Below is video from our Nocturnal III: The Mission race this weekend. It was a three-part race; Ben and Tiffany did the 13-mile bike race; Shawn and I did the 3.5 mile trail run; then all four of us teamed up for the night-time adventure race, The Mission. It consisted of five checkpoints, lots of traipsing through the woods, some random obstacles, a little bit of getting lost and a whole lot of headlamps. I'm a bit disappointed we didn't capture any video of me as the "injured soldier" with my ankles zip-tied together attempting to hop a half-mile to the next checkpoint, but let me assure you that was a sight to behold.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
It's a good thing Charlotte's not a butterfly
Travis finished reading Charlotte's Web last night.
He's kind of a sensitive kid; he refuses to watch Star Wars with me because he's seen a bit of it and it looked scary; he stopped reading one of his Magic Treehouse books the other night because it got a bit spooky; when Sophie and Noah get engrossed in movies like The Princess Bride, Travis leaves the room because "it just seems like lots of bad things are happening."
So when I tucked him in for bed and kissed him goodnight, knowing he was just two chapters away from Charlotte dying in the book....I hesitated.
I imagined him reading in his bed, like he does each night, coming to the realization that one of the best storybook characters of all time was not going to survive Chapter Twenty-One. I imagined his quivering lip, tears forming in his eyes.
I wasn't sure whether I should warn him of what was coming.
I didn't. Instead, I patted his sweet little head, left him to his book, and went downstairs.
About twenty minutes later, I decided to check on him.
I glanced in his room. He was up on the top bunk, engrossed in the book still.
I climbed up into the bed with him. He was on the last page of the chapter before THE chapter.
He finished the chapter, then flipped the page and kept going. I questioned him:
-----------------------
Travis, are you going to keep reading?
Well, mom, I only have two chapters left and I'm not really tired. I think I'm gonna finish the book tonight.
Okay, well, I just wanted to tell you....there is something really sad that happens in this chapter. I just want to make sure you know that and if you want me to stay here with you while you read it, I will.
Ummm...I think I know.
You do?
I think so. Why don't you tell me what happens and I'll tell you if I'm right?
Actually, why don't YOU tell me what you think is gonna happen, and I'll tell YOU if you're right?
I think....I think Charlotte dies.
......Yes. You're right. Charlotte dies.
I thought so. But.....
Yes, Travis?
I think it's okay. Because I think Wilbur will have her babies to be friends with.
Yes, that's exactly what happens. Actually, what happens with Charlotte's babies is really cool.
I'm kind of excited to find out about her babies. I think they will help Wilbur to always remember Charlotte.
Yes, he will always remember her. And her babies are really neat. I think you'll really like that part. In fact, Wilbur gets to name some of her babies!
I can't wait to read about that. I bet Charlotte's babies will love Wilbur.
All right, well, it sounds like you're okay then. I just wanted to make sure you were prepared to read about this.
You know mom, most insects die after they lay eggs. Charlotte's not an insect, but I think it's the same for spiders too. It happens to the monarch butterfly, too, but the monarch butterfly only lays one egg and Charlotte lays hundreds!!
----------------------
Yes, Travis is sensitive. He's also incredibly scientific. Particularly when it comes to animals.
Fifteen minutes later, he came downstairs, book in hand:
Mom, Charlotte's Web is my favorite non-series book ever!
I had nothing to worry about.
--------------------------------
As a post-script: I finished reading the last four chapters to the other kids tonight. Sophie kind of lost interest, and in fact was mostly asleep by the end.
Noah got a little teary-eyed when Charlotte died. Travis crawled in the bed next to him and said, "Noah, you have to listen to the next chapter, it's good news! There was bad news in that chapter, but you're going to love the good news!"
Noah begged for me to read the last chapter. Of course, I obliged. He giggled with delight when the first spider babies crawled out of the egg sac, then jumped up and down when they be-friended Wilbur. When the book was over, he grabbed Travis's hand and said, "Did you hear that book, Travis? Did you hear the baby spiders?!" with such utter joy in his voice I will never forget it.
He's kind of a sensitive kid; he refuses to watch Star Wars with me because he's seen a bit of it and it looked scary; he stopped reading one of his Magic Treehouse books the other night because it got a bit spooky; when Sophie and Noah get engrossed in movies like The Princess Bride, Travis leaves the room because "it just seems like lots of bad things are happening."
So when I tucked him in for bed and kissed him goodnight, knowing he was just two chapters away from Charlotte dying in the book....I hesitated.
I imagined him reading in his bed, like he does each night, coming to the realization that one of the best storybook characters of all time was not going to survive Chapter Twenty-One. I imagined his quivering lip, tears forming in his eyes.
I wasn't sure whether I should warn him of what was coming.
I didn't. Instead, I patted his sweet little head, left him to his book, and went downstairs.
About twenty minutes later, I decided to check on him.
I glanced in his room. He was up on the top bunk, engrossed in the book still.
I climbed up into the bed with him. He was on the last page of the chapter before THE chapter.
He finished the chapter, then flipped the page and kept going. I questioned him:
-----------------------
Travis, are you going to keep reading?
Well, mom, I only have two chapters left and I'm not really tired. I think I'm gonna finish the book tonight.
Okay, well, I just wanted to tell you....there is something really sad that happens in this chapter. I just want to make sure you know that and if you want me to stay here with you while you read it, I will.
Ummm...I think I know.
You do?
I think so. Why don't you tell me what happens and I'll tell you if I'm right?
Actually, why don't YOU tell me what you think is gonna happen, and I'll tell YOU if you're right?
I think....I think Charlotte dies.
......Yes. You're right. Charlotte dies.
I thought so. But.....
Yes, Travis?
I think it's okay. Because I think Wilbur will have her babies to be friends with.
Yes, that's exactly what happens. Actually, what happens with Charlotte's babies is really cool.
I'm kind of excited to find out about her babies. I think they will help Wilbur to always remember Charlotte.
Yes, he will always remember her. And her babies are really neat. I think you'll really like that part. In fact, Wilbur gets to name some of her babies!
I can't wait to read about that. I bet Charlotte's babies will love Wilbur.
All right, well, it sounds like you're okay then. I just wanted to make sure you were prepared to read about this.
You know mom, most insects die after they lay eggs. Charlotte's not an insect, but I think it's the same for spiders too. It happens to the monarch butterfly, too, but the monarch butterfly only lays one egg and Charlotte lays hundreds!!
----------------------
Yes, Travis is sensitive. He's also incredibly scientific. Particularly when it comes to animals.
Fifteen minutes later, he came downstairs, book in hand:
Mom, Charlotte's Web is my favorite non-series book ever!
I had nothing to worry about.
--------------------------------
As a post-script: I finished reading the last four chapters to the other kids tonight. Sophie kind of lost interest, and in fact was mostly asleep by the end.
Noah got a little teary-eyed when Charlotte died. Travis crawled in the bed next to him and said, "Noah, you have to listen to the next chapter, it's good news! There was bad news in that chapter, but you're going to love the good news!"
Noah begged for me to read the last chapter. Of course, I obliged. He giggled with delight when the first spider babies crawled out of the egg sac, then jumped up and down when they be-friended Wilbur. When the book was over, he grabbed Travis's hand and said, "Did you hear that book, Travis? Did you hear the baby spiders?!" with such utter joy in his voice I will never forget it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
FInally, he got something wrong.
I've mentioned before that Noah is a bit of a perfectionist.
When he colors outside the lines, or makes the tail on his lowercase "a" a bit too long, he gets upset. He has to start all the way over. It is so distressing to him that he just can't move on until the error has been rectified.
So I was quite pleased when the other day, he showed some signs of being able to accept some imperfections.
We were on the way home after a long day of school and work. Usually, I pick the kids up from my mom's house and, after loading everyone up and ensuring they've all buckled and that everyone has their jackets and lunchbags and mooses and shoes, I'll sit in mom's driveway and look through the boys' backpacks for a moment. Noah's will have some bit of work that he's done at school, cutting and pasting and tracing a few letters. Travis's will have his homework for that evening and a handful of graded homework, assignments completed during school, and tests and quizzes.
I review Travis's graded work to see if there is something we need to go over. I pick out the pages with errors on them (there are usually very few, this kid's work is chock full of VG+'s, which is the A+ of today's second-grader, I don't know if that's supposed to be more politically correct or what the point is, but whatever the reason, Travis is primarily a VG+ student), just so that Travis can take a look at them and see where his mistakes are. Most of the time it's something silly (he's notorious for forgetting punctuation at the end of a sentence).
Anyway, as we drive home, I hand the papers back to him so he can take a look at what he missed. (Don't worry, parenting zealots, I also spend a fair amount of time praising him for his good work. The entire exchange is quite positive and the point is not to just be talking about his mistakes but more to make sure he's got an awareness of what he can improve on.)
Anyway, at this point in the trip, Noah and Sophie insist on also taking a look at Travis's schoolwork. Sophie wants to look at whatever page has pictures on it. Noah wants to look at the math homework.
I don't know why, that's just the way it is.
So, we invariably spend time passing around Travis's work so that Noah can examine the math work (Six plus four is ten! I knew that already! Six plus five is eleven! That one's easy because you just add one more!) and Sophie can giggle at the pictures (This frog is cute mom. He has a hat. I wish I had a frog with a hat. I wish I was a frog. Mom, I'm a frog. I'm wearing a hat.)
So last week, this routine was humming along as per usual, Noah was reviewing the math homework, when he exclaimed, "MOM! I'm good at writing the number two."
That's great, Noah.
He continued, "But I'm GREAT at writing a backwards two!"
I'm empowered by this. My five-year-old no longer considers his tendency to write certain letters or numbers backwards as a failing on his part. Now he's decided he's just particularly talented at writing them that way.
That, my friends, is a talent.
P.S. NO, I'm not worried that I'm encouraging him to not care about doing things correctly. He's so insanely concerned with getting things right so much of the time that I consider it a step in the right direction that he now has the ability to accept what it means to be a five-year-old going through the learning process. I was worried about him getting discouraged too easily by not always getting things right. Being awesome at writing backwards....WIN!
When he colors outside the lines, or makes the tail on his lowercase "a" a bit too long, he gets upset. He has to start all the way over. It is so distressing to him that he just can't move on until the error has been rectified.
So I was quite pleased when the other day, he showed some signs of being able to accept some imperfections.
We were on the way home after a long day of school and work. Usually, I pick the kids up from my mom's house and, after loading everyone up and ensuring they've all buckled and that everyone has their jackets and lunchbags and mooses and shoes, I'll sit in mom's driveway and look through the boys' backpacks for a moment. Noah's will have some bit of work that he's done at school, cutting and pasting and tracing a few letters. Travis's will have his homework for that evening and a handful of graded homework, assignments completed during school, and tests and quizzes.
I review Travis's graded work to see if there is something we need to go over. I pick out the pages with errors on them (there are usually very few, this kid's work is chock full of VG+'s, which is the A+ of today's second-grader, I don't know if that's supposed to be more politically correct or what the point is, but whatever the reason, Travis is primarily a VG+ student), just so that Travis can take a look at them and see where his mistakes are. Most of the time it's something silly (he's notorious for forgetting punctuation at the end of a sentence).
Anyway, as we drive home, I hand the papers back to him so he can take a look at what he missed. (Don't worry, parenting zealots, I also spend a fair amount of time praising him for his good work. The entire exchange is quite positive and the point is not to just be talking about his mistakes but more to make sure he's got an awareness of what he can improve on.)
Anyway, at this point in the trip, Noah and Sophie insist on also taking a look at Travis's schoolwork. Sophie wants to look at whatever page has pictures on it. Noah wants to look at the math homework.
I don't know why, that's just the way it is.
So, we invariably spend time passing around Travis's work so that Noah can examine the math work (Six plus four is ten! I knew that already! Six plus five is eleven! That one's easy because you just add one more!) and Sophie can giggle at the pictures (This frog is cute mom. He has a hat. I wish I had a frog with a hat. I wish I was a frog. Mom, I'm a frog. I'm wearing a hat.)
So last week, this routine was humming along as per usual, Noah was reviewing the math homework, when he exclaimed, "MOM! I'm good at writing the number two."
That's great, Noah.
He continued, "But I'm GREAT at writing a backwards two!"
I'm empowered by this. My five-year-old no longer considers his tendency to write certain letters or numbers backwards as a failing on his part. Now he's decided he's just particularly talented at writing them that way.
That, my friends, is a talent.
P.S. NO, I'm not worried that I'm encouraging him to not care about doing things correctly. He's so insanely concerned with getting things right so much of the time that I consider it a step in the right direction that he now has the ability to accept what it means to be a five-year-old going through the learning process. I was worried about him getting discouraged too easily by not always getting things right. Being awesome at writing backwards....WIN!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Frolicking
Last weekend, I signed up me and the family for a 2K Fun Run. Ben ended up being out of town, but the rest of us powered through without him.
Actually, Ben was kind of with us in spirit, and he actually got a finishing time recorded, because I had picked up his packet and his race bib with timing chip was in my backpack during the run.
Anyway, I had a super-blast with the kids, they did a great job running the race, and I was very proud of them. When we finished, Travis said, "I want to do another 2k!", to which Noah forlornly responded, "Not me. I want to do a triathlon."
Could be I'm creating some monsters.
Here we are in the photo booth pre-race
Getting ready to line up for the race. We're excited!
Sophie, plugging along
A bit of a walk break
Travis ran most of the way, and this was one of his few walk breaks, but I love the expression on his face here.
Crossing the finish line!!!
High-fives for race medals!!
Happy finishers
Proud of my little brood
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