We went to see "Ramona and Beezus" (or was it "Beezus and Ramona?") at the theater. I loved it. I think Brigham liked it. Mosey thought it was OK, but he has trouble sitting still for so long. Joseph did not like it. Maybe it had something to do with the scene when Ramona finds her cat Picky-Picky dead, and she and her sister have a funeral for him in the backyard. I admit I teared up during that scene. I looked over at Joseph and he was all curled up into himself. I guess it was bad timing to watch that movie today. Anyway, he kept asking when it would be over (how in the world should I know??), and in fact left the theater for the last 10 minutes or so. Oh well, not every movie can have talking dogs and flatulence jokes...
The whole entire rest of the day seemed to be taken up by music practicing, chores, and math. Mostly, trying to get Mosey to do said music practicing, chores, and math. 15 minutes of math turned into an hour and 25 minutes, with about a half hour of that involving Mosey sitting in the hall closet for time outs. It's so frustrating! This kid is so, so, so smart. Are there many other not-quite-second-graders doing 3 digit by 2 digit multiplication? Probably not too many. (Which perhaps begs the question, "Why are you making Mosey do math every day if he's so far ahead?" Maybe I shouldn't. But his brothers are, and I think it's a good habit to get into. But maybe I'm wrong. I hate feeling uncertain.) And yet he will sit there and do half the problem, then start staring into space or doodling, and then forgetting what he is doing. Or he starts asking, ad infinitum, "What's 8 plus 6? What's 8 plus 6?" etc., etc., etc. It's a page out of Joseph's book, except that now Joseph is my number 1 get-my-chores-and-practicing-and-math-done-as-quickly-as-I-possibly-can boy. (Where has this boy been all my life??) Joseph has discovered the beauty of getting his stuff done ASAP, because then he has the rest of the day free. Mosey is apparently filling the vacuum that Joseph left behind. :-/ Mosey did do his chore-- vacuuming, but not without attendant drama. I know you're supposed to be only positive about the work your child does, so as not to discourage or demoralize him. But I don't think this applies when the child is being deliberately sloppy, does it? There IS a right way to vacuum, and Mosey (and all my boys) need to know what it is. If you're going to spend 10 minutes vacuuming, you may as well spend that 10 minutes doing it right. Anyway, after promising myself I was not going to yell at all today, I didn't quite succeed. Then when he was doing his violin practicing, he got frustrated and started whacking his bow on the table. So I yelled at him about that and sent him back into the hall closet where he sat on the floor and said, "I'm not going to play ANY instrument, EVER, no matter WHAT you say!!" I sat outside the closet door and wondered what I am doing wrong.
Anyway, it wasn't a very good afternoon. I did get him out of the closet and willing to go to violin lessons (where he did a really good job) with the promise that we'd stop by Taco Bell on the way home and get a Fruitista Freeze.
It's exhausting doing battle like this every day, and I hate it. I feel like such a mean mom, when I really want to be a fun mom.
Well, tomorrow is another day to try to do better, I guess.
Anyway, here are a few recent pictures:
These two pictures are of Brigham in his cleaning get-up. Mister threw up on his bed upstairs, and Brigham had to go and strip the sheets and take them outside to spray off with the hose before putting them in the washer. He's totally protected with a pirate hat, old 3D glasses, a bandit-kerchief over his mouth, and rubber gloves. :-)
Here's Joseph yesterday morning after I took him to the park to go running around the track. He ran a mile, and came back not even sweating-- just a rosy glow. I am having a hard time with how grown-up my boys are looking these days. The twins are almost 10 years old. I seriously can't stand how fast they're growing up.
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