05.01.10 - Six Months Later... - Day 2981 / 2005

Well. Six months! I had fully intended to do more frequent yet smaller updates but as the boys get older free time to sit in front of the computer (and actually be able to concentrate on something) gets shorter and shorter!  And, frankly, not a whole lot happens over the course of four weeks to warrant an update.

So let's pick up where we left off:

November means Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving means the circus is in town!  As soon as Adam heard the circus was coming he knew he was going because we go every year and immediately he said he wanted one of those light up toys that they sell at these things.  He wanted one last year but we said no.  This year we gave in and he was ridiculously happy when the vendor handed it to him. I'm writing this five months later and he still plays with it.

December comes and with it comes Uncle Mike from England.  And it doesn't matter how cold it is outside Owen was determined to take him to the park to play soccer.  December also means winter concerts at the schools.  Both were exercises in patience for us.  Owen goofed with his friends throughout his, and, Adam, well... Adam's took place at the high school auditorium.  As soon as Adam walked out on stage and he saw the packed house full of people he went into full Clown mode.  He started posing and hamming it up which amused the audience and only encouraged him more.  Then, just before the class was about to sing their first song the lights in the auditorium went out!  At first we figured it was a mistake, but once we saw the glow-in-the-dark t-shirts we realized it was intentional.  In fact two of the three songs they sang were performed in the dark – absolutely useless for photos or video.

December also brings Christmas and one of the things we got Owen was tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters.  This was Owen's first live 'sport' event and he wasn't really sure what to expect.  He'd seen the Globetrotters on tv in the past but he didn't remember it.  While he was unsure before the game, once the Globetrotters came out and started their Magic Circle warm-up he was wow-ing and laughing along.  Afterwards we got some autographs, including legend Curly Neal, a player from the 70s.  While Adam got a lot of gifts as well, probably the best part of Christmas for him wasn't even a present - it was going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel!  Adam has been a Chipmunk fanatic for over a year.  For at least seven months the only cd he listened to in his room was the Chipmunks' Christmas album.  Earlier in the year, when we saw the trailer in the theater Adam sat there with a look of pure disbelief.

January was uneventful. The boys (finally!) returned to school after an exhausting winter break.

February: At the start of the school year Owen participated in his school's Young Authors program in which all students are encouraged to write their own book.  As football season was starting up around this time Owen chose for his subject matter the Super Bowl and the never-ending rivalry between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers.  It was this month when we got the news that Owen's book, Super Bowl Forever!, was chosen to represent his school's second grade at the State conference in May!  Everyone around him was excited and congratulated him on this honor, but he's not really sure what it means.

February was also Dad and Me day at Adam's school.  This brought another frustrating performance from the class.  The dad's were ushered in to the class room as the class was singing a song.  Adam's teacher announced the kids were just warming up so we all got settled in and I set up my camera.  The kids sang a couple of song and suddenly each child's name was called out so they could show their dad what they do all day.  There was no introduction or dialog from the teacher.  We were all a bit confused.  Again.  Adam demonstrated word building (where they are given an object and have to spell it out with cardboard letters.  Each object has a specific word sound - like 'oy' in toy).  He also demonstrated a giant world map puzzle that he likes to do.  He's also been working very hard tracing each piece and making a giant world map.

March: Owen turned 8!  Once again Owen passed on the idea of having a birthday party.  Since he was off school the day before (while Adam wasn't) we treated Owen to two of his favorite things – we took him out for breakfast, and then bowling!  On his actual birthday we took the boys to their favorite restaurant Red Robin.

In April we took the boys to the Museum of Science and Industry, primarily to take Owen to see his first IMAX film: Hubble.

Both the boys have been taking Young Artist classes at school.  Adam seems to really be into it.  While the work he brings home are mostly well done, it's his drawings he's doing at home which are really impressive.  Unfortunately most of them are done on dry erase boards (the latest fad in the house) and if I don't take a picture right away they disappear forever.  Owen is taking Young Artists classes as well for the second year in a row.  In the past he's never shown a lot of interest in drawing but this is the year of Diary of a Wimpy Kid - a book series that all the kids are into right now.  The book contains a number of cartoonish drawings that Owen started imitating, and then transformed into doing his own stuff.

Adam has also started taking chess classes at school.  He's really enjoying it, even though he gets some of the pieces movements wrong.

Both boys, at nearly the same time, have completely gotten into reading.  Owen can usually be found reading in his bed a good hour after bedtime and goes through several books a week.  Adam is only halfway through his last set of Now I'm Reading books, but I don't think we'll bother finishing them.  He, too, has started reading heavily on his own and just recently started reading through the Henry and Mudge series of books - a series Owen was reading in first grade!  There has been discussions on if we should, or could, see if we could get Adam straight into first grade but his maturity isn't there.  He still goes into crying fits when something doesn't go his way, or if he believes something to be true that isn't.

Other items of note: Soccer season started!  Owen is now on one of the more advanced teams and a few more rules have been added to his games.  He loves soccer but he's still a little afraid to go after the ball vigorously.  Adam's in soccer as well but isn't nearly as interested.  He spends most of his games goofing off and not paying attention to what's going on.

Finally, after almost a year, we've nearly cured Owen of his nail biting.  We put little pieces of paper tape on his nails after school.  When he'd stick his fingers in his mouth the tape reminded him and he took them out.  He still gets at them occasionally but we actually get to cut them now.

Added:
- Five pages of photos!
- Adam's Art Club!
- Read Owen's book Super Bowl Forever! here (pdf)
- New video! (Adam Sings Christmas)