What's New?

A fun part about life with kids is there is always something new going on. Or is that the bad thing about life with kids? I guess it depends on what that new thing is!

Seven new things around our house:

1.

My 4 year old daughter just learned to pump herself on the swing. She is so proud, we are so proud, and now she spends a good part of each day doing this!

Is it just me or do little girls like to swing much more than boys? Boys would rather climb and slide and don't have the patience to stick with the swing long enough to actually get themselves going with the pumping.

2.

But, my boy? The 6 year old has entered this phase:


And I love seeing it so much! He's reading chapter books silently to himself, often, and by choice. Sometimes even while standing! We bought The Boxcar Children Books 1-4 at my daughter's school book fair on Monday and he is totally loving them!

3.

For the toddler, he has entered the phase of language development where he realizes the need for past-tense (as in adding -ed to words) but is still not quite sure when and how to do it. Favorite things I've heard him say recently:

"I sleep-did!" meaning, "I slept."

"I hop-did!" meaning "I hopped."

and my absolute favorite:
"I naked-did!" meaning, "I'm naked!"

4.

And speaking of the toddler, at 2 years and 6 months he is not potty trained even though his big sister was at 23 months and his big brother at 2 years and 2 months. I tried. I failed.

But on a positive note, the toddler has been grabbing wipes and wiping himself during dirty diaper changes. So, I've switched my strategy and instead of trying to potty train him, I'm just gonna teach him to change his own diaper!

5.

And this has been going on a lot around here lately. In fact my house is over-run with them. The acorns! They are in piles on kid tables, in envelopes brought home from school, in little baggies, in cups, basically everywhere! Anyone else have little acorn collectors?

6.

Oh, and the Batman turkey. I'm not sure whether to count this as the high or low point of the week. But we did complete the 1st grade family Thanksgiving project. A note came home telling us to cut out the attached turkey and paste it on poster board and then decorate it in a creative way. We embellished our turkey with felt Batman accessories, a cape and mask made of silky fabric, and fabric feathers.

7.

And my husband and I? May or may not be navigating the waters of exactly how much to help on kid school projects. Granted this one did specify it was to be a "fun family project". But still, I draw the line at actually coloring over an area my child had colored just to make it look better. My husband, however, apparently does not have that same line! He may have caved to the pressure of the other turkeys he saw hanging in the school hall that were turned in early (before we even started ours) and looked as he put it, "professionally done, like the parents took it to Michaels and let someone there do it for them!"

Find more Friday Funnies at Homesteader's Heart, Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life, 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary.