Long Time Coming!

Wow, it's been two weeks plus since I last wrote an entry - I'll tell you what the real culprit is - we don't have a functioning digital camera, and it's just not the same kind of blog when I can't accompany an entry with a cute or telling Jake/Ben shot.

I will say that we're over a month into the school year and (knock on wood!), we're still all healthy! It's a miracle! And mark my words, because I've written and celebrated this, within the next two weeks, we'll ALL be sick.

Jake is enjoying his class - every week they study and practice writing different letters - first c, then o, then g, and now q. Each week, they bring to school on Wednesday pictures that they cut out that begin with each letter. This week's letter "Q" was going to be difficult, or so I thought. I figured that Jake would have a very limited vocabulary of "Q" words, and despite my usual competitive nature, I don't like to help him brainstorm too much on these, because I want him to do his own work, not me doing it FOR HIM, like some of the other moms in his classroom. However, I was most impressed at the words that he was coming up with. He started with the easy ones like quilt, quarter, and queen. And then he really got going with quill, quail, and quintet. He and Scott found a picture online of his aunt Cay in her brass quintet and printed it and cut it out, so he could show a picture of his aunt when he was sharing his project with the class. He also ended up adding a picture of quadruplets, Quasimoto (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and question. He made me proud.

Ben is so funny. He is walking and running all over the place, but despite his zest for physical activity, which usually translates into daredevilism, he's actually quite careful. When he climbs onto the couch and does whatever he does up there (usually emptying my purse and wallet), he always makes sure to turn around and back down, feet first, until they touch the ground. When he's walking and sees or senses a change in elevation, be it steps, a ledge, or just a graduated ramp, he turns himself around and backs down it. Which is really funny when we're at a sports field, in the bleachers, and we begin walking toward the handicap ramp, and he feels or sees the gradual decline in the ramp, and turns around, puts his hands on the ground, and starts scooting backwards down the ramp. It's so cute to watch - I"ll have to get video of it at some point.

That's all for now - hopefully next time I post, I'll have a picture too!