Amelia

The other day Amelia wanted me to play with her. Now I knew I should, and I know I should play with her more often, but playing pretend with her toys is just about the most mind numbing thing I can think of. It literally makes me want to go to sleep after about 10 minutes. But after all this said I did play with her.

This is how it went:
We started with two Barbies that lived in her new Barbie pop-up camper. The Barbies had a couple of princess pets to take care of. One Barbie (mine) was a firefighter that went to work. Then the Barbies went on a great treasure hunt to "find their destiny." We recovered several "magical musical instruments" each leading us closer to "our destiny." We then went to the ice palace to find the princess pets mom's (bigger versions of princess pets). There we use the magical mist (humidifier) to turn into fairies to fly. The Barbies had to help the mom princess pets find their babies before the moon set so they wouldn't stay humans. The Barbies then flew to "Pixie Hallow" (other side of the bed) to gain the help of Elsa the ice queen. After a show of fairy talents (Barbie's doing various tricks). We then went back to the ice palace and magic mist to rejoin the mom palace pets; followed by gathering the baby palace pets from the Barbie pop-up camper to reunited them.

The story was a continuous fable adventure that took us every few minutes to another location around and over her bed. My brain was still put into a semi-coma state but the story line was entertaining.

**Note my participation in this was basically sitting there listening and watching; following behind with my Barbie to each scene.

Jacob

The other day in the car Jacob was talking to Jack about how he wonders about how other people think or if what they see the same as him. Jack was quite there in his depth of understanding but they did start comparing the colors they saw along the road.
Jacob said he also wonders what Ginny thinks about, about what guinea pigs think about all the time.
Very curious fellow that Jacob is; I pray he continues to consider what other people see and think as he grows up.

Christmas Songs

The kids like to sing Christmas songs and actually are starting to know the words this year. This is different from past years; I can see that the words are registering with the kids now that they are older.
Amelia can sing the chorus to Jingle Bells, some of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and most of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Jack says his favorite Christmas song is Away in a Manger. Jacob sings along with all of it.
They incorporate all of these songs into "Christmas shows" that include rehearsal, some kind of stage setup, show and grand finale.

The Game of Life

Last night the kids and I played the game of Life. I thought Jacob might be old enough to enjoy playing it, turns out all of the kids enjoyed playing. Dada joined us about halfway thru to help Amelia but everyone played great until the end.
Jack was so funny, taking each spot seriously; like "Car crash! I didn't crash my car!" or "I am not paying for college that's too much money!"
Today once the kids got home from school we had to play again they liked it so much.

School Conferences

Today was school conferences. Here are highlights from each of the boys:

Jack -

His teacher commented that he is very respectful to her and others. He is reading is at grade level. He does a great job coming up with ideas for writing. In math he is a critical thinker and double checks his work.

She said if she had to nitpick about his behavior she would say Jack could be more enthusiastic about learning. At carpet time he energy is low and lethargic. I note that because his kindergarten teacher commented that he seemed tired at school too.  I am not sure about that, seems like he is just bored.

Things he needs to work on is continuing reading skills and better penmanship. Overall he is doing great at school.

Jacob-

His teacher commented that Jacob is very respectful and has great behavior. His reading is at grade level. He has a great facility with numbers and easily solves problems in math. 

She said he needs to do a better job of paying attention to spelling words and penmanship. We also talked about different chapter books he could read and would be interested in. Of course he is doing well in school.

I thought conferences were a good check-in. I really like Mrs. Chadha, Jacob's teacher. I like how responsive she was to Jacob and how she could help improve his learning and interest in reading. 

Jack's teacher is not that great but he is doing very well.

Jacob - 8

Jacob turned 8! He was so excited for his birthday and his birthday party. We went to Chuck e Cheese, of course. He got lots of legos, a watch, some money and spy glasses.
Jacob is wonderful: see previous post.

Jacob

A note from his 2nd grade teacher:

Just a quick note. Jacob was the first to get 5 full minutes of complements today from the class. He got so many. The kids all agreed that he was a good friend who helped all of them make better choices. They also said that they appreciate how he helps them feel more confident when he works with them on tricky things. He puts forth a lot of effort and has a lot of integrity!