Monday, October 31, 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Soundbites

B: Me and mom and Nathan don't have fur like Daddy.

While Bea is whining and fussing that mom is leaving the house:
N: Bea just wants mom to come back so she can trick her.

B: Swing me.
Mom gives a big push.
B: Not up to God!

Nathan, thinking about age:
N: Daddy is the furthest, then me, then Bea.

B: There's a spider over there. He's just starin' at me 'cause he doesn't know my name.

Looking at a mosquito swarm:
N: There's a whole bug palace.

After spending the morning with his Sunday School class that is all African-American:
N: In our family we're all twins.
M: Why?
N: Because we're all light-skinned.

Plunge

Nathan has been taking swimming lessons for over a year now. He is an excellent swimmer but has refused to put his head under the water. He's mastered techniques of jumping in, swimming across the pool and even a kind of dive without letting his head go under.

Tonight in the bathtub he finally decided to try going under with his goggles on. Not surprisingly, he loved it. He instantly started playing multiple underwater games. He was guessing how many fingers were held underwater, saying his name underwater, making a fountain, meeting his sister underwater... I think he had watched his friends play these games for quite a while.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Reading

Nathan sounded out the word bug today! He was reading his Reading A-Z level B book from school with his dad and I was pretending not to notice nearby. It's been really fun to watch him put the pieces together, checking the pictures, looking at the letters, checking the sounds, matching words on the page to words he says.

As someone who teaches this to children for my work, I am very aware that I don't want to push my child too fast just because I know what step they'll probably take next in his reading development. My professional self says, "Great! He's right on track. He's using concepts of print, self-monitoring for meaning, using his phonemic awareness and phonics knowledge." But my mother self says, "He is the smartest 5 year old ever! What an amazing one-of-a-kind kid!"

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Outing to the Art Museum


We had a fun adventure to the art museum. The L ride there was probably the most fun. Nate and Bea were real troopers.