Talks in his Sleep

Jason talks in his sleep. And since I have to sleep with him, I get to hear all about his dreams while he is having them. (I kicked Jason out of my bed a few months ago and then quickly weaned him off his binky because his teeth were getting too crooked.  Little did I know he wasn't going to be like the rest of the kids although I should have know. How many times have my kids been predictable?  He must sleep with me and I'm too tired to wean him off me.  Mark is a very light sleeper and if he wakes up at night, he never goes back to sleep.  And I need Mark to sleep more than I need to sleep train Jason at this time.)

He likes his routines and is the first kid to tell me he is ready to go to bed. A few weeks ago, he slept with four things and he needed them in place before he would go to sleep. 1) That hat he is wearing. 2) His stuffed Rottweiler. 3) A foam baseball bat and 4) me.  He was well protected.  Now he is down to two things: a book and me. His favorite books are a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer coloring book and the Usborne book of Astronomy and Space. Sometimes he chooses one of my paperbacks that I keep in there.  I tried to read a book about the conscience mind of an octopus last month, but Jason kept taking it from me and I had to return it to the library without reading it.

Gosh I love his brown eyes

Two nights ago he dreamed that he was going potty.  He kept saying, "I need toilet paper! I need toilet paper!" and then he passed some gas.  I was so worried that he was going to wet the bed that I woke him up and took him to the bathroom (he and Heidi are my only two kids to potty train and be dry at night at their second birthday).  Then he dreamed he was fighting with Daniel.  He woke up saying he hated him. 

Last night he dreamed that Lula stole his pants.  He shouted, "Lula! Give me my pants!" over and over.  Then he started kicking me in the back as hard as he could saying, "Get out of here! Get out of here!" I was happy to comply.  Really happy. I couldn't believe my luck! I was going to get to sleep in my own bed! As soon as I sat up, Jason woke up (he is a super light sleeper and knows the second I start thinking about sneaking away) and started crying, "Come back, mama! Please mama! Sleep with me, pleeeeease mama!"

Of course I will sweetie.... little Mama's Boy.  I'm such a sucker. And right now I don't even care about the long term consequence of spoiling the last little boy.

Laughing Lula, Daring Daniel

"Five plus five is ten!" followed by joyous laughter

Joy was the perfect middle name for Lula.  Everything she hears or says is followed by laughter.  I read a short story about iguanas to her today and she laughed all the way through.  It wasn't funny though! She was just delighted that iguanas can be six feet long and walk on a leash.  How amazing that they eat fruit and can climb curtains and sit on your head!

She also talks at a higher than normal volume, much like her older brother and her grandad.  Those three have no inside voice.  When Lula reads out loud, I have no problem hearing her over the cacophony these two make:

Trolls under the table

Jason is a nice little buddy at the table when he isn't being a demanding two year old who wants workbooks too.

He likes to joke about putting the wrong colors together.

 The little kids are finally trained to know where their place is at the table and which workbooks (coloring books) belong to them.  What a relief.

Daniel has hit his first wall for math and it's about time!

Double digit addition with carrying has slowed him up a bit.  He is the kind of kid that is always in a hurry, so he tends to get sloppy.  He wasn't too happy when I erased a bunch of his answers.  But I did the writing the second time around so he could focus on carrying the one.  What do you do with a kids whose brain is as fast as a computer, but the programming is glitchy? Sigh.

But at least I have this:

Making the lower living room great again! (joking!!!)

He loves history and exciting stories of daring and adventure, especially if there is a lot of battle and killing.  I have a picture book version of Gilgamesh that he enjoyed. He has spent the last two days building walls around his great cities.  We also have a hardback copy that Grandad bought many years ago that my older students can read.  If they dare.

Fairy Shrimp

Hi. It's been awhile. 

Earlier this month, Daniel found these really cool creatures that I have never seen before.  I spent so much time trying to figure out what they were and I have a real science degree and I even spent many many hours identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates. Mark didn't even know what they were and he knows this property better than anyone.

My science teacher friend identified them as Brine or Fairy Shrimp.  Otherwise known as Sea Monkeys!  I had no idea they could live in pond puddles, but that is their special niche.  They live in ephemeral bodies of water and have a very short life cycle.  They lay their eggs in the mud, which survive until the next rainy season.

Field trip to the pond puddle

 This puddle was so much bigger when it was full! By the time Daniel discovered the fairy shrimp, most of the water had dried up.

 There are two fairy shrimp in the picture above.  You can see their orange egg sacks.  The coolest thing (besides their life history) is that they swim upside down!

Daniel collected a bucket of specimens and he is planning on letting the bucket dry up so he can see if the eggs survive and hatch after he adds water again.  Fun project!  They are sitting in my school room right now.

But guess what? They are already hatching:

Brand new baby fairy shrimp with no legs yet!

 And guess what else? Fairy shrimp aren't the only thing in his bucket....

... this is a mosquito, halfway through metamorphosis.  I saw some empty exoskeletons floating around in the bucket this morning and Fiona exclaimed, "I was wondering where that mosquito came from!

Daniel now has a lid on his project until all the mosquitos are done hatching!

And while we are on the subject...

...of writing and Ian... he received his PSAT scores this week.  He scored in the 90% for reading and writing and is now being recruited for the AP courses in English Language, English Literature, Psychology (?), and World History.

And then this is what he turned in for his career planning class:

He asked me to not get mad at him. How can I? I kinda want to email his teacher...and thank him for 1. not killing or worse, failing him and 2. understanding Ian's humor style.