We're very lucky.
Jack is the sort of child
we all assume we'll have
when we decide to have children,
and the sort of child
less experienced parents
congratulate themselves for.January and February 2004
March and April 2004
May and June 2004
July and August 2004
September and October 2004
November and December 2004
Blogs we read:
2006-05-19 - 17:25
We're home again!
Actually, we'll have been home exactly a week by the time I post this -- but what with a case of travelers woe for Jack and jet lag for all of us -- and spending four days this week working faster than i knew i could to catch up on everything that needed doing at work there just hasn't been time to post.
While we were away, jack turned three! Hurrah! But, oops, I'd better get over to lilliepie and get a new banner, eh?
Anyway, since he was sharing his birthday with his adult brother and sister-in-law, we put off the blowing out the candles 'photo op' until later this month, at a (hopefully gift-free) party with his friends.
All About Jack
This his blog, after all!
Jack seems to have enjoyed Sweden. That people speak different languages seems to have really registered with him on this trip. I noticed him noticing on the flight over. Whenever an announcement in Dutch came over the intercom, he listened intently. Then, of course, he got to really immerse himself in Swedish for almost two weeks.
At first he just tried gibberish -- for which Dad scolded him. It's rude to simply that someone elses language is meaningless, even if you don't understand it. He's absolutely correct -- though I hadn't thought to characterize it that way.
By the time we got home, he was using some words correctly. (Mostly 'Nej!' [No!] but he was trying. He was also sure "Voss" was the Swedish word for "dog". It's not -- that's the dog' name.) Then Rod and I started studying Swedish using Rosetta Stone immersion lessons. Jack started to pay more attention when things were repeated and repeated ... and he started to under stand when the same words meant the same thing over and over again.
He's not picking it up as quickly as I thought he might, but as we work through the lessons, I think Jack will be around enough to start to "get it". Or, maybe not. It doesn't matter too much -- I plan to work through the course now, and then pull it out again in a couple of years just before we go back to refresh my memory -- at five, he may be more interested. He's a social enough boy that he's going to want to be able to talk with his beloved Bella sooner or later.
Jack *really* loves to "do school". His favorite part is doing worksheets. All the home school proponents talk about 'having the flexibility and freedom to get away from worksheets and busy-work', but that's Jack's favorite part!
He loves to read. He loves to go out to the lawn and "trace" letters by walking the shapes in the grass, he loves all of it. But his favorite part is worksheets. That might strike some as strange -- but as I watched him, I realized that when I was little, I loved them, too. As a matter of fact, as old as eight years old, I remember creating worksheets for myself to do. So, I cruise the home schooling sites and the pharmacy children's books sites and collect worksheets for Jack to do.
We do "what doesn't belong", bigger and smaller, matching and lots of other things, but since Jack is furthest behind on writing and drawing, we have him do about 10 minutes of tracing the dotted line to "help the (name an animal) get to its (name the home)". So far, the birds always take the scenic route, but the lines for the other animals are getting straighter and darker over time. The series we use has straight lines, zigzag lines and curved lines. When he can do that reliably, we'll add tracing shapes and then there are more complex sheets that have him trace single letter elements.
It's funny. When we tried to encourage Jack to draw, he wouldn't have any of it. He is just NOT interested. Oh, he'd scribble a little, but that was about it. And then he'd only do it as "letters to Mormor or Grandma".
Once we started explaining that this was practice to learn to write, he dug in with gusto. He is already a pretty proficient speller and the exercises where he circles the letters to spell the name of the picture, and as he practices, his tracing and even his freehand circling is getting noticably better every week.
I have been thinking that a magazine subscription might be a good idea for Jack as a part of his school. The tangled web of offerings is almost overwhelming, so I'm putting together a comparison table to help Rod and I choose the best one for Jack. Anyone have a wonderful magazine suggestion for kids? We're thinking science and nature ... mainly because as a kid, I loved to read and I found the literature based ones really, really lame and for the 3-6 crowd those seem to be the only options. I'm actually open to a literary magazine that actually has literary merit and isn't full of stupid stories. Oh, and we prefer no advertising. I'll share the grid when it's done, too, just in case everyone else is also puzzled and confused.
Home
We came home to a glorious sight at home -- most of the time we were away, it was cool and rainy. (Which has continued unabated since we returned.) The people aren't so keen on that, but the plants in our yard have LOVED it!
The lilacs and iris were blooming, the grass was an incredible, rich shade of green, the trees were vivid with fresh new leaves; it was like something from a Thomas Kinkaid painting! (OK, so he's hackneyed and clich�d at this point, and by all accounts not a terribly nice man. I still love the world he creates.) Bunnies and birds were everywhere, and we fell in love with out home all over again!
Now one of the things we adore about the property is that about two-thirds of it is wild and overgrown. We are working on pulling out some of the way too prolific sumac, because otherwise it's going to get insane, but taming it isn't why we bought it. We love it as it is and intend to leave it to the rabbits and other wildlife.
I'm sure I've told you all that before -- but that's the lead in to a neighborhood rumour. It seems that our backyard neighbor -- I'll call him "Mr. Dahlia", he of the manicured lawns and tennis courts and painfully modern house, rumour has it that Mr. Dahlia has his sights set on buying our 'back 40' from us.
Um, no.
First, the wild land and the large wild lot to the North of our property was a large part of the attraction of this house.
Second, one glance at his property suggests that his plan would be to kill everything in there and manicure it to death--or maybe add an in-ground Olympic swimming pool and a cabana, thereby ruining our quality of life. Not gonna happen. I don't want to look out my back window to see "Martha's Vineyard West" Even if it would provide a wonderful backdrop for his new peafowl.
Third, even if we ignore our quality of life for a moment that would put an awful lot of critters out of a home. There are just not enough places for wildlife as it is!
Anyway -- it's just a rumour. He hasn't actually approached us, and since he had the chance to buy the land back when we bought it, the odds are he wants it for less than its value if there is any truth at all to the rumour.
Rod has been working like a Trojan all week, digging a garden and planting herbs and vegetables. It's a small plot -- which I have encouraged. An easy garden is much more likely to be successful, especially at the start, than a garden that takes a lot of work. Next year, if he fidn this one really easy, he can add to it.
The soil on this property is amazing! It's soft and rich and feels smoother and softer than potting soil with few (no?) rocks or stones. When we found that near the house where we dug in the roses, I assumed that the soil near the house must have been ... I don't know, bought and put down special or something. But it's all the way back behind the house, as far as we have dug!
I have no idea what conditions could lead to such wonderful soil, but I now understand the attraction of gardening. It's positively rewarding when the land is so cooperative! Rod may have more help than I had first told him he would...
Gotta get moving. More soon!
