Genius

I am convinced that I am raising genius children. I would like to think that it has something to do with my intelligence, but after this morning's conversations I am no longer so sure.
Trying to keep the kids occupied while we waited on Noah's ride to school, I decided to test Noah's math skills. I would give him an addition or subtraction problem and he would shout out the answer. He was doing really well and boasted that I could not stump him. I could not let him think he was smarter than me so I challenged him to stump me instead. He said "Okay, what is infinity plus infinity?" Ummmm....Oh look, there comes your ride!
I decided to move to Jonah at that point. I would say the name of an animal and he would make the correct noise. I gave him cow, pig and chicken. He came back with moo, oink, and cluck. I thought I could redeem myself and at least prove that I was smarter than my two year old, so I asked him what sound an alligator makes. Without missing a beat he came back with "CHOMP CHOMP"!
I did not get a chance to test Micah's wit, and I am pretty sure that is a good thing. I don't know how I would have taken being out witted by all three of my children. They certainly do keep me on my toes.

Girls, Girls, And More Girls

If you ask anyone in my family, they will tell you that I have had a major case of baby fever recently.  This was triggered when I visited a friend in the hospital who had just had a baby and was compounded when I realized that my "baby" is sitting up and on the verge of crawling...not really a baby any more in my opinion.
Noah and Jonah both have their own opinions on having another baby.  Noah has put in his order for a girl.  If you ask Jonah if we should get another baby, he violently shakes his head NO!
This week I filled in for two days at Noah's school.  They put me in a room of ten three year old GIRLS.  NO BOYS!!!  I nearly went crazy trying to figure out how to tie scarves, attach hair bows, and clip those stupid little barrettes so that they actually hold hair.
I have now been officially scared out of trying for number four...a least for a little while!  What would happen if we ended up with a little girl?  I would be so in over my head.
Hopefully the pain of subbing is like the pain of childbirth.  Time may soften the memories and one day I may will once again experience baby fever.

Odd Child

Noah is terrified of shots. Upon hearing that he would have to visit the Dr. for a flu shot, he immediately went into a panic, inventing all sorts of reasons that he would not be able to get one. This has been going on for a couple of weeks.
This morning he woke up with a stuffy nose. He walked out of his bedroom and said, "Momma, I'm ready to go get that shot now, cause I can't be getting sick and missing school!"

First Day (A Mom's Perspective)

Okay, today I feel like that crazy Mom that no-one ever sets out to be, but somehow ends up there anyway. Of course yesterday was Noah's first day of school. When we arrived at the school, I was a nervous wreck. I was trying to hold it together so that my anxiety would not be apparent to Noah (who by the way was so excited himself that he probably would not have noticed if I fell to the ground writhing from despair that I was sending my firstborn off to school). As we waited outside for the doors to open (yes, we were THAT early!) I noticed a lady about my age watching me. She seemed vaguely familiar but I was really concentrating on not crying in front of Noah, so I did not give it much thought.
As the doors opened, I reached into my purse to grab the camera for one last picture before entering the school. I got the camera out, turned to tell Noah to smile, and realized he was gone! I looked around and saw Noah halfway between me and the school...running towards the open doors!!! (Come on...is home life really that bad?) That brought a laugh and held the tears at bay for a while. When I finally caught up with Noah he had already hung his backpack on his designated hook, found the seat with his name on it and was sitting down waiting for class to start. I saw him sitting there and could not hold back the tears any longer. I called out goodbye, blew him a kiss and hurried out of the classroom.
When I got back out into the hallway, I literally ran into the lady that had been staring at me earlier. She stepped back and said "Are you Denise?" At that point I realized she was a girl that I had gone to school with from K-5 up until 7th grade. We had been best friends many many years ago. Now let me say here that this person has not crossed my mind for probably fifteen years. It is not like we weren't on speaking terms, but I wasn't pining for my long lost best friend or anything either. When we got outside the door, I reached out, hugged her, and cried like a baby. I am so embarrassed that I did that, I mean I hugged and cried on a lady that I had not seen in nearly twenty years! Turns out she was dropping her son off for his first day of school as well and we were probably experiencing some of the same emotions.
I can't help but wonder what Noah would have thought had he looked out the window of his classroom at that moment. No wonder the child was running toward school... he has a crazy woman for a mother. I also wonder what my childhood friend is thinking. I am going to be seeing a lot of her this year if she is active in the school. Not a problem for me, I will enjoy getting reacquainted with her, but I wonder if she will feel the need guard her "personal space" or to bring tissues to PTO meetings.
Yes, I believe that somehow I have ended up being that crazy mom...the one I swore I would never be!

I Survived!

Oh yeah... Noah did great too!

Attn: Mrs. Carter

When you walked up to me at open house Thursday night and asked me if there was anything special that you needed to know about Noah, I looked down at the small pad you had in your hand (with about an inch of room under Noah's name) and thought that you must be kidding. I mean...you were kidding right?? Of course there are special things about Noah, far too many to fit on that little piece of paper you were holding.

For starters, Noah is a very bright child. He talks non-stop and uses his imagination in the most amazing ways. He thinks outside the box...sometimes way outside the box...sometimes he can't even see the box. He loves his brothers with a fierce devotion. He cries when he watches Homeward Bound. He thinks mayonnaise should have its own food group. He isn't really good at tying his shoes. He loves math. He was born a little tongue tied and still has trouble pronouncing certain letters. His favorite color is orange...always has been. He has a horrible gag reflex. His Daddy is his hero. He believes in Santa, The Tooth Fairy, and The Easter Bunny. He has yet to learn that there are mean people in the world. He has a minor obsession with trucks and tractors. Tight pants "cut off his blood pressure" and he refuses to wear them. I could go on and on...there are so many things to know about My Noah.

Then again, I know those special things about him because I am his Mom. Should you know them as well? You see, I have never put a child in school before and I am a bit if a wreck right now. In just a few hours I will be waking Noah and getting him ready for his first day of school. I should be in bed but I sit here with tears streaming down my face wondering how I am ever going to do this. I am not worried one bit about letting him walk through that door to your class room, instead I wonder how am I ever going to get myself to walk back out without him.

Velcro And Laces

Noah still can't will not tie his own shoes. It has not been a big deal up until now because he either wears Crocs, Velcro closing shoes, or I tie his laces for him. Since Noah will be starting school next week, it is starting to be an issue and I was hoping to finally have him perfect the art of shoe tying before school started.
We went shoe shopping this week for new school shoes. Every style that Noah picked out had two versions; Velcro for up to size two and then laces for the larger sizes. Of course Noah is in the larger size!
So I say to Noah, "They just don't have Velcro in your size, do you know what this means?"
Noah replies to me just as serious as he can be, "Yes Mam, we're just going to have to shop at another store!"

School Clothes

Last Saturday, Joe had to attend his defensive driving course in Charleston. I decided that would be a good day to take Noah shopping for school clothes. Dad and Linda took Micah and Jonah with them for the day and the rest of us (Joe, Noah, and I) headed out towards Charleston. Noah and I dropped Joe off at the college and then went on to shop for the day.

Me: Okay Noah, are you ready to go to the mall?
Noah: What is a mall?
Me: (Realizing that I had deprived my child of yet another thing by living in the woods) A mall is a huge building that has little stores inside of it that all sell different things. Some sell shoes, some sell hats, some sell jewelry, and some sell clothes.
Noah: Oh, you mean Wal-Mart!

It is SO MUCH FUN to shop with Noah. He gets excited over the littlest things. We had a great time and caught some terrific sales at Old Navy. Pretty much all of our shopping for school clothes is complete. He even found jeans that fit him 'just right'. We were done with shopping by the early afternoon, but could not pick Joe up until five, so we spent the rest of the day at Chuck E. Cheese! Just Noah and Mommy, playing all the games together.

Spanglish

Today I took the boys to my cousin's house for his son's birthday party. They are a bi-lingual family, with the father's first language being English and the mother's first language being Spanish. So here we come together with the father's side of the family speaking mostly English and the mother's side of the family speaking mostly Spanish. Needless to say, it was a very interesting party.
Enough background, let me get to the point!
As I sit here reflecting on the day's events, I am also thinking about the changes coming up as Noah starts school. Noah has always made friends easily and I have no doubt that he will continue to do so when school starts. It amazes me the way that children can put all things aside and decide that they are going to be friends for the day and just concentrate on having the most fun possible. Language barriers, age differences, race, or gender cease to matter. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all still had such innocence?

Decision Time

Remember how excited I was when I wrote this post? Remember how conflicted I was when I wrote this post? (By the way, thanks to everyone who chimed in, be it though the blog or with a private e-mail. I really did take all of your advice and encouragement to heart.) Well after much prayer and too much debate (with myself, my family, and generally anyone who would listen) we have decided that homeschooling is NOT the best option for us at this time. That is not to say that we will not return to it...but for this year, we feel that this decision is what is best for our family.
After this morning's story time at the library, Noah and I had a very important mission...find a school! My Dad watched Micah and Jonah while Noah and I visited schools, asked questions, and had a good time exploring what Kindergarten would have to offer.
The first school we visited was still partially under construction. When we pulled into the parking lot, Noah looked around at all of the backhoes, bulldozers, tractors, and dump trucks. I watched his eyes light up as he said, "Now this is the kind of school I'm talkin' about!" Turns out it actually wasn't the school for us. I was not impressed with the curriculum or their general approach to learning. Not that there was anything wrong with it, it just was not what I felt would be best for my child.
Our next school was more of what I had in mind. They use the A Beka curriculum, and have a class size limit of twelve students. Noah liked the classroom set-up and was moderately impressed with the playground equipment. I ended up paying the registration fee just to hold his place in the class, but I have a strong feeling that this is where he will end up going for Kindergarten. This school actually only goes up to K-5, so next year we will have to re-group and decide once again what is best for our family.
We still have one more school to visit and I have one more homeschooling option that I want to explore before making our final decision. I have set a deadline of next week for our final, final, final decision. At that point we will start preparing Noah for wherever he will be attending. Generally speaking, he is excited about starting school outside of the home. I just like to have all of the details into place so as not to pull too many surprises on him...or myself. I know, that is the control thing talking again. I really am working on it!

Pappy

Noah thinks that my Dad is the smartest man in the world. Anytime he asks a question that Joe or myself do not have a ready anwer for, he says, "Well, I will just have to remember to ask Pappy." It doesn't bother me that he looks up to my Dad, but our conversation just the other day let me know where I ranked on his "smartness list".

Noah: What did Pappy used to be?
Me: I don't know what you mean.
Noah: What did he used to do? Was he a scientist or something?
Me: No, he has never been a scientist.
Noah: Well then how did he get so smart?
Me: Pappy went to school and he reads a lot of books.
Noah: Did he go to school for a long time?
Me: Yes, he went to school for a good many years.
Noah: Well, I figured he must have gone a lot longer than you!

Nothing like an honest five year old to crush your ego.