My silly kiddos

This past Saturday, we decided to let the boys play outside by themselves. I know, I know, many children their ages are already doing that but I've been hesitant to allow it for reasons that I'm too tired to type out. It was a nice Indian Summer day so we kicked them outside. Over and over and over again. Those little goofballs would not stay outside without us. Finally, Rob set a timer and made them stay out! They kept complaining they were bored, they needed their shoes tied, they wanted to say "I love you", and on the list goes. We made them go out yesterday and FINALLY today they begged to go outside. They still keep coming back in, but at least they are staying outside longer. They have had their lesson on talking to strangers and know their boundaries. Anna enjoyed watching them from the window. She pulled an empty tub up to the end table and had a snack while watching their antics.

Speaking of Anna, she's been saying some silly things recently. If you ask her , "Where's Anna?" she'll say "Peek-a-boo!" When I ask her "Are you pretty?" she'll respond, "I Anna!" Whenever the timer for the oven goes off she yells out, "Hot pizza!"

We started something new today. Ben's SS teacher spoke in the student wives fellowship awhile back and gave out loads of preschoolish stuff for our use. I am taking an idea from it to make an octopus head for each child. The legs of the octopus each represent something they need to learn and when they have accomplished a skill they get to add that leg to their octopus. The boys have similar things to do, like hold a pencil properly, recite their phone number and address, and tie their shoes. Matthew pretty much does some of these just fine but Ben is ahead of him in learning to tie shoes. Matthew has to learn to properly write his letters while Ben needs to recognize them. I told the boys that it might take them a long time to learn some of the skills but that's okay. When they have all the legs on they will get a special prize. Anna watched me cut out the parts and wanted one too, so hers is all potty related.

I probably should do a post on Matthew and how he's doing in kindergarten, which is quite well. We're really enjoying this school year together.