A very brief snuggle

Today is Sunday. Otherwise known as Everybody-in-the-Baron-family-naps day. I was out running errands with Brianna and got home shortly after 2:00. Bill was nodding off on the couch and all the boys were in bed. I took advantage of the quiet house and quickly mopped the floors and prepared my grocery list before I laid down at 3:15.

Less than five minutes later, Nolan came in my room. It was a little early for him to be awake, and he had a rather dazed look on his face. I told him he had to stay quiet because everyone else was asleep, and that he could lay with me. He looked pleased, and crawled into bed next to me. He snuggled down.

15 seconds passed.

Nolan sat up, announced he would rather be in his own bed, climbed down and went back into his room. He must've gone back to sleep because I didn't hear a peep from him for an hour. I even managed to sneak a half hour nap in before everyone else woke up.

Tonight's Menu

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and my office is closed on Friday, I worked a full day today. Bill helped me out by starting dinner. I told him to cook up some boneless teriyaki chicken nuggets from Schwan's. I had never made them before, but someone recommended that I buy them.

The nuggets are already marinated in a teriyaki sauce. All we had to do was bake them for a bit. We served dinner and immediately the boys were suspicious of the darker-than-normal nuggets. TJ said, "What IS this??" I said, "It's teriyaki chicken. It's supposed to be very good."

Nolan immediately responded with "Terry Yucky chicken? I don't want that!!"

Ugh. We had lost control before dinner even began.

For what it's worth, it was NOT terry yucky. It was delicious!

Well...

We bought a quarter cow from one of my co-workers. Bill picked up the meat last week, and now our freezer is FULL! Yesterday, Bill made a roast. He tossed it in the crock pot with some onion soup mix, water, carrots, and redskin potatoes. When I walked in the door, dinner was done. I love this!

My children, however, did not. They didn't seem to mind the roast, but aren't a fan of cooked carrots or potatoes. Bill and I finished up dinner, and moved on with our evening while the boys continued to pick at their food (since I've never forced them to eat tater tot casserole, shepherd's pie, or cowboy supper, I don't feel they are truly suffering). I went in the bathroom, closed the door, and almost immediately heard Nolan playing in my room. I was surprised, because I thought he still had quite a bit of food to eat. I called to him, "Nolan? Did you finish your dinner?"

You have to imagine his little three-year-old voice. This is exactly what I heard, "Weeeww...not exactwy....but Daddy said I could be finished. But no dessewt." (Translation: Well, not exactly. No dessert)

I laughed. He talks in such an adult fashion. Even though he can't pronounce some of the words he uses.

Sam's to-do list

Once again this year, we are having the neighbor plow our driveway. He already does our street, so we pay him to do our driveway as well. That way, I don't have to worry about getting the driveway cleared when Bill is out of town.

Our neighbor's teenage son, Jordan, came over and pounded stakes along our driveway a couple weeks ago. Sam was fascinated with this. He and TJ also watched over the course of the week as Jordan carefully staked out Canterbury Lane and Canterbury Court. Then last week...disaster. One of our stakes was CROOKED! Knowing how people hate to back down our driveway, I think it probably got bumped. Anyway, Sam noticed immediately and volunteered to go straighten it out. Since then, he has been monitoring our stakes carefully.

But Sam had a problem. My parents mark their driveway with reflectors during the winter, and Papa had not yet put the reflectors out. My Dad has been dealing with a bad cold and bronchitis over the past couple weeks and hasn't been outside much. It's not a big deal, since we haven't had any accumulating snow yet. Yesterday, Sam, in his unsympathetic, authoritative way, informed my father that he WAS putting the reflectors out, and Sam WAS going to help. My dad humored him and the job, much to Sam's delight, is done.

Sam has a new bee in his bonnet. He has been excitedly watching as area residents start turning on their outside Christmas lights. He announced tonight that Daddy WAS putting up our outside Christmas lights tomorrow. Bill said it wasn't really on his agenda, but he was pretty sure he'd be putting them up tomorrow, just to keep peace in the Baron household.

After that, Sam is anxiously waiting for Friday. The day we cut down our Christmas tree. Sam's love of Christmas decorations has never wavered and he is almost giddy with joy at the thought of having the tree up again....

Duh

This morning, while I was fixing my hair, Sam waltzed in the bathroom. In his arms he carried his entire outfit for the day. On his body was nothing. Not one stitch of clothing. He was stark naked.

I said, "Hey, Sam! You are naked!"

He looked at me (like I'm dumb) and said very calmly, "I know. It's because I took my clothes off."

Sam's Conference

After TJ's conference, Bill and I ran (literally) across the parking lot over to Sam's school. We only had about 3 minutes between conferences. We made it right on time.

My concern with Sam has always been his socialization skills. The child has spent the last couple summers sitting in the driveway watching the sprinklers. It doesn't phase him at all not to play with other kids. I was afraid that he was playing by himself at school.

Thankfully, we were immediately assured that is not the case. Sam is apparently quite popular. The other kids are drawn to his cheerful personality and his willingness to listen. He's also an encourager, which the kids appreciate. In return, Sam is finally learning to play with toys and interact with other kids, instead of just educating them on weather and sprinklers. Sam has made a good friend in a little boy named Hank. Mrs. Benefiel told us that Hank is a very sweet little boy and an excellent match for Sam. To say I was thrilled is putting it mildly.

Mrs. Benefiel also said that Sam comes in the class with a huge smile on his face and greets her with a "Good morning, Mrs. Benefiel!". She said he truly loves to learn and she can literally see his excitement when he understands something new. She said he is far beyond his classmates in most areas. She sent us home with a list of his sight words for the rest of the school year. Sam has been studying them intently ever since so he can learn them all now.

Bill and I have never enjoyed conferences so much before. Both boys have teachers who understand them and appreciate their best qualities. We are so pleased!

TJ's Conference

Yesterday, Bill and I went to parent-teacher conferences. We were both really curious to see what Sam's teacher had to say, and sort of knew what to expect from TJ's.

We were extremely surprised and pleased with TJ's conference. Mr. Sagorski is a fantastic teacher. He completely 'gets' TJ. He doesn't call him hyper or antsy. He calls him 'excited'. He has also figured out that TJ is very bright, but that his attention span is short. So, when he is testing TJ, he has TJ take breaks throughout the testing process. As a result, TJ is flourishing. His reading is improving, math continues to be a piece of cake, and we aren't having any behavior problems. Bill and I were so excited to hear this. The only concern Mr. Sagorski had is TJ's speech. He thinks TJ's speech (he still pronounces some sounds incorrectly) problems are hampering his ability to spell correctly. So he will be screened by the speech pathologist. I also might have his hearing checked again. He's lost both of his tubes now. My theory is if he can't hear correctly, he's not going to be able to spell words correctly.

We did have to laugh with Mr. Sagorski and his student teacher. They both confirmed what Bill and I thought: they have never met another second grader who was more obsessed with the Hindenburg than TJ is. Every journal assignment TJ is given he turns into an article on the Hindenburg. And every piece of paper he gets his hands on turns into a lovely paper boat.

At this point, I would like to thank my mother for teaching him how to make paper boats. She must not like me very much.

The intellectual

Yesterday, I was assisting Nolan after he had used the bathroom. Apparently, he felt as though he had been in there too many times for the day. He gave a huge sigh and said, "First potty. Then poop. Then more potty. Then more poop. Potty. Poop. Potty. Poop. HEY! It's a patterin!"

'Pattern' is a tough word for Nolan to say. And that was by far the weirdest pattern he had ever made for me.