The boys learned a new-to-them song in preschool recently. And they sing it frequently at home (although I'm sure this isn't exactly the way their teachers taught it)...

"I may never march in the infantry,
Ride in the calorie,
Shoot the artillery,
I may never zoom o'er the enemy,
But I'm in the Lord's army!"

  The boys have been really into adding and subtracting lately. We have never done "written" math problems (1+1=2, etc...), but we tell little stories and then they figure out the answer. Or, I just give them problems orally and they work them out. They have gotten really good at doing this, and it's so fun to see them learning new things.
  Last night, the boys were playing with their bin of 'Hot Wheels' type cars in the living room while I was working on supper. Logan called to me, "Mom, is 3 plus four twelve?" I went in to help him figure out the correct answer. I asked him how he found his answer. He held up a John Deer tractor with three tires on each spot where one tire should be and said, "I counted all these and it makes twelve." I was so impressed with his logic. Even though it wasn't exactly right, he had exactly the right idea...He knew there were four groups of three tires and that there were twelve total ...

  When we were in Pennsylvania last month, we watched a cartoon a couple of times with Tonya and Erich's kids called "Ben Ten". In a nutshell, this ten-year old boy finds this watch-like thingy that lets him turn into 10 different aliens with alien powers which he uses to defeat bad aliens. Tonya's boys are 6 and 8, and Tonya said she really wasn't crazy about some of the episodes that they had seen, but they usually watch it together. In true four-year-old fashion, Logan was instantly enamored with the show and loves to prented to be Ben Ten. Cael enjoys it too, but not like Logan does.

  I recently rented the first season of the show from the library. The boys had been watching one episode each evening this week with Todd and/or me. They had been ok, not my favorite show by far, but nothing too disturbing was going on. Last night, we were all in the living room together ...

Last night, Logan was being totally silly and wacky. Just running around and talking silly and waving his arms. Totally silly little boy. Who knows why...although the usual cause of this condition in my firstborn is lack of sleep. We always say that some kids get grouchy and difficult when they are tired, but Logan just gets wacky (and difficult). Anyway...He was being crazy.

Todd [to me]: Oh, Bonn. He is SO gone!
Cael [to Todd]: Daddy, he didn't go anywhere. He's still RIGHT HERE!

And my summer has officially ended....My wonderful time home with the kids where I have enjoyed every minute. We had the best summer. The boys had swimming lessons. We went to the park. We blew bubbles, ate corn on the cob and watermelon, played in the sandbox, watched cartoons in my bed in the mornings, and went to story time at the library. We went to the pool almost every day that it was sunny and warm. The boys really blossomed in the water. They like the shallow water. They like the deep water. At Nannette's pool, Cael floated happily around in his SpiderMan floaty ring. And that was where Logan was running and juming off the end of the diving board, going under, coming up smiling, ready to do it again. He learned (ok, he tried to learn) to do cannonballs with Gabbi and Ellie, and had a blast doing it. Melia was wonderful. She is so mellow and happy. She went where we went. Enjoyed the sun, the water, watching everything from the sling. Nursing wherever we were. It was wonderful. It was all wond ...

Last week, Todd asked Logan, "Who did you play with at preschool today?"

Logan answered, "Mostly with Jed."

Todd asked me what I knew about Jed, was he nice, who were his parents, etc...

I answered, "Well, the week I took snack and was the helper, he was b-a-d."

Logan asked, "What does that spell?"

I quickly tried to change the subject, but I should have known better than to spell such a short word in his presence in the first place, because after a moment Logan said, "I know. It spells 'bad', Mom."

Whoops! Guess I have to be more selective now.

I guess I'm going to have to jump on the list-making blog-entry bandwagon. Look what you started, Jamey! What are you going to do for us to emulate next week?!

Before I Became a Mother, I didn't know that I would someday...

(in no particular order)

1. Give birth 3 times in under 12 hours total.

2. Nurse a baby and walk around a store at the same time.

3. Carry a perfectly good couch out to the curb for the trash rather than try to clean up the vomit a 2-year old spewed all over it.

4. Nurse a baby and use a computer at the same time.

5. Correctly identify a backhoe, a front loader, a knuckleboom, and a hobknocker (plus various other random construction equipment).

6. Consider it a successful day if I brushed my teeth AND got a shower.

7. Be able to get 4 human beings up, dressed, fed, and out the door all by myself in the m ...

So, Todd is sort of doing "foster care" for a 3 foot red-tailed boa constrictor. Mom was here the other day and she and Logan had the following conversation...

Nonna: Logan, is this snake a boy or a girl?

Logan: Well, it's really hard to tell with snakes.

Nonna: Why is that?

Logan: Because they don't have any hair.

Last night, I was laying in bed ready to watch Survivor and Logan and Cael came up to watch with me...and Todd was reading on the bed. They really only like the part they call "games" (when they do the challenges) and they just play on the floor or in their rooms with their toys when there is just "camp life" and "talking" going on. Most episodes have two different challenges in them. Last night, as the two teams were hearing the directions for the first challenge, Logan asked me which team I wanted to win. So, I showed him the team I was hoping to win, and he said, "Ok, then I want the other team to win." Cael said, "I'm with you, Mom." I didn't really see the problem coming... They do the challenge, the boys and I cheering on our respective teams (Logan doing a lot of asking me, "Mom, who is winning now, my team or your team?" an ...

Logan had his second ever dentist appointment today. The first time we went, six months ago, Cael and I went back with him, watched the whole process, took pictures to email to Pa Jim and Grandma Judy, then helped him choose a toothbrush and a little prize afterward. Today, the three of us were sitting in the waiting room reading books together. The dental technician (or whatever they call the person who does all the actual teeth cleaning and stuff before you see the dentist for 45 seconds at the end of your visit) came out to the waiting room, called Logan's name, and we all got up to go back with him. She said to me, very politely, "After the first visit, we like to take them back for their cleaning by themselves. We'll get you if we need you." I didn't know quite what to say to that. It wasn't like I thought they were going to hurt him or anything, but he IS only three, and I guess I wanted to be there. But, the three year old in question couldn't have cared less if I was there o ...