Literacy

No time to blog.  The house is a mess, the presents aren't purchased, I haven't showered, and Xerxes has pancreatitis.  But I must mark the day Alia read to me for the first time. 

David, Linnea, Maknna, and I have been reading to Alia since the day she was born.  Last night, as I sat waiting for her to get her jammies on, she said, "Tonight let me read to you, Mommy."  Jammies on, teeth brushed, she crawled up onto my lap and proceeded to "read" 5 Silly Monkeys illustrated by Steve Haskamp, which she had memorized nearly word for word. 

This morning she woke me up wanting to read again.  She crawled in my bed, cuddled up next to me, and read the book to me 2-3 more times before she ran off to share it with her sisters.  She read it again tonight to my parents.  She's feeling empowered and literate.  I love watching her progress through each stage in her literacy development.  I love her enthusiasm for books, letters, & words!  I love that little girl.

Xerxes

By Makenna

We have had Xerxes for almost a year now.  He is a very nice dog, gentle and calm.  He doesn't lick and hardly barks.  Xerxes always wants to play and go for walks with you.  He wags his tail if we say his name.

Xerxes is our big 7 year old!

What a sweet puppy.  (Daddy calls him Wise Old Xerkie Boy.)

We all love Xerxes.

Nothing but Trouble?

By Kara

                “That Dog has been nothing but trouble,” grumbled David, as he rolled over in bed to try to go to sleep.  I sighed and took a deep breath as I began to clean up yet another stinky, gooey dog mess that was quickly sinking into the fibers of my bedroom carpet.  David had already taken his turn earlier in the evening.
                Xerxes, a gorgeous, 7 year old, chocolate lab, came to live with our family nearly one year ago.  We were told he was loving and well-trained, that he used to work as a therapy dog, and he got along well with children.  We thought he’d be a great pet for our family.  As we had wanted a family dog for some time and he came with such great recommendations, we decided to give him a try.  David was in Montana when the girls and I decided to take Xerxes for a trial week.
                It was love at first sight.  He followed us everywhere and was a great playmate and companion.  He let three year old Alia lay on him and next to him while he was eating.  He loved to play fetch with Makenna and would come to any of us when we called him.  He never begged for food from the table and always lay down nearby when it was time to eat.  We called and talked to Daddy before we committed to keeping Xerxes, but we had already fallen in love and made him a member of our family.  He was practically perfect in every way.
                Xerxes’ good qualities continued to shine, but we soon noticed that he was miserable.  He itched and scratched himself constantly and would gnaw on his paws at any chance, even to the point of bleeding.  “He must have allergies,” said the vet.  So, we gave him an allergy shot to make him more comfortable.  But that didn’t work.  Perhaps he was allergic to his food.   We decided to change his food, but that hasn’t worked either.  Our family has become increasingly frustrated as we try to help our friend feel better to no avail.  We’ve tried:

• At least 5 different foods
• A dog food cooked by David:  homemade chicken, veggie, and rice
• Allergy shots
• Baths
• No baths
• Pet medications
• Human medications

                Our current protocol is not to bathe Xerxes and to give him human, non-drowsy antihistamines every 12 hours with his food, duck and potato by Blue Buffalo.  Every other day he gets ½ of a prednisone tablet.  He’s smelling better and has a soft, dry (not oily) coat.  He lick’s his paws a little, but they’re not raw anymore.  He seems more comfortable, except for his appetite.  Xerxes is reacting to his prednisone and is ravenous.  (Hunger is a common side effect of prednisone for both humans and other animals.)  As a result of his insatiable appetite, he has taken to begging, stealing food off the counter, rummaging through the compost pile, dismantling the garbage can, pulling dirty dishes and scraps out of the sink and even – get this - pots of spaghetti sauce off the stove! 

                Today Xerxes got into the trash can while I was at the library with the girls.  He consumed unknown quantities of grease soaked paper towels, food-covered aluminum foil, and plastic bags with beef blood and fat trimmings in them.  That’s why I’m on my hands and knees cleaning reeking bodily fluids at 11 p.m.

                Am I frustrated with the trouble Xerxes is causing?  Yes!  Am I tired of cleaning up after his kitchen rampages?  Of course!  Am I afraid to open the door each time I come home for fear of what I’ll find?  Absolutely!  Am I tired of trips to the vet and expensive vet bills?  Without a doubt!  Do I think “this dog’s been nothing but trouble”?  Absolutely not!

                Xerxes has his problems, has been extra work and has cost us money we’d rather spend on fun things like clothes, vacations, dinners out and entertainment.  There is no doubt he’s been trouble.  But he has also been much more.  Xerxes has been a companion.  He’s been a friend.  He is a good sport, like when he attended Alias’s Flower Fairy 4th birthday party.  He’s my early morning running partner.  He is comic relief when he rolls on his back for a tummy rub with a huge smile on his face.  He is a comfort to Makenna when she can’t sleep, a playmate for Alia before her sisters return from school, and protection for Linnea when she comes home to an empty house or goes downstairs alone in the dark morning hours.  Xerxes is sometimes the only one to wag his tail in greeting when David arrives home form work.  He’s also the only one who really loves “Friday Night Lights” as much as I do.  (Or at least he pretends really well.)

                Each pet, just like his owners, has good days and bad days, excellent qualities and issues.  As a family, we take the good with the bad and work together to help each member thrive.  We’ll get your allergies figured out, Big Dog.  Until then, thanks for being an important contributing member of our family.  We love you Wise Old Xerkie Boy.

Look What I Made!

On Wednesday afternoon, Alia spent hours with her Geomag set.  She worked all by herself for a really long time and then came to us very proud and very worn out by her tremendous effort.  I'm excited to have her share her work.

"I made this special thing all by myself.  It wore me out and it made me stomp when I was done because I was really worn out."

"It is a church that is a really big church.  It is really special.  I am pointing to the top of the church.  Down at the other hand is the barnyard next to the church.  It is kind of close to the church."

"How I made it is Daddy helped me a little bit with the barnyard, but I did it all by myself for the church.  I was amazing and I wanted somebody to help me with the church, but it was okay 'cause I could do it myself!"   ~Alia, age 4

Our Trip to Washington D.C. & the Maryland Bensons: 4th and Final Installment, I Promise

 Our main reason for traveling to D.C. for Spring break was to spend time with Uncle Jamie, Aunt Corinna, and their two boys, Jack and Owen.  

Alia and Jack entertained us with their  enthusiastic, 3-year-old games.  They loved playing on my computer almost as much as they enjoyed racing around the house playing princess and bad guy (complete with Jack's 5 foot cardboard tube for whacking the princess).

 We just relished spending time with family we get to see so rarely.  

Thanks for letting us visit guys!!

Our Trip to Washington D.C. & the Maryland Bensons: Part 3

Our second foray into D.C. was much more successful than our first.  To begin with, I took a stroller for Alia. 

Next, we started with a gorgeous day and a picnic lunch on the Capitol lawn.

Most importantly, Corinna, Jack, and Owen joined us which made everything more fun.  This is Alia, Linnea, and Jack near the Capitol steps.

Owen got to ride with Mommy, but he was not yet 4 months old at the time.

Our plan included visiting the capitol building, seeing the White House, and exploring war memorials and monuments at our own pace.

 The bigger kids admiring and entertaining baby Owen during our rest break near the White House.  Soon after this stop, Corinna boarded the train with both boys, at rush hour, to go home.  She's my heroine!

 We were enthralled by the World War II Memorial.  It was beautiful and moving.  What fun, also, to see my Grandpa Kilgore's name among the veterans honored.

Us with Abraham Lincoln and some little boys we don't know.

Another moving memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.

Alia and Linnea smelling the spring flowers as we wandered toward George Washington University looking for a restaurant.

The girls and I finished our day with a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant.  They were delightful dinner companions.  My heart was full to bursting with pride and love for my three sweet and lovely daughters.  It was a parenting moment to remember.

After dinner, we trekked on to see the monuments and the White House at night.  Alia's only disappointment was that the Obamas didn't invite us in.

We boarded the 10:30 train back to Uncle Jamie's house.  We were amazed at how busy the 10:30 train could be on a Wednesday night.  All the seats were full and we were standing shoulder to shoulder all the way home.  We eventually made it to our destination, but the adventure didn't end there.
We still had to find the car . . .

We walked into the first parking garage we saw and headed to the top floor where the van was parked.  The garage was a lot taller than we remembered.  

Eventually, we stopped to get our bearings and looked across to a 2nd, shorter parking garage where we saw our van parked in the moonlight.  "Sigh!"  What's a little more walking after an 11 mile day?

I would like to remember this day forever.  I had such a good time with my girls.  They were such good sports and so interested in everything we saw (even though mommy didn't plan far enough in advance to get reservations for tours).   They were great travel companions and we had so much fun.
I am such a lucky mommy.

Our Trip to Washington, D.C. and the Maryland Bensons: Part 2

Part of our trip was a Big City Adventure.  Uncle Jamie and Aunt Corinna live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, minutes from the last train station on the Red Line out of the city.  The girls and I took advantage of their convenient location to go into D.C. and check-out some sights.  

  

Our first day was cool and cloudy.  The weather matched our moods.  As we entered each building, the crowds seemed to suck the life right out of us, yet it was too cold and windy to be outside too long.  (Check out the flags in this picture of the girls hiding behind the Washington Monument.)

 

 

In addition, Alia demanded that I carry her absolutely everywhere.  We decided to call our first trip a "scouting mission" and headed back to Gaithersburg early.  We'd return again another day, wiser and ready for action.

Our Trip to Washington, D.C. & The Maryland Bensons: Stop #1

Alia enjoyed her visit to Antietam National Battlefield.  This photo was taken near Mumma Farm and Cemetary.  This was after the bloody, visitor center movie during which she continued to ask, "Are those the bad guys?"  I had a hard time explaining perspective and point of view to her, so I just said that yes, the Union soldiers were the good guys, the Confederates were the bad guys.  (Sorry to all my southern friends & family).  She chose to stay in the car at many of our auto-tour stops, and continued to ask us if we were lost on the way to Uncle Jamie and Aunt Corinna's house. 

The Bloody Lane - We had a hard time envisioning how this sunken farm road was, at one time, filled with thousands of dead soldiers, piled one upon the other. 

The observation tower was built after the war for training purposes.  Linnea, Makenna, and I climbed to the top and waved to Alia in the van below.  It was lots of steps to the top; I think Linnea counted 69.  The views of the surrounding fields and former battlefield were amazing.

Is it okay to pose and smile next to a cannon, knowing that nearly 23,000 men died on this battlefield, some as a result of that cannon's shot?  It didn't seem quite right, but we did it anyway. I haven't been to enough battlefields to know battlefield etiquette.

Burnside Bridge and the surrounding countryside were so peaceful and picturesque.  It was hard to imagine the sights and sounds that would have filled those idyllic places on September 17, 1862.

Daffodils at Burnside Bridge

The cannon are original, their supports and wheels rebuilt since the war.  We didn't realize that "cannon" could be the plural form of the word "cannon".  Now we know.  You can also say "cannons", that's okay, too.  The more you write the word, though, the stranger it looks . . .

Never have we seen so many statues and memorial plaques in the middle of the countryside.  So many men died that day.  So many lives changed forever.  This was an unexpected stop on our trip to see our family and D.C., but I highly recommend stopping there for an afternoon or for the day.  We could have spent much more time hiking, driving, looking, playing, reading headstones, and stepping back in time.

Antietam National Battlefield
http://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm

 

"Oh, Mommmyyy . . .," sings Alia from the playroom, "Will you play a game with me?"

"Oh, Mommmyyy . . .," sings Alia from the kitchen, "Can I have a snack?"

"Oh, Mommmyyy . . .," sings Alia from the bathtub, "I'm ready to get out."

"Oh, Mommmyyy . . .," sings Alia from the backdoor, "Can you get me some toilet paper?"

Yes, the back door, where she stood in the sunshine, peering up at me with her jeans and underpants around her ankles.

"Toilet paper??  Why?" I asked with a wrinkled brow, trying to hide a slight grin as I thought, "Un-be-lievable.  I wish there were someone else here to witness this scene."

"I went poo poo." she confessed. 

 

Actually, it was more of a statement than a confession.  I'm sure it made perfect sense to her.  Of course she should go #2 in the back yard when the family pees along the trail all summer long.  Of course she should go in the back yard when her best friend, Xerxes, does it all the time.

"Where?"  Not only did I need to see it to believe it, but I had to know where to go to clean it up.  If it were real.

She pointed to a spot in the flowerbeds, about a foot from the deck, "There."  It was real, alright.  I'd recognize that stuff anywhere.

"Wait right there," I told her.  I quickly turned and ran indoors to get toilet paper and bags for picking up the mess.  I made it back within a few seconds.  But, I was a few seconds too late.

Though I knew the answer before I asked the question, I asked her anyway, "Where did it go?"

She smirked and looked at the dog before answering, "Xerxes ate it."

I totally missed the teachable moment about digging a cat-hole 6 inches deep.  I did remember to tell her that, most of the time, we go potty in the toilet rather than the yard.  Unless, of course, you're 3 and your best friend is hungry.

Stonegate Elementary Spelling Bee

On Thursday, I was in my school’s 3rd & 4th grade spelling bee.  I was really nervous when I was in my classroom, but when I got down to the cafeteria, where the spelling bee was  going to take place, I wasn’t as nervous.

(I'm in the second row right behind the left microphone.) 

I went onto the stage with all the other spellers (20 kids) and we all got introduced.  When it was my turn to spell, I was almost shaking, I was so nervous!  But I walked up to the microphone and was surprised at my word, which was intermission, a word I already knew how to spell. 

    I kept spelling my words right shingles, sabbath, cathedral, and disapprove, and wasn’t as nervous.  I got to the 6th  round and was the only 3rd grader left with four other 4th graders.  I got out then, with the word grenade.  They had actually skipped someone else so I didn’t even get the word that I was supposed to spell.  I would've gotten my actual word right, but that's o.k.  My mom said that I was the best speller in the third grade, and it might be true.   I am glad I got to participate in the spelling bee!!

 

P.S.  Mommy felt almost as nervous as Makenna.  I have never had my legs turn to jello feeling nervous for someone else.  I am extremely proud of Makenna for facing her fears and enjoying her experience despite the nerves.  (She didn't mention that the entire school of 650 students was watching via video simulcast in the classrooms!)  I've been boasting for days about how well my little girl did.  Yea, Makenna!!

I WAS HERE

Do you remember learning to write your name?  I don't, but I remember my kids learning to write theirs.  My memories stem mainly from the work it took to remove the graffiti from our bedspreads and walls.

 

 

We see graffiti all over our world - walls in public places, scratched on tree trunks in a national park, doodled on a desk in a classroom.  Humans have a need to be recognized and to mark their territory in some way.  Perhaps that's why we blog, tweet and post on facebook . . .

Alia is joining us in the ranks of the proud, the literate, and those that will never be forgotten.  Recently we have been finding her name on our bathroom wall, on random papers strewn about the house, 

 

and made out of blocks in the playroom.

This is one of the things that makes it fun to be a mommy and one of the reasons I love being a reading teacher/literacy coach.  I love seeing the emerging literacy skills and knowledge that our youngest children are just beginning to grasp.  Their excitement is contagious, even if you sometimes have to wash it out or paint over it.

By the way, I was interrupted in the writing of this post by Alia's exclamation, "Mommy!!  I went poo poo in the potty!!  Come and see my poo poo!"  Linnea is embarrassed that I'd write about defecation on our blog, but this is our family and this is my life day to day.  I never want to forget what it is like when this time is over, and I know that kids soon grow up and it's easy to forget.

Take Pride in the Potty

READERS with WEAK STOMACHS BEWARE . . .

A first word, a first step, learning to ride a bike, a first date.  These are all milestones, but to a 2 or 3 year old, there are few things as exciting as when she first masters the art of going poo poo in the potty.  Some may not find this "Blog-Worthy", but Dave and I have shared this excitement with each of our girls at or around this age.  It may make us seem a bit odd, but we even have documentation and even songs to commemorate the occasion.

With our first child, Linnea, we documented it with a photo taken at the Scarlet's in North Carolina!  Happy Thanksgiving one and all!

With Makenna, it was a photo taken in Glacier.  I find it funny that there is so much TP, you can't even see her pride and joy.

 

Then there is Alia . . . one would think the excitement would wane with the 3rd child, but not so.  I feel that with the 3rd child there is increased excitement and even relief due to the fact that potty training is finally coming to an end.

 To all who are potty training, have potty trained a child in the past, or who are potty trained, I salute you!  Congratulations! (And I hope I haven't scared you away from our blog forever.)