Bein’ Franklin

Posted by mommyfranklin at December 14th, 2007

Just some more pictures of Zachary with his birthday presents.

Here’s Zachary in a new outfit he got from his great-grandparents.

And, here he is enjoying the Diego nap pad that I made for him from fleece. When I took him to pick out the fabric, the only thing he would even look at was the Diego fleece. I had hoped to make him a bedspread like I did for the other kids, but there was not enough. I ordered some more, so he’ll get his bedspread eventually. There was enough for a nappad though, which he needed anyway for school. His teacher tells me that he just loves it.

And, then Emily and Timothy wanted me to get a picture of them pretending to nap too.

Posted by mommyfranklin at December 14th, 2007

I have meant to upload this for a week now, but I’ve been preoccupied. If you’ve read Scott’s blog this week, then you know why.

Despite what Zachary may say, my babies are no longer babies. We’ve recently celebrated Zachary’s third birthday. This was his first real birthday celebration. We had a nice party when he turned 1, but that was really more for us than him. In lieu of a party last year, we attended the Veggietales live event. This is the first time he’s attended a Parent’s Day Out, so he actually had some friends to invite.

We had the party at TEGA Kids Superplex, a local preschool / gymnastics school. Zachary had chosen to have a Diego / Dora party. He had six friends come and had a wonderful time. Here are the pictures:

Time flies.

Posted by mommyfranklin at November 8th, 2007

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17

I consider one the best things of parenting is that we can get a glimpse of the relationship that God wants to have with His children. I am surrounding by living, breathing pictures of what Jesus is talking about when He admonishes His followers to have the faith of a child.

Timothy is turning into quite a prayer warrior. He’s always been pretty tuned in to prayers. In fact, I just found a post that I wrote just over a year ago that is about Timothy praying.

About a month ago, Timothy’s teacher had lost her voice. On the way to pick Emily up after school, I heard his sweet voice from the back of the van saying, “Dear God, Thank you for our family (which is how we start our bedtime prayers). Please help Mrs. Robertson’s voice get back in her mouth. What else do I say mommy? Oh yeah, in your name I pray. amen.” It wasn’t long before Mrs. Robertson’s voice was back.

Timothy has, I think in response to our move, regressed some in his potty training. He’s been trained for two years, but has been having some trouble lately. It’s really driving us crazy. On Tuesday, he had an accident. I sent him up the stairs to change his clothes. While he was changing, I heard his voice through the baby monitor that is downstairs in our bedroom. He was saying, “Dear God. Please help me be a big boy and stop pottying in my underwear. In your name I pray. Amen.” And, what do you know? He hasn’t had an accident since.

Yesterday, we were driving to an appointment after picking Emily up from school. Once again, Timothy said a prayer. This time, the prayer was, “Dear God. Please destroy the whole world and put it back together and put robots on it and put a robot in my house. In your name I prayer. Amen.”

I think Timothy’s about to learn about unanswered prayers.

Posted by mommyfranklin at November 7th, 2007

Zachary’s third birthday is a month away. I commented on this on the way to school this morning, and mentioned that we need to start planning for his party. Then, Timothy asked me how long it was to his birthday. It told him that his birthday is in 6 months, and that today is his half birthday. This got his attention. He asked me what half birthday meant, and I explained to him that it meant that he was now closer to being 5 than being 4. He asked if that meant he was almost 5, and I told him that 5 is astill a ways off but he is now 4 1/2 instead of 4. He thought about that the rest of the way to school.

When we got to school, the first thing we did was go down to the basement to Timothy’s classroom. We generally get to school about 30 minutes to an hour early, and have gotten into the routine of going to his classroom first to hang up his bag, jacket, and lunch box. Then, we head back to my classroom on the first floor so I can get set up for the day. Today was no different.

When we got to his classroom, his teacher had already arrived. Timothy walked up to her and announced that today was his half birthday. She looked a little puzzled and asked him whose birthday it was. He again said it was his half birthday, emphasizing the half a little more this time. So she told him happy half birthday and said they would have ice cream to celebrate on Friday. They’ve been learning the letter “I” this week, so the ice cream had been in the plans all week. He then ran over to the classroom next to his (they share a temporary wall) and told their teacher that it was his half birthday. He pretty much told everyone in the basement and the first floor that it is his half birthday. While this was going on, Zachary was informing everyone that it was his birthday and that he was going to his Dora & Diego party. He was a little mixed up on his facts, so I had lots of explaining to do about what the two boys were saying. It’s a wonder I got my room ready by the time school started.

Zachary seemed to have it all figured out by the time school got out, but Timothy was still pretty determined that everyone know it is his half birthday. We had an appointment after school, and he told anyone we saw that he is now 4 1/2 NOT 4.

Posted by mommyfranklin at November 2nd, 2007

As a kid, one of my favorite scenes / songs from the movie, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” (the old one) was when Charlie got the golden ticket. You know the part I mean. Charlie had just found the ticket in a Wonka bar and had run home quickly to tell his family. He grandparents had been bedridden for 20 years, but “Grandpa Joe” was suddenly able to get out of bed to sing and dance about the golden ticket that ensured that he and Charlie would get to tour the chocolate factory that would eventually belong to Charlie. Sorry to ruin it for those of you that somehow missed seeing that movie.

Anyway, I have found myself humming that song a few times in the last couple days. It began when Emily came running up to me after to school to announce that she had received a golden prize ticket that day. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but figured it was a good thing, especially when some of the other students from her grade made a show of being quite impressed and a little jealous that Emily had received such a prize. The goal of parenting is to make the other kids jealous, right? I congratulated her for her accomplishment.

Upon arriving at home after picking her up, there was a message from her Principal that shed a little light on the subject. Her teacher had chosen her to be in the Principal’s 200 club because of her “awesome leadership.” She got to put her name in a special book and on the Golden Tiger Paw Wall of Fame. To decide where to put her name on the wall, she had drawn the number 40 out of a bucket. There will be a drawing at the end of the year in which she will be eligible to win a prize.

After hearing the message from the Principal, I asked Emily for more detail. It turns out that her teacher had called her to her desk while they were doing class work and presented her with the golden ticket. Emily said that her teacher had told her the ticket was given to her for following directions and being a good leader.

Way to go Emily!

Posted by mommyfranklin at November 2nd, 2007

I really like my job right now. I have grown to look forward to seeing the fifteen 2-year-olds that pass through my classroom on various days. My co-workers make up a caring group of ladies who I have really started to enjoy visiting with when I get the chance. As much as I like it, I would walk away from it all in a second if the boys were in a less than desirable situation. Fortunately, they both have great teachers.

Timothy is having such a great year. He amazes me and those around him with how quickly he is learning. He has mastered writing his name using capital and lower case letters, which apparently is a hard concept for 4 year olds. He has learned the months of the year, sign language for many words and the letters up to H, to count to 100 with very little assistance, several bible verses with sign language, and tons of new songs.

The pre-K teachers use so many great methods to teach letters. One of the teachers told me yesterday that many of their students have late Spring / Summer birthdays, so they are really working on hard on teaching the letters. It’s been particularly fun the last few weeks with the letters F, G, & H. For F, they had Funky Feet Day. Lots of the kids came in mis-matched socks. Timothy, however, opted to wear his Curious George slippers that day. For G, they had Grown Up Day. Scott blogged on this one already (he should be adding a picture to the post soon). This week, he had Horrible Hair Day. We’ve put off getting his hair cut, so we could slick it up into a curly mohawk. He loved it. When we took Timothy to school this morning (no school today for me or Zachary), Zachary was pretty unsure of the teachers and kids with their funny hair. He usually goes around giving hugs to the kids and teachers, but today he stuck close to me. He was more sociable when we picked Timothy up at noon and most of the wigs had come off.

Posted by mommyfranklin at October 19th, 2007

We first noticed it in Kindergarten. Emily would come home from school and inform us who she has a crush on. We didn’t know where she would get such an idea that she could have a crush at the age of 5, but suspected that one of her friends (who has an older brother) was to blame for filling our innocent child’s mind with such ideas. It seems the idea has stuck though. I don’t really remember her talking about “crushin’” (her word) much in first grade, but the word has resurfaced this year. Every few days, she tells us about the little boy she is currently crushin’ on.

I guess from hearing Emily talk about her crush, Timothy has picked up on the idea. One night at bedtime, he announced that he also has a crush. We asked him who it was, and he mentioned a girl from school. She’s not in his class, but her big sister goes to Emily’s school so we see her on the playground every day when we’re picking up Emily from school. He sees her at various times at his school, but it’s always quite the reunion when we see her at the playground (10 minutes after leaving his school). Well, Zachary is not one to miss out on anything. True to his style of mimicking his brother, he informed us that he also has a crush on that same girl. The boys argued for about 10 minutes about who had a crush on her.

This week, I’ve noticed a little development when some of the other girls at the boys’ school. Emily got out of school early on Wednesday, so we went shopping after work with some of the other teachers. There were four mom’s shopping and 8 kids (10 year old girl, 8 year old girl, 7 year old boy, 7 year old girl, 4 year old girl, 4 year old boy, 2 year old girl, & 2 year old boy). Let me tell you, that was an experience in itself. When we arrived at the store, the 4 year old girl grabbed Timothy’s hand and the 2 year old girl grabbed Zachary’s hand (they are in the same class) and they walked in to the store together. It was too funny. The two-year-old girl’s mom had told me earlier in the week that “ackee” is talked about quite a bit at home. Her daughter has been mentioned a time or two at our house too. Their teacher tells us that the two of them fight like brother & sister.

Thursday morning as we were getting set up for the day, the same 4 year old girl was chasing Timothy around the room and through the hall. At one point, I heard Timothy tell her that she was not his girlfriend anymore. She asked him why and he had no reply, so she said that she is his girlfriend. On the way to get Emily after school, Timothy told that she is his girlfriend but he still has a crush on the other one.

At the same time, Zachary told me that Emily is his girlfriend.

At the age of 2, 4, & 7, this is fun and cute. Ask me how I feel about it in 10 years.

Posted by mommyfranklin at August 17th, 2007

We have started going on walks in the evenings. The boys travel in the red wagon we received for Christmas. Emily walks / run part of the way and climbs in the wagon when she gets tired.

Where do we go?

We usually go to Emily’s school. It is about 3/4 of mile from here. We’ll walk over there, let the kids play on the playground for a bit, and then walk back. It’s fun. When we were deciding where to go the first time, Scott and I were speaking code. We can’t spell anymore since Emily’s such a great reader, so we just use cryptic messages. So, the kids started guessing where we were going to go. Emily’s first guess — are we going to the banana? It was so off the wall that we indulged her and said that was where we were going. Now anytime we drive by or walk to the school, the boys will get very excited that they see the banana. Emily is less than pleased that they call her school the banana, but there’s nothing she can do about it since she started it.

Emily has recently started learning to ride her bike. A friend gave it to us when their daughter outgrew it. She’s had it for a couple years, but it was a little big for her. The old training wheels were starting to buckle, so got some new ones. When she wants to ride instead of walk, we go for a short walk around the block. She’s doing pretty good so far.

There is life after TV.

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 27th, 2007

The ride home from swimming lessons today was marked with the children telling about the things they had done at swimming lessons.

Z — Hold wall all by myself!

Today I got a little break from holding him through the entire class. He discovered that he can hold his head up by holding onto the wall. He discovered this near the end of class when the kids were jumping off the edge. He really likes jumping and I was trying to show him how to climb out. I moved him over to the wall and helped him get his leg up on the edge so he could climb the rest of the way. One of the times that we did this, he decided he didn’t want to climb out. He just wanted to hold onto the wall all by himself. He turned, looked at me, and said in true two-year-old style, “don’t want you to hold me mama, do all by myself.”

T — My teacher tied a orange noodle around me and I swimmed all by myself!

I had been a little surprised when Timothy’s teacher had told me that we didn’t need to buy floaties for swimming lessons. Now I know why. Unless you knew what was going on, it would be surprising to see three and four year olds “swimming” around the pool with a noodle tied around them. But that’s what they did. It worked great. Timothy did a great job.

E — I dived through a hula hoop in the deep end all by myself! And I wasnt scared!

Yesterday was the first time Emily was excited to go to swimming lessons. She got a little scared when her class moved down to the 10 foot deep water, but she quickly got over her fear. Her teacher is really good with her, and I do believe that Emily has turned a corner as far as her fear is concerned. It’s too bad we couldn’t take lessons at the beginning of the summer. She may have been confident enough to take the swimming test at GA camp so she could jump off the diving board. Today, they spent most of the classtime in the deep end and she wasn’t scared at all.

Good job kids!

Posted by mommyfranklin at July 26th, 2007

I’ve heard that the middle child is often the artistic one. Today, as we were celebrating Zachary successfully using the bathroom, I heard Emily ask Timothy if he’d been painting in her room. He confirmed that he had been painting, so I thought I’d better go check it out. Especially since I remembered that he had recently spent about 10 minutes washing his hands.

Sure enough, he had discovered the water color paints that she had brought home at the end of the school year. He had decided to mix all the colors together and paint various items in Emily’s room including the front cover of a library book, her TV screen, her new desk, the door, pictures on her bulletin board, and the top of her toy box. He’s lucky it was water colors, so it cleaned up easily. In fact, it cleaned up so easily that Timothy was the lucky one that got to clean it all up.

I really don’t understand why the boys are both fascinated with Emily’s room. I suppose the TV and various “big kid” items have a certain attraction to them. She tries to remember to put the most tempting items (markers, paint) away, but they do manage to get into some they shouldn’t from time to time. I don’t really feel right asking her to lock the door when she’s not going to be in the room, but I feel bad they make such a mess of her room. I try to assure her that they will grow out of this in time. I really thought Timothy was past this, but I guess he just could resist the paint.