't seem like he was sick, so I just casually told him to stand over the trash can.  Then he proceeded to throw up and I felt bad for not really believing him.  Caroline came over, leaned over the trash can with him, watched everything, and talked the whole time.  She would not stay away from the germs.  It must have been a 5-minute bug because after that amount of time, Henry asked for some food.  All day he asked to eat and drink and in no way acted sick.  Maybe he just wanted a day off of school.

Caroline thinks she's ahead of her time in the reading department.  In the car, she asked, "Can you turn the music down?  I'm trying to read my book?"  Well, are you now?  She's 3.  Every word that starts with a "C" is still Caroline.  She's not exactly reading yet.

One thing they never tell you about parenthood is that you'll have to buy a Costco size supply of Scotch tape every few months.  Some days I have to hide the tape just to slow up the usage.  Caroline has been making a lot of "pictures" that consist of very little writing, but she has covered the entire sheet of paper with tape.  This one has an "H" for Henry, a "5" for his age, and half a roll of tape.

For Awana this week, it was Character Quest and the kids were allowed to dress-up.  When the kids first thought about costume ideas, Josiah wanted to be Patrick Henry.  After quoting Patrick Henry's famous, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" to Josiah, he said he didn't like that and asked about Samuel Adams.  All I could think about him was the beer, so I told Josiah we'd have to look him up.  But before we could do that, Josiah decided upon Wingrunner Sparky, his mascot for this Sparks book.

Henry had a tough time figuring out what he wanted to be.  He never said any of his ideas out loud, but he was thinking a lot and finally decided on a cowboy.  A handsome one at that.  This was the first time he put his jeans on in many, many months, so we discovered that he most certainly grew.

Caroline knew right away what she wanted to be.  3.  She wanted to be 3.  So, 3 she was.  She had a three in the front and a three in the back.

At Awana that night, I saw a worker go up to her and hold up three fingers and I could see her mouth, "Are you 3?"  Caroline proudly nodded.  I think the number threw off a few adults, but she was proud nonetheless.

On Saturday, Todd and I participated in our civic duty and voted.  Our library had early voting.  The only person I had no difficulty voting for, and had more than an ounce of confidence in, was our local sheriff.  And that's all I'll say about that.  Todd and I went there separately since the lines were long and we didn't exactly want to have three cranky kids waiting in line for over an hour.  However, we joked about getting up to the voting table, handing them my library card, and asking, "Is this where I pick up my books on hold?"