Life has been great this summer. I am spending 3-4 days a week at the beach with the kids which is why the blog has been neglected! I have just been having too much fun in the sun! The only downfall to so much time at the beach is much less time of implant wearing for Cormac. But you know what???? It hasn't changed a thing. If this was a year or two ago I would have been nuts taking him "off air" for a few hours a day. Not this year. All the kids speech has grown by leaps and bounds this summer. We have spent HOURS and HOURS reading. We go to the library once a week and pick out our books. A special shout out to Melanie who turned me on to the Fancy Nancy books. The vocabulary in them is amazing. Our currenct favorite is "Explorer Extrodinaire". It has lots about birds and butterflies and insects. At the zoo last week we talked a lot about the book when looking at all the birds.
Here is Cormac reading Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy.
Boogie Boarding is the latest rage in the family. The boys are amazing in the ocean. They paddle out and ride in the waves. Granted they can't swim yet but don't tell them that simple fact!!! The don't mind going under or getting smashed to the ground by the waves. We have talked lots about ocean facts. (currents, rip tides, number of oceans in the world)
Here is a link to some of the pictures. I am not at my home computer so I can't uplaod directly to the blogger.
We went on a pirate cruise! It was a treasure finding pirate adventure. The kids got to shoot water cannons at the "mean, smelly Pirate Pete". They used a treasure map to find things out in the water to eventually find the treasure chest. It had to hauled by a rope out of the water. They had fake tattoos and mustaches painted on them. It was a highlight of the summer. Their pirate names were Cross Bones Cormac, Castaway Colin and Compass Ciaran. They were so enthralled with the entire 2hour boat ride and adventure.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Our summer continues with lots of fun. Most of our time is spent at the beach. I love how my kids love the beach. It reminds me of my childhood and I feel so blessed to be able to give my kids the opportunity to spend so much time at the beach and ocean. We are so lucky my mother in law lives 2 blocks from the beach!
We joined the reading club at the library for the summer. We have been putting in a minimum of 20 minutes a day of reading but really it's way more. We choose a theme a week and take out books to go along. We had a week about the beach and ocean, a week about Vermont. I find it fascintating how quickly my children memorize books. Honestly, if I read it one time they remember almost every word. God forbid I skip a word they quickly correct me! I love sitting on the couch on the porch with them reading book after book. They ask SO MANY questions sometimes it takes me 40 minutes to read a short book! But I know the questions are good to ask. SHows me they are really paying attention.
I have been working on sight words with Cormac because he seems the most interested. He found sight word flash cards and brought them to me and said "Mommy, learn with me". Within a minute he read "is" "an" "that" "no" and "me". There were more but I can't remember. He sounded the words out. Actually, on Monday we were at a repass for Frank's Aunt Catherine and at the restaurant there was a sign for Harp beer. He read the word Harp. I honestly think he will be fully reading shortly. This will be one giant hurdle for him!
Now, I always like to write about the funny things they do or say. Here's some of the latest
Cormac "Mom, come sit outside with me and do rhyming words" Me: "Ok, what rhymes with chair? Cormac: "lair" Me: "do you know what a lair is or are you just making up a word?" (somtimes they make nonsense words up by just changing the first letter) Cormac: (In his best DUH, mom, voice) "Mom, everyone knows a lair is where a dragon lives". Me: "alright I was just checking!" Cormac: "Hair, pear, stair, share"
Guess he can rhyme that word!
I said before Cormac is usually dressed as a princess for some part of the day. Well, he finally converted Colin and now has a partner, errr princess, in crime. So they were both dressed up Colin was Aurora and Cormac was Ariel. They come in the kitchen to tell me I was not dressed fancy enough to go to the ball. What did I do? Walked upstairs and pulled my wedding gown out of the closet. I put it on, veil and all, and walked back into the kitchen. They both nearly lost their minds. I heard "mom, you are so beautiful" "that's the most pretty and sparkliest dress I ever saw" I was allowed to go to the ball. I wound up cooking grilled cheese dinner in my wedding gown. They all got a kick out of it. I figure, whatever makes these little ones happy, right? Really, what is ever going to happen to the dress? I might as well get some use out of it. I think I might be bride this Halloween and wear it! I forgot how much I love my wedding gown!
Here are the two beauties....
I am not sure where this is from but I kept hearing the boys sing "don't go to sleep with a frown in your pocket" But that is all the words they knew. I googled it and apparently it was on the show 30 Rock. I don't watch so I don't know for sure. But I learned the rest of the words and here is Cormac singing it. Whenever I film him he doesn't do his best work :) but it's pretty good.
So, I have a question for other parents who read this blog. On average, how many questions per hour do you think your kids ask you? I mean, my kids ask questions non stop. All day. All night. Nothing stops them. Sometimes I compare it to a battering ram because the three of them fire questions at me at the same time. THey jockey for time and get upset when the other takes their turn. I know part of it is the "multiple" thing. I LOVE how curious my kids are and know they are little sponges and really retain all I say to them but some days I am like "ok, let's take a break!" I counted today in the car. We had travelled three blocks and I they had already asked my about 20 questions! (Mom, what kind of tree is that with the green things growing on it?" "What are the green things called?" "are they called green pine cones? because they look like green pine cones" "what street are we on?" "what road do we take to get to our house?") Keep in mind there are three of them so they don't always want to know the same things! They are all very good questions about things they want to know more about but it's exhausting answering them all!
Just curious if all four year olds ask as many questions!
A few random pictures.
My knights in shining armor! We are in a SERIOUS knight and dragon phase. All day long it goes on. Their imaginations amaze me!
The countdown begins....July 23rd is Cormac's THREE YEAR Hearing Anniversary!!!!
