Noah's Question About Body Science

So I started up my computer planning to write a follow up on conferences today, mainly because I want a record of what happened today.

But instead, a funny story came to my mind from a conversation with my sons today. Note the word "sons".

Please be aware...if you are uncomfortable with discussion of body stuff, please pass this one on by. But, there may be other people out there that will get a giggle from this...

Somehow I started a tradition with Noah that every conference day he gets to pick out a new book. So I took then boys to Barnes and Noble before conferences today. Noah picked out a book that had a "secret decoder" that was all about body functions. The kid loves science and this was right up his alley so I said fine. As we were on the way to school, Noah started reading different facts aloud. It was really quite fascinating. Then he comes to a page about the functions of all of the body's important organs.

He gets to two in particular...
"Mommy, the small intestine makes pee and the large intestine makes poop"
"Thanks for the info, Noah"
"Mommy, Noah said 'poop' "
"Thanks Aaron for the update"
"Mommy" Noah continues, "that means that girls don't need small intestines."
"How do you figure that Noah?
"Because they don't have a penis."

Now it is at this moment that I had a huge decision to make. Do I continue this very scientific discussion because it is fact based or do I stop it so this doesn't turn into a gross discussion among his friends on the playground?

I decided that I had to go at least a little further...

"Noah, just becasue girls don't have a penis, doesn't mean that they don't go pee"
"But how, mom"
"Mommy said pee" (Aaron)
"Noah, you have one place for pee to come out and one place for poop. So do girls."
"HOW MOM?

THAT is where I stopped the conversation.

"That's just the way our bodies are made"

This was then followed by a very clear disclaimer that this conversation will not be repeated in school and that we only talk about our bodies at home and if he has questions, to only come to his parents or other trusted adults.

Gone are the days of simple kid innocence. Inside this silly little anecdote is a bigger thought of how children seek to find out facts. I figured if I cut off his questions now, then he will only seek out other, possibly less appropriate sources for info so I want him to be comfortable to ask me things. At the same time, it will be up to me to decide how much information is too much and how much is just enough. I am so lucky that at eight and a half, he is still talking to me about things for now. I know our moments of open communication are numbered as we barrel our way toward puberty. I'm hoping that the information I gave him doesn't spark curiosity in a bad way.

I guess only time will tell. Maybe, he'll become a brilliant doctor because of the interest that was sparked today and someday he'll cure some terrible disease.

It could happen...

Tackle It Tuesday: The Beds

Anyone who has ever read my blog, old one and this one, knows that there has been an ongoing battle with the bedroom space in our little house. I went back and counted at least six different posts about different bedroom changes in the just over two years I have been blogging.


And yet, here's another. But I think (or at least, hope) that this may be the last one for quite awhile. Noah had been asking for a desk in his room for quite a long time but his room was way too tiny. The room upstairs is huge and runs the length of the house but for reasons I will not go into here, he will NOT sleep upstairs, so we couldn't move him up there. So a few weeks ago, Steve and I came up with the idea for a loft bed for him. Here is the set up of his bed before....a top of a bunk bed from my parents, which we love, but had lots of unused space underneath for such a small bedroom.

Knowing it was quite impossible to do himself, he enlisted the help of Ron, Deb's husband. Although he was not a willing participant at the beginning, you could tell after they got going that they found their stride.
The day became a flurry of activity, and not always in such a nice way.

As soon as we got home from church and lunch was done, the boys and I set to work with the initial preparation, which included moving ALL toys out of Noah's room and upstairs to Aaron's, which was already a MASSIVE pig sty. It became clear that rather than sorting through toys, it would be necessary to spill EVERY toy that we owned into a huge pile in the middle of the room and start from scratch.


At least one room was completely cleared.














Now let me just say that I have started having really bad PMS for the last few months lately(which I will be addressing at my annual in a couple of months) and this Saturday was the peak of this month. The poor kids didn't know what was coming :(

Add on top of that two little boys who really didn't want to spend the day cleaning their room. There was indeed screaming, crying, toy throwing, and other unpleasantness happening. But four hours later, Aaron's room was complete, with his new bed (Noah's old top bunk) in place.





Then, it was time to go see how progress was going on the actual construction of Noah's new loft.

It was pretty cold outside so I changed my mind about wanting Noah to be involved in some of the construction but that didn't stop the boys from wanting to go outside and watch a little of the construction before I brought them in to settle in for a movie after the trauma of cleaning we had endured.

After a pizza break for dinner, the big boys were finally ready to bring the pieces inside to begin to put it all together in the bedroom.

From that point on, it seemed as if things went pretty fast. Actually, to me, I felt that they cooked along at a pretty good pace all day.

Due to the time change, bed time came earlier than anyone expected and by 7:30 I was rounding kids up for bed, but having a small dilemma of where to put everyone to sleep. Aaron was SOOOO excited to go to bed in his new bed but Noah's loft was still a shell standing in his room.



So I put him to bed in our bed, knowing full well that it was pretty unlikely that he would be able to fall asleep with the drill going strong next to him and the saw going outside. And I'm still not sure if he actually fell asleep or not. But around 9:30 PM, about 7 hours after they started with a pile of wood and a sketch on paper, it was done! I still can't believe they got the whole thing done in seven hours.

And it is very sturdy. It even held me :)

And after waking (?) Noah up and moving him into his new bed, I waited for him to fall asleep before beginning the process of moving shelves, toys, etc, back into his room. It took Minnie (the cat) about 30 seconds to settle into a new home under the bed since she could no longer go lay next to her buddy anymore.

The next morning, both boys had to take turns posing from atop the bed. And Monday night, as I understand it, the boys were actually excited to go to bed in their new beds. One of the things that made me happy was that BOTH boys got new beds of sorts and Aaron loves his bed so much that he goes up during the day just to lie in it.














Of course, now MY part of the job starts. It will probably take me at least a month to sand it all down, fill in the screw holes with wood putty, and stain it, but I think I will wait until it gets warmer so I can have the windows open. Which means, folks, that there will most likely be even more posts in the future about this bed.

Wondering if anyone made it to the end of this post, but I'm at least glad that I have the event documented. Now to get off the computer and head out to buy balloons to stick on hubby's car to surprise him for his birthday today. See you all later :)

The Derby Experience

So when we signed Noah up for scouts, we didn't really know that the scouting experience had potential to kind of "take over" our lives. I think we will figure out a way to balance it with all the other things in our lives. But it is a great experience for Noah and he is already learning so much.

When we signed up, the pinewood derby was only a few weeks away. We thought we were so far behind but then found out last week that most people hadn't even started their cars. We had panic about how to do it (even though Steve had been a scout when he was little).

With a lot of help from our neighbor (and his dremmel tool), it all worked out.

Daddy spent hours using the neighbor's dremmel to make it into a shape







Noah trying to saw out a seat for his lego guy to drive the car










Sanding the car




















Painting the car
















Daddy and neighbor sanding down the "axles" (nails for the wheels)











Ready to race




















Nerve wrecking weigh-in...will it come in under 5 ounces? Yup...4.94









Checking out the prizes

















Car lineup














Let the races begin. First launch of about 30 (2 hours worth of launches)













You win some
















You lose some















Lots of pictures of empty track because the new camera doesn't have the same reaction time as the old one











You wait a LONG time while other people are racing












7th out of 13 for his first race. Not too shabby, although he was quite upset that he didn't win a car stand.

















The winner only lost one race the entire night. I think we will have to study his car for next year. We will definitely have a better idea of what to expect and do next year. And now Noah has a fun (and colorful) car to play with

I'm just Not Hip

So, last week Noah had something (I don't remember right now) and was pretending to "text" his friend at school. I kind of blew it off a little, not ready to deal with it. He also asks periodically if he can have a cell phone.

Last night while he was playing with his DS (He gets a half hour each day that he gets no behavior tallies at school), he was once again saying he was texting his friends at school. We had a little discussion that he couldn't text on a DS anyway.

But then the conversation went a little further this morning. Why does a second grader need to be able to text people? Won't he see them in a half hour any away?

But it brings me to a bigger issue. My own lack of full entry into the world as it is today. I may be the only thirty something who doesn't text. We don't even have it activated on our phones so that we're not tempted. Both of our sets of parents, and all of our siblings, text people every day. Yet I am still in the Dark Ages. I see nothing wrong with it, but I just don't want to enter into that world just yet. And I REALLY don't want to enter my boys into it.

While we were at Steve's family's home for Christmas, my two nephews (ages 19 and 15) were playing pool...kind of. After a shot, each boy stopped and texted with someone else during the game. Have the teenagers of today lost the ability to focus on one person at a time?

I think I am mainly thinking about young people at the moment. I completely see the purpose of texting as an adult. Can you pick up some milk on the way home? I think I'll stop by for a visit later? Where are you? etc.

But do our kids REALLY need this? If something is important, couldn't they pick up the phone and call, thereby ensuring human contact?

Please, please, please do not be offended by this post. I am not against anyone who texts and I know at some point I will break down and join in. But I am fighting the entry of my children into this world. Between car accidents cause by teenagers texting, the stories of "sexting" going around, and other issues, can't I just keep my boys sheltered just a little bit longer? But is sheltering them putting them behind in the times?

When we were talking about it this morning, Noah listed almost all of the kids in the class who were talking about texting yesterday. I think there are genuinely times when children DO need cell phones. If they are in situations when they have to contact a parent, then it may be necessary. But there is rarely a time when Noah or Aaron are not in the same vicinity of one of their parents. So doesn't that mean that they really don't need one...yet?

I know there will be a time. And probably sooner than I realize. But for right now, I choose to be the uncool mom who does not see the need for my seven year old to text people. I've told him that if he wants to call someone on my phone, he is free to do that. They are growing up so fast and I am still struggling to find the balance between letting them grow and keeping them innocent.

If you have a comment, just text me. Oh wait, you can't... I'm still in the dark.

Wordless Wednesday: My Handsome Cub Scout

Wordless Wednesday: Father Son Haircuts

Before













After

T13: Best Shots From Little League

Noah got off to a bit of a shaky start at the beginning of little league, but once he got the hang of what to do in the field, he did great. His last couple of weeks he stayed completely in the game even while fielding, and caught his first pop fly last night. His expression after he caught it was of complete shock and surprise.

And believe it or not, he even wants to play again next year.


So in honor of the first season of little league being complete, here are 13 of my favorite shots from this season.

1. I was impressed that he actually listened to and followed the coach's instructions about how to hit.


















2. Here he is catching his first (and only) pop fly. He was as surprised as everyone else.
















3. After begging to play catcher, it took awhile getting used to how fast the ball came flying at him.









4. Not sure what this expression is, but he had lots of silly expressions throughout the games


















5. One of his better moments of keeping focused on the game while in the outfield.

















6. Is this baseball or ballet (the pointed foot)












7. Noah had some great facial expressions when he hit the ball


















8. By the last night, he was starting to get how to tag people out when they ran home.












9. Thumbs up!














10. I think he's actually smiling while he's running the bases.


















11. He had a tendency to bounce onto each base, rather than run through like he was supposed to.












12. Luckily, the tendency to draw in the dirt started to go away after the first few games.

















13. Here's the proud ball player with his medal.


















I can't wait until next year when Aaron can join him on the ball field. They're growing up so fast.

Wordless Wednesday: At Least He's Outside

Thursday Thirteen: School's Almost Out

Anyone who has ever read my posts knows how far my son Noah has come in his schooling. In kindergarten, he was pretty much a nightmare behaviorally. After quite a few adjustments, he has had a great year in first grade. He has grown so much and I am blown away by the change in him. As I write this, I am sad to be saying good bye to the teacher he had this year, who has made all the difference in the world. I wish she could just follow along with us through the years.


Here are thirteen things I will remember about Noah's year in first grade.


1. First day of school. This shirt doesn't even fit him anymore and has been passed on to his brother











2. Friday Recess Duty
My favorite times were taking the class sledding, playing hangman while they finished lunch, and watching Aaron interact with the "big kids"











3. Taking Pumpkin The Cat to school for Show And Tell














4. Going to the library every week to fill the bag full of books for FRED (free reading every day) time.

5. Watching Noah play "Nutcracker' on the bells for his Christmas program














6. Watching Aaron make friends with three seventh grade girls who waited for him at the fish tank every morning, and who declared him their "BFF"



















7. Friday Morning All school Assemblies (called Flag Raising) when students got "character" awards and sometimes the first graders presented little programs to the entire student body.














8. Getting to know the other parents of kids in his class better. Last year I avoided everyone like the plague.


9. Field trip to a play where a fire drill went off just as the kids were getting seated and Noah discovering something sticky in his hair, which he proceeded to have the entire class touch.










10. Watching the progress from reading simple sight words to reading books




















11. School carnival in which Steve ended up running the game we were supposed to man the entire time.











12. Being able to reward him when he would have a perfect week behaviorally.

He got these speed stacks for THREE PERFECT WEEKS in a row.













13. Watching him continue in his preference for friendships with girls over boys















Six days of school left. Woo Hoo!

Next year I will have two boys in school and the memories will continue to grow. For now, we will just work to get through the last week of school and start our summer adventure.