Happy Birthday, Ian!!

Happy Birthday sweet Ian! You turned 6 years old today. You've been counting down the days until June 10th! Rather than celebrating your birthday, we're celebrating your birthday week. Tonight we went out to dinner (you chose Dairy Queen), and then Aunt Sara, Uncle BJ, and Grammy came over for a little celebration tonight. Aunt Sara was kind enough to make you a delicious homemade blueberry cake (at your request), and then you and Matthew opened a few presents. You were especially excited about a Hotwheels toy you received from Aunt Sara. While you were busy putting it together, Matthew stayed in the livingroom and danced to the music of one of your birthday cards that kept playing "You Know You Make Me Want to Shout..." On Friday, we'll celebrate again when Grandpa comes home for the weekend, and then Saturday you'll have a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Exciting week for a little guy! Anyway, I wanted to record some of your favorites/traits at this sweet age of 6. :)

Favorite activities: Playing games - especially UnoSpin, checkers, the alligator waterpipe game on Dad's tablet, and your leappad games. You also love to watch TV, play on playgrounds, wrestling with Matthew and drawing/coloring. You love water activities of almost any variety - swimming, baths, showers, sprinklers, and water guns.

Favorite toys: Trains, Hotwheels, art supplies, balls

Favorite shows: Jake & the Neverland Pirates, Peg Plus Cat, Magic School Bus

Favorite foods: Chinese food, noodles, red grapes, shrimp, Icees, dippin dots, Zbars, popcorn

Favorite luxuries: Good smelling soaps, rare special drinks (i.e., juice, chocolate milk, or sprite), getting to use your giraffe water bottle, getting a snack immediately after getting picked up from school, putting a cup of water in the fridge the night before so you have cold water for breakfast, sleepy lotion, finding lucky pennies, movie nights and snuggling on the couch

Things that are really important to you: Getting tucked in, talking and being heard, taking care of Matthew, sleeping with Cheetah, alone time with Mom and/or Dad, pajamas with feet

Dislikes: Going shopping, having to go for walks, loud noises, "zizzy cups," "scratchy shorts," and getting up in the morning.

Your Dad and I are often impressed with your vocabulary and the questions you ask. Your mind always seems to be working. You are also very patient and sweet with your brother (when you two aren't wrestling)! We love you Junebug and hope that you have a wonderful 6th year of life.

And now some pics....

Hole in One!

Today we went and played miniature golf for the first time with the boys. A few months ago I bought a Groupon for Putt-Putt, and today we decided to go use it. We had a wonderful time!  The boys had fun despite it being pretty warm and humid. Ian did a good job of putting the balls into the holes, while Matthew would just take his ball over and drop it in. Too cute!! I kept score just because that's what I tend to do, and for the record, Devon won. :) While I don't want to overthink it, I think the way Devon and I play miniature golf is a pretty accurate reflection of our personalities. I wanted to keep score because I tend to be competitive (and like to win), while Devon doesn't see the point in keeping score or determining a winner. I'm quick to size up the course and hit the ball (often needing to hit it a few extra times :)), while Devon took more time to determine a strategy before hitting. We often fuss with each other about speed...he would like me to slow down and do a little more planning, while I feel like he needs to speed up a bit. We balance each other out.

Anyway, I was able to take a few pictures of the little guys. All went smoothly until the last hole when the boys discovered that once their ball went down the hole, it would not be retrievable. This led Matty to stick his orange putter into the hole (searching for the ball I guess!?!) and getting it stuck. The putter was saved, the tears stopped, and the rest of the day went great.

Kindergarten...It's a Wrap!

My dear Ian,

Today, (6/6/14) was your last day of kindergarten! Originally your last day was supposed to be yesterday, but we had an odd winter season last year, and Houston essentially shutdown over the threat of ice, so they extended your school year by a day.

When I think back to my kindergarten year, there is little that I remember. I remember Ronald Reagan was our President because there was a big portrait poster of him next to the American flag which we said the pledge to each morning. I remember enjoying kindergarten, and from what I remember I loved my teacher, Mrs. Post. We learned cute little songs for each letter, and I remember missing out because I was out sick on the day that my class made Green Eggs & Ham. My class went ahead and saved me a portion in a Ziploc bag, but understandably it wasn't edible when I returned to school. :)  I remember the teacher sending home rolls of laminated posters and items for Mom to cut out, and I thought she was amazing for doing such a great job with the scissors. More than anything, I think my kindergarten year was a lot of fun, and I developed a love for school and learning.

I wished the same for you, although I'm not sure you really LOVED kindergarten. Throughout your school experience, I understand there will be teachers that you will love, those that will be just so-so, and some that you won't like at all. I accepted many months ago that this year would be one of those so-so teacher years, and I pray that next year, you get one of those teachers that you love and never forget. The teacher makes all the difference.

I'm writing this letter to you hoping that someday you'll read it and remember some things about kindergarten. Your first day of kindergarten was August 26th, 2014. You were very excited, and you helped pick out your supplies. Because I'm a school counselor, I had to be at my school/workplace on your first day of school, so Dad took you for your first day. I was honestly quite sad about this, but I understand that's the way it has to be. Anyway, one of our neighbors (Mrs. Amanda) kindly took a picture of you, Dad, and Matthew, and you looked very happy! This of course made my heart smile. After the first week of school, we were talking about all of the newness of school, and when I asked you what you liked most about kindergarten, you told me how much you LOVED lunch. We put money into a lunch account for you, which made it possible for you to pick out what you wanted to eat with no mom or dad there to filter your purchases. :)  For the first time, you were able to buy ice cream, Cheetos, and chocolate milk...or whatever you wanted. I'm proud of you though because while you did take some liberties, you seemed to eat your food and do a pretty good job of making decent food choices. Other likes of kindergarten included: recess, specials, and learning centers. You said your favorite "special" was computer time and pullouts on Fridays. Each week you were given a homework packet to complete. I'm not sure how you will feel about homework in the years to come, but as of your kindergarten year, you seemed to really enjoy the homework. I'm not sure if it's that you loved the homework, or if it was dedicated time where you had either Dad or my full attention. Either way, you always did a good job! You also loved getting WOW bucks which allowed you to buy things from the Wilder Wagon. Several times you ended up buying round crayon circles.

Your kindergarten year seemed to also be highly impacted by the color chart (blue, green, yellow, orange, and red). Each day your teacher would write down your color for the day, and she would send home the chart. Many days you stayed on blue, but there were also plenty of greens and the sprinkling of yellow, orange, and the very rare red (you got a red one day for throwing an orange in the cafeteria!). Overall, I was really proud of your color distribution. I can't tell you how much I wanted for you to be blue every day because you seemed to be more disappointed about color changes than even I was. I'm hoping that next year we'll have even more days with no color change.

I think the biggest downside of kindergarten for you was that you seemed kind of bored. I can't imagine how hard it is to teach kindergarten with students at so many different levels, but I also don't think that your teacher did the world's best job at differentiating. On one of the final days of school, you had a color change to green with the words "CONSTANT TALKING" written across the square for the day. When I asked you why you were constantly talking, you said you were really bored. I asked you what you were learning that day, and you clapped out "but-ter-fly...3 syllables." I couldn't help but laugh because you were so darn cute. It also very clearly spelled out for me why you were bored. I'm hoping 1st grade will be more challenging for you.

You learned and grew a lot this year. I was only able to drop you off a few times this year because I had to be at my work/school about an hour before your drop off time, but you looked so little and adorable walking into your school with your big Cars backpack. We would give each other "hand hugs" before you got out of the car because I couldn't get out to hug you. You began the year being able to read some words, but by the end of this year, you were able to read complete sentences and short books. Your math skills were very good (you could do simple addition and subtraction, count money, and you understood simple fractions), and you learned a good deal of science.

I'm very proud of you Ian. You made it through your first year as a Wilder Wolverine, and you recite the Wilder pledge with such pride! I'm so proud to be your mom, and I hope you enjoy your summer break.

Sea World...A Complicated Issue

This weekend Devon and I took the boys to San Antonio for a quick weekend road trip.  As we have done many times in the past, we visited Sea World, but this time it felt a little different.

I really can't remember the first time I visited Sea World, but my parents took my brother, sister, and I to Sea World several times when growing up, and I absolutely loved it every time. I have always been fascinated by animals and animal behavior, and this park has it all - animals, rides, shows, etc. I remember thinking that being an animal trainer must be the most awesome job in the world, and I had the fleeting idea that I would want to be an animal trainer someday! I remember reading about the requirements, and while I don't recall all of the details, I remember one of the qualifications was you had to be a very strong swimmer. A strong swimmer I am not, and so that thought ended, but I remained mesmerized by the animals and their abilities and willingness to complete various behaviors. There also seemed to be a genuine relationship between the trainers and the animals.

While I have always loved visiting aquariums and zoos, I have had some concerns and reservations about animals being kept in captivity. I think like many things though, I have tried to keep my concerns in context of a bigger picture. I have been fascinated with biology most of my life, but it wasn't until I studied biology in college that I became aware of so many issues ranging from habitat destruction to poaching to climate change. I know there are views all over the spectrum on most issues, but I think it is most important for individuals to be educated and informed. In our very busy, civilized lives, it is easy to get disconnected from the natural world, and when we are disconnected, it is easy to forget about how fragile everything is. I don't mean to make it sound like I view Sea World, zoos, or aquariums as the natural world, but honestly, that is as close as it's going to get for most people (in terms of seeing wild animals and developing an appreciation). I'm amazed at the diversity of individuals who visit Sea World, and hopefully after spending the day there, at least some of the visitors come away with a greater appreciation for the wildlife and the importance of conservation.

This year it seemed like Sea World had more exhibits dedicated to recycling, conservation, animal rescue, etc. They even featured Jack Hanna and Bindi Irwin in a short conservation presentation before the orca show. Talk about pulling out the big guns! I have no doubt this is to help combat the negative publicity from the Blackfish "documentary." I haven't seen the full documentary yet, but I have seen small parts and read about it. It sounds like even some of the people who were interviewed for the documentary regret participating because they felt like their input was taken out of context. In visiting Sea World several times over the past two decades, I have never seen a protester, but this weekend there were about 50 with signs protesting at the entrance to the park. I'm not sure why it upset me so much, but it did.  I respect the right to protest and for free speech, but I guess it kind of perplexed me in so many ways. Where have the protesters been for the last 50 years? Why Sea World and not so many other zoological settings with far worse conditions? Why not protest other actions that affect so many more animals with no benefit? In my opinion, in an ideal world there would be no animals in captivity, but there would be lots of things very different than they are.

So...that pretty much sums up my view on this issue. Like so many very complicated issues, I am torn, but I believe at least for now the benefit outweighs the cost. On a positive note, the boys had a wonderful weekend.

In closing, I want to share one of my favorite quotes by the environmentalist, Dr. Baba Dioum.
"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught."

The Beginning of Summer

I think the first day of summer is not for another month or so, but in south Texas, summer begins early and ends late. A few weeks ago Matthew and I made an impulse purchase of a backyard sprinkler, slip-n-slide, pool combo. The boys have been wanting to open it, but it hasn't been quite warm enough until today. They love it! It's been an enjoyable afternoon of watching them shoot each other with water guns, watching them splash in the water, and listening to their infectious laughs. Perhaps most entertaining has been Devon trying to teach Ian how to run and slide. I give Devon props for putting his body on the line as I would probably injure something. Devon definitely still has slip and slide skills, while Ian is still trying to get coordinated. Cutest of all is Matthew who just runs across the "slide" and then plops down at the end. While I dread the heat and humidity of summers in the Houston area, I'm looking forward to enjoying summertime activities with my boys.

I won't believe everything he says about you, if you don't believe everything he says about me :)

Each month Ian receives a homework packet with four "homework" assignments for the week. Tonight's assignment asked for Ian (the student) to write one or two sentences describing things he does with his mother. As is typical, Devon and I split up tonight to help each little guy. Devon worked with Ian on his homework, while I got Matthew ready for bed (i.e., jammies, sleepy snack, read a book, etc.). After Matthew was almost ready for bed, I went to check on Ian and found him coloring his picture of us together. 

What did Ian choose to write about?  When I think of things Ian and I do together, lots of things come to mind: read books, go for walks, play games, work in the yard, etc.  He wrote he likes to go to Sea World and scratch lottery tickets with his mother! :)  I can just imagine his kindergarten teacher reading his sentences, and thinking...WOW, great job mom. ;) It is a true story though - Ian and I do scratch lottery tickets together, and he loves it. 

So where did these lottery tickets come from?  A couple of months ago, Ian's elementary school had a spring festival to raise money for the school. One of the many activities was a silent auction where various themed baskets were auctioned off. I'm not really sure what came over me that day, but it was about 15 minutes before the end of the auction, and there was a basket with over 150 lottery tickets in it, and I decided to outbid the previous bidders. I really thought someone would put in another bid, but that was not the case, and we went home with a massive basket of lottery tickets. When I found out I had won the basket, I braced myself for Devon's response. Fortunately, he handled it with a great sense of humor and saw it as a nice donation to the school.  Each night Ian and I scratch a ticket, and if for some reason I forget or we run out of time, Ian lets me know! We had a string of nights where we ran out of time, forgot, etc. I ended up finding a chart that Ian made where he kept up with number of nights where we forgot to do "scratchies."  Anyway, apparently this is an enjoyable activity for him. :)  I don't think he really understands what a lottery ticket is. To him, it's a game. I'm hoping in the end we will break even, and it will have made for a fun little event for several weeks. 

As for his teacher, I hope she has a good sense of humor too. I can't remember the exact situation, but I remember talking to a parent my first year of teaching, and we were discussing how what students say often needs to be taken with a grain of salt. This particular mom said something to the effect of, I won't believe everything he says about you, if you don't believe everything he says about me. I think this is a good rule of thumb to live by. 

First Blog...Potty Training

So, this is my first post on my new blog.  After being inspired by a friend who regularly blogs about her sweet little family and their adventures, I have decided to try blogging. Not only does my friend keep a blog, but she also prints off her blog once a year, so her daughters will be able to read and see their stories later in life. I'm hoping I can keep up with this, not only for my boys, but so that I don't forget all of the little things that happen! Anyway, here goes...

Potty training.  Ian really had no motivation to potty train. We, especially Devon, worked very hard with Ian for a long time, but he was definitely on his own schedule. Because we both work, Ian attended daycare/preschool.  One of the requirements to move out of the 3 year old room and into the next room up, was you had to be potty trained.  As hard as we worked at it, his 3rd birthday came along, and he still didn't want to give up the pull-ups!! Fortunately, once his friends moved up at school into the next room, it only took about a month and then magically he was ready to be done with pull-ups and hello undies! There was no challenge at this point. Once he decided to use the potty, it was a success (literally in one day!), and it's been smooth sailing ever since.

After the potty training experience with Ian, we decided that there was no point in trying to rush Matthew. When he was ready, he would let us know. Before his second birthday, he started expressing interest in undies and the potty, so we started working on it, and it seemed like he would be fully potty-trained before turning 2. I'm not sure what really happened, but he stopped telling us he needed to go, and we were having many more accidents than successes, so it was back to pull-ups which is where we are today.  His preschool teachers are convinced he's ready for prime time because they say he doesn't have accidents at school, but at home he doesn't tell us when he needs to go.  Devon decided to try to motivate Matthew with a "potty puzzle." Every time Matthew tells us he needs to go potty without having an accident in his pull-up, he gets a potty puzzle piece. Once he completes the puzzle, we have an ice cream party. Matthew loves this, and it has created a little bit of peer pressure because Ian highly encourages Matty to earn potty puzzle pieces too (Ian shares in the ice cream party!).  Anyway, today, Matthew put up his last potty puzzle piece to finish off this puzzle, so of course that meant ice cream, and everyone was all smiles around this place tonight. :)