October 6, 2006

Hello All,
In the interest in keeping up with my correspondence, I will write a letter tonight, although I can't really think of anything that significant. Unfortunately this morning was not the greatest. It all started 2 days ago when the boys had a very late bedtime. So yesterday morning was consequently pretty terrible. Brigham and Joseph just cannot cope with anything very well when they are tired. So Joseph was in tears 3 times before leaving the back door for school (mostly involving things like refusing to turn around and sit properly on the couch so I could put his socks on), and Brigham was in tears before we hit the sidewalk to go to school (his was crying because I told him to walk up to the sidewalk on the road instead of the path in the greenway before getting on his bike-- it is longer to go to the path, but that's where we usually go and he can't deal with change of routine when he's tired). Last night's bedtime was better, but they are still sleep deprived and this morning was no better than yesterday. Joseph was actually ok, but Brigham again threw a fit about not getting to go to the path. Here's the deal. Normally, I have the boys walk across the greenway grass to the path that goes up to the road. But the path doesn't actually connect to the road, so there is this little hill of grass where they have to get off their bikes, drag their bikes up over this little hill, then get back on their bikes on the sidewalk. When we're in a hurry, it is much faster for them to just walk a little longer across the grass and go straight to the road, instead of cutting across to the path. Make sense? Anyway, Brigham doesn't like walking longer across the grass, he wants to get on his bike as soon as he can, which is why he was throwing the fit about having to walk up to the road. So anyway, he was already crying, and then he got even more upset when Joseph got ahead of him once they were on their bikes. So he starts pedaling like crazy, and rams really hard into the back of Joseph's bike. Joseph almost falls over, and in retaliation, he rams into Brigham's bike, and *does* knock him over. So I was *really* mad at both of them, I had to get Joseph off his bike and dragged him over to the grass because there was another bike rider coming down the sidewalk, then help Brigham get up off the ground and back on his bike, and then we missed the light, making us yet another couple minutes late. I was really mad at both of them, and then felt really bad as they are walking up to their class after just getting yelled at by their mom. Ugh. Mornings are tough. Next week we MUST do better about getting to bed on time. We have a pretty good bedtime routine, but when things get messed up (like me leaving to go to a relief society thing, and then dad putting them to bed-- they think they can get away with much more with dad and the truth is they can), then the bedtime really suffers.
Anyway, they were all in much better spirits after school, as was I.
I let them watch some TV when they got home (one episode of Diego), since it is the weekend-- this is our new rule-- TV only on weekends), and I was really proud of them when I came back in the living room and they had voluntarily turned off the TV and were all involved in other things. Playdough and drawing and legos.
Brigham drew a self-portrait that was really, really good! I need to scan it. He had eyes complete with irises and pupils, a nose actually shaped sort of like a nose, including nostrils, and 2 lips instead of the usual curved line. And all the features were roughly in the anotomically correct position on the head. I've tried hard not to coach him on drawing, I want him to do things his own way, so this makes me happy to see him actually drawing what he sees instead of the symbols with which small children typically draw (lollipop trees, etc.). Now I do draw with them sometimes, and I have a couple of times drawn pictures of their faces, so maybe he still is just imitating what I do, but that's ok too.
Mosey has been trying to learn his letters. Well, he's been trying to get candy so I make him identify letters. Today I was on the computer and he saw the cursor blinking on the screen and he said, "That's the letter I, mom!" And he was right! That cursor does look just like a capital I. What a smart boy.
Tomorrow we're putting up Halloween decorations, and the boys are soooo excited. So far Joseph wants to be a Power Ranger and Brigham wants to be a skeleton. Gone are the days when I get to decide for my boys what they will be, to come up with cute coordinating costumes. Oh well, it's worth it to see them get so excited.