One, two, buckle my shoe ...

Just before school ended, Colin demonstrated his new skill ... he can tie a shoe!! He can do it pretty good, I might add. And "my way"!

What do I mean about "my way"? Well, I think it was many many years ago, I noticed that Bob ties his shoes completely different than the way that I tie my shoes. He makes two loops with the laces and then simply ties them together. On the other hand, I make one loop and then wrap the other lace around and pull it through. There was something about a rabbit going around the hole then up, but I forget. So anyway, when I noticed the different styles, I was determined that our kids would tie their shoes my way, which meant that I was responsible for teaching them this very important skill. I had no idea that the school would beat me to it.

Now the problem is, Colin doesn't have any shoes that lace and tie. For one, he prefers to wears his crocs most of the time. We do have a pair of tennis shoes for him, but they are Velcro. Usually I am opposed to Velcro and purchased lacing tennis shoes in the past. But this time I was thinking about one of the Montessori classes for parents where they stressed that you should get clothing that the child can do by themselves. In tennis shoe terms, that meant Velcro.

However, Nathan has a little used pair of tennis shoes (Colin's old tennis shoes) that are not Velcro -- purchased pre-Montessori. So Colin had to demonstrate his shoe tying technique with Nathan's shoes. Time to buy some new shoes for Colin that lace up so he can practice on his own shoes.

Funny things they say

Tonight both boys had me chuckling. First Colin and Nathan were laying in the front yard on the grass when Colin came in the house to get some water. He says "Water is the only thing that will keep you hydrated". I mean, it's true, but when it comes from a 4-year old, it just cracks you up. At least it cracks me up!

Then later tonight, I'm getting the boys ready for bed. They have had their bath and it's time to put Nathan's diaper on. Nathan has been kinda particular about the location that I change him, i.e. on the floor or on the changing table, and if it's on the floor, he has to lay down himself. So I ask Nathan where does he want to put his diaper on? He points to his penis, "Right here." Yeah, another true statement.

Opening the gate

Nathan has the most interesting way of opening the gate. I've wanted to take a video of it, but that never happened so I finally got a picture of the little guy in action.

Soon after we installed the fence and gate around the front yard, Nathan has been climbing up on the fence, reaching through and lifting the latch, then pushing the gate open.

"All the board"

Another thing that Colin says, instead of "all aboard". We use this one to motivate the boys to go somewhere. For example, it's "all aboard the Moe's bus, the Moe's bus is leaving!"

Rotten eggs

In order to motivate the boys to do something, like go upstairs, I've been using the old saying, "Last one upstairs is a rotten egg!". Well, Colin likes to be the rotten egg, and says "first one upstairs is a rotten egg". Then he will sprint up the stairs proclaiming his rotten egg status. "I'm the rotten egg, I'm the rotten egg!"

"love you" notes

I think it was last week or so when I got home from work and Colin had made something and put it in a sealed envelope. He told me it was a "love you" note to Grace, his old friend from Roswell. What a sweet kid.

Then he was talking about making a "love you" note for his teacher, Mrs. Maureen. Which is quite a coincidence because this week is "Teacher Appreciation Week", and we were suppose to bring a flower and home-made cards for the kids teachers. It was recommended to have the children write (or dictate) a note to the teacher that went something like "I love Mrs. Maureen because ...". I imagine that some of the kids at school were working on their cards and were talking about it at school.

So anyway, I eventually got to work with Colin on his cards, I always procastinate these things. Not that I don't want to do it, I just procastinate, it's my nature. Mrs. Maureen's card said something like this, "I love you because you remind me of the building." Only a 4-year old could come up with something like that! I had to prompt Colin a little more, so Hyeseung's card said, "I love you because you are nice."

Once the cards were done, it was off to the store to buy the flowers. On the way to the store, I asked Colin what colors did his teachers like. He didn't know and wanted me to call them on my phone. Well, being it was suppose to be a surprise, I didn't think that would be a good idea. So I suggested that sometimes people wore the color that they liked a lot. According to Colin, Maureen wears a lot of different colors, so we figured that we were safe with whatever color he picked. He picked a pink rose. For Hyeseung, she wears a lot of white, so a white tulip for her.

On Tuesday the children brought their flowers to school to be assembled into an arrangement for each teacher. Then the cards were bound together and presented to each teacher. What a great idea for celebrating Teacher's Appreciation Week.

tent = tunnel

Nathan likes to call tunnels, "tents". When you stand over the train track, then you are the "tent". I don't know why, it's just Nathan. I think it's cute.

Nathan is really getting into trains right now too. All day, he puts train tracks together and pushes the trains on the track back and forth. He just needs a little help putting the bridge together.