Monday, December 3, 2012

just a list

1) why is it that anytime we are in a hurry to get out the door one of my children spills something? and it's always a multiple-towel-sized spill which also requires a complete change of clothes for at least one family member.  anyone else experience this?

2) my boys have no idea what radio is.  we have a station here that plays only christmas music during the holiday season.  harrison's favorite song is feliz navidad (this annoys jeremy to no end because, god forbid, our boys should like anything spanish) and every.single.time we get in the car he asks to listen to it.  i tried explaining that we don't get to choose which song comes on next.  i told him the dj decides.  (although that's really not true these days).  this hasn't kept him from continuing to ask.  the other day, before we even got in the car, he asked "mommy, can we listen to feliz navidad?"  i said, "harrison, what did i tell you about that?  who decides which song gets played on the radio?"  he replied, "the jaminator."  ha!

other favorite requests from the boys are frosty the snowman, i want a hippopotamus for christmas, rudolph, up on the house top and jingle bell rock

3) harrison knows how to multiply.  at dinner we have a rule that the boys have to try one bite of everything on their plate.  our other rule is that they are not allowed to say YUCK.  if they say YUCK they have to take two bites.  for the most part, they police themselves - especially first-born harrison who enjoys nothing more than remembering and enforcing the rules.

1 YUCK = 2 bites.  so, 1 YUCK x 2 bites = 2 bites.

harrison was able to tell me how many bites graham would need to take if he said YUCK 5 times, 4 times, 6 times, 3 times, etc.

then we changed the equation to make the consequence 3 bites.

so, 1 YUCK x 3 bites = 3 bites

he was still able to compute how many bites graham would need to take if he said YUCK once, twice, thrice...what's the "ice" for four and five and six?...see, clearly, the boy doesn't get his math skills from me!

anyway, he wasn't able to tell me how he figures it out.  i can see him counting in his head (he does not use his fingers).  i kept asking him what he pictures in his head when he's counting and how he keeps track of the numbers.  his only response was "i just count silently".

maybe this is normal.  do other 5.5 year olds know how to do this?  of course, his father and i think he's a genius.  genius, i tell you!

4) we had graham's preschool parent teacher conference this week.  he's a normal little boy, pretty much middle of the road as far as development goes but he, too, was advanced in math! 

5) they get their brain smarts from their father.  they get their street smarts from me.

6) my "preparedness" in buying christmas gifts for the boys so early has bitten me in the butt because now, of course, they have asked santa for completely different things than i bought.  harrison asked for a toy robot.  graham asked for a toy dinosaur.  so i guess i better start round two of the gift hunt!

7) i think that's all i got for this morning.  i'm supposed to be using this time to lesson plan for the coming week.  ever the procrastinator....




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