My little man and random thoughts

Scott has become the man of the house for much of the day. This morning we took out the recycling and stopped at his favorite climbing tree on the corner to test out his new sneakers. (Thanks, Grandma Gail!) Halfway up the tree, he pronounced that the shoes were "great and effective". He says he will teach Elizabeth how to climb trees and will keep pebbles away from her because they are a choking hazard.

On our walk around the block, he collected 4 twigs and a pebble. "This is manhole territory," he declared. On top of each manhole, he dropped a twig, presumably to identify it as a manhole. At the last manhole, he dropped a twig and the pebble. As we turned the corner, he announced, "This is tree territory now," then spying a manhole, "but we are still in manhole territory, too."
I love this guy!

I love our peaceful days now that Ethan is back at school. Ethan is happy, too, although he says he hasn't learned anything yet. Last Friday, he received his first homework packet, which he is supposed to turn in this Friday. He did it all in about half an hour on Friday and Saturday, even the 3 extra credit pages. I hope there is something there that will challenge him. He complained on the first day that there was no hard math, but that he hoped there would be hard math on the state tests that happen in the spring. I told him to give it some time, that they were probably still reviewing and getting going. I suspect that academically, he'd be fine in 2nd or 3rd grade, but physically and socially, he fits in just right with the 1st graders. I imagine we'll be dealing with similar issues with Scott once he starts his pre-K class in a few days. He is reading me silly poems right now from a book called Laugh-eteria.

On the topic of Ethan, I'm trying to be a "strength detective" and really notice the good things he does. I tend to be critical of him, and I'm not sure why. I left him a note on the breakfast table this morning telling him how much I appreciated the quick and quiet way he went to bed last night. (I also included a scripture for him to work on memorizing; he loves to memorize!) The usual scenario is that he gets out of bed about 5 times, and there is usually a lot of giggling and roughhousing that goes on with Scott before they settle down. Last night, no giggling, no getting out of bed, just straight to sleep after my lullaby. They must have been worn out from playing with the friends we visited yesterday afternoon.

Elizabeth must be getting uncomfortable because she is VERY squirmy. Her motions are visible and my belly sticks out in strange ways as she moves around. 2 more months. I do not remember feeling so ready to give birth this far ahead of a due date. However, I think I've already topped my maximum weight with Ethan and I'm close to reaching the maximum weight with Scott. That may have something to do with it. Sigh.