Reading Stories with Momma

Nov. 3- Nov. 10, 2008
Monday, Monday—Carrie had a doctor’s appointment so I watched Jackson and Jordan in the morning at our place. The boys had a ball dancing to the animal, freeze, and elephant songs. After music class we walked over to our Chilean friend’s apartment because the weather was actually pretty nice. Their kids were watching the Cars movie and Levi was enthralled.

Levi has become a much better eater now that he’s totally off of the milk bottle. He also poops a lot more too. . .

The other day Isaac said, “We have three houses—one in Houston, one in Arizona, and one in Philadelphia—we live all over the world mom!” I reminded him that we’d also lived in San Diego, but he looked at me like that was over the top.

Wednesday morning I was supposed to go to a Book Club to discuss A Long Way Gone—but I woke up late and I could not get momentum with the boys to get out the door. I still hadn’t quite finished the book so I let the boys play around the house while I finished reading it and WOW is it ever a powerful book. It’s about a boy soldier who lives through horrific cycles of war in Sierra Leone and it’s a very well written memoir. It’s shocking to think that so many kids have had to live through such chaos. It really turns your world upside down and makes you realize the priceless nature of the safety and comfort that most of us have in this country.

Carrie took care of the boys Thursday morning so that I could go on a school tour of the Independence Charter School over on 16th and Lombard Street. It’s a school that offers a Spanish immersion program so it would be a great opportunity for Isaac. The spots are filled by the lottery system though so it looks like he’d have a one in five chance of getting in.

Spanish class today (Thursday) was a bit chaotic but the kids liked the new cocodrilo song and pretending to be astronauts and blast off to the moon. Isaac actually came up with the astronaut game and all of the kids love it.

Our Chilean amigos came over on Friday morning and Isaac learned how to say “tenemos que tomar turnos” from Mattias.
Saturday afternoon James took the boys to a kids haircutting salon to get official hair cuts since my attempts at trimming were not keeping up with their hair growth. They both look a lot better—Levi looks so much more grown up!

Isaac will say sweet things out of the blue now like, “I think I love you momma” and “you look pretty momma”

The fall leaves here are incredibly GORGEOUS right now. All of the trees seems to have changed colors over night and there is a glorious canopy of yellows, oranges, and reds all over Philadelphia. The most beautiful spot I’ve been to so far is the park over by Isaac’s preschool. I took Levi to play there on Tuesday and we thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors.

Conversations with Isaac lately are hilarious. He said, “Mom, I want the baby to come out of your tummy. You must swallow a shovel so that the baby can dig his way out of your tummy okay?”
I told Isaac on Sunday that he was going to have two little brothers soon.
Isaac, “no mom, I want three little brothers.”
Me, “really, and how many sisters do you want?
Isaac, “one hundred!!”

Converstaion in Spanish with Isaac:
Isaac, “mama, tu eres muy alta!”
Me, “si, y tu eres bajo.”
Isaac, “y tu eres arriba tambien mama”
Me, “tu eres chistoso Isaac”

Levi’s Spanish is more receptive than productive right now, but he keeps up just fine—especially when our Chilean friends come over. He loves saying “Buenos Dias” and “Adios”

Isaac is all about counting all the way to one hundred these days. He especially likes counting to one hundred with the parachute during Spanish class which can also be kind of annoying when everyone else would prefer to stop at ten.

Levi is the ultimate energizer bunny. He gets such a kick out of rough housing with James. James and the boys have invented a new game called “zip, zip” where the boys come running and then leap into James’ arms and then he tosses them on the bed so that they bounce really high.