Out of the mouths of babes...

A little girl had just finished her first week of school. "I'm just wasting my time," she said to her mother. "I can't read, I can't write and they won't let me talk!"

This was a joke passed on to me a while back but I have to agree with it in all sincerity. My report cards always said, "Laurie is a good student but she needs to quit visiting with her neighbors so much." What kind of socialization do people think their kids are getting anyway? Socializing with other kids their own age. What good does that do anyone?

My kids talk to adults at stores, libraries and restaurants. They talk to kids in our neighborhood and family members and playgroup friends. They talk to their grandparents. My kids will talk to whoever will listen...and many who won't. Socialization...hmmmmph.

I admit, it's been a while since I've blogged. I found that my own interests have been keeping me busy. I have discovered a love of writing.

But my lack of blogging doesn't mean the kids have been busy with nothing. 5yL is fascinated with jokes lately. I can see that he's trying quite hard to figure out what is funny and why certain jokes are funny and some aren't. He's also been playing with math quite a bit lately. It started with that Math Flap book that I blogged about and that led to me finding that great livingmath website. I started checking out many of her recommended books from the library and leaving them in our pile of library books on the counter. It didn't take long for him to find them. He loves the Math Monsters series though and has been doing a lot of, "Mommy, what would you get if you have 7 chickens and you get 4 more?" After I answer, he double-checks my answer in his head to make sure I'm right. Sometimes I answer wrong because I like that he's checking my answers on his own and if I'm always right, where's the fun in always checking? ;)

3yJ has been working on her language skills again. She is also doing that 'testing everything' that most 3yr olds do. She loves her gymnastics class and it's fun to stand back and observe her interact with others. Yesterday they told the class of 20 kids to go sit by the wall while they prepared the next activity and J tried to help the instructor move the balance beam back to it's normal spot. She's a great helper.

L and J also have vast imaginations. L's been working his way through the Wallace and Grommit Xbox game. It's a series of puzzles and he loves the problem solving aspect of it. J tries her hand at it too but she's not quite coordinated enough yet. But when the Xbox is off, they're still in character. L is Wallace and J is Grommit, the dog. He says things like Wallace, "Would you like a spot of Winsleydale?" and "Hey lad", etc. It's very fun to watch and listen to.

1yM is probably close to walking. She cruises really well and has taken her hands off the furniture (or me) and will stand for a few seconds before realizing she's not holding anything and gets scared. Though, being a mom of three kids, I know there's absolutely no reason to rush her into walking. ;)

Hopefully I'll be blogging more regularly but learning might just get in the way again. ;)