September

School has been going again now for almost a month and I haven't written a word about it! I guess that means things have been pretty hectic around here. The twins are in Grade 4 this year. They have the same teacher again, at my request. Mrs. Beazer is a mature teacher who will probably retire in a year or two. She told her class that she taught the principal! The boys said she is nice to kids who are being good, and if kids are bad she yells at them. I asked if she ever has to yell at them, and Ryrie gave me a look and said, "No, of course not, because we're good!" Owen is in Grade 1 and seems so grown up to me! He hasn't had one single day of homesickness or anything. He loves staying at school some days for lunch and wishes I would let him do it more. He loves his teacher, Mrs. Gilmour (who also has been teaching for quite some time and has taught most people my age in town). She is teaching them sign language. Owen said to me today when I was tickling him, "Mom, you know I don't like to be tickled!" He also said to me, "Mom, you hurt my feelings when you did that." I am glad he can express himself! I got an Usborne book from the library about art and he pointed out that there were some parts of it that were not modest. Some classic statues I guess. I appreciated that too, and decided to just return the book rather than argue the point with him! :-) He is learning to be happy for other people. When Tommy said he was super excited for joy school, Owen kind of mocked him at first, but then we talked about it and I reminded him how much he used to love joy school, and after that he has been way more sincere in celebrating with Tommy things he's excited about. He noticed some of Tommy's dino art the other day and told him it was "really good!" That was sweet to hear. The boys have biked or scootered most days to and from school. They go really fast--they timed it at 6 minutes--and all during breakfast, Ryrie spurs everyone on by saying "stop talking Owen, and eat!" or "we're going to be late!" or "see ya later Owen, we're leaving!" He is definitely the one who whips the others into gear.
Tommy is so excited about his joy school again. He lives for joy school days which are Tues/Thurs. I am having fun with him and Georgie during the days. Tommy will sit and read books for long periods of time, while I try to get G to nap, or do some cleaning up. He and I got a book on how to do dinosaur art from the library that is perfectly his level and I have been interested to see how much more mature he is about sitting and doing projects and art. It seems like he's really grown up that way in the last month. He also is interested in learning some things on the piano. Tommy keeps me going with his compliments. Out of the blue, he will say, "MOm, you're the BEST mom!" or "Mom, you're bootiful!" or "Mom, I wanna give you somefing!" (this is a kiss or hug or both). He and Owen created another name for Georgie--Dooness. This stems from me saying "Oh my goodness, you are sooo cute!" but saying it in baby talk, so it comes out as Doonness. Anyway, Tommy sometimes says "Dooness dos tres" when he's counting. Like Uno, dos, tres. I don't really get how this came about, just one of those things! His other random nickname is also my fault. I sometimes call him Doodle or Boodle. This is because I first called him Little one which turned to Diddle, which then just kept on going! Weird, I know.
Georgie has really gotten into books lately as well. He loves any books with real pictures of people or animals the best. HE is learning a lot of signs and animal sounds which are so sweet. I love this phase of life where we can ask him a random question like, what does a horse say?" and he will answer with the sound. He is really trying to communicate to us too. Yesterday he pulled my hand until I came down to his face. THen he put his hand on my shoulder and said really seriously, "Mom." Then he proceeded to babble and point outside. He has his opinions and he likes them to be respected! His laugh is contagious, his cry is so sad, and his kisses are just the best. We love this little Dooness, Doodle, whatever he may be!