The Age of Innocence

Ethan and I were arguing today about whether Alex was a boy or a girl. I insisted he was really a she, and her name was Lily. Ethan disagreed rather vehemently.

Finally I asked him how he knew Alex was a boy and not a girl, and he triumphantly told me, "The doctor tells you when a baby is born! And he said Alex was a boy!"

So what could I do? I conceded defeat.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - oh, it really is a plane!

Here's Ethan's choice of a birthday cake. The jet plane is on a "runway", because he really wanted chocolate cake and chocolate frosting. I was also going to do a helicopter (seeing as that's his current obsession) but I ran out of time, energy, and frosting. Besides, I figured we had more than enough cake as it was. I do have the helicopter cake baked and cut and waiting in the freezer for another day! :)

Opinionated, already

Apparently Alex has decided he doesn't like it when I wear my hair up. Here's a picture of his reaction to it today:




I'm not sure if it was because he was tired, if he was not sure who I was, or if he just likes my hair down. Whatever it was, he was a very unhappy boy. I took it down, and he cheered right up. I put it back up, and he sobbed again. And what kind of mama am I to take pictures of his sadness just so I can blog about it? :)

This is why I can't get a good picture of Alex ...

...the boy never actually sits still!

Happy Birthday, Ethan

Today Ethan is six! Here he is putting together his birthday present from us:

There are more pictures of his gift below this post. And, in honor of Ethan, here are six of the many things I love about him:

1. His sense of humor

2. His tender heart

3. The way he loves Alex

4. His imagination

5. His eyelashes

6. His desire to be like his Papa

Happy Birthday, baby!

Big John's Attack

Here is Big John. (Sorry, Dad! Ethan picked the name.)



Another view of Big John ....

Big John's opponent, Big Yuck Weed (he eats yucky weeds, apparently):

The fight begins, with Big Yuck Weed attacking Big John's leg:

He goes in closer, only to be stung by Big John's fangs! He swims away! Big John is the winner!

Giving Credit...

I forgot to mention that our lapbook booklets came from Homeschool Helper; a great *free* source for free lapbooks, unit studies, and more. If you like that site, you should also check out Homeschool Share; another place for lots of mostly literature-based studies that work well with lapbooking and notebooking.

The Boston Tea Party

Ethan finished another lapbook today, this one on the Boston Tea Party. He wanted his picture taken with it, so here he is.




And here's the inside ...



He can even say "Taxation without representation is tyranny!" Not only that, he understands what it means, too. :) He's really enjoying history! In most of his pretend games lately, the good guys are the colonists and the bad guys are the redcoats. He even did a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party with his pirate ship and little cars. (The little cars represented the tea.) Next up is a study on the heroes (and heroines) of the Revolutionary War.

Three Things Ethan Learned Today

1. It's not a good idea to try to catch dog pee in a bucket.

2. The dog will eat icicles, but he prefers actual dog treats as a reward.

3. It is not a good idea to crawl under your mother's sewing table and press the foot pedal of her sewing machine while she's sewing.

All Dressed Up for Church

Playing with the Camera

They call me The Pus Man

Ethan put this hat on this morning and announced to me, "They call me The Pus Man." Y'know, because he has a white head. (Seriously. I couldn't make this stuff up!)




Notice the suitcase. Luke and I are so mean that Ethan has to play with an old suitcase. He fills the elastic pouch with small toys ... a rubber snake, a little man, a dart gun, handcuffs, a harmonica ... and then sets it on end like this:

... so he can stand behind it and pull out things to "surprise" us. It also served as a hunting station this morning. He filled my meat cupboard (that I didn't know I had) with a huge deer (put in a bag with a little bit of moisture to keep it fresh until this evening) and a tom turkey that was trying to hide in a little rubber boot. (It kept trying to squish down into the boot - but the squelching sound it was making as it squished gave its position away.) It was also his electrical repair kit when he decided we were having trouble with our electricity. So you can see it's a very multi-purpose kind of toy.

And now it's time to start school, so the Pus Man and I had better get busy!

A picture of Alex

Literary Disappointment

One of Ethan's Christmas gifts was a set of adapted classics - Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Wind in the Willows, and Moby Dick. Considering his current interest in all things aquatic, we weren't too surprised when he wanted to start with Moby Dick.

He loved it.

He liked the challenge of man against whale. He enjoyed the descriptions of life at sea. He was interested in the way they only used the fat for oil and let the sharks eat the whale meat.

Until we got to the end. Then, his disgust was palpable.

He did NOT think Moby Dick should have won. He felt quite strongly that Ahab should have been able to kill Moby Dick, and the whale should not have been able to kill everyone on the ship. (Except Ishmael, of course.)

He was slightly appeased when Luke told him that he thought Ahab's last throw of the harpoon managed to kill Moby Dick, even though the story didn't specify that. He'll still tell you, though, that the story should have ended differently.

Today's Safety Tip

A safety tip from Ethan:

Don't flip off a swing and land on your face unless you want a bloody lip.

Now you know.

Slime and bugs

Ethan went to a birthday party this weekend that was hosted by a mother who knows what little boys like. One of the party favors he brought home was a vial of slime with a bug in it, similar to these:

He loves his slime. He's played with it to the point that it's filthy - it was gross before, but now it's disgusting! I've also found myself saying things I never thought I would before I became a parent - things like, "Pick up your slime." "Don't rub the slime on your eyes." "No, I don't want to stick my finger in your slime."

So why am I thinking what a cool stocking stuffer these would make for next Christmas? :)

Intellectual stimulation, Ethan-style

Ethan is in a goofy mood in school today. Here are just a few of the conversational gems I’ve heard so far.

**But sir, your beard is on your head! (This was said to me, not Luke. And out of the blue – there was no preceding conversation)
**I’m glad my pencil is out of my nose. (That’s one way to make sure no one else uses your pencil, I guess.)
**Why, why, why, why, goo, goo, blah, blah, goo-eyed woman!
**This is all nonsense. I don’t believe in it.
**Hi, Mrs. Diaper. Hahahaha, I said diaper!
**When I first got up this morning, I went in the bathroom and turned the light on. I squinted my eyes like this (demonstrates squinting) because my bugles were still big from being in the dark. (I did tell him I thought he meant “pupils”.)

And we’re only half way done with school for the day.

Baby Gear

I was surprised to discover that baby gear has changed quite a bit since Ethan was a baby. Two of my new favorite things are sippy cups that don't leak AND don't have a valve! - they're amazing! - and vinyl bibs. The bibs may not actually be new, but I didn't use them with Ethan.

I like them because you can just wash them in the sink, they dry quickly, and they don't get all nasty before wash day. So I was washing one up the other day, and I noticed that they have tags on them. The tag contains directions on how to wash them - ok, I figured, maybe some people need directions on how to wash a vinyl bib. ? Seems a little strange, but I've heard stranger.

Then I see, "Do not iron."

What?

Who would iron plastic?

For that matter, who irons bibs?

Anyway, it was good for a chuckle.

Here's what I saw ...

... when I went to check on Ethan tonight. I've gotta tell ya, this just tickled me! I love it that he's becoming a reader - not just that he's learning to read, but that he loves books. If I knew what the cockles of my heart felt like, I'm sure they'd be warm!





And here's Alex, who falls asleep with his little buddy Gator. He loves that Gator - he rolls around with him and chews on his snout when we put Alex in his crib. I did move Gator so he wasn't right on Alex's face. :)

Random Pictures

About the most exciting this that's happened this week is that Alex got his first tooth. He's got another one coming, so his crankiness hasn't abated much ... but then again, teething is pretty painful for some babies. So we're being very patient. :)

And here are some recent pictures ...

Big Brother, Big Helper

Ethan decided he'd like to help feed Alex his bedtime snack tonight.



He was wearing one of his Christmas gifts - footie pajamas. He'd sighed dramatically when he first saw Alex wearing them this fall, and told me, "I wish I had pajamas with feet on them to keep me all toasty warm.



And here's Yellow, hoping that Alex will share his snack.

Nay or Neigh?

This evening as we finished supper, we were discussing what was for dessert. I pointed out that Luke had requested that I not make any sweets for a while, once we were done with our Christmas goodies. He pointed out that he'd finished the last of the cookies long ago (this morning), and how long did I think he meant to wait?

So we were trying to come up with something quick and that didn't involve much effort on my part (we'll pretend that's because I'm tired, not lazy) and I suggested we dip pretzels in melted white chocolate.

Luke said that didn't sound good to him, but Ethan said, "I'd like some of that!" Jokingly, Luke pointed his fork at Ethan and said, "Nay, I tell you!" Ethan pointed his fork back and said, "Moo, I tell you!"

We did explain the difference between "nay" and "neigh" once we stopped laughing, but that took a while.