Quoted & Noted

"It's share time!" he says, very forcefully and exaggerating the "share" part of it. "No tell me hush, time to talk, it's share time!"

Somehow, some way, he's using "share time" from school - where the kids bring in an item to talk about during circle time every day - to justify his need for non-stop talking. I don't even want to know how the connection was made. Perhaps because he's not nearly as talkative at school as he is at home. Or perhaps because he's asked and expected to talk at that time.

In passing, I once asked his teacher if she had trouble keeping him quiet during class, thinking this might be an area where he would need work. She stared at me blankly, as if I had said something so completely ridiculous she wasn't sure she heard me correctly. She recovered, then told me that they didn't have that problem with him, that he actually had to be prompted into talking. Prompted! This from the boy who never, ever stops talking at home, or in the car, or in the grocery or anywhere except school, apparently.

And don't think that I don't see the irony. I absolutely do. One child who talks as though it's more essential than breathing. Two who are completely uninterested in talking (at least with words). One child who we constantly beg for just a few minutes of peace, only to hear things like this . . .

"No tell me hush, time to talk, it's share time!"

And two who we would give almost anything to hear words from.

Not a lot, mind you. Just a few, every once in a while, that would be nice.

The Stars Align

Sometimes it all just comes together.

Today, my three boys, none of whom think taking a nap is something they should do anymore, all came home tired (about 2 p.m., when we were bringing the little guys home from school). Sawyer had actually fallen asleep at school, which was not unexpected, as he was awake very early this morning dancing in his room. He even let me carry him upstairs and put him in bed when we got home, which he usually fights, even if he is tired or has been sleeping at school. And Xander and Connor both went willingly upstairs to lay down, which shows how tired they both were.

So, they all slept. At the same time. For the first time in I don't know how long.

And, one of my movies from Netflix had just arrived in the mail today.

The house is still quiet, two hours and a movie later. One large batch of home-made chocolate chip cookies later (I found the recipe here - and they are delicious). They're just cooling, mind you, I haven't actually eaten a whole batch!

Not yet, anyway.

Who knows what the night will bring. After all, everything comes at its price. You can't get afternoon naps without pushing back bedtime. And for Sawyer, that push back time may be well into the early hours of the morning.

So it goes . . .

Swim Lessons

Because, clearly, he's afraid of the water. That blur would be him. Legs in the air, a little bit of blue swimming trunks near the water, and a red swim shirt already submerged head first.

As you can see, we're more afraid of the fact that he has absolutely no fear of the water, even though he's a self-taught dog-paddler who barely keeps his head above water and is prone to jumping in whether anyone is there to help him or not.

Let's just say that the first words the instructor said to us were that he was Level II, not the Level I in which he was enrolled. But, since Level II is already full, he is allowed to stay and she will just work with him on a more advanced level so that we can skip Level II and move to Level III next time.

My water baby. I should have known, but after reading the class descriptions I just wasn't sure. He would either be one of the more advanced in Level I or one of the least advanced in Level II. And he's shy at first, so I was worried he might need to work up to it.

But, as you can see from the photo above, not so much. He was hesitant with his teacher at first, but before long he was jumping in every time she turned her back (instead of sitting on the wall like he was supposed to be doing, you know, taking turns).

All in all, not a bad first time for lessons. He needs to learn to listen to his teacher and to not be a distraction while she's working with the others. I mean, really, there are only four other kids in the class. That's not asking for much patience. But I'm not four, so maybe it is.

One down. Five more to go, at least for this round. He seems to like it, and is only sad that it doesn't last longer than 30 minutes. Perhaps we'll have to go early next time, so he can play a little before. Perhaps . . . if he's good (which he hasn't been lately).

Spell Boy

"Es-sa!" (translated, "S"!)

In terms of actual words, he still doesn't say a whole lot for his age. You hear the occasional "No, no, no!" and "Yes, yes, yes!" (which are extremely cute in their own way, especially now that he's using them in the appropriate context, you know, if repetitively counts). You also hear a random word here and there, often one much more complex than you would expect for someone who doesn't really, well, talk.

But, here lately, he's been fascinated with letters (obsessed, really). He knows all the upper letters by sight and some of the lower case letters, too. He can also say them in order, on days when he is so inclined, all the way from A to Z.

Here lately, he's been doing something else. He walks around spelling words. Out loud.

It's nothing to hear "sh-S-H-O-E - shu" or "F-R-I-E-N-D-fa-nd" from him. He also says / spells "music" and "canoe" and "boat" and "pie" as well. He doesn't try to say all of them, but does try to say some of them. "Shoe" is far and away his favorite. He spells it all the time. I'm sure people think it's odd, hearing him spell shoe as he walks in to and out from school, as we go though the drive-thru, as we shop at the grocery, as we walk around the block, and just about anywhere we go.

And while we will claim some credit for his new ability (not much, really), because we do encourage the spelling and the trying to speak on a few levels. We almost always repeat them back to him (which he demands, in his oh-so-impatient way). And we do things like making letters on the MagnaDoodle for what feels like hours, and we even get out the magnetic letters (that end up all over the house) for the boys to play with on a pretty much a daily basis.

But the majority of the credit has to go to PBS - and his two favorite shows of all time - SuperWhy and Word World. If you have toddlers, and your not adverse to television, these shows are actually kind of cute. And clearly they have some educational value. My three year old knows his letters. And it's the first thing that's interested him enough to actually try to speak.

Small steps . . .

Snapshot Sunday

He looks so sweet and innocent. Actually, he's laying down at the opening of the play set, so his little brother can't climb up and slide. Imagine that.