Fix the TV!

Paul had an appointment on Tuesday to get some dental work done. We'd gone in last month for the usual 6 month cleaning and checkup, and the dentist found a bunch of cavities. She said a very aggressive bacteria was taking over his mouth. Not what we were expecting to hear! So we had to go to the hospital, have him put under anesthesia, and get the work done.

He went in just fine, didn't even cry when they wheeled him away from us (he thought it was very cool to ride on a rolling bed). They did the work and things went fine. Then the fun started. He had a really hard time coming out of the anesthesia, and was just flailing around screaming and crying. For about a half an hour. When we finally got him woken up and calmed down, they took him upstairs to his hospital room. When we got up there, we turned on the tv. Luckily Dora was on. I snuggled with him on the hospital bed, and we watched Dora save the mermaids. About 15 minutes into the show, Paul suddenly said "Daddy, can you fix the tv?"

Clark looked at it and said "what's wrong with it?" I expected Paul to be complaining about the sound, since it comes out of the remote instead of out of the actual tv, which wasn't something he was used to. Nope.

He said "See! Look at the tv! There's TWO Doras and TWO Boots the monkeys, and TWO Swipers! Can you fix it?" Clark and I exchanged a glance, and I said "Paul, that will probably fix all by itself in just a little while." Luckily it did.

Cooking with the kiddos!

The kids have loved helping me bake since, well, they were too little to do anything other than sit in a bouncy seat and wave a spoon around.

Lately they've gotten involved in more ambitious projects, like pasta making with Daddy.







We also made some really colorful cookies, using a kit made by crayola. They didn't taste great (although the kids liked them) but it was really fun dough to work with. Sam made a Spectrobe, and a bunny rabbit with his name on it. Paul made, um, something colorful. And working together we made the whole solar system (complete with pluto, because we just can't bear to leave it out) out of cookies.

Spectrobe (komapod to be exact)


Bunny

Paul's creation

We also did a "easter bunny cottage" gingerbread house. Paul was very excited to get to use a piping bag for the frosting, just like Mommy does.

Who Needs Sleep?

"Who needs sleep?
Well, you're never gonna get it
Who needs sleep?
Tell me, what's that for?
Who needs sleep?
Be happy with what you get,
there's a guy that's been awake since the second world war!"
-From Barenaked Ladies song "Who Needs Sleep"

Paul is apparently the kind of kid who just plain doesn't need sleep. At least not a "normal" amount. According to the "experts", 3 year olds should get a total of 11-14 hours of sleep a night. Paul has decided that this isn't for him. Why waste all that time sleeping? You could be doing much more fun things during that time, like fighting with your brother or making messes! Paul was in the habit of waking up between 4 and 5 am for a few weeks, except on the days he was up during the night from 1-3 or 4. Then he would "sleep in" until 5:30 or 6.

But when he does sleep, he's adorable. And sometimes quite funny. He likes to "read" in bed for a few minutes before he falls asleep, so we leave the light in his room on when we tuck him in, and turn it off a few minutes later when he's asleep. We've found a number of funny things when we go in to shut off the light.

There was this night, where he apparently fell asleep halfway into bed.

Or this night, where he was sleeping with his finger up his nose:


Or the night when he decided to sleep "upside down" in his bed, and apparently discovered that the bed rails at the top of the bed are actually useful:
And my personal favorite, the night we walked in and discovered him sound asleep wearing not one, but two pairs of sunglasses!

It's not easy being 7

Well, I feel bad. The poor kiddo's had a rough week! On his birthday he had to sit at the doctor's office for an hour and a half while Paul had a check up (doctor was running late). The next day was his check up, and he had to get a shot.

On Friday he had a dentist appointment for a root canal. Friday afternoon I got a call from the school to pick him up early because he was sick with diarrhea. Saturday was supposed to be his big birthday party at a bowling alley with his friends, and a bunch of family. We ended up having to cancel it because he had a fever. Then he threw up. We still had family over for pizza and cake and presents, but the poor guy had no energy and spent most of his party sitting around looking like a zombie! Sunday he was still sick, too sick to go swimming in the hotel pool, which he'd been really excited about.

And today (Monday) he still wasn't feeling well, so I took him to the doctor. Turns out he's got strep. And scarlet fever. So he got a shot of penicillin (after much drama). What a week! I hope the rest of the year is much easier for him!!!!

Age 7, by the numbers!

Sam had his official 7 year old checkup yesterday afternoon, and here are his stats.

He's 49 inches tall, which puts him in the 70th percentile for height.
(yes, he is only 13 inches shorter than me now, which is starting to have me scared!)
He weighs 47 lb, which puts him in the 45th percent for weight.

He also had to have a shot, and handled it very well. He politely asked the nurse to "not put it in too deep" and also asked if he could hold onto his pokemon toys to help it not be so scary. It was quite shocking! No tears about it until the actual shot, and then just a few moments of "ouch" tears. He's a big boy, all right!!!

Lucky #7

Happy birthday to Sam! It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since this day:


But here we are!

First Grade Isn't What It Used To Be!

The farther we get into the school year, the more amazed I am by the things that first graders are learning now. When I was in first grade, it was generally expected that you know the alphabet, and most of first grade was spent teaching kids to read. Those of us who were already reading were few and far between, and just read along with the other kids in the beginning reader books.

Now kids are expected to be reading well by the end of kindergarten, and in first grade they have weekly spelling tests! Some of the words that have been on Sam's spelling tests in the past few weeks are:
cheetah
mystery
fantasy
chalkboard
and beanstalk.

And math! When I was in first grade, we were counting. And learning to count by 2s and 5s and 10s. And learning the difference between a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter. And how to tell time. By the end of the year, we were doing some addition and subtraction, in the 2+3=5 or 6-3=3 sort of way.

Sam came home from school today with a math test that had 157+225=382. And 268+79=347.
Yikes. And they're doing multiplication and division--third and fourth grade work back in the OLDEN days when I was in school (as the kids would say)

Anyway, I now think that I don't want to go on the "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" show, because if they're doing this in first grade, what are they doing in fifth grade? Calculus? Molecular biology?

I know I'm probably not smarter than a fifth grader. I'm just hoping to still be smarter than a first grader by the end of the school year!!