Operation Summer Failure

This parenting thing sure is counter-intuitive.  School's out for summer around here, so we are working on some summer projects.  Of course, summer for my kids is not nearly the same as summer when I was a kid.  Will and Helen are still in school/daycare, so their days haven't changed except to add early morning swim lessons three times a week.  So, busier, actually.  Charlie and Joe are in a different camp every week--this week they have a full day of baseball camp and are coming home exhausted.  So depending on the week, also busier for them.  And they have been assigned schoolwork over the summer (when did schools start doing this?), so add that to the mix.  

But still, there are technically fewer real obligations, so we are taking the summer to work on a few things.  I plan to teach all the kids how to sort laundry, for instance.  I know.  Exciting stuff.  

The big project for the summer, however, is Charlie.  Charlie is an amazing kid.  He is motivated, driven, and successful at almost everything he does.  Schoolwork?  All As.  His yearly average in one subject was a 99.  I don't think he ever made less than a 100 on his spelling tests this year, and most of those 100s came on a pre-test, where they took the test cold without having studied the words at all.  And math - he's crazy proficient in math.  He seems to have memorized most of his multiplication facts already, without even trying.  Reading - he has whizzed through all seven Harry Potter books.  One day he told me that he read four different Magic Treehouse books during his free time in class.  And of course sports, his passion?  Amazing defensive baseball player, best basketball player on his team, and a real leader on the soccer field.  Also easily picks up other things, like skiing, golf, football, swimming, etc.  

Charlie's problem, though, is that he is too successful.  He does not handle failure well.  He is super-competitive, and wants to win.  At EVERYTHING.  He does not deal well with adversity.  (Interestingly, he is generally okay with losses in sports though.)  

Well, life is full of adversity, and a big part of a person's character is how to deal with that.  So, our summer project is for Charlie to fail.  Repeatedly.  Sometimes unfairly.  And then teach him how to handle it.  I never thought I would spend a significant amount setting my kid up for failure.  But there you have it.  Parenting is weird.

"Luck" in the learning log

As the end of school winds down, the boys have been bringing home some of their work from second grade.  Yesterday, Joe brought home his "learning log."  This is a notebook that they write in every morning during "warmup" time, either to do math problems, journal, or write sentences using their spelling words.

One week in January, the spelling words all focused on different words with the "k" sounds--some spelled with "c," some with "k," and some with "ck."  One of the works was "luck," and Joe used it in a sentence:

"The Colts will probably draft Andrew Luck."

 Add spelling to the things that you can learn from sports.

Moms, Muffins, Shopping, and T-ball

This morning was my last Cathedral House "Moms and Muffins."  Sniff.  

I've been every year for the last eight years, with the exception of 2007 when I was otherwise occupied with becoming a mom once again.  (That year Charlie and Joe brought the muffins to me in the hospital.)

We are about to move on to another chapter in our lives.  A few short months and we will have four elementary-school-aged children.  

Here are the pictures Will and Helen made for Moms and Muffins.  See if you can guess whose is whose.  It's not what you would think.  Or then again, maybe it is.

Me and Mommy like to go shopping.

Me and Mommy like to play t-ball.

 (Yes, Will is shopping and Helen is t-ball.)

Look who has a nightgown

Look who has a new nightgown to wear to bed, in addition to all those PJs like the boys.  

No way would she have worn this if I had bought it for her.  Luckily, the Easter bunny brought it, so she's all over it.

And speaking of big . . .

Will has been going to the eye doctor since he was about four months old.  He has always sat in my lap while he was examined.

A couple of weeks ago he had another appointment.  He just got up in the chair by himself and sat there like a little man.  When did my little guy get so big?

Running the Bases

If there isn't another game starting, Helen and Will run the bases after Charlie and Joe's baseball games end.

Helen is the epitome of an "I can do anything my big brothers can do" child. 

But doesn't she look so big here in her own right? 

The Last Six Hours

2:45 - I leave work
3:00 - I arrive at school to pick up Joe
3:15 - Joe and I arrive home (Will is already home with Gramma)
4:25 - I leave home
4:30 - I arrive at school to pick up Charlie
4:35 - Charlie and I arrive home
5:00 - Cort leaves work
5:15 - Cort arrives at school to pick up Helen
5:30 - I instruct the three kids at home to pick up and get ready to leave
5:35 - Cort and Helen arrive home
5:40 - I instruct all kids to get in cars
5:45 - Cort and Joe leave home
5:50 - Charlie, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I leave home
5:55 - Charlie, Will, Helen, Gramma and I arrive at school for healthy chef's night
6:00 - Cort and Joe arrive at the baseball fields for batting practice
6:10 - I leave school
6:20 - I arrive at baseball fields to pick up Joe
6:30 - Joe and I arrive back at school for chef's night
6:40 - Charlie and I leave school
6:50 - Charlie and I arrive at baseball fields, where I drop Charlie off for batting practice
7:00 - I arrive back at school
7:10 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I leave school
7:15 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I arrive at the drive-through of the new Chik-Fil-A (yes, I see the irony in the fact that we have to order fast food because we were too busy at healthy chef's night to actually have a healthy meal)
7:20 - Cort and Charlie leave the baseball fields
7:25 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I leave Chik-Fil-A
7:30 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I arrive home, followed immediately by Cort and Charlie
7:35 - Helen sets the table and everyone begins eating
8:00 - Cort and I begin herding kids upstairs to get ready for bed
8:15 - Charlie and Joe go to bed
8:20 - Will and Helen go to bed
8:45 - I make muffins for breakfast

Our little competitor

Helen is competitive. Very competitive. She's not quite as into sports as her big brothers, but she is VERY into winning. In fact, she thinks about pretty much everything in terms of winning.

Case in point:

The other day I told Will and Helen that we needed to go pick up Charlie and Joe at their friend Colin's house. Who's Colin? Helen wanted to know. (They've been friends with Colin for two years now. She should know him.) I reminded her that Colin was Charlie's friend from school. She said she didn't know him. I tried to jog her memory--remember, Colin was on their soccer team too. Nope, she insisted she didn't know him. I said, "Remember, he has a little sister named Kiera and she is going to be in kindergarten with you." We have discussed this pretty much every time we have seen Kiera for the last year. Will and Helen have played with Kiera multiple times during the boys' soccer games and practices. Still, Helen said she didn't know Kiera or Colin. Since Kiera also played soccer last fall, I tried that tact: "Remember, Kiera was on the red soccer team?"

To which Helen immediately responded: "Oh. Yeah. I know Kiera. We BEAT them. Twice. And they LOSED!!!!"

Things that make absolute sense to a child

After eating donuts for breakfast, I told Will to wash his hands and then get dressed. His response?

"But I licked my hands. So they're good."

Tales from Our Sleepwalker

When he was younger, Joe had night terrors. Those were scary. Now that he is older, he has progressed . . . to sleepwalking.

Sleepwalking isn't scary at all. It's hilarious. Here are some of the things he's done recently.

One night we heard him upstairs walking around so Cort went up to check on him. Cort: "Are you okay Joe?" Joe: "I need Daddy." Cort: "OK." Joe: "No, I need Daddy." Cort: "I'm right here bud." Joe: NO! I said DADDY." Cort: "Joe, I am Daddy." Joe: "No, I want Daddy, not you." Cort: "Um, OK. Hey, do you want to go back to bed?" Joe: "OK."

Another night, he came walking down the stairs. We asked him if he needed something. He said yes, he needed to wash his hands. And with that, he walked over to the kitchen sink, washed his hands, went back up the stairs, and got back in bed.

And most recently, Cort went upstairs again when he heard Joe walking around. He found him in the master closet, where he was getting a pair of Cort's socks from his sock drawer. Joe took Cort's socks, went back into his room, and put the socks into the dirty clothes hamper in his (Joe's) closet. Then he got back in bed and went straight to sleep.

He never has any idea in the morning that he did these things. (Nor does Charlie, who sleeps through it all even though they share a room and Joe sometimes even turns the light on.) But it does make for some laughs over breakfast.