Saving the Day!

Me: Hey, what are you guys doing?
Will: Saving the day!

These are their "saving the day outfits". Rainboots, necklaces, tape measure and (after the photo was snapped) sunglasses.

Apparently swinging necklaces drives the bad guys away.

Xander wasn't saving the day. He was just trying to stay awake and not to throw up (he wasn't winning that battle.)

Sorry for the late update again this week. I do have a couple of little stories saved up that will make this post more interesting. The big news of last week was the stomach flu that passed through our house. Tuesday morning we went on a field trip to the zoo with their preschool class. Xander was acting normal early that morning, but started to get quiet and clingy while we were at the zoo. When we were in the little animal building, Will said "I have to go potty." So, when I took Will potty, Xander started crying. I just brought him into the bathroom with us and when I asked him what was wrong he said "My tummy hurts." I pushed him into a stall where he promptly threw up )(thankfully into the toilet). I got the attention of one of their teachers in the hall and told them we were going to leave. They offered to find someone for Will and Grace to ride back to school with, but I though that was a bad idea, because I didn't want to drive a throwing up Xander in the car to pick them up. So, we went home (Will cried all the way back because he "didn't get to see enough of the zoo.") The last picture above is what Xander did for the rest of the day. Poor kid was pretty wiped out. He didn't throw up again until later that afternoon, but he had a pretty high fever, 102.8 for a while. I had a meeting that night and while I was gone, Grace started throwing up. Grandma Ellen graciously kept them the next day while I went to school. And, miraculously, Will never did get the stomach flu. He did, however, get a cold which set his asthma off a little. We've been doing treatments all week. I think he's pretty much over that, though.

Our other news is that I had a nice parent-teacher conference with their preschool teacher, Mrs. Thimijan, on Tuesday. We spent most of the time talking about our "shy" problem and what we could do about it. We didn't really come up with any concrete ideas, but we do know that they need to start being separated a little more, and do separate activities. We hope that would help them develop a little more independence. It is hard, though, to always separate them. Sometimes, it's just not feasible. So, we're going to try having them do something separate whenever it is possible. Mrs. Thimijan said next year she would always separate them as much as she could, even taking one out at a time to go play in the other preschool room. She has also tried to spend a little more 1:1 time with each of them to get them talking more to her. I'm a little scared, because she said that have many more "public appearances" next year. We're going to have to work on that.

Ellen tried to teach them a lesson on Wednesday and worked with Grace and Xander until they would talk appropriately (in that case, say thank you to Ellen's next door neighbor). They did eventualy talk to her, but this has got to change. I truly think in Grace's case, she just plays shy to get attention. I don't think she's actually scared of talking to strangers. Xander is a different case. I think he is truly shy and then incredibly stubborn on top of it. Chad summed it up best last Saturday when we were eating dinner with them. Xander didn't get to open the door, so he stood outside and pouted, wouldn't come in. We, of course, left him there and he stayed there for some time. And Chad said "Wow, his will-power is both admirable and frightening at the same time." So true, Chad. So true.

School is winding down. The kids' last day of preschool is Thursday, and my last day is June 4th. We are taking off for Kansas City on June 9th for a little family vacation. They are very excited for it. In fact, we are having a DVD player installed in the van tomorrow, just for a little peace and quiet on the drive. Grace said to me yesterday "Mommy, when we go to Kansas City, we have to drive east, then south to get there." I laughed then asked her how she knew that and she said "Grandma Pam told me." Will asked last week "Mommy, when to we go to Kansa?" I thought for a minute then said "You mean Kansas?" He said "No, Kansa City." I said "I think you mean Kansas, City." He said "Yeah, Kansas City." Xander said something similar to that a couple of months ago. I asked him to get his shoes on and he said "Which ones? Tenna?" It took me a little bit to realize he meant "tennis shoes". I love how their little minds think!!!

For not having much to say, that ended up to be a little long. Sorry Chad, please don't punish my next post by skimming, just because this one was too long!! :-)