Of Dancing Divas and Library Books

We were recently given a HUGE bag full of dress of clothes. The kids have very much enjoyed them. The fireman costume has been a huge hit and I have been "rescued" from countless "fires" around the house by the oh-so-brave J-Man. There was one dress, however, that The Diva initially had discarded and it made its way to the bottom of the dress-up tub. It resurfaced the other day and you would think that this girl had been given a check for a large sum. She has worn this dress-up costume (a bride get-up, I am assuming) and has been alternating between being a Domestic Princess:

And a World Class Ballerina:

We did discover that trying to go to the bathroom in all of this fluff is a challenge. Definitely a two-woman job. I find it so amazing to watch my girls, though. Why is it that some women find it necessary to argue that there is no difference between the sexes, when there so clearly is. I find it amazing how girls are so clearly attracted to femininity, even from a young age. And yet, we try and take this from them, all in the name of so-called equality?! Both of my girls like to fuss over their baby brother, like little mother hens. This is not to say that the J-Man does not care for his baby brother, because he does. But it is a more protective, looking-out-for kind of care.

Anyway....I will step off of one of my many soapboxes now.

I was recently reading a blog post of an old friend and she was talking about library books and how you never know what you are going to get: a bomb or a gem. We had this book come home with us last week:

While I don't know that I would call it a 'bomb', it certainly lacked in creativity and story line. Bob is a rather dull bear and likes it that way. His friend "Jack" is the wild and crazy one who likes to surf, visit alligator swamps, etc. Bob prefers dusting his house plants and sitting in empty parking lots. The J-Man became a little agitated the first time we read this book. He found that though he shared a name the the bear named "Jack", he related more to "Bob". Not that my J-Man is dull, but he does thrive on routine and knowing what is coming next.

"Mom, I think I am 'Bob', not 'Jack', in this book." Funny how kids can be so in tune to their own personalities at such a young age!

Of Teaching Boys to Spell

Here is it August, nearly September, and I haven't posted since June! Wow. Wonder what the heck I do with all my time. What's that? I have 4 kids, you say? Ahhh, yes. Perhaps THAT is where my time goes.

We started homeschooling the J-Man this month. I use the term loosely at this point, since he is just at that pre-school age, but we do sit down for 1 - 1 1/2 hours several times a week and "do school". Superman and I have spent a plethora of hours discussing homeschooling as of late and are now 100% convinced that we are totally thrilled, excited, pumped, and also a little terrified of the fact that we feel the need to homeschool.

Anyway, the J-Man had known SOME of his letters in no particular order (and by some, I pretty much mean he knew "J" since that is what his name started with). He was never very interested in letters and such. Not if there were tools to play with or messes to be made. I wasn't concerned. And rightly so.....for in the two weeks that we have been working on it, he knows all his letters and most of their sounds. We started "spelling" together on Thursday. You know, the kind of spelling where the child asks "how do you spell 'Mom'?" or "what letters do you use to make the word 'cat'?". well, the thing is with boys...they don't really want to spell "mom" or "cat". The words J-Man wanted to spell extended beyond the 3 letter, short-vowel words I wanted him to focus on. After working on MY words of choice for a bit (cat, bat, pig, bug), we worked on HIS choice.

Fast forward to Friday. I get out his magnetic letters and the old cookie sheet and then get called away by the need to rock the Pooter back to sleeop. When I come back, I see that word. Not "bug", or "cat", or "mom". But THIS word:

Of ALL the words he remembered, it had to be this one?! Really? Teaching a boy to spell is going to be interesting, to say the least. I even questioned him, wondering if it was purely coincidental that this word appeared. I asked the J-Man, "What is this word here?"

"Oh, that spells 'poop', Mom. Two "p's" and two "o's". That's how you make the word 'poop'."