Kid Heights

As is obvious to those present, they are tall kids!  Especially my two elder ostriches.

JED

Height: 51 1/2 (93rd percentile)

Shoulder/Hip: 14

Shirt: 8 (M)

Pants: 7

Shoes: 3

ZOE

Height: 43 1/2 (92nd percentile)

Shouder/Hip: 13

Shirt:6

Pants: 6

Shoes: 11

Dress: 6 (but it needs to be long, she is so tall!)

ZANE

Height: 37 3/4 (84th percentile)

Shoulder/Hip: 11 1/2

Shirt: 3T

Pants:3T

Shoes: 9

(He is growing fast!)

My babes

Today Zoe read a poem out of this darling

Margaret Wise Brown collection we’ve borrowed from the library.  She read haltingly and with occasional prompting about all the little animals in the snow... so sweet and lovely.  She is a precious girl.  She is like a soft wiggly snuggly little kitten right now and I can’t get enough of it.  Jed says she is more like a kangaroo because she jumps all the time.

Jed compares himself to a goat, which is pretty much just about right.  “Like a sheep, but stronger.”  I might add “And also insanely stubborn.”  That boy has a mind of his own.  He is so sweet and easy and teachable in daily living, but when it comes to something where he has a differing opinion, wooeee do those heels dig in hard.  He is NOT GOING TO BUDGE once he’s made his mind up.

And Zane is Mommy’s Boy!  “Mommy Mommy Me!”  Much to his daddy’s consternation.  He is also my “Happy hoppy boy Me!”  Happy all the time!  “Car car.... GO!” Running and roaring and giggling at the world.  An absolute ball of boyish delight.  Snuggly.  Into everything.  Must be in the middle and in the way at all times.  Messy.  Goes potty once or twice a day.  Eats like a piggy and a picky little piggy at times, too.  Sleeps beautifully and almost always in his Big Boy Bed.  Kisses my owies and hands me items at the dinner table.  Eager to be a part of everything.  Shouts math quizzes at the whiteboard while scribbling madly: “FOUR!  ONE!  TREE FOUR!  E-L-O!”  The translation is simple “I AM A BIG BOY LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND I CAN DO IT, TOO!”  When you sing “Winnie the...” he can’t stop himself from sweetly popping out “Pooh!” on those pink round lips, and follow it with a sheepish grin.  At the end he sings “..silly ol’ ba-yow!” and it slays me every time.  Unbearable cuteness!

Ice

At the Playground

It's been a long, long winter for the Stanfills.  Last Saturday the weather dared to leave "frigid" and tread into the realm of "bearably mild".  So we grabbed our jackets and the whole family headed out for a spontaneous trip to the playground!  And what fun we had!

Jed's 7th Birthday

Jed’s 7th birthday.  My little babe, grown into a sweet, happy, kind-natured boy.  Full of goodness.  Sincere and serious, silly and full of fun.  Stubborn, yet soft natured and always wanting to do what was right.  He is so precious.  His eyes are still full of love.  It makes me so happy.  I enjoy so much seeing my tiny child grow into the smallest semblance of a man.

We had a little party for some of his friends. Too many, more than Mom wanted, but he had a list a mile long so we settled on as many as we could fit around the table AND the card table. We had our traditional PanCAKE Birthday Breakfast, where everyone gets a candle to light as many times as they like, and pancake toppings out of every child's fantasies: syrup, whipping cream, strawberry sauce, chocolate sauce, and sprinkles to layer and devour to their heart's content. One funny boy announced this was the greatest birthday party EVER as he dug into his fifth mounded plate of goodness. Ah, boys are so easy to please!

Then sardines, which involved so much giggling I thought they were going to toss their pancakes before they were found all huddled behind the trash can in the kitchen.

And finally hot potato gift opening.

Simple and perfect. Jed was absolutely glowing and thanked me twenty times for "the party with everything I ever wanted, Mom!" Turns out 7 year old boys are pretty great.

While big sister is asleep...

Wheeeee! Soft and fluffy! 

Sewing machine

Recently, Jed has shown in a lot of interest in sewing. We started with hand sewing, he made some super cute handmade pillows but his stitches are rather loose. Not surprising, Jed is always frustrated because his motor skills can't keep up with his brain. 

Then I decided he probably was up to using the sewing machine. So last week I got out some fabric and we practiced sewing along the lines. He is really amazingly good. He is very precise, just like his daddy.  Ever since then, he has been sewing self-designed Christmas gifts like a mad man. They are turning out really darling, he is so proud of himself. It is fun to see him develop a new talent. He is going to be a sewing boy, just like his Uncle Eric and his daddy.

Little Reader

Zane takes after his big brother.  When ever it's quiet for a little while, I find him hidden away in a quiet spot, perusing a book.

 He looks at books like this for hours and it is intensely charming.  So different from Zoe, who only recently has been able to hold still long enough to listen to a book, let alone lay around looking at one herself!  My boys are my readers, for sure.

Yesterday after some wrestling to try and get the darn kids to write something, I finished up with sufficient success and helped them do a crossword puzzle to finish up our morning.  Then I went in the bathroom for a few minutes.  Jed came running up crowing loudly “MOM! LOOK AT ME GO!” and there, written across the top of his crossword page.  It was like all these years of talking and phonics finally clicked and he was literally screaming and jumping up and down with excitement.  “I CAN WRITE A SENTENCE!!!!!”  After came a veritable flood of writing, sheets and sheets and sheets of everything he’s been wanting to communicate for years.  His little face lit up.  I can’t even express how miraculous and exciting it was to see his mind make that connection and rejoice in it!

After that came a veritable flood of writing. He is so proud! "Today is a day that Jed wants to play!"

Cartooning

Baby panda!

 I thought perhaps some drawing lessons would improve Jed's penmanship. He loves all things artistic. We found some cartooning videos for kids on YouTube. Everybody loved it, even mom! The kids were begging for more, but have to wait till tomorrow. Here are some of Jed's creations. 

Fish, rabbit, butterfly

Puppy

Here is Zoe's "scary bear". She says she wants to pin it to her Halloween costume and make people scream. 

In case you can't tell he is eating a purple ant. 

This boy has a broken collarbone.

 But you'd never guess because he's such a happy little man!

Just over a week ago, the kids were up on the bunk bed watching a video when somehow Zane fell off the ladder and onto the floor.  He landed on a rug, and we have an unusually short bunk bed, so initially I thought he would be ok.  But he cried and cried that night, and kept pointing to his neck, which was concerning.  He had a big ol' black bruise on his ear, so we thought maybe that was it.  Not sure but decided to give him some painkiller and a good night's sleep and reassess in the morning.  

The next morning he woke up sad.  I felt his shoulder and there was a familiar feeling bump.  Yes, we had another little boy with a bump like that just about four years ago!  Jed fell down the stairs and broke his collarbone at approximately the same age, vividly remembered because he managed to break it about 12 hours before his baby sister was born, and the poor kid didn't get diagnosed for days in the flurry of a new house-mate.  Anyway, we knew the drill and that most likely nothing could be done, but we got it checked anyway just to make sure the bone wasn't displaced.  It wasn't, he came home loaded up on Daddy-love and M&Ms and woke up the next day right as rain.  Supposedly in two weeks he should be pretty much self-repaired, and over the next few years as he grows his body will naturally correct the angled bone. (Isn't that amazing!?  He's an amazing kid.)

This little beauty drives a hard bargain.

I’ve been taking the kids garage sale-ing nearly every week this fall.  I figure what better way is there for kids to learn money, math, and financial management than to earn their money and then go out and buy stuff every week. Jed in particular has been a huge proponent of this plan, and I will say the kids have bought some pretty sweet new toys with their weekly coinage.

Last Friday Zoe had 25c in small change clutched in her sweaty, mashed up ziploc bag.  She came over to me, thrilled with a small kaleidescope she’d found rummaging around in a box of miscellania.  She wanted to know how much it cost, and I told her to go ask the lady running the sale. Before, this would have been a tremendously scary proposition, but the drive for money and toys will overcome all fears.

Zoe walked up to her.  “How many dollars is this?”

“Twenty-five cents.”

She looked back up at me.  “Is that all my money?”  

“Yep.”

She frowned at the little bagged sack of coins in her palm.  Then she looked at the kaleidescope.  Then back at the coins.  She turned to the woman.

“Hmmmm....Can I pay you....”

Pause. 

“Can I pay you... one...?”

Muffling a laugh as I realized my daughter was bargaining to buy this toy for one cent, but couldn’t remember the name of her coins, I gently suggested she offer one dime, rather than one penny.

“One dime!” she offered generously and slid it across the table.

The lady, grinning widely, laughed at said “Little girl, you can just have it.”

“OK, here’s my dime.”

“No, little girl, you keep the dime and you keep the kaleidescope!”

Triumphantly, Zoe returned with bag of coins and kaleidescope in hand.  

That’s my girl.