Sounding Off

Kent has been making us aware of when he is upset with us. Sometimes it's loud and clear with a proclamation where he simply says that he is really mad at us. Sometimes it's not so obvious. During our snow week (pics will be posted of that, I promise!) we didn't go anywhere at all. On Friday, I was making my big break out of the house and couldn't find my purse. I looked everywhere for it. Now, I have been known to misplace my keys, but my entire purse? That hadn't ever happened. Kent heard me asking myself, "WHERE is it!?!?" and simply told me that it was under his bed. I was pretty confused and then he told me that he had gotten upset at me a few days earlier when I wouldn't let him watch a show and he had hid my purse under his bed. It had been there ever since. I should have put him in time out or at least given him a little lecture, but I busted out laughing. There was something about the calm way he was telling me what happened.

A few days later, he was upset with Pete. Kent wanted to go on the computer to play on some show internet site. You know, you see those horrible commercials at the end of shows on PBS, Disney, etc. that tell the kids to go online, "for even MORE fun". Well, Kent always wants to go online. Pete has allowed him 15 minutes every other day in hopes that it will not become a habit and he will forget about it. This has worked, by the way. This particular day, Kent had used up his 15 minutes and wanted more. Kent had gone off stomping away and I heard him get out his markers and guessed that he had decided to draw at the kitchen table. A few minutes later he ran off to his room to play. I walked into the kitchen to see the simple message, "Dody is mein" written out on a sheet of paper. That was all he wrote. No other drawings, no extra sheets of paper or markers strewn about. Kent had put all of that away and left his message out for us to see how mean Pete was. I promptly put it up on the fridge and waited until Pete noticed. We kept it up there for a while as a reminder of one of the first letters he has written to us, I mean Pete. My letters are always covered in hearts. ;) If we ask Kent about it now, he denies ever have writing it.

Writing and Drawing

I've been meaning to post some of the writing Kent has done so far in Kindergarten. I think I have written before that writing is not Kent's favorite thing to do, but he has been getting better. Once he started learning to read, it kinda clicked and although I still don't think he enjoys writing, he does enjoy trying to spell. Here is one of my very favorite things he brought home from the first half of the year. He made a monster and then had to write about it.

In case you can't read his writing, it says (I edited):

My monster has sharp hair.

My moster is happy.

My monster has a long nose.

I was pretty impressed with the spelling!

Kent still really enjoys drawing and markers are his favorite media. You can tell this by looking at my kitchen table. Have I told you that I hate markers? Pretty much detest them. Those are strong words from an art teacher, I know. Regardless of my feelings, Kent does not share them. Here is a photo of a portrait of Sunshine Bear done in marker. I think it is so adorable. He's pretty good with the details. 

Photo Flashback

This photo was taken in June 2008. Elizabeth is 9+ months pregnant and Meredith and I are almost 7 months pregnant. Kent saw this picture and pointed out me and Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Meredith. I told him that there was something different about us and asked him what we all had in common in this photo. His reply, "I don't know, you all have straight hair?"

Mom, can we pleeeease be Jewish????



Kent is obsessed with all things Hanukkah. I think he has been learning a little about all of the different holidays that people celebrate at school. He is very interested in why we aren't Jewish and was EXTREMELY disappointed to find that we do not have a menorah. One of his friends at school is Jewish and I think Kent is learning quite a lot from him.

It is pretty difficult trying to communicate the differences in Judaism and Christianity to a five year old. All the Santa business swirled in makes it all the more challenging. I don't think I remember even questioning any of this when I was little. Kent, however, has many questions:

"Mommy, why can't we just celebrate the lights? I want to celebrate the lights!"

"Everyone is supposed to have a menorah. Can't we just get one? I saw one at Target."

"Aren't we supposed to get presents every night?"

"Mommy, are you sure we aren't Jewish? Can you check?"

"The one thing I want most for Christmas is a dreidel. Can I please have a dreidel mommy?"

I have tried to tell him that people that are Jewish do not believe in Jesus the same way we do. They don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He seemed to accept that. I also mentioned that people who are Jewish are from a place named Israel. He understood that pretty well saying, "Oh, ok. We are from Georgia, not Israel." ;) I think part of the problem is that we don't really have any set Christmas traditions in our family. One of my friends at school said to get an Advent wreath and then tell Kent that instead of eight crazy nights we would celebrate four crazy weeks! All kidding aside, I feel that we do need to celebrate the season of Christ's birth as we head towards Christmas so it will be more meaningful for the boys. The hard part is that I usually have NOTHING ready for Christmas until we get out of school. That's right, many years I have not even started decorating until a few days before Christmas! I'm actually procrastinating with entering grades right now to write this.

So what sort of traditions do you celebrate with your family? How do you show the meaning of Christmas to your children?

Kent will be getting that dreidel after all. I was telling one of my friends who is Jewish about all of this and he went home and found a dreidel for Kent. He and his kids actually spun all of theirs to find one that was weighted the best for Kent (so sweet). He explained the meaning of all the Hebrew letters on the sides and how to play the game to me. I think I learned this a long time ago, but forgot. It really is a shame how little Christians know about Judaism! I didn't even bother to tell Kent that Jesus was Jewish. Talk about confusing! We'll just save that bit of info for next year! So Kent will get his dreidel after all. I plan on putting it in his stocking (pretty twisted, I know.)

Kent's Thanksgiving Play

Kent is having a great time in Kindergarten. He really likes his teachers, PE and computer class. Art is fun too, but it might just not be his very favorite class...unimaginable, I know! I'm still shaking my head. I think his very favorite subject is math and his reading is going very well too.

While Kent's scholastic progress is going relatively smoothly, we have definitely had some behavior surprises. Kent, it turns out, is quite the rule follower (not unlike his mother, by the way- I mean what are rules for if not to be followed? Hello!). He is such a rule follower that he really gets upset if someone else does not follow the rules. I mean REALLY upset. It might just be a control thing (quite unlike his mother. Definitely unlike his mother!) When Kent sees someone else not doing what the teacher says, he has no problem going right over to that individual and taking matters right into his own hands. Most of our conversations go a little like this, please note-names have been changed to protect the not so innocent.

"Kent, why did you push/pinch/yell at Stephen?"

"Well...the teacher told him to go line up and he didn't go line up."

"And you thought that it was ok to push/pinch/yell at Stephen for not lining up?"

"Well...I was just trying to make him line up!"

Pete and I were very surprised when this happened the first (and second, and third) time, because he has never acted like this at church or with his friends. And teachers' kids are supposed to be the most well behaved, right? Apparently, it wasn't as terrible as I originally thought it was and his teacher assures me that Kindergarten is all about learning those social boundaries.

One of my favorite days this year so far was seeing Kent and about 100 other Kindergartners in their Thanksgiving play. All six kindergarten classes at Kent's school got together to perform a bunch of turkey and thankfulness themed songs. We didn't get a photo of all six classes together as Kent was in the back row and we kept trying to get close up photos of him. Here is a photo of Kent with his class.

Kent was a Pilgrim Man and as you can see, the other students were Pilgrim Women, Indian Men and Women, Turkeys and Corn. All I can tell you is that it was all just too cute. One of the students read a long poem and every time she would name one of the costumes the kids would say something. When she said Pilgrim Men then all the boys dressed as that would say, "Bang Bang!" The cutest was when she would say Pilgrim Women and the little girls would put their hands on their faces like they were shocked and they would all say, "Mercy Me!" ADORABLE.

My mom came to see the play too! Cohen was mildly interested.

  

Blane from Pretty in Pink was also there!

And here he is, the CUTEST pilgrim ever!!!!

Marriage

Kent is very concerned about marriage. He asks who he is going to marry all the time. The conversation usually starts out with questions about why he can't marry his brother.

"Mom, are you SURE I can't marry Cohen?"

"Yes honey, I am very sure you can't marry Cohen"

Then he discusses who he might marry. Sometimes he thinks it will be his friend Abby. Sometimes he thinks it will be his other friend Lauren. He told Pete this morning, "(Sigh) there's just so many girls to choose from!" He cracks me up! I keep assuring him that he really doesn't need to decide this now, but he keeps asking me when, WHEN. So, today I gave him a deadline. I let him know that people do not decide who they are going to marry till they are in college. That stopped the questions for a few minutes. Then he responded, "Mommy, if I marry Lauren, then she will have to leave her family and move in with us." I let him know that he would probably move out when he gets married, because married people like to live in their own houses. He completely freaked out saying, "Mommy, I don't EVER want to move out of our house!

I hope he always feels this way! I told him that he could live with me as long as he wanted it was all smiles again.

First Day of School

Thursday was Kent and my first day of school! I love the beginning of school. While many parents dread this day, I love the first day of school. I guess that is good since I have been going to a school every single year of my life since I started preschool. Seriously. I love the structure of school, a set schedule, new supplies, rules that are followed, lunch at the same time everyday...made for me, even! Someone else even cleans my room each afternoon. Don't get me wrong, my love of the beginning of school does wane some, somewhere around faculty meetings, grading piles of work, morning detentions, computing data... you get the picture.

I have been so excited for Kent to start school. Of course he has too. Every day this summer he asked if it was time to go to his new school. All he talks about are all the science projects that he wants to do. When Thursday finally came, we all woke up early for the big day, got ready and loaded ALL of our bags into the car. Pete and Kent headed out to his school and Cohen and I followed behind. We were all there to walk him to class and say goodbye. His teacher even emailed us halfway through the day to let us know how great of a day he was having. In the afternoon, Kent rode the bus home to my Mom's house where Pete and Mom were waiting for him at the bus stop. Pete said he was so excited to ride the bus and he had a huge smile on his face. We still haven't been able to get too many details from him about how school is going. He says he likes it, has not done any science projects yet, but the bus is great! If I try to ask anything too specific, he just responds with, "I don't remember!" We all love his teacher so far and the school nurse says that he has a big smile on his face every time she sees him. He even asked why we couln't go to school today, which is Saturday. Hopefully he will feel the same in ten years when he's fifteen!?!

A great day all around! 

Pizza Time

Kent has been begging for pizza forever. I still don't have the dairy free cheese yet (it's like 20 bucks!!!) so we made it without. Can we still really call it pizza? I ordered the crust from an online grocery store that I sometime get things for Kent from- when I'm feeling wealthy...this little pizza crust cost $6 plus shipping! Thank goodness he can have regular pizza sauce and pepperoni. I just kept wondering if he was really going to eat it. He did try a pepperoni before the pizza went in the oven and said it was really spicy. I should have seen the forshadowing...

Cohen ate half the bag, no problem. Here you see him tearing into some salami.

The finished pie.

And the verdict...

He likes it.

Well, not so fast. By the third bite, Kent had decided that it was just ok and he didn't want anymore. Oh well. I really don't know if I can blame him. You should have smelled that thing cooking. No cheese, rice flour pizza crust = BLECH!!!!

Swinging Fun

Before it got UNBEARABLY hot!!!

Prince Kent

Pete and Kent went to the grocery store the other day and Kent snuck this cup in the cart when Pete wasn't watching. He refuses to drink out of any other cup now. We now refer to him as "Prince Kent" now that his only uses his blue goblet. Blue is currently his favorite color.

Kent's Preschool Graduation

It's hard to believe, but Kent will be going to elementary school next year. He looks older and older each day! Going to kindergarten is very exciting for Kent, he can hardly wait. Last Monday was the first day of summer for the kids, but I had to go to work for post planning. Kent came into my room completely dressed and said, "all right mom, I'm ready to go to kindergarten today!" I really burst his bubble when I told him he would have to wait till August. He really thought it was so unfair that I got to go to school, but he didn't. I have a feeling in 10 years, when he is 15, it will be quite a different story!

Kent with his sweet teacher, Ms. Angela.

Kent's Birthday

Yes, VERY, VERY late...

Kent had a fabulous fifth birthday. This year we had a joint birthday party with one of Kent's close friends, Lauren, at the Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta. It was the best party and I highly recommend it. Fun was had by all, children and adults alike.

The kids (and adults) had a great time jumping, tumbling, rolling, swinging and falling in the foam pit. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

This is the cake I made for Kent. I tried, a cake maker I am not. For the record, Kent wouldn't eat any, again. Cohen, however, quite enjoyed it. Thank you to Betty Crocker for now making a wheat, egg and milk free mix. Makes things a WHOLE lot easier, and somewhat tastier to my wheatafied taste buds.

All the kiddos enjoying the parachute.

I love this one of Pete's sister Misty (left) and our niece Cici (right). Fun for all ages!

Kent running towards the foam pit.

Cohen was not scared of the foam pit one bit (this means it was very scary for me!). He would just run right into it- over and OVER!!! Sometimes head first. He even did a flip. I really thought he was going to break his neck. Pete kinda camped out in there as Cohen would not do anything else, no matter how I tried to distract him. As soon as I looked the other way, he would take of running straight to the foam pit and jump in like it was a pool. Cohen = NO FEAR!

Happy Birthday Kent! You are such a great big brother and such a big boy. You are very helpful and considerate to everyone around you. Your laughter is infectious WE LOVE YOU!

Snow Fun

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our snowy weekend. They say it will snow again tonight. I can not remember this much snow since the "blizzard of 93" when I was in seventh grade. I mean, we are talking 15 years ago!

Here is Cohen patting a tree. Grandpa has taught him well.

My attempt at a picture of the boys together. Cohen was not cooperating.

Snow in Georgia?

Finally it has snowed in GA! I have seen a few occasions of snow flurries and unfortunately black ice, but this is the first time we had the opportunity to play in snow that sticks.

On this special occasion Laura was able to get off work an hour early and I rescheduled all my appointments to be with my family and to play in the snow.

Cohen just has no fear! From the sand to the ocean and now the snow. As soon as we put him down he was off and running through the snow towards our steep hill. I started to chase him, but the fear of slipping on ice took over and I stopped to watch. I knew Cohen would recover that night, but God only knows how long it would take for me to recover from a fall. Well, Cohen took a tumble down the hill; he tuck himself in and rolled all the way into the neighbors yard. All I could see was his little head pop up and down over the hill as he took off running again. It was really hard to contain this kid in the vast openness of our cul-de-sac, so we decided to move into the fenced in back yard. We have a pretty large back yard and Cohen loved the freedom of having no one chasing after him. He went off to be one with the land and every now and then he would return to Mommy. His love for the outdoors is so evident.

Kent and I decided to celebrate this moment with a larger than life snow man! This task seem pretty easy until Kent could not roll the bottom of the snowman anymore. So I took over. I rolled and rolled until it wouldn't roll anymore more. Kent and I tried one more roll and it simply would not move, so we decided that spot was a perfect home. The difficulty of moving that first ball did not cross my mind when making the second ball. I guess I didn't think about having to lift it! The second ball was extremely, extremely heavy. I huffed and puffed and using all my might I lifted that 60lb ball ice. Note to self: it does not matter how fluffy the snow is, it is still water weight. I decided that the head would be a decent size and once we put the head on, he was not tall enough. So we constructed a top hat to make him really big! Kent and I took our time on some of his details. Kent took one of his Valentine candy hearts, which was purple, and we placed it inside his chest so he could live. He had a carrot nose, grapes for his teeth and pine cone eyes. We even put leaves on the side of his hat and gave him a bottom lip and eye brows. It was a great moment to spend with Kent. Unfortunately, we lost our snowman the next day. We found him face down in the snow, but there was no sign of foul play. The coroner said his tiny little purple heart with the quote "Hug Me" on it could not pump enough blood through his large obese body. Sadly, it was a massive heart attack. I should have seen the signs with a 60lb mid section.

Laura had a blast hitting me with snow balls and of course the kids started hitting me. I was about to throw one at her and she looked at me and said "it's going to hurt." I turned away only to give her my back as she nailed me with another one. Thanks for the two days of fun, wished snow could be here often. I know others disliked it, but the kids enjoyed it so much. The only thing I can tell you as I close this post is to make sure you have some kids involved in your life. They are such a blessing!

When Kent Grows Up

On the way home today Kent told me that he was almost a man.

I said, "Wow, you are growing up, huh?" Kent said, "When I grow up I'm going to be your daddy." I said, "no..." and then he responded, "when I grow up I'll be Cohen's daddy." I tried to explain, "when you grow up you will be someone's daddy, but not mine or Cohen's." This didn't satisfy Kent. He asked, "whose daddy will I be?" I told him, "when you grow up you will have a wife and you will have children and you will be their daddy." I thought Kent was beginning to understand because he said, "ohhhh!" I could hear the light bulb was going off! And then he said, "Cohen will be my wife!!!!" I busted out laughing and said, "no, no, Cohen will always be your brother! Your wife will be a girl." This was getting deep! I was waiting for Kent to start asking me which girl he knew was going to be his wife, but he said responded with a disappointed "oh man!" I asked what was wrong and he said, "I just really wanted Cohen to be my wife!"

I am STILL laughing!

Kent's Birth Story...According to Kent

Kent told me this story on the way to school the other day:

"Mommy, when I was a baby, I was inside your tummy and it was really dark! And I could see your chest" (weird I know, I think he meant stomach-he sometimes gets these mixed up!)

"Your tummy got really big and you and daddy went to the hospital and your tummy broke open and I was born! And then I said watch mommy, and then I grew up!"

Looking back, he wasn't too far off...he turns five next week.

Late Afternoon Naps

Oh, the time change! How it messes up our schedule! It is not uncommon for the boys to take a nap on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes this nap can last extra long especially if we were late getting home from lunch, like today. With it getting dark so much earlier, it makes it especially hard for the boys to wake up. Today, both boys were still asleep at 6 pm. It was dark outside and I considered, for a moment, to just let them sleep. I mean, maybe they would think it was night and just keep sleeping, but then I thought they should eat dinner. Second guessing myself, I thought about the "never wake a sleeping baby" rule. But, would Cohen wake up wide eyed and bushy tailed at 3 am?? Very likely. Kent would probably sleep all the way through...but he may be so deeply asleep that he might have an accident. When did he go the bathroom last? I HATE changing sheets in the middle of the night. I argued in my mind for 15 minutes!

Well, I ended up getting them both up and they ate and were back asleep by 8:45. I know, I'm lucky.

We did have one minor situation. When you wake Kent up, he is VERY disoriented. He takes a long time to wake up and sometimes he refuses and just goes limp with his eyes rolling back in his head. Today, he woke up okay and while I was holding him in the living room he said he had to go to the bathroom. He stumbled down the hall to the restroom. A few minutes later, I walked back to check on him and he was standing on his stool at the sink with his pants and underwear around his ankles. He was just standing there looking in the mirror. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I was going to wash my hands, but I forgot to go potty first!" I looked closer and realized that he had in fact gone potty, just at the sink instead of the toilet!!! Pee covered the cabinet under the sink and formed a puddle under the stool. When I opened the door of the cabinet, you guessed it, pee ALL over the first aid supplies under the sink. Surprisingly, band aids and their wrappers are very absorbent! Kent and his clothes were all dry thankfully and I still don't think he realizes he peed all over the sink... He just kept asking me why I was laughing. :) I'm so glad he didn't get upset, it was just tooooo funny!

Brotherly Love

Cohen absolutely loves his brother. Here is what happens when Cohen finds Kent asleep...

Wheat Free Play Dough

While watching one of our favorite shows, Shark Tank, we heard about Soy-Yer Dough. It is wheat free play dough!!! This mom is so excited! Kent can now play with play dough that is safe for him. Homemade versions worked, but were sticky and just didn't hold up the same as regular play doh. You can fundraise with it and put customized labels on it. So cool!!! Yay for Soy-Yer Dough!

Kent's Fish

Kent loves to go fishing in my Aunt Susan's pond. While we were in Illinois this summer, Dad, Pete and Kent spent one morning seeing what they could catch. Dad caught zero, Pete caught two and Kent caught NINE! The older boys may have been a little distracted with helping Kent, but nine!?! Wow- all with that Spiderman pole too!

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