Sometimes school looks like this. Thankfully, all of the boys love books. They don’t always love the same books that I want them to love, but they do love books.

By the end of the homeschool day, I have this NEED to zone out. Does herding children all day make you feel as beat as it does me??? Blogging is my version of zoning out, so let me tell ya what’s been going on lately in our School for Wiggly Boys.

-Things are going well. Caleb is making a speedy recovery. Yesterday, you could see his lip shrinking all day long. It was quite the wonder. Today he looks downright adorable, a bouncy little boy with a smile full of chipped teeth! 🙂 Bless him. (For that story read: this.)

Caleb keeps starting out to the trampoline, only to remember, “Oh, yeah, I’m not allowed to jump,” and come walking back in with his shoulders slumped in disappointment. The problem is that his entire plate of top front teeth is loose, so until we get a lid on this situation, Caleb is not permitted to do much in the way of fun. :/

Actually, I just heard Daniel enter Caleb’s room, and Caleb told him, “I’m trying to play with my Legos SILENTLY.” lol  Ironic, coming from Caleb. It sounds like Daniel has him convinced to let him play too.

-Last night at dinner, we were all practicing our presidents song. We are learning the names of the U.S. presidents, in order, this semester. This is something we’ve just started. I can almost sing them all now. Having a good song makes ALL the difference in memorizing.

Alan hasn’t listened to the song as much as we have, so he doesn’t really know the tune. It gave me the greatest joy to watch Alan trying to figure out who came after Theodore Roosevelt, and hear Caleb chime in for him, “Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge.”
I was SO EXCITED. We haven’t even gone over that part yet. He’s just soaked it in from listening to the song!

So here’s a link to a slightly different presidents song than the one we use, for those who also want to teach this to their kiddos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFWMo4trudU

–Let’s talk about food for a minute. Like most parents, we live for compliments about our children. Parenting is such a challenge, and we need all the back pats we can get. Over Christmas, my mom commented on how amazing the boys’ diets are. “What did you do to get them eating so healthy?” she asked.

Well, first of all, THANK YOU, Mom!!  Thank you so much! I didn’t even notice they were eating healthy.

It is kind of hilarious. You can bake them cookies, and they often won’t even eat them. They are terribly picky about their sweets. Don’t waste your time with anything called “casserole” either.

Joshua’s typical “dessert” consists of chicken and sweet peas.

“Can I just have a big bowl of sweet peas!??” he often asks.

Ironically enough, Caleb can’t even have sweet peas. He’s terribly allergic. They make his throat swell, and then the bathroom part begins. It’s terrible.

It’s such a relief that peas are not like peanuts. Nothing is. We can have all the peas we want in the house. They are not an airborne allergen. Unfortunately, that is not the case with NUTS. Don’t even get me started on that one.

As long as you have plain fruits, vegetables, and meats around, yes, my kids will be very happy. They do eat healthy!

The dentist was going over food options with Caleb, for his week of broken teeth. Caleb asked, “Can I still eat green beans?” The dentist looked very surprised.

“Uh, well….they are crunchy. Make sure you steam them real good first. It will take out some nutrients, but ….”

hahaha  Alan didn’t bother telling our wonderful California dentist that our green beans come from a can and don’t have a whole lot of nutrients left anyway. 😛

— The other night, Alan and I were settling down to sleep. I confessed that I’d been drinking like 3 cups of coffee per day. Alan said, “Yeah, I’ve noticed that. That can’t be healthy.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Eh, I don’t know,” he replied.

hehehe Nah, we’re not so sure.  The third kid started my coffee drinking habit, and home schooling has taken it to a whole other level!!!

—My idea of ‘fun’ has also changed. Last night Caleb, Daniel, and I spent a good half hour laminating science centers and a multiplication game, and it was such a blast. Every teacher needs a laminator!!

You can find awesome file folder multiplication games at this site:

—-My New Year’s goals aren’t going so well this year. I HAVE been studying Jesus, but I can’t remember what the other goals were….I hope it wasn’t “Wear real clothes every day,” because I have definitely failed at that. Today, I was reading this really cute book called Marvin Redpost Class President, to the big boys, when Caleb looked at me and said, “Mom, your pants are on inside out.”

“Oh. Yeah. I noticed that,” I told him.

Have I fixed that yet? Nope. Don’t worry. I’ll change pants before I go to AWANA tonight. hehehe

The post Six Thoughts from The School for Wiggly Boys appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I’m always a little jealous of Dan and his mid-day nap.

I tend to start my days off really, really slowly.  I drag myself downstairs, or usually one of the boys drags me down the stairs.  I feed people.  I make myself coffee.

An hour later, I’m fully awake and ready to tackle the day.  I make a list and have GREAT BIG, HUGE plans to save the world and solve all of my problems that day.  I begin crossing things off my list.

Mishaps happen along the way, and by 1pm, the steam is gone, and suddenly nothing seems important anymore.  Nothing at all.

By this point, I’m thinking, “What?  No one replied to my emails?  Eh.  Who cares.”

“De-clutter 1 hour?  Are you kidding?  JD is napping, and I’m about to sit down for the first time since JD’s morning bottle!”

“Sweep the kitchen?  Nah.  It’ll just get dirty again…..”

You get the idea.  I can either drink coffee and keep going, or I can stop and rest.  Today I’m choosing rest.  : )  Blogging is my chosen rest activity.  : )

Am I the only one?  Do any of you have a mid-day slump?  You know, some countries get a siesta around this time. Can’t we vote that in for the USA???

Daniel is LOVING this! It’s so cute to listen to him answer all of the questions and try to read all the words!!!

Right now I’m doing something new.  I whipped out the “Your Baby Can Read” dvds, and thought I’d give Daniel a shot at an education.

He was all, “No baby videos!!!”  I assured him that it’s for all ages, and since it’s about reading, it must be for big boys.

I’m so glad I tried it.  He’s LOVING it.  We’re going to do this again!!  Maybe it will even work, and he will learn some words.

How sweet is this picture? JD got to spend quality time with his great-grandparents this past weekend, and it was SO SWEET how much he genuinely loved his great-grandmother!!  He just took right to her.

Getting JD to take a bottle was a serious victory. Great job, Nonna!!

One more thought before I get back to work:  the weaning is going swimmingly.  JD HATES formula, though. Believe it or not, spending all day pumping is not an improvement over spending all day breastfeeding.  Boo fun.  So here’s the weaning plan:

Step 1:  Get the boy to take a bottle.  DONE!!!  Nonna volunteered to do this for me, and I am SO THANKFUL.  I was out and about this weekend and sleeping at night, and it was all super wonderful, and surprisingly emotional!  Hormones–geesh!

Step 2:  Begin supplementing a little regular milk into each bottle.  Formula failed.  He hates it, and he knows if it’s in there, so I tried a touch of regular milk.  That worked much better.  I did my research, and a little milk at his age is perfectly fine.  He’s not ready to have cow’s milk full time, but he may be able to handle a little each day.

Step 3:  Gradually phase out all breastfeeding.  Nighttime feedings will be the last to go.  That part won’t be so difficult.  I’ve done that three times before.  Finding milk JD will drink, that is good for him, that has been the tricky part!!

Okay.  I’m going to also opt for that extra cup of coffee now.  Here’s to finishing the day strong!!  Hope ya’ll are having a great one!

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