DESTROY:
If you ask his teacher he has an evil (and sometimes not) twin at school. Any undesirable behavior is blamed on this twin. But, oh, it's not just the teacher who knows about his twin. It's the principal too - that's who found out first about his twin while Destroy was paying a visit to his office. Spitting on kids at the playground is apparently shunned these days. As is biting - you get suspended for that one. We found out the hard way.
Mom just recently realized that he no longer needs a booster seat in the car. A big deal to a 6 year old! 6 years old or 60 pounds... I don't think we'll be reaching the 60 lbs for another few years :)
The other day in the car on the way home from school:
Destroy: "Mom, guess what a veterinarian is?"
Mom: "An animal doctor."
D: "I mean, guess what a vegetarian is?"
M: "Someone who doesn't eat meat."
D: "Okay, that's not it either. What is the name of someone who has fought in a war?"
M: "A veteran."
D: "Guess what a veteran is?"
M: "Someone who has fought in a war."
D: "Right!"
A few nights ago he had a little accident in his underwear. When questioned he said, "Mom, it's a long story. But I have a really good explanation!" I'm still waiting for that one :)
Finally eat vegetable. Notice how there is no "s" on the end of "vegetable". That's because he only eats one - salad. Drowned in ranch dressing. Hey- we're making progress here folks. For a while he would even eat green candy. Ok, that was a joke. But it's funny, right?
Finished his second season of baseball. He played first base a lot and enjoyed talking to the other team's players as they came around more than actually playing the game.
Continues to love dinosaurs and animals (and stains ALL of his clothes from pretending to be some kind of animal at recess - crawling around on the ground. And when you're the oldest boy and you get all the new clothes, which will be hand-me-downs for the next two, you're mom gets pretty mad at you when you do stain them or tear holes in them).
We took the boys to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" the musical at our local high school. I've never seen Destroy so enthusiastic! He absolutely loved the play and kept saying that it was just "so awesome!" Theatre might just be his new passion!
Still hasn't lost any baby teeth although he has had a loose one for a couple years. It keeps getting bumped by random run-ins with various people.
Adores his rat (which he spent his entire life saving on - rat, cage, food, etc). The rat loves to hang out inside Destroy's shirt. Now, Destroy flips when I try to clip his toenails because it tickles so much. I have no idea how he can stand a rat clawing it's way around his tummy. Destroy has become very proficient at cleaning up after his rat and feeding him.
MUST remember this: While Destroy was in kindergarten he had a hard time wanting to do the (small amounts of) homework that he would get. I came up with the idea to make a "Homework Hat" that he could wear while he did his homework. He got all excited and ran upstairs to go and pick out a hat. He came back down and we started to make a little sign to attach to the hat that said "Homework Hat". Right in the middle of it he stops, puts the pen down, looks at me and says, "Mom, this is dumb. I'm not doing this." I was so sad. I just realized how much he was growing up and that my little tricks and diversions aren't going to work much longer on him!
Loves mountain biking with Dad.
Loves woodworking - loves to show his friends how he can use the electric sander by himself (and has them feel the before and after :) and the saw.
SEARCH:
The other day at the park he wanted to push Dodge in the baby swing. He assured me that he would "push him the right temperature". Sometimes we get our terms of measurement a little mixed up. And that's OK.
Finished his first season of T-ball. He loved it! He has a great swing.
Plays soccer during EVERY recess at school. Also just finished his first season of cross-country. I wish I could run a fourth of a mile and call it long distance. That would be sweet! He also ran three miles in 30 minutes for the school's jog-a-
thon. One of many fundraisers. Don't get me started on that...
Is doing a great job with his reading. He reads two books each night and is learning more and more words during scripture reading each morning.
Still can't say his "
r's".
It a great student. Maybe I'm speaking comparably here :) but he's a very good listener and works really well on his own. He doesn't jump up out of his seat (he's able to sit still) every two seconds.
Hi favorite dinner has lots of stuff including green onions, pesto, and pine-nuts. He is very willing to try new foods. Just like his dad, he shovels his food into his mouth... and is usually the first one done.
Doesn't adore his rat quite as much as Destroy because it scratches him a lot, but he enjoys it. He also spent his entire life-savings ($17.23) on this newest adventure.
Uses most furniture for some type of gymnastic stunt.
Wakes up at the crack of dawn. Can't stay up past about 7:45 or 8 at night. He fell asleep the other night on the floor right after he put his pajamas. He seems to be finally getting used to the daylight savings change.
He is our paper airplane guru. Every day during "choice time" at school when they get to choose whatever they want to do, he makes paper airplanes ( they usually come home and go straight to the recycling). He makes them for his friends too. We just bought him a paper airplane book that he's learning new styles from.
Loves to mountain bike with Dad!
Uses the electric sander and a saw by himself. Loves to do wood working.
DODGE:
Refuses to eat. But really likes to throw it all on the floor. Will drink all day long if you let him. Our diaper bill is through the roof, I tell ya!
Climbs. Climbs on the counters. Climbs on the kitchen table. Climbs on the bathroom counters. Climbs on beds. The sofa table. Scales the entertainment center. Anything climbable... he's there.
As our slowest talker he is starting to pick up new words: "no" is VERY common. But not as common as "mama". Because he loves me. Like... a lot. "Water" but sounds more like "
bwah bwah". Hot, hat, car, walk, thank-you, all done. Night, night. ca-ca for yucky, diaper. My favorite word has to be "shoes". But he sort of does this
nasally sound because to him the "sh" part of "shoe" sounds like "
shhhh" like you're telling him to be quiet. So he thinks that his
nasally sound applies to the word "shoe" also. He has a VERY sweet little voice and babbles
uncomprehendingly (to us) all the time. Says "Bye Bye Dada" whenever anyone is leaving. What can I say? He's so used to saying bye bye to Daddy that he thinks it applies to everyone!
Says "
Mmmm" every time he eats something he likes. Which, as you know, isn't very often.
LOVES to be outside and throws major baby tantrum when we have to take him inside. Problem is... he has a fascination with the street and him being in the middle of it. He has become very sneaky in escaping from the house.
Got this little goody while at the pediatrician office. He got into a fight with a chair. And the chair won. To add insult to injury he had to get shots right after this happened. Poor kid!
Today I got him down out of his highchair and he immediately ran over to the sink and held his hands up to be washed.
No longer deems sitting in a stroller or shopping cart worthy of his time.
Argues (screams) less and less each time I drop him off at nursery. Or should I say, he doesn't freak out as much anymore when he figures out that I've snuck out.
Finally enjoys bath time. Until about a week ago he would scream and scream but now he loves it and will even sit down! A little strange compared to his brothers, whose favorite thing to do is swimming.
Loves singing. Does lots of actions to the songs and sings his own versions. VERY cute.
Goes to bed at 8, sleeps until 7-7:30. Naps from 11:30-1:30ish. Sometimes a little longer if I'm lucky. He is very good about going to sleep by himself and rarely wakes up at night.
LOVES to read books. Does not enjoy toys but will sometimes sit for 5 minutes reading books by himself. The only other toy he likes is balls. And he loves them! He especially loves throwing balls down the hill out front. This is most annoying to the ball guardian (me) but since I can now anticipate his every move, I've gotten it under control.
Note to self: do not leave butter unattended.
Broke a plastic bowl and dumped out a large bag of almonds while I was writing this. Must go. Good bye.
No, he's not batman. He actually a vampire bat. Aaron's dad made both of the boys fangs that they could slip right over their K-9s with a little dentabond. They looked pretty scary with the fangs that looked real! And what to you know... we didn't even lose any fangs!
Destroy was a vampire. I made the cape, neck tie thing and cumber bun. It was a lot of fun. His favorite part was the white face paint and spiky hair :)
I made Jeremy's wings, which fit on like a back pack with handles, and added some bat ears onto a black costume shirt that he already had and I added the silver bat on the front which really does make him look like batman. But he wasn't!
Here are the boys playing with their treasure from the zoo while waiting in line to get tickets for their next big adventure, the College World Series. Good planning, Daddy! Because they were in line for a long time!
