I have to write down a couple little things that have been said and done around here the last couple days. I keep thinking that I should write that down when it happens, a couple days go by, and then it's gone.
Jake's been on a reading binge lately. Jake was my latest reader. Nikki was reading at 4, Tom around the same time, but Jake was around 7 before he really could read well. Now he is the kid that you can't find suddenly because he's off in his room with the new book. We were searching for something on the shelves because he finished the last one too quickly and I hadn't got anything new yet. After offering Ronald Dahl and a few others he tells me, "Mom, I really prefer historical fiction. They are great stories and I learn something about the world." Now that's just odd for a ten year old to say, but I have to say that I love it.
Tom has gotten gears on his brain. Last week Jake asked a question about a car going uphill and Tom tried to explain what he knew about the gears of a car. He discovered that it is sometimes difficult to explain something out loud. A picture can really help, but we were driving so no pen and paper was to be found.
Earlier this week we stumbled across a tv show about high tech factories and it was about Legos. The boys have a huge amount of legos, but they rarely get played with anymore. They are tucked in the back of the closet and come out when there are kids over that want to play with them. Dan and I went to the store while they watched the show and when we got back, the legos were out. The box with motors and gears was out. Tom was building vehicles with different size gears to drive different wheels. "Experimenting." he said. He was showing Jake what he meant last week about the car going uphill.Tom plays with parts and can see what is going to work or why something isn't working and fix it. Jake tries to make something cool, but can't get it to move. He gives it to Tom to make it work. At first he was mad that Tom just knows how to do it and he can't. But then he said that he is the designer and Tom's the engineer. It's been several days and the gears are not put away. We need more legos. They want to share the cost of a Mindstorms kit. It shall be done, but after we get back from vacation. Lego is out of them and by the time it ships, we will be in Arizona.
Jake had an epiphany the other day. He told Dad that when you explain something to someone else, you know more about it yourself. Explaining something teaches you and cements it in your head. How's that?!
And the cutest for last. Tom's baseball team lost again on Monday, but it was so close and a great game to watch. Tom played catcher the whole game, but he said he wished that the coach would have put in another kid because he really wanted to be catcher too. Ahhhh! After the game, Tom grins his goofy smile (the one that tells me he's thought of something sappy but he's going to say it anyway), and says "I ran the bases anyway because I won in my heart!" It may be sappy, but it's true. He said it was the best game ever. They did play really well, like a team, and only the last inning did they start to lose it. Honestly, I think they are tired. Most of their games have started at 7:45. All these kids are 11 years old on this team, first year Majors. All are public school kids that get up at 5:30 or 6am to be at school and probably are in bed by 8pm, now they are playing baseball. The games we have lost terribly were all late games. The ones that we lost by one or two points were 5:30 games.
Jake's been on a reading binge lately. Jake was my latest reader. Nikki was reading at 4, Tom around the same time, but Jake was around 7 before he really could read well. Now he is the kid that you can't find suddenly because he's off in his room with the new book. We were searching for something on the shelves because he finished the last one too quickly and I hadn't got anything new yet. After offering Ronald Dahl and a few others he tells me, "Mom, I really prefer historical fiction. They are great stories and I learn something about the world." Now that's just odd for a ten year old to say, but I have to say that I love it.
Tom has gotten gears on his brain. Last week Jake asked a question about a car going uphill and Tom tried to explain what he knew about the gears of a car. He discovered that it is sometimes difficult to explain something out loud. A picture can really help, but we were driving so no pen and paper was to be found.
Earlier this week we stumbled across a tv show about high tech factories and it was about Legos. The boys have a huge amount of legos, but they rarely get played with anymore. They are tucked in the back of the closet and come out when there are kids over that want to play with them. Dan and I went to the store while they watched the show and when we got back, the legos were out. The box with motors and gears was out. Tom was building vehicles with different size gears to drive different wheels. "Experimenting." he said. He was showing Jake what he meant last week about the car going uphill.Tom plays with parts and can see what is going to work or why something isn't working and fix it. Jake tries to make something cool, but can't get it to move. He gives it to Tom to make it work. At first he was mad that Tom just knows how to do it and he can't. But then he said that he is the designer and Tom's the engineer. It's been several days and the gears are not put away. We need more legos. They want to share the cost of a Mindstorms kit. It shall be done, but after we get back from vacation. Lego is out of them and by the time it ships, we will be in Arizona.
Jake had an epiphany the other day. He told Dad that when you explain something to someone else, you know more about it yourself. Explaining something teaches you and cements it in your head. How's that?!
And the cutest for last. Tom's baseball team lost again on Monday, but it was so close and a great game to watch. Tom played catcher the whole game, but he said he wished that the coach would have put in another kid because he really wanted to be catcher too. Ahhhh! After the game, Tom grins his goofy smile (the one that tells me he's thought of something sappy but he's going to say it anyway), and says "I ran the bases anyway because I won in my heart!" It may be sappy, but it's true. He said it was the best game ever. They did play really well, like a team, and only the last inning did they start to lose it. Honestly, I think they are tired. Most of their games have started at 7:45. All these kids are 11 years old on this team, first year Majors. All are public school kids that get up at 5:30 or 6am to be at school and probably are in bed by 8pm, now they are playing baseball. The games we have lost terribly were all late games. The ones that we lost by one or two points were 5:30 games.
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