Braces On

We started out the week with no a/c.  Last weekend was a bit brutal in the heat department.  I woke up (with Benson) at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning drenched in sweat.  I took him outside and the air was very still and very muggy.  But then 6:00 a.m. rolled around and a cold front started moving in.  The most amazingly cool breeze blew for most of the day.  By lunch time the kids were wearing jackets (because I still had all the fans blowing the cool air into the house).  It was such a contrast to how we all woke up.  The remainder of the week was almost fall weather.  Very cool over night and not too hot during the day.  On Friday we had a new unit installed and we were back in business.  Here's to another 15 years of cool air.  

In math, Caroline has taken to answering her word problems in a unique way.  She claims she doesn't know if she should add or subtract, so she turns her work in with both possibilities.  When I read the question to her, she'll circle the correct answer.  Now, she can read the questions and know which is correct, but for some reason she likes me to read them for double assurance.

At CC this week we made lungs in science.  They turned out really well and are fun to play with.  The punching balloon on the bottom acts as the diaphragm:  if pulled down, the lung balloons inflate, and if pushed up, they deflate.  

Josiah taught his Essentials class about Interjections.  His tutor is rotating through the kids to get them each to teach a part of speech.  She started with Josiah and gave him probably the single best part of speech.  He was so excited to get up there and yell out interjections.  

The kids have been into "Would you rather" questions.  They don't fully understand the concept because last night Henry asked me, "Would you rather eat a box of donuts or give up coffee for a year?"  I'm going for the donuts and the ability to still drink coffee.  Then he asked, "Would you rather eat 10,000 cabbages in a year or live with a bunch of cats?"  Well, eating 27 heads of cabbage a day is slightly impossible.  Perhaps I overthink his would-you-rathers.  Most of Henry's involved living with a bunch of cats.  

One evening, Josiah got in on the game and asked, "Daddy, would you rather live in a tent in a campsite with lots of food or would you rather not see mommy again?"  

Todd, "There's food?"

Nervous!

Todd had a birthday this week.  He got a very exciting gift of new pajamas.  The kids all helped to make his pumpkin bread as his 'cake.'  After dinner, Josiah asked to light his candles. We let him and he just held the flame to the wicks til they were very well lit and wax was cascading down to the cake.  Keep moving the flame, buddy.  Todd shared his birthday with another important event this week.  Josiah got braces.  He was not excited to get them at all.  For days leading up to his appointment, he kept asking why they were necessary.  Then the big day arrived and he laid in the orthodontist's chair with his mouth agape for a very long time.  When they were finally finished, they gave him a mirror.  He looked at himself and exclaimed that he loved them.  He is very excited that he gets to change the color of his rubber bands every eight weeks at his appointments.  He chose blue for the first set.  Next time he is planning on getting red and green for Christmas.  Festive.  After they put the braces on, they explained their little warranty program.  They'll fix anything for free in the first 8 weeks, the first three broken brackets are free, but after that they're $50 each, etc. etc.  Josiah had his braces for four days and Friday morning  he was eating a fruit cup and said, "A bracket just came out."  What?!!  It was the bracket on his back molar which wasn't even connected to the wire yet.  They said that those are the most common to fall off especially if you grind your teeth in your sleep (which, unfortunately, Josiah does).

In Benson news, he has taken to eating acorns that fall in a small section

of our backyard from the oak tree on the other side of the fence in the side yard.  At first we didn't think they'd be very harmful.  Squirrels eat them all the time.  No, apparently they're toxic for dogs.  So I came up with the brilliant idea to pay the kids ten cents for every acorn they collected.  When I came up with that price, I had been in the backyard and only saw a handful of acorns.  If anything, I thought I was being too cheap.  They kids excitedly went out there and picked them up.  That first day of picking acorns, the kids had totals of: Josiah-$1.40, Henry-$0.90, Caroline-$0.20.  I could pay out with numbers like these.  Each day they'd go out and add to their totals.  It was all very manageable.  Then, mid-week, they decided they would go to the front yard to get the acorns there in case we took Benson on a walk and he got the acorns in front.  We have FOUR oak trees in our front/side yard.  I now owe the kids $95.00.  They've already picked out a Lego kit on Amazon that they're going to split.  

To limit the bleeding of our wallets, we went to the store and got some temporary fencing to keep Benson out of the acorn area.  We put it up this afternoon and Benson clearly saw it as a challenge.  We saw him trying to bite holes through it (successfully).  Then we saw him go to the center of the yard, get a good running start, and ram the fence with all his weight.  Repeatedly.  By dinner time we had to go cut him out of the fencing.  He had tangled himself all up in it.  It hadn't been up for half a day and it's already almost breeched.  Todd took him to the vet for a booster shot this weekend and he weighed in at 46 lbs.  So he has some mass to him.  

On Saturday, we drove to a friend from CC's neighborhood for her birthday.  It was more of a neighborhood block party that happened to fall on Henry's classmate's birthday.  But we went and saw her in a car parade.  They had a food truck and other tents set up with free snacks.  They had a fire truck and a cop car.  The kids had a good time.  

Then today, the next door neighbor girls rang our doorbell and asked Caroline to go to their house because it was the youngest girl's birthday.  Caroline played over there for five hours!  She doesn't get as much girl play time as she'd like, so it's good for her to have friends who play dolls.  They also had time on their trampoline as well as a big blow up waterslide thing.  She had a good time.

It was a busy week.  This week Josiah has to get two teeth pulled as part of the braces process.  We'll be glad when that is over.  He's nervous and obviously not looking forward to it.  But he will probably enjoy the ice cream he gets to soothe his mouth post-extraction.