More glasses!

I've  been very grateful and often amazed since we've met at how compatible Seth and I are. Our personalities go very well together, we pretty much agree (so far) on major decisions and lifestyle choices, and our interests are similar enough that we don't get bored with each other. Where we are different, we compliment each other (he can fix stuff, I can proof-read anything he needs to write; he can focus and get a job done, I can multi-task, etc.)

Our one consistent flaw so far appears to be an inability to pass on good eyesight to our children. We have yet another extremely farsighted child. This is the earliest we have caught it so we are still adjusting to the challenge of keeping glasses on a 2-year old. He still doesn't want to wear them around the clock, but he is gradually becoming more willing to wear them for extended periods of time. I'm just happy that modern technology can so accurately pinpoint a child's prescription.

Here are our three 4-eyes:

On the Wagon

Sam brought home a library book today about Charles Atlas, the body builder who developed a program to help people get in shape in the 1960s.  Growing up very skinny and often bullied in part due to his scrawny frame, he ended up devising his own exercises to bulk up and became the "World's Most Perfectly Developed Man." At the end of the book, it talked about how Charlie promoted more than just exercise. He was also committed to healthy eating, honesty and abstaining from drinking and tobacco.

When I read that, Sam's response was: "From now on, I'm going to give up drinking."

And Elena added, "Yeah. I'm just going to stick to that non-alcoholic stuff."

Of course they would choose to give up something they don't even use versus what I was hoping to hear: that they would give up candy and start eating more healthy food. That message apparently went in one ear and out the other. I guess the best I can hope for is that their enthusiasm to avoid alcohol will stick with them through high school and college.

Our Little Conductor

All of our kids have shown and interest in music, as most kids do. Ours seem to prefer singing and dancing to really taking the time to learn an instrument (probably because singing and dancing don't automatically require as much diligence and practice as an instrument).

Elena has always enjoyed singing. I've often caught Sam dancing his heart out when no one is looking. But I think Charlie has taken the cake on this one. Every day (at least once a day, if not more) Charlie grabs a stick and "conducts" while singing at the top of his lungs. Throughout the summer, I'd say he averaged an hour a day on this activity alone. It does make having normal conversations difficult for the rest of us as he is extremely loud, but it's quite entertaining.

In June and July, the community band  in Marshall has a concert in the park every Wednesday night that we went to. Usually the little kids play on the playground most of the time, but Charlie spent a better portion of his time watching the band play. I put together a little compilation of a few of his "concerts" that I caught on tape. The conductor of the community band would always talk for a bit between songs, and you can see Charlie doing the same a few times in the video.

 

The little stinker strikes again

Only this time he dumped out 13 puzzles. I'm hoping to talk the kids into a "family fun night" of assembling puzzles...

New on my To Do list: find another spot to store our puzzles and/or get rid of them.