Torture...or Homework with Sam

Today Sam brought home a homework assignment - usually if he has homework, he has to read a short book to me, occasionally writing one sentence about it. But today he has to write 4 sentence story about winter. "Popcorn" words must be spelled correctly and circled. All other words can be spelled by sound.

Sam hates homework. So right away, I knew it would be a fight. We have two nights to do it, so we wrote two sentences tonight, and we'll write two tomorrow. We just finished and I thought I would share the experience. I think you'll find it amusing, and maybe I will too someday. But all I can think about now is how trying his school career with homework may be.

Me: You have to write four sentences about winter. What do you like about winter?
Sam: Winter is dumb.
Me: Sam...
Sam: I hate winter, it's stupid.
Me: I don't think you should write that.
Sam: OK, I like winter.
Me: Good. Write that
Then he rights the sentence, spelling the first two words correctly and copying "winter" from the assignment sheet, with no more prodding from me. Which proves he can do it easily and makes dealing with him that much more frustrating.

Me: OK, we have to do one more sentence tonight. Why do you like winter?
Sam: Winter's dumb.
Me: WHY DO YOU LIKE WINTER?
Sam: People make snowmen and snow angels and forts and...
Me: OK, pick one of those things.
Sam: People make snowmen out of their skin-
Me: How about "People make snowmen?"
Sam: -and then they have no skin and their out in the cold snow...
Me: Sam!
Sam: Winter is fun. I want to write "Winter is fun."
Me: Good. Write it.

So he writes it and only need help spelling "fun" - not a popcorn word. I tried to get him to just finish the other two sentences tonight but no deal. The entire process took less than 10 minutes, and he can handle the work easily, so why does he have to make it such a pain?

So if you're keeping track, Sam's winter story so far is "I like winter. Winter is fun." Check in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion, which hopefully won't include skinless people out in the cold.

The Tank Gang

We finally decided something about the fish tank. Figuring out exactly why things will never run perfectly is not realistic. We have embraced the green algae and given up trying to get a completely clear tank. Two things led to this decision:

1. No matter how much research and analyzing we did, nothing seemed to be able to get rid of algae without killing the fish.

2. Since we gave up on the algae a few weeks ago, our one remaining fish was happy and alive, breaking a record in this house - alive two months after our purchase.

One conclusion we made, although based on nothing other than our observations, is that guppies seem to die in our aquarium. Katie, the longest living fish referred to earlier, is the only non-guppy we have ever had. So after Katie survived the algae-tank for several weeks alone, we decided to go ahead and try more fish. This time we decided to work toward stocking the tank, so we decided we would purchase three new fish. And the only rule - no guppies.

Of course that rule went out the window when Sam, who treats picking out his fish like a life and death decision, only liked guppies so we finally relented and let him get a guppy. Naming these fish took several days as well, but finally three new names were chosen. Sam named his guppy "Mickey," Ben named the bright orange one "Fred," and Maria named the large blue/orange striped fish "Splatter." I know the picture is fuzzy, that's just the algae haze you're looking through. Mickey is light orange fish in top picture, Fred is bright orange in same picture, and Splatter is the larger fish in the bottom picture.

We've had the fish almost a week and so far, so good. Although Fred seems to be the tank bully, chasing a nipping at the others, I think we may have taken care of that problem by feeding them more often. Time will tell.

CORRECTION: Apparently Melanie, a fish that dies right before Christmas, was also not a guppy, Maria reminded me. So we've killed several guppies and one fish that was not a guppy.

Puzzle Complete

Here is the completed 499 piece (we are missing one piece and we looked everywhere!) Disney puzzle that Maria got for Christmas. We started New Year's Day, and have had it on a card table in the front room until we finished it this morning. Mostly Maria and I worked on it, Sam contributed some. Overall, I think I enjoyed it the most. But it was time to get that table out of the living room, so we finished it this morning and then took it apart tonight. As usual, the puzzle was more difficult than I thought it would be when I bought it for the kids, but we got through it.

Coats & Zippers & Boots, Oh My!

Another subtle yet consistent difference I've noticed between boys and girls is the way they prepare to go outside in the cold weather. Here's how each child gets ready to leave the house.

Maria: Puts shoes on, carefully tightening laces, tying a perfect bow, and making sure the tails don't hang over the edge of the shoe. Then she puts on her coat, careful to not mess up her hair. She situates the coat on her shoulders and makes certain that all layers underneath (and there are always carefully chosen layers) are laying perfectly flat and cause no discomfort. Then she goes about zipping the double zippers, which always must both be zipped even if we are in a hurry (seriously, the house might be on fire but she would have both zippers done). When all is perfect with the coat she gets her backpack on (which actually goes on easily and quickly), picks up her lunch off the counter, and heads to the car (where sometimes Ben has almost gone back to sleep by the time she gets out there). Entire process can take several minutes, but she does it all on her own without being reminded at all.

Sam: Only puts shoes on after being told 20 times. Sometimes is in such a hurry he can't be bothered to undo the one Velcro strap to loosen the shoe, then whines and growls when the shoe won't go on. He throws his coat on, never zips it up, grabs a toy, and gets into the car. Has to be told to go back and get backpack and lunch, since he is going to school. Entire process, once started, takes about 30 seconds, tops.

So you can imagine how this difference can hold us up when we need to go somewhere. As usual, the perfect child, in my eyes, would be a compromise somewhere between these two routines. But we've accepted we can't change the habits, so we just learn to work with them. I do a lot of standing around with my coat on, waiting to leave. I just hate to add putting boots on to this scenario when the snow starts to fall.

I Heart Technology

One of the things I hate the most about getting everyone out the door in the morning is packing the kids' lunches. Both Maria and Sam are picky eaters, especially Sam, and so they pack on most days. I end up packing three lunches, including mine, while the kids are eating their breakfast, and I really dreaded it each morning. In addition to the lunches, I had to find the correct change for their milk, or the $2.25 if they were buying.

When Maria was in 1st grade, I used to write a check on Monday for milk and lunches for that week, and send it in all at once. But about halfway through the year, Maria expressed to me that most other kids took cash, and she wanted to do that too. I caved, remembering my school days when my lunch was packed in large brown bags and other kids used to make fun of me. So I have been sending cash since then. Last year, when both kids ate lunch at the same time, I would send a dollar with Maria, intending for that to cover a milk for her and for Sam, since milks are $.50 each. Several weeks later I found out that something got lost in the translation, and Maria was building up credits each day for an extra milk while Sam was not having anything to drink with his lunch. And why this went on for several weeks before the kids told me, I have no idea.

So anyway, I conceded that I was going to have to send in correct change with each child each day. And it was a pain, trying to hoard one dollar bills and quarters all the time. But now the school uses an online payment system, where I put money into each child's account online using PayPal. Then the money is deducted from that account whenever they buy something. As an added bonus when they get older and have choices, I can check their history and see exactly what they are buying with their lunch money. We started this payment system this week.

And it has been wonderful. I knew it would help, but packing lunches is not a hassle for me at all now. I have plenty of time without having to hunt for quarters, and it's not nearly as stressful either. I had no idea that this would make things so much easier.

Just another case of technology making our lives easier.

"Very Please?"

Tonight Sam asked me for a drink of lemonade. I told him I would get it as soon as I was done with the newspaper. Apparently he couldn't wait two minutes so Sam asked Ben to get it.

Sam: Please?
Ben, trying to get him to re-phrase the question: Please what?
Pause
Sam: Very please?

Back to School

Today was our second day back to school after a two week break and things are going fine. The kids wanted to go back, thank goodness, so it wasn't too difficult to get them motivated, although Sam has refused to eat anything for breakfast the last two mornings. But he just helped me make muffins so hopefully that problem is behind us.

Ben had to get used to teaching again, after having a student teacher for most of the fall, but he was ready to get back to it. And nothing has changed for me, although sometimes I do wonder how many years I can continue to teach the exact same lesson four times a day and not go insane. But I do enjoy the easy planning and grading that goes along with that.

We had ice today, but not until after we already got to school. Ben took Maria to her evening activities, and said its slick in spots, so we're hoping for a two hour delay tomorrow. We don't want to miss a day this soon, though - thanks to the wind storm in September we only have 2 calamity days left!

Maria's Basketball

These are pictures from Maria's basketball game today. The girls usually have basketball for two hours - the first hour is practice and the second hour is games. Ben went to watch - I was at Sam's games - and he said she is doing great. She even had a basket, but she excels at being a guard and setting a pick, according to Ben. I will be going to watch her next week and Ben will take Sam.

Sam had a double header this morning - one game at 9:00, one at 10:00. Today were the first games they have played, and it was entertaining as they figured out how to play in an actual game. They use five colored wristbands, and then try to match the players from each team according to height. Those two players have the same color wristband, and then the child knows who he is supposed to block. It seemed to work out pretty well. Several kids had trouble remembering to dribble and just held the ball and ran to the basket. Sam did well - better in the second game than the first after he got the hang of it. He even scored a basket at the end of the second game. I didn't have the camera, but will post pictures after next week's game.

Zoo Wildlights

Last night we went to see the lights at the zoo. We go every year, but didn't make it before Christmas this year, mainly due to Maria's play schedule we just had no time. The one night that we had planned to go before Christmas the temperature was close to zero, so we cancelled. We would have forgotten about it, but Thursday night Maria got out of bed to tell us that we had missed the lights this year, since it was the 1st of the year and she thought it was over. But it turns out the run through this weekend.

So we went. Neither Ben and I really wanted to go, but the kids did so we went. And we ended up having a good time. The lights are all new this year, which was a surprise and made it much more interesting. We also went to a new exhibit, and Asia house, which had bats and monkeys and other cool stuff. The bats were just waking up and fun to watch. It was cold, but bearable, especially when you went inside every so often. The kids had a blast taking tons of pictures with their new digital cameras from Christmas. These pictures are from us, though, since we still have to download the kids' pictures.

Happy New Year!

Last night we spent New Year's Eve next door with Andy and Lisa and family. As always, we had a great time, and all the kids made it to midnight. Lindsey was pretty grumpy that last hour, but she is three. Sam saved his meltdown until just after midnight, when it was time to clean up and head home anyway. We got home around 12:30, with the kids in bed by 12:45. Of course, Maria was still up early - I got up at 8:30 and she was already up. Sam slept until 9:45, so hopefully he'll make it through the day.

We also went ice skating yesterday afternoon, which is our tradition the last few years. Maria did great, Sam did well but fell a lot and was done after a hard fall on his knee after about 40 minutes, and I had skates that gave me a huge blister on my foot and so I was ready to be done after a half hour. Sam and I sat in the car for about 30 minutes while Ben and Maria finished skating.

And if you were wondering, the cable crisis was averted. Right after ringing in the new year, we switched to Nickelodeon and saw that it was still on. Later we learned that Viacom and Time Warner did come to an agreement at the last minute. Thank goodness!