Growing Fast

So, Noah lost his first tooth.

Isn't he the cutest thing??

He can also be pretty silly...

With his big brother.  Elijah does not look at all himself here.  This blank polite smile is most unusual for him.  He is usually much more expressive.

(Did you notice Elijah's new glasses?)

 

The boys have grown so much.  They really aren't my babies any more, are they?

Speaking of babies, did you know that my little sister Mercy is expecting her third?  She is due in December.  I can't wait to meet my newest niece or nephew. :)

A Photo For My Mother

Elijah's two front teeth, the teeth that have been loose for months? They have finally come out.

I think he looks cute with his two front teeth missing.

It's very difficult to get a good picture of Elijah. As soon as he sees the camera, he starts making the strangest faces! This one is blurry, but otherwise normal, so it will do.

Elijah is almost seven and still a ball of energy. He is in second grade this year, or at least that's what we're calling it. He says he wants to be an inventor when he grows up. He spends a lot of time designing and building complicated gadgets with wires and bits of cardboard and old computer components and modeling clay. He also enjoys playing with his brother, writing stories, and of course, reading lots of books.

Boys

Seems like I haven't written about my children for a while, so...

Elijah is still a bookworm and still learning by leaps and bounds.  His latest interests center around science, particularly electricity and physics.  The other day at snack time, he set his bowl of popcorn spinning in a circle, pieces flying in every direction.  "Look Mama, centragifagul force!" he said.  Okay, so his pronunciation needs some work. :)  I'm hoping to begin properly homeschooling him this fall, with a schedule and curriculum and all that, if I can ever make up my mind which curriculum to use.  I think the first part of the school year will probably be spent teaching him him to focus and get things done in a timely manner.  He is quite easily distracted!

And...Noah is learning to read!  I haven't done much with him other than the Bob Books (which I highly recommend), and pointing things out here and there as I think of them.  If he hasn't learned to really read by this fall using my informal "a little of this, a little of that" methods, I plan to go through the book Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons with him (which I also highly recommend, and which proved useful with Elijah, though he only needed the first 30 lessons or so).  Other than learning to read, Noah has been drawing lots of pictures and writing strings of letters, with real words sprinkled here and there (he laughs and laughs at my attempts to sound out the nonsense he's written).

My favorite part about being a mom to these boys, other than watching them learn, is watching them interact with one another.  There are squabbles, to be sure, but more often I see companionship, and inside jokes, and shared traditions.  I'm glad they're not being sent off to school to be separated from one another for most of the day, as I think spending all of their time together has made them quite close.

Love

I got an unusual sort of love note from a certain little boy this morning...

Jeshurun and Other Photos

I thought I would post a few pictures, including some of my little brother.  Hopefully he will forgive me. :)

Jesh has been working long hours these days.  His employers have been happy to put his skills and work ethic to good use by handing him more and more responsibilities!  They've had him traveling a bit in recent months, once to present a paper at a national conference, and several times to give presentations and attend meetings with a client in Mexico.  He's got more traveling planned for coming months, including a trip to Europe to present a paper at an international conference. 

When Jesh is not traveling for work, he is working late, usually not arriving home until well after dark.  But he still finds time to spend with my boys, reading to them and talking to them and teaching them things in an informal way.  Here he is just arrived home from work, reading a story to the boys.  (Jeshurun is not fond of having his picture taken, so he was grumbling "That isn't very nice," as I took this picture.)

You can tell the above photo is a few months old for a couple of reasons.  First of all, yes, that's a pacifier in Noah's hand.  The pacifier is no more.  Secondly, the photo was obviously taken before the last round of haircuts!  I cut Elijah's hair myself the old-fashioned way (with scissors), but Mercy (my sister) cut Noah's hair with her clippers.  I wasn't sure how Noah would feel about the clippers, but he didn't seem to mind them at all.  Here he is getting his hair cut.  (Please pardon the clutter.)

An "after" shot.  Isn't he handsome?

Jeshurun and Matthew (Mercy's stepson) just happened to be wearing matching shirts that evening, so I had to get a picture.  Mercy had just cut Jeshurun's hair as well as Noah's.  She cuts a lot of hair, including mine...which reminds me, I think it's about time for a chop! 

He's FOUR!

It's hard to believe that my baby is now four years old.

For his birthday we met up with some other moms and children at a nearby park.  I tried to get some photos but it's hard to get good shots of kids on the move. 

Awww, Mama, do I have to stand here for pictures?

I'd really rather be climbing on the playground equipment....

....or going the wrong way up the slide.

Noah has always been a very cuddly and affectionate child.  While he's still sweet and cuddly, he has really come out of his shell in the last year, spending less time hanging on to my skirts, and more time tagging along with his more sociable older brother.  He especially enjoys spending time with children younger than himself; he is very sweet and protective with them!

If you know Noah, you've met "Chihuahua," his little stuffed chihuahua puppy.  Chihuahua follows Noah everywhere, and it's not uncommon to see Noah "feeding" bites of his own food to Chihuahua at meal time, or putting Chihuahua's paws together when it's time to pray, or taking Chihuahua for a walk on a makeshift leash.

Noah enjoys looking at books and being read to.  He hasn't learned to read yet, though he knows most of the alphabet and letter sounds.  One of these days I'll get around to teaching him to read, if he doesn't figure it out himself first.  He seems to be more of a math person than his very-verbal big brother.  He can add and subtract small sums on his fingers, and numbers/math often find their way into his conversations, especially at lunch time.  He listens and watches attentively as his big brother learns things, and I often wonder just how much he is picking up.  I guess time will tell!

I'm so thankful that I can spend my days at home with my boys, and I look forward to watching Noah grow and learn over the next year.

Elijah Is Writing a Book

Elijah is writing a book.  While Elijah can read anything you put in front of him, he can not spell.  At all.  As you can imagine, this means that he requires quite a bit of assistance with writing a book.  When the scene below begins, we are halfway through the second chapter, which means I have been doing this for a. long. time.

Elijah: Mama, how do you spell "how"?
Me: H-O-W.
Elijah: what was that again?
Me: H-O-W.
Elijah: How do you spell "many"?
Me: M-A-N-Y.
Elijah: writes M-N-A-Y.
Me: Oh Elijah, that spells "mnay."  Erase the N and the A and switch them.
Elijah: Ohhhhhhhh.  *perplexed*  Why didn't you say so in the first place?
Me: *sigh*
Elijah: How do you spell "people"?
Me: P-E
Elijah *writes*: Okay, what else?
Me: O-P
Elijah: What else?  What else?
Me: *lost in thought*
Elijah: What else, Mama?  What else?
Me: What do you have so far again?
Elijah: P-E-O-P
Me: L-E.
Elijah: okay.  How do you spell "do"?
Me: D-O.
*a moment of blissful silence while Elijah spells "you" all by himself*
Elijah: How do you spell "want"?
Me: Um, how many chapters is this book going to have again?
Elijah: Four.
...
and this is the point where I start to think this is kind of funny, and head to the computer to write a blog post about it.  Which Elijah, of course, reads over my shoulder with a big grin on his face.  Oh, he wants me to tell you that the book's title is "Tass's Friend."  And both he and Noah are thrilled to see this picture on my computer screen: