See Pug Run

I am so happy.  Tonight, for the first time ever, my kindergartener read Green Eggs and Ham all by herself! She has been reading those little Scholastic Bob books since she turned 4, but those don't really count because they aren't even real books.  For example, here is the text from the first 3 pages of Sam, one of the Scholastic gems to which I am referring:  page 1, "Sam and Cat."; page 2, "Mat and Cat."; page 3, "Sam, Mat, and Cat".  See what I mean? 

Tonight, we were reviewing her homework after dinner when we realized that we had not done one of the items on her list.  I was supposed to read her a book and she was supposed to follow the words with her fingers as I read them.  She loves Dr. Seuss so she picked up Green Eggs and Ham for me to read, but before she gave it to me, she read the title.  Then she read the author and next thing you know, she was reading the whole book.  I wish I could capture the look on her face when she realized what she was doing.  She was beaming, and I guess I was, too.

Every time our children hit a milestone, it brings back memories of my own childhood. The first book I ever read was called Pug.  I still remember the first few pages of that book, probably because it is so similar to the Scholastic gems I was just talking about--Pug.  See Pug Run.  Go, Pug. Go.  Run, Pug. Run.  I guess we all have to start somewhere.  

I wish all kids had a chance to get excited about books early in their academic lives.  I was lucky to have two people in my house who were avid readers: my grandmother and my dad.  I have this vivid memory of my grandmother sitting under a tree reading her favorite book to me. I am supposed to be playing outdoors with my little neighborhood friends, but instead I am sitting right in front of her fascinated by her story.  She looks so cute with her glasses on and that look of total concentration on her face.  She is reading The Three Musketeers. That is such a happy memory for me.   

My dad also loves books.  He has a special affinity for westerns.  We had many, many books and many, many bookshelves in our house growing up.  We didn't have children's books, but we had two encyclopedias - Childcraft and Brittanica, six huge dictionaries where you could look up any word in 10 different languages, many religious books (my dad was educated in a seminary), many science fiction books, including a large collection of Isaac Asimov's, many books on math and physics, and hundreds of other books all over our house. We, kids, all loved the Childcraft Encyclopedia and we all read it from cover to cover by the time we were in fourth grade.  I still love those books.  My bookshelves don't look right if I don't have a set of Childcraft Encyclopedias on it.  Those books must mean a lot to my siblings, too, because at least two of them also have a set in their house for their kids. 

I was lucky, too, that my first grade teacher had a passion for books and she shared it with her students.  She had a loft in her room decorated like a tree house.  We all loved climbing up into that tree house to read.  I wonder how many of those 6 and 7 year-olds are still readers today because of that tree house?

Some people say that they associate whole periods of their lives with certain music.  They hear a song and all these memories flood back.  Books do that for me.  I hope they do that for my children some day, too.

TTYL.

Stars and S'mores

We were supposed to go camping this weekend, but since we were expecting it to freeze, I was sick, and IK was incredibly cranky because she's teething, we decided to cancel the trip. It was for the best. We ended up having a very productive and fun weekend. Well, mostly David was productive. I spent most of Saturday on the couch watching him do laundry and clean the kitchen. He even found time to entertain the kids (and one of their friends!) with a trip to the library and the mall while I took a nap. Yes, life IS good.  

They brought home The Island of Blue Dolphins from the library.  I read that book in jr. high. It was such a treat to read it with the kids.  It's probably not age appropriate for N, but she seems to be enjoying it and keeps asking lots of questions.  We spent most of Sunday morning reading it. We did a few house projects in the afternoon and we thought we would just have an early Sunday dinner and put the kids to bed, but once we fired up the grill, the kids and David insisted that we have dinner in the backyard even though I thought it was too cold.  When we finished eating our burgers, there were still hot coals in the grill.  We decide to pretend like we were camping and had s'mores for dessert.  The kids loved roasting their marshmallows and assembling their chocolaty treat. 

After dessert, to continue with the pretend-camping idea, we went on a "midnight hike" around the neighborhood. The weather was perfect for it and the kids really enjoyed being out getting some fresh air.  It's amazing how a walk can have such a calming effect on children.  Even IK who had been drooling and whining all day was a happy baby on that walk.

Since it was only 6:45 pm when we got home from our hike, we decided to finish off the pretend-camping night with a real look at the stars.  Our neighborhood has too much light to really see anything in the sky so we drove to West Cave Preserve, a light-restricted area in the Hill Country somewhat near us.  The drive to the preserve was peaceful and relaxing. The kids were in their pj's and drinking hot cocoa and everyone was in a talkative mood.  The one slight problem with this plan is that by the time we actually got to the preserve both girls were already asleep and D was about to doze off.  The sky was just too gorgeous to not wake up N and let her see it.  She was glad we did.  D remembered to bring his binoculars and the four of us stood outside our van, huddling together to stay warm, looking up at the Milky Way, the Seven Sisters, Cassiopeia, and a billion other stars for a long, long time.

TTYL.

Lizards and Snails and Gecko Tails

Bugs. My kids love them. Yesterday afternoon I was repotting a mum when I discovered a tiny little speckled gecko. It looked so cute just sitting there at the bottom of the pot. I called my daughter over, "Hurry, come see this!  Get your brother!" Both kids ran towards me. 

The excitement in my voice must have startled the little gecko because that thing flew out of the pot and landed right on my foot. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed so loud it scared my kids. "What's wrong, Mom?  Are you OK?" they wanted to know. "The, the, the lizard is on my foot!"  I yelled again. 

Both kids looked down and started laughing. The little gecko was quietly sitting there about a foot away from my foot. "Mom, it's just a tiny gecko. You're not scared of it; are you?"  D reached down and tried to pick it up. Its tail broke off. N picked up the tail. "Cool, it's still moving!" she said.  D picked up the gecko and held it up to me. "Here, Mom. Touch it." I reached out my hand, but for the life of me, I couldn't do it. You see, I grew up with the fear of bugs in me. I was taught to let out a blood-curdling scream and smash any creepy-crawly I saw. 

My kids, thankfully, have not adopted my ways.  They have opted to go with David's.  David loves bugs, too.  He picks up spiders and carries them out of the house.  Instead of swatting flies, he catches and releases them outside.  He has taught the kids not to step on ants, but to observe and admire them.  He has modeled respect for these creepy-crawlies and the kids have taken this to heart.

"Come on, Mom. Just a quick touch.  You can even close your eyes."  I closed my eyes and gave it a quick swipe with my index finger.  It felt rough and scaly and a little creepy.  The hairs on the back of my neck all stood on end, but I did it!  I touched a creepy-crawly! I have never done that before!  And I did it all because of my kids.  And my husband.  

TTYL.