School Boy

School Boy, originally uploaded by cheryl.

So confident, so sure of himself. That's what I see when I look at this photo.

That's a good thing, I guess. But he's going to have to tone down that personality just a little bit for school. He can be loud and talkative (as in he never stops talking). He can be dramatic and emotional, as in stomping his feet and shouting (wonder where he ever learned that from). He can also be needy, as in "Look at me, look at me!"

Tonight was kindergarten open house at his elementary school. Josh and I took Connor while Grammy kept the twins at home. We got to meet his teacher (and some other kids and parents from his class) and also see his classroom and his school. We filled out a bunch of forms, gave them some money, and got a school lunch account set up.

He was excited and wild. He colored and looked at books, he scoped out the classroom and the rest of the school, he tried to jump higher and run faster than other kids in the classroom. He ate the candy from his goody bag when no one was looking.

And he didn't want to leave. Not even to go eat dinner at a restaurant, with just us and him. It was still an "Aw, ma-an!" moment. He wanted to know if he could come back tomorrow. We told him two more days.

Yes, he's definitely ready.

(And before you think the twins were slighted, trust me when I tell you they weren't. Grammy started the evening off with dinner from McDonald's, including milkshakes. There was lots of swinging (their favorite, now that the play set is back up and functional in the back yard), a long walk through the neighborhood, and more suckers and icees that you can imagine. They were in heaven, trust me, much more so than if we had taken them to the open house and then out to eat.)

The Countdown Begins ...

In two days, Connor will start big boy school.

He's been waiting oh-so-patiently (hear the sarcasm?) to go for what seems like years (basically even before he started preschool two years ago). But it's almost here.

Tonight is the open house at school. Grammy and Pappy are coming over to keep the twins for us so that Connor can enjoy his moment. We'll get another tour of the school (Daddy hasn't been there yet) and also get a chance to meet Connor's new kindergarten teacher. We'll also do routine stuff, like pick up our car identification passes, drop off the bags and bags of school supplies from the required list, and even pay some money for things like a kids newspaper subscription, a school t-shirt, and lunch money (optional, of course).

In some ways, it's hard to believe the day is almost here. In others, it has been a long time coming. He's talked about it so often and for so long, that we weren't sure it would ever get here.

Now, let's just hope that he's not like his cousin Jason ( actually, he's Daddy's cousin, but you get the idea). When he went to kindergarten all those years ago, he was excited to go to. After the first day, he said that was enough, he'd learned all there was to know and he wasn't going back!

I don't think that will be the case with Connor, but you never know. It will be an adjustment, getting up early and staying all day instead of just a few hours (like preschool). But with at least 12 more years after this one, he better get used to it!

Happy Birthday, Pappy!

Make a Wish, originally uploaded by cheryl.

Yesterday was Pappy's birthday, so we packed up the boys and headed over to Grammy and Pappy's for the evening. There was lots of food and drinks, cakes and (letter) candles and ice cream, and even a few presents.

The boys didn't eat much outside of bread and crackers, but what else is new. Connor put away quite a bit of spaghetti but passed on the chicken basil pasta. The boys all dug into the vanilla bean ice cream at the end. They weren't so much on the carrot cake, an adult favorite but not a hit with the under six crowd. Or Mommy for that matter. See, they get their food issues from me.

The boys spent plenty of time playing with the toys Grammy keeps over there for them and also playing out in the backyard. Grammy and Uncle Luke even had some little fireworks for Connor to play with (the ones that snap when you throw them down on the concrete). He had fun, even if they didn't last long because he kept taking handfuls and throwing them all together.

A good way to spend the evening, and hopefully a fun birthday for Pappy!

Rise & Shine

Come next week, I think we're going to have one sleepy little boy.

This summer has not been a good one in terms of keeping the boys on any kind of normal schedule. They've been living in our schedule, which doesn't always work with the rest of the world. Bedtime for the boys has been between 10 and 11 o'clock at night, and wake up time ranges anywhere from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., depending on the boy.

Sawyer is always the early one. The boy lives on an average of only 8 or 9 hours of sleep a night, with no naps. Oy. If he happens to fall asleep on any given day because of a rough few days (either activity or sleep wise), you're going to be sorry. Because that nap means he won't fall asleep until well after midnight and he will still be up by 5 a.m. Trust me, naps are not good, and I never thought I'd say that about any child of mine.

Xander is kind of a sleepyhead, but it comes in phases. He is usually the only one who's happy to be put to bud. He climbs right in and immediately starts sucking on that thumb. He's usually out first. He's often the second or third one awake, he's definitely not like his twin brother. Early isn't his style, unless he's not feeling well or he happened to fall asleep at dinner time the night before (which does happen on occasion). He's probably the only one of the boys who misses the afternoon nap.

And Connor, poor Connor, is about to enter the real world. He will do so begrudgingly. He is absolutely excited about going to big kid school. He talks about it practically every single day, asks questions about the day, what kind of backpack he can have, if he can wear his new school shoes, if his friends will be in his class, and well, you get the idea. He's curious, excited and ready. But that sleep pattern is not going to come easily. He's been a travel boy this summer. He hasn't had a regular bedtime before 10:30 all summer long. And he certainly doesn't wake up before the sun comes up. He will have to be at school before 7:45 a.m. He NEVER sees that time of day. EVER. Oy.

We've been trying this week to slowly move the boys back to a school schedule. Bedtime by 9 o'clock and then getting up when they wake up. Sawyer would do well on Connor's school schedule. Connor would prefer the twins (the 10:35 a.m. start time would fit nicely with his ideal wake-up time). Xander will like his schedule, except for the odd days when we might have to get the twins up to take Connor to school because I'm not off from work yet (I get home about 7:45 a.m. on the mornings after I work). But our attempt at a school schedule has not been going all that well.

I'll even give you an example. Two nights ago, Connor was in bed by shortly after 9 o'clock and was actually asleep very shortly after that. Sometime early that morning, he decided he was scared of something in his room and climbed into our bed for the rest of the morning. I had to nudge him awake at 9:45 in the morning. He buried his head under the covers, stretched himself back out, and proclaimed it was "too early" to be awake.

Yes, our big boy is in for a serious lifestyle adjustment. Not necessarily the school part. But the schedule. Wonder how often he's going to fall asleep at school that first week or so?

What's For Dinner?

Eating. It's always been a challenge in our house.

From the very beginning, we had issues with all of the boys. First, it was their constant need to eat. All of them have been 95th percentile and above their entire lives. And they came into this world ready to eat. I managed about five months with Connor before we started supplementing breast milk, and only about four with the twins. I continued to breastfeed for much longer with both of them, but not exclusively because it simply wasn't enough. We started everything a little earlier than normal, from baby cereal to baby food to table food and even whole milk. They were insatiable as babies.

As they got older, the challenge changed. They still wanted a lot to eat, but only certain things. And that range was extremely narrow. Perhaps they pick that up from their mother. I'm told I was a picky eater as a child, and still have a rather limited list of things I like. If it's green, meaning a vegetable and good for you, I probably don't like it. Even if it's not green and it's a vegetable, I probably won't like it. So the apples don't fall far from the tree, apparently.

Connor, thank goodness, has outgrown his picky stage. He actually will try just about anything once, sometimes with a little persuasion and sometimes with simple childlike excitement about something new. He will also eat just about anything. He graduated to meat a long time ago, and he can actually eat me under the table sometimes. He devours a whole ribeye steak and asks for more. Bacon, he can put away 10 slices and think nothing of it. Boneless pork chops, at least two. And he even eats quite a few vegetables and fruits as well.

But the twins, they are something else. Their diet is EXTREMELY limited. And it seems to be getting worse (not better) as they get older. As far as Sawyer is concerned, anything with bread (or flour) in it is good. Bread, crackers, chips, dry cereal, whatever. He thinks it's the only thing you're supposed to eat, ever. Xander is a little more flexible. He's also a dairy addict. Milk and yogurt are his staples.

But the grand total of their acceptable foods looks something like this:

Dairy. Milk, yogurt.

Fruits. Pineapple, mandarin oranges, bananas (only Xander and only sometimes), grapes (only Xander), applesauce.

Vegetables. Green beans (mostly Xander) and corn (only Xander lately).

Meat. Chicken nuggets, hot dogs and bacon (only Sawyer on any of the meats).

Grains. Bread, plain fajitas, bagels, cereal, chips, crackers, popcorn, pizza, french fries, doughnuts.

Do you see the dilemma. That list is pretty short. Even little kid favorites like macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly are not guarantees. Sawyer will sometimes put away macaroni likes it's the best thing ever. Other times he won't even touch it. Xander won't ever touch it. Peanut butter and jelly is only good about one out of every three tries.

And that's the other issue. What they'll eat one day like it's the best thing ever, a week or so later might be something they won't even touch. You never know. Until you've fixed it and they push it away.

We're working on it. I'm offering a few options, including at least one thing I know they like. I will give them as many as two cups of milk, but I'm not performing short-order cook options any more. You get what you get and you either like or wait and hope for better at the next meal. It's too hard to try to figure out what each one is going to eat at any given time, and we've let them get away with it for far too long.

Tonight was my first experiment. We had a roast with egg noodles, green beans, white corn, and yeast rolls. Each one got a plate with a little of everything.

Xander devoured his green beans and corn, asking for "more, please" as soon as those items were gone. He also ate two rolls and had two glasses of milk. He wouldn't touch the meat or the noodles, which I expected.

Connor ate everything on his plate, even though he doesn't usually like green beans. I told him to at least try one, and if he didn't like it, he didn't have to eat any more. I had purposefully only put three on his plate. He surprised us both by "liking" them tonight, and ate all three and asked for more, which he also ate. He also had seconds of everything except his roll, and he had three glasses of sweet tea. I figure if you eat well, you deserve a few extra treats, and the extra tea was his for tonight.

Sawyer was the stubborn one tonight. Bread, only bread. He ate two rolls and wouldn't touch a single thing on his plate. I did refill his milk for him, so he had two glasses of milk. But I wouldn't let him have another roll without eating something off his plate. I tried to help him with his corn and his green beans, something he eats on occasion. He was having none of it. And now he's going to bed a little more hungry than usual.

I'm sure at some point I might give in. The boys are persistent (and by that I mean really annoying) when they want a drink or a snack. Usually it's much easier to give in than it is to hold out. But I'm going to try. Especially at meal times.

One. Family. Meal. This short-order cook is retired.