With the presidential campaigns saturating our lives, it’s impossible not to take the opportunity (especially as homeschoolers) to talk to the kids about government and politics. It’s been interesting trying to explain certain things to 3, 5, and 7-year-olds. Some things are easier than others, but I’ve been doing my best to be “fair and balanced.”

A while back, Evan announced, “I would vote for McCain. Because I like his name better.”

I said, “Evan, that’s why they don’t let kids vote. Unfortunately, a lot of adults are going to make the same mistake. What if I gave you a choice between ‘dinner A’ and ‘dinner B’?”

Evan: “I want dinner A!”

Me: “But ‘dinner A’ is a plate full of dog poop.”

Liam: “What’s ‘dinner B’?”

Me: “Exactly. Don’t you want to know what you’re really voting on before you make a decision?”

Liam: “Well, what do McCain and Obama want to do with our country?”

Now that’s a question that’s a little harder to answer.

The boys both played their first soccer games this weekend! They are playing in the co-ed neighborhood league, with an emphasis on fun, so I don’t even know if their teams “won” the games. All of their practices and games are at the park down the street from us, and the weather was gorgeous this weekend, so we spent a lot of time down there. The boys are enjoying themselves immensely, and learning some skills, too. There’s even a mini-me league, so Cara will be able to play in the Spring. Hopefully this is just the beginning of many fun seasons of soccer!

Cara: “Hey, Mommy! AUTUMN rhymes with BOTTOM!”

Today serves as a good example of what our life as homeschoolers looks like. Lori woke me up early (7:00) this morning, which meant that I could get a shower before the day got rolling. Everyone had a leisurely breakfast of cereal, fruit, and yogurt and then got dressed. Liam had time to practice the piano. I packed lunch and gathered some things and got everyone out the door by 9:30. We drove to Kindermusik, where Lori and Cara have classes. Liam and Evan bring book-work to do in the adjacent classroom while they wait (about an hour and a half). Cara joins me and Lori for the first class, and then she has her kids-only class while I hang out with Lori and the boys. By 11:30 we were back in the car and headed for Park Day. The weather was GORGEOUS today: 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. The local unschooling group meets at a park every Tuesday, and today they decided to put together a traditional Field Day, plus a pot-luck lunch and a curriculum swap! We contributed a watermelon and some dress-up hats (for the dress-up relay race, of course). The boys rode their scooters around with their friends, ate lots of good food, and participated in tricycle relays and three-legged races. I snagged some new books and activity ideas from other moms. Cara played with kids of all ages and spent a lot of time on the merry-go-round. Lori climbed the stairs to the giant slide and held up traffic at the top until I retrieved her. Repeatedly. By 2:30, everyone was worn out, so we headed home. Lori fell asleep in the car. When we got home, Liam spent some time reading alone in his room while Evan and Cara played quietly. At 4:00 we all geared up to go back out – Liam to soccer practice and the rest of us to free play at the My Gym. At 5:30 we went back to the park to meet Liam after practice, and played on the playground while we waited for the pizza dude to bring us dinner. At 7:00 it was time to drag everyone home and throw them in the tub. (With soap all over. Scrub, scrub, scrub.) Hopefully I’ll have them all tucked in by 9:00, because tomorrow is another jam-packed day of non-stop fun!

The following conversation occurred in the car last week:

Evan: “Mommy, how many minutes until we get home?”
Me: “About 15.”
Cara: “I will count to fifteen, and then we will be home! 1, 2, 3, 4-”
Evan: “No, Cara. That’s fifteen seconds. Fifteen minutes is a lot more seconds. Mommy, how many sec-”
Liam: “900″

The “CBF Grasses” album contains pictures from one of the boys’ Spring service projects: the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s “Grasses for the Masses.” The project involves growing underwater grasses in your home for two months and then planting them in a tributary to the bay. The grasses help fight erosion, filter the water, and provide food and shelter for wildlife. Liam kept a Grass Journal in which he recorded the water level, temperature, and activity every day. Check out the pix for details.

Brian and the boys rescued a box turtle from a lawn mower while helping the Neighborhood Watch crew clean up an unoccupied community pool. We’re currently keeping Mr. Turtle in our backyard, but plan to return him to the “wild” soon (pictures to come). Liam and Evan also helped a local homeschooling group label storm drains around our neighborhood with “NO DUMPING” signs. The boys have learned a lot, helped the environment, met great people, and had fun to boot!
We’re in the process of researching and thinking up more projects to get involved in – I’ll let you know what we come up with!

I have read and heard people attribute both being very verbal and being non-verbal to having older siblings (either they provide a good example or do all the talking for the little one). I don’t know if it has anything to do with her older siblings, but Lori is one of the most loquacious one-year-olds I have ever met. Since this blog is basically her baby book, I’ll try to document all the words she currently says: Dada, Mama, uh-oh, dog, baby, cookie, hi, down, go, out, ow (both for when she gets hurt and for things that might hurt her, like a lit candle), yeah, and oh. “Oh” is my favorite because she says it when it’s conversationally appropriate, like she’s had a revelation. This morning she woke me up as she usually does: she put her hand gently on my cheek and said sweetly, “Mama.” When I didn’t open my eyes, she smacked my face and said, “Mama?” Then she peeled one of my eyelids back and said, “Down! Go!” I said, “Good grief, Lori, it’s not even 6:00 in the morning. It is NOT time to go.” She said, “Oh.”
Later, after Brian had taken her downstairs to let me get a half-hour of peace and quiet, she came up looking for me, calling Mama and banging on the door. Brian came up and opened the door for her, and she said, “Ti-ta!” in a very “thank-you” tone of voice. Lori will often try to repeat whatever you just said, and is a pretty good mimic (Andrea once speculated that Lori’s first sentence will be “I hate purple,” and Lori immediately said, “I-hay-pupu”). She also signs everything I’ve bothered to teach her, including: up, all-gone, all-done, more, and bird. She waves hello and goodbye, shakes her head no and nods yes, points, plays peek-a-boo, claps, dances when she hears music, gives kisses and hugs, blows kisses, and will drop to the floor and put her head down when I say the word “nap,” although she then giggles and gets right back up. She can find most parts of her body when you name them for her, and will indicate that she has a poopy diaper by patting her butt. Her fine and gross motor skills seem equally impressive, especially since she’s so teeny (people are so confused about her age when I put her down and she runs off). She finally got over the not-feeding-herself hump (a couple of months ago) and will now eat anything you put in front of her, except that she still has NO TEETH (which adds to the age confusion)!
Besides all that, she’s a joy to be around, loves her siblings, readily entertains herself, and giggles all day long. Now if we can just figure out how to get her to stop making that horrible screeching sound she makes for fun (especially in the car). We’ve tried telling her it hurts our ears (”ow”). She says, “Oh,” screeches again, and then giggles.

(The title is a play on an XKCD joke referencing Ender’s Game – sorry for the geek moment.)

We have dispensed with all the baby gates, both at the bottom and top of the stairs. Apparently, they were getting in Lori’s way. She has been pushing them aside and climbing the stairs anyway, so the gates were only giving me a false sense of security and getting in everyone else’s way, too. The only problem was that she could climb up, but not down. She would then teeter at the top of the stairs and make this awful screeching sound until someone rescued her and brought her back down stairs. So that she could practice climbing back up again. This past weekend, Brian and I tag-teamed Lori on the stairs; over the course of 48 hours, Lori spent roughly a quarter of that climbing up and then practicing backing down. She’s now completely proficient at both, and can come and go as she pleases. Which means that she will disappear up the stairs and return downstairs with Cara’s and Evan’s toothbrushes in her hands (and mouth) looking supremely pleased with herself. Now we’re thinking about putting the upstairs bathroom door back on it’s hinges…

Happy First Birthday, Lori!

Ok, so we’re getting started a little late on the vegetable garden, but this year’s goal was to get it going and gain experience. We have two (roughly 3×6) raised garden boxes which Brian built earlier this spring, one of which houses our Solar Cone composter that we’ve been using for about two months. Since we didn’t really get the seedlings started indoors ahead of time (except for a few pea plants), I went ahead and bought some cherry tomato plants at the farmer’s market this morning. Then the kids helped me plant them along with sugar snap peas, Green Goliath broccoli, Butterstick summer squash, Burpee’s brand hybrid zucchini, Nante’s Half Long carrots, and a carnival mix of bell peppers – all selected by the kids. I’m sure we planted way too many seeds way too close together, but I wanted the kids to be involved. And then, knowing that thunder storms were predicted for this afternoon, I watered them thoroughly, because, well, I’ve learned that if I don’t, it won’t rain. It worked – it’s pouring outside right now.

So, I have no idea how this experiment will turn out, but we’ll keep you posted. Wish us luck!

Evan is currently racing around the culdesac on Liam’s old two-wheel bike. Some of you will recall that about two years ago, Liam got the hand-me-down bike from a neighbor and just hopped on it and rode off. It’s never had training wheels on it. This weekend, it was Evan’s turn to amaze us, as he just decided it was about time he could ride one, too. Brian gave him a push, and he was off! Barely 48 hours later, he’s out there doing tricks and riding around like a speed devil. I do not look forward to the day when these boys get driver’s licenses. Maybe by then the age will be 20!