The times they are a-changin'

Quick update!

Fiver has two wee teeth! He can eat a soda cracker by himself! He can caterpillar along on the deck (unbeknowst to me) and scare me witless by almost falling down the steps! He's been sleeping in his crib downstairs in his room (as opposed to upstairs in the pack-n-play next to our bed) for several weeks now!

Yep, it's amazing to me how big he's getting. Why don't I remember the others growing so fast?


Just yesterday he hiked himself up on his hands and knees and swayed there for a half a second before flopping back down again.

*sigh*


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Boy loves school. So far he hasn't conflicted with any of his classmates (although a few of them are pretty naughty and disruptive, apparently). He adores his teachers. Their schoolwork goes like this: each week they work on learning a letter of the alphabet. Lessons on familiarisation with the letter go home as homework, they colour a pic of the 'letter person', they practice writing the letter.

Meanwhile, at home, Boy is writing and illustration a book about dinosaurs entirely on his own. He's up to over 70 pages.

Their math work consists of learning to count to 50. Boy can do simple addition and subtraction including a bit with double digits and a limited amount of multiplication.

To say that he's not captivated by the current schoolwork would be an understatement.

Fortunately, he's totally absorbed socially, and probably will be for the rest of the year, learning things he needs to know; how to deal with people and the wide world.

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I have already observed a few behaviour changes - both in Boy and THCTD.

As I predicted, the Queen of Crash quickly and eagerly took up the reins of Bossy-ness as soon as Boy was out of the house during the day. She now spends the entire day telling everyone what to do (including me: "Momma, (wee fists on hips) Fiver needs his bottle! You should give Fiver his bottle now!").



Then he returns home, hyped up, bursting to tell about his day, ready to be the centre of attention, and you have ... The Perfect Storm.

Every day.

I quickly instituted the same method of discipline that Boy's teacher uses; three 'tickets' (she has them shaped like crayons) one green, one yellow, one red. First infraction, you lose the green ticket and are 'on yellow' and thus at the warning stage. Second infraction, you lose the yellow and are 'on red' and lose such privileges as treats after supper, or getting to play outside, etc.

It works well because Boy knows it from school and the rest of the brood are awed by anything relating to school right now.

I also put up a chore chart and a 'going' chart (everyone gets to go with me, singley, for some alone-time-with-momma, any time I run an errand after EGH gets home.)

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On a related note, I have also noticed that *I* am more organised and tidy now. I keep my calendar marked, I get up early and fix lunches, I clean more consistantly, and so on.

Me, cleaning. What's the world coming to?