Some things

I've been posting a lot of pictures lately, but not a lot of info about things happening. Before I forget any of this, I wanted to get it posted.

The kids are really growing and maturing, lately. They have been using very polite manners at here and school, even with each other. They've started playing separately at preschool (which is huge!). And the hugest thing of all, they each have a line in a little Thanksgiving program they're doing in a few weeks and according to Mrs. Thimijan, they all have gotten up to the microphone and said their line right!! (Of course, this comes after they didn't do it the first time and Mrs. Thimijan had to keep them after and make them do it. Now, they will do it every time.) I also have been seeing them talk to more people at church and other places (Dr. offices, etc.), so I feel like they're starting to come out of their shells more and be more independent, which is great!

We did have a conference with Mrs. Thimijan a couple of weeks ago. She's pleased with everything the kids are able to do, letters, number, writing, etc. Our conversation mostly centered around their social behaviors. They are getting better and better and I think we are headed in the right direction.

In addition, their vocabularies have exploded lately. They are curious about every word they hear that they don't understand. We are constantly defining words to them everyday. After several people asking me "What does ____ mean?" Xander finally said  "What does "mean" mean?" I think he was just asking that to be a pill. Their new favorite words are "baloney" (ex. "I already washed my hands." "Baloney, you did not!") and "ginormous" (is that how you spell that?). I'm afraid they get both those words from me.

They finished their swimming lessons before fall break. Grace ended up passing this level, and can enroll in the next level whenever we want her to. Both the boys improved, and mastered more skills than last time, but they still want them to repeat this level again. I'm not sure what we're going to do about that, but I don't think we'll put Grace ahead of the boys. What I may look into is having the boys take another session (or maybe some private lessons) in the spring and hopefully be able to enroll them all in the same level this summer.

I started my new "teaching" job this week. I say that because it is only 2 hours a week, 1 hr on Monday and 1 on Wednesday. But, it is fun and I think it will be fine. The kids are going to Ellen's in the morning when I need to get to school by 8 am, then she's dropping them off at preschool and I pick them up. It is working well, so far.

And speaking of music, the kids are doing well in their piano lessons. We've been consistent, going over there on Friday afternoons and they've been practicing everyday. They are short practice times and short lessons, but I think that's OK for 4 year olds. They're each playing a different rhythm, but doing the same 5 finger pattern and learning Twinkle. I think they're pretty close to getting Twinkle on their own. Grace's rhythm is the hardest (sycopation!), but she's doing well and can almost play the Twinkle with only a few reminders. Xander's rhythm is the easiest and he flies through it, but forgets part of Twinkle. Will still needs a few reminders of what to do, but has good technique. Trying to look at it from a purely piano teacher standpoint and not proud-mom-my-kids-are-the-most-talented-ever standpoint, I think they're doing great! When they've mastered Twinkle, I'll post videos. Give us a couple of more weeks.

And our last piece of news is that poor Will has 2 cavities he has to have filled. We went to dad's office last week and they were able to get the kids to let them take x-rays. They're in 2 back teeth that he won't loose for 4 or 5 more years, so they need to be filled. It's not really surprising he has cavities, since he's been on tons of steroids, and always seems to have colds where he's breathing out of his mouth. I wonder if the constant drooling also has something to do with it! Anyway, he's going in next week to have them fixed. Grandpa told him he would use a laser and it wouldn't hurt, so Will doesn't seem too worried.

So, I think I covered all the highlights of the last month. Thanks for taking time to read all this!