they grew again

It's been a while since I've updated about the boys. It feels like they're completely different kids all of a sudden.

Andrew is still loving his home learning time. We're almost done working our way through the alphabet! I decided to try out some sight words to see if he'd be at all interested and he was totally into it! I did the first 5 words on the list and he learned them after one time going through them. And he still remembers them today - it's mind blowing to me! I also had him write letters from memory and he knew them all except 2. We've been working on the sounds of the letters along the way too. He can do many letter sounds if he really thinks about it, but it seems like that is a good thing to focus on next. He also really likes math and I'm looking into adding geography and the calendar just because he wants to learn more. This is way more than I planned to do with him but he eats it up! The bonus for me is it's helping me deal with kindergarten being right around the corner because it seems like he's going to love it!

Mason is going through the growth spurt that happens around 2 1/2 and is quickly turning into a big kid. He has enough words to say anything he needs to. He has a favorite show (Dinosaur Train ... one show Andrew has never really cared for) and a favorite book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? ... a book that Andrew never really cared for) and a favorite color (Blue). The other day Mason gave me a hug and said "I love you too much, mama". I sort of love him. : ) He also told on Andrew for the first time - which made Matt laugh out loud and then he told me to mark it down as a first! Ha. He has also shown an interest in learning letters and loves to point out the letter M. And he's also back on track with potty training. If he could work through his fear of normal sized toilets, we'd be done with pull-ups! His little toilet seat has been bothering him lately because it's so small. I assume he'll get tired of that eventually...

Another new thing... Andrew is reading his first chapter book! He likes it (I love it)! I hope we can keep it up. And Mason has all of a sudden fallen in love with books. As I mentioned above, he loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? He asks for it before nap and bedtime and sometimes randomly in the middle of the day, too. He tries to read along with me and loves to talk about the pictures and the colors.

I really do try to enjoy every day with my boys and soak in the precious time I have with them while they're young and willing to snuggle and tell me they love me. : ) But for some reason, lately it's been rubbed in my face how fast the time goes. A stranger, while watching me try to corral my boys through Fred Meyer, smiled and told me to make sure I enjoy this time (I love it when older people do that - love it!). Someone at the wedding introduced me to their 'grown up son' and told me they turn 18. And a blog I follow just quoted my favorite part of a sweet little poem: "The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, but children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep". I get it! It's good advice. But enjoying it doesn't seem to be slowing it down any, so you can take your good advice and shove it! : )

he's already more high-tech than I am

This picture has nothing to do with this post, I just think he looks adorable.

My dad gave Andrew a Leap Pad for Christmas. Today it finally clicked for him just how awesome it is and today was the first day I had to talk to him about limits. Although, when I see him writing his letters and listening to stories about the alphabet, it's tricky to know how much is too much...

I wish this was as cute as it looks, but Andrew was really annoyed with Mason taking up his space and kept trying to push him off. You can see that Mason was not affected by it. : )

I decided it's time to have Andrew work on writing his name correctly. He usually does an uppercase E and W and the R is as big as the D and sort of keeps getting bigger and bigger as he goes. Today was the first day we talked about it and he's already rockin' it.

p is for pirate

Today's project sparked a little pirate fire in Andrew.

{the project}

Mason has only done the craft with us once before. Usually I do it while he is taking his nap so that I can focus on Andrew and really work with him on whatever it is we're doing. Today was the first time that Mason decided he'd like to do some crafts himself. He specifically asked to do a caterpillar, pirate and ladybug. : )

I just had to include this one because it shows what our hallway looks like right now. I never thought I'd be this mom, but I find it to be very fun to see all his hard work on display. It also reminds me that I have absolutely no desire to home school! : )

it's about that time...

Every year before the boys' birthdays there are noticeable changes. It surprises me every time just how close it comes to their actual birthday.

Andrew has been really into puzzles the last few days. The thing that has changed is that he thinks of doing a puzzle on his own, rather than it being my suggestion, and he does them without pretending he needs help. The really exciting thing for me is that he pulled out his alphabet train puzzle and he did all the way through "I" by recognizing the letters rather than finding the next puzzle piece that fit. I know it's from our little school time because we are, conveniently, on the letter I this week!!

Another thing he did that shocked me this week was when he decided to get our cereal for us. I was drying my hair and he came in to let me know breakfast was ready. : ) He had only poured the milk in his and then we we sat down he poured ours for us. He told me that if Mason doesn't eat all of his, it's probably because he went a little too fast and poured more than he needed. He's growing up right before my eyes...

g is for glitter

Glitter is so fantastic - for whatever reason, it is a guaranteed fun time anytime I pull it out. Look at that smile.

{that's a ghost with green glitter and googly eyes...in case you missed that}

Then he realized glitter could be pixie dust and asked if he could use it.

And now he can fly. : )

d.a.d

I am loving this little 'school' time with Andrew. We're basically doing the same kind of stuff we always do but with intentional teaching mixed in. Instead of just sponge painting, we're sponge painting with dinosaurs (for 'd'), etc. And an added bonus, Andrew loves it.

I really don't plan to post much about our school time stuff, but today was a fun day. Andrew spelled his first word!! We're working our way through the alphabet A to Z and once I realized he would be able to spell 'dad' I got really excited. The excitement quickly left when Andrew told me he didn't want to do it. : ) But day two brought success and he was very proud of himself.

d is for doctor

We're working our way through the alphabet, one craft project at a time (thanks to a website I found through Pinterest). I thought the project for 'D' was pretty clever, and both boys really liked it, so I thought I'd post it just for fun.

first day

I don't plan to put up much of our "Andrew Dyk School" time on here, but I will hit milestones and extra fun days. Today was our first official day. I say 'official' because Andrew wanted to start yesterday since we were home sick, so we did a little, but today was the first real day.

And right off the bat, he impressed me. Yesterday we talked a little about how much a little b and little d look alike. I did this for 2 reasons. 1 - "B" is the letter we're starting with and 2 - when he writes his name, he does a lower case d but writes a b. Today when he was writing his name he asked which way it should go and corrected it all on his own.

He loved it! And I really liked having the one-on-one time with him and the chance to see how much he actually knows. He's a smart kid! : )