Wil and I and FotR

[I started this on August 22nd. Let's see if I can get it posted...]

I started reading Fellowship of the Ring with Wil last night.

I'd grown tired of re-reading comic books. I liked 'em fine the first 3 or 4 times. Time to graduate to chapter books like Momma and Bethy.

I gave Wil a choice of Prince Caspian, The Book of Three, or Fellowship of the Ring.

Then, when the book came home, I said 'How about if we read some of the book, and then [your reward will be to] watch that much of the movie.' He thought that sounded like a great idea.

Then Christine said 'Maybe we [girls] would like to get in on that!' Bethy said yeah!, but she only wanted to watch the movies. She doesn't want to read all together.

(I think there's at least 3 things at work here:
1. She thinks it would be more boring than her books.
2. She want to do the choosing.
3. She wants to keep Christine to herself.)

So, at bedtime, Wil came and got me [working on my laptop] and said it was time to read our book and then watch the movie. Whoa. Come to find out, he thought we were going to watch some of the movie each night. I said 'No way. You'd get too excited and not be able to sleep.' He promised me he wouldn't, but I insisted he would and that we'd watch some friday night or over the weekend and he accepted that.

As we settled down, I asked him if he knew The Lord of the Rings is my favorite book in the whole world (he said no) and that I'm so happy to be sharing it with him.

So I started reading the 'Concerning Hobbits' part of the Prologue, and Wil was really busy with his stuffed animals and blankets. I thought about asking him if he was paying attention, but his comments showed me he was paying attention:

+ He thought I was talking about Hobbit ladies called 'madam', but I was talking about 'mathoms'.
+ When reading the history of Hobbits and how some lived by rivers and fished and swam, he knew (from watching the movies) that that's where Gollum originally came from.
+ And a few more I don't remember...

Then he started telling me about the hobbit apartment he was building with his blankets and stuffed animals and what the different rooms were and where they got their water. I'd even go so far as to say that he was imitating my reading cadence a little :-)

[I think I was originally going to write more, but this is going to have to be a good enough start for now...]

Favorite Lunchbox Food

I asked the twins to name their favorite lunchbox treat. I thought the answer would be Hershey Kisses of some variety. Instead, Wil wanted to tell me all the things he liked best in his lunch, so here it is:
peanut butter & jelly sandwich - he once told me it tasted like cake
grapes and apples
carrots
chocolate, any kind

Elizabeth's was similar:
peanut butter & jelly sandwich
apple slices
chocolate
cheesestick (string cheese)
water

I was surprised by the last one because Elizabeth is a big milk drinker, but she gave up buying milk in the cafeteria back in Kindergarten.

The Secret in Mrs. Clytus' Class

After school today, Wil was excited to tell us the secret in Mrs. Clytus' class. If you get on yellow, he explained, but then have good behavior the rest of the day, you get to change back to green. "That's what I did today. I'm going to do that every day!" He was so pleased, I had a hard time explaining it's better to stay on green all day. We're still very proud of his effort.

The First Day of Second Grade

Momma: What was your favorite thing about the first day of 2nd grade?
Wil: I stayed on green all day. That was better than recess.
Elizabeth: Recess, and... (thinking) that Momma had homework and I didn't!

What was your least favorite thing?
W: Assembly was talk, talk, talk, boring. Except for "Why Gator Hates Dog." (The new principal is from Louisiana.)
E: Computer lab was pretty much talk, talk, talk, boring.

What do you want your teacher to know about you?
E: That I wasn't supposed to get a Barbie until I was 6 years old, but I started getting them when I was 5.
W: It's fun to be a kid.

What do you want to learn this year?
E: More about Louisiana.
W: I don't actually know yet.

What was one of your favorite things about this summer?
E: Hershey, Carowinds, getting snorkle gear.
W: Peeling skin off Mommy. Swimming lessons.

During the summer, what did you miss most about school?
E: Mrs. Wertz.
W: Mrs. Janus, Mrs. Wertz, Mrs. Adair, and I think her name is Mrs. Church.

Daddy: Was anyone else besides me tired today?
All: Yes!

My boy, the budding philoligist

+ Wil discovers the Law of Velar Villainy: 'Daddy, I just realized something: Lord Vladek (from Lego Knights of Morcia) and Lord Vader have the same letters!' Bonus: 'velar' has some of those velars, too! ;-)

(Incidentally, the search led me to this great old languagehat.com thread where Jason, Jaq, Dorothea and I debated the attractiveness of the word 'blog'. Unfortunately, some famous internet dude showed up at the bottom to tell us he'd coined the term and that pretty much killed it ;-)

And then, Jaq, I discovered your old comments are still out there on the web: http://rateyourmusic.com/yaccs/commentsn/b=90000033403_and_e=112232750340001842 . Crazy.)

I can't believe Summer Break is almost over and school starts in 10 days. That means I'll have 2nd graders in my house! That seems too big for words.

I can't let the summer go by without a note about swimming lessons. The twins had a week of private lessons in June. Elizabeth did beautifully, started swimming freestyle by the end of the week. Wil only learned to doggie paddle, but at least he had fun. They complete two more weeks of lessons last Thursday with the same company, different instructor. Wil is a totally different child in the water now. He blows bubbles, he goes underwater, he crawls, he backstrokes, and he's even learning the Butterfly stroke with dolphin kick. It's amazing. Elizabeth continued to progress, but similarly to riding a bike it was too much too soon and she developed all kinds of anxiety about swimming. She can side-breathe and backstroke well enough to pass "Level 2," her instructor hung that carrot out for her the last day of class, but she's not comfortable in the water. She'll have enough to do this year with ballet and Brownies, but I hope we can find an opportunity for Wil to keep swimming. He loves it and is a joy to watch!