Highlights
- ROA classes and basketball season starts
- Calan looses his front teeth!
Calan
Wednesdays…
September always sets the stage for new routines going into the fall. This time around, we ended the month with River Oaks classes starting on Mondays and Tuesdays and basketball season at the Y — Monday early evening practices and games Friday nights. Because of work schedules, Mama got to establish these new routines with the boys during the week for the most part. A fun tradition for the boys came on Wednesdays though. Wednesday afternoons are the one part of the workweek where Dada can be at home, and Mama is teaching at the studio. We made it extra fun, by choosing a different activity to do each Wednesday after Evan got up from his nap. With the weather still warm, we hit the beach on one Wednesday. On the next, we hung out at the train station, then road the Camarillo trolley all around town. On another, we went to the boys’ favorite park, called the “yellow park” up in Mission Oaks where Evan showed us he could go down the big boy twisty slide all by himself, and Calan jumped in with the other kids to play and go wild on the big playground. On the final Wednesday, we ventured out to a bike trail, Chesebro Canyon in Agoura Hills where Calan got to try out some light mountain biking and Evan cruised along in his buggy behind Dada’s bike.
Losing front teeth
After loosing his front two bottom teeth in June, Calan was more than eager to see his top front teeth getting loose. Of course, as one began to wiggle, it became a habit of Calan’s to play and fidget with the loosening tooth. Before you knew it, out came one and then a few weeks later the other one nudged out. Suddenly, Calan looked like an older kid, with the big gap in the middle of his upper line of teeth. Depending on how fast his new teeth come in, the timing looks pretty good to learn and sing “All I want from Christmas…” for the holiday coming up in a couple months.
More growing up…
It’s fun to observe Calan growing up in terms of how he’ll stop and think about something and what it means. For example, we were recently listening to the old sappy love song “I Cross My Heart”, by George Strait. As he listened a couple times, Calan volunteered that the song is pretty and that when he listens, it makes him feel like someone has left, or moved away, or has died. Just a feeling he shared entirely on his own.
Another step up in his thinking came one day after a beach trip. In this instance, he showed a bit of empathy. It’s a lot to do for Dada to get the boys unloaded, car unpacked, then everyone in the shower with a thorough washing to get all the beach sand washed away. Then it’s on to the kitchen and getting dinners together. Even though Mama usually has some good leftovers prepared, making it a straightforward process, it’s a lot of steps to pull it off in a reasonable time frame. As the boys were settled down and eating, Dada had a chance to put together his own dinner. Calan looked up as if to ask for something and said, “Dada…” Then, paused. “Actually, I’ll wait until you get your food, start eating, and feel good. Then I’ll ask you for some more milk.” As it turned out, Dada encouraged Calan to get his own milk, which he did. It was nice to see this maturity in thinking about someone else, their state and what they needed before his own needs were met.
Calan’s basketball season started off with some interesting games. In particular, one was a bit wild with kids playing hard, reaching aggressively for the ball, bumping each other, etc. Part of this was due to the personality of the kids perhaps, but the other part is that the referee for this game was letting almost everything go, despite many of the actions not being permitted per the rules of the division, and of course general basketball foul guidelines. Calan of course did not partake in any of this aggressively play, which is always his style with the other kids. I asked him after the game, why he didn’t reach in more and attack the ball (like he does in the backyard when he plays against Dada!). He said that he didn’t want to break any rules because the referee might blow his whistle at him. Just one example of how Calan likes to follow directions and rules outside of his familiar surroundings at home. 😉
Notable quotes this month:
One day while snacking on some tasty ham rolls together: “I love this ham. Dada, no matter how much you like this him, I like it more.”
Making up his own song one day: “My name is Earless. I have no eeears. That means I can’t heeeear anything I say.”
“This is the best time I’m having in my life!” – after playing Dada in a basketball game for the first time in a while and “beating” him.
Dada: “Aren’t you supposed to be eating lunch?”
Calan: “I already ate.”
Dada: “Oh, what did you have?”
Calan: “Nothing.”
Another sweet, out of the blue quote: “Here’s the reason Evan and I play a lot together: Because we love each other!”
“I want to check it later, but I want to eat it now.” – Referring to a new kind of protein bar Mama just got out for him.
“Sometimes when I sleep I get tired…of sleeping.”
Said to Calan: “How old are you?”
Calan’s response: “Almost seven, and just turned six.”
“Sometimes I miss someone that’s moved away so much that I forget them.”
One night, after turning out the lights and tucking Calan into bed: “I want you to tell me a short story about your life.”
Said after attending his first writing and literature class at school this year: “I’m going to practice writing in my writing log. By the time of the next writing and literature class I’m going to be the best at writing.”
One day, while playing around with his football indoors: Calan throws the ball a littler too hard across room to…no one. Hits the window hard. Mommy asks in a reflex response, “Did that hit the window?” Calan: “Yeah, but it didn’t break it.”
Calan: “Mama why won’t you have another baby?”
Mama: “Do you want me to have another baby?”
Calan: “Yeah”
Mama: “Why?”
Calan: “I want more kids.”
Heading to the park one day –
Dada: “Hey, you should ride your pedal car all the way to the park sometime.”
Calan: “I would, but I never have any letters.”
Dada: “Huh?”
Calan: “Well, not the kind like an O or and N, but someone who will let me ride it there.”
Evan
Cognitive growth spurt?
Evan continues to be our little guy who has the ability to seem so small, yet so big at the same time. It’s a characteristic he’s really good at. This month, Mama used a term to describe him and some of his peculiar behaviors: “cognitive growth spurt”. Of course, we always see little moments where Evan is learning how to do something, communicate better or where he shows us a deeper emotion towards a given situation. This month though, there were a few things that stuck out as if his brain was having a little growth spurts of sorts.
In particular, as he begins to speak more and more, he attempts to say longer strings of words to ask for or describe something. Often times he’s trying to get out words and stories so much that you can really hear him struggling in his speech as he attempts to force words out of his mouth. You wonder if his brain knows what to say, but at the same time doesn’t know how to say it. His version of stuttering is pretty cute. The more he works on speaking, the better he’ll get.
Another interesting example came one night when he woke up at 11:00pm crying. This is extremely rare for Evan, as we could count on one hand how many times he’s done that since his first year. This night was odd though. It turns out he would awake every 45 minutes yelling for his stars. His stars are the ones from his turtle that shine all over the room. We usually just turn them on before bed, and they turn off automatically after 45 minutes. Tonight though, he decided he wouldn’t sleep, and when the room went dark from the turtle going to sleep, he would cry out. Perhaps he just wasn’t having a good sleeping night, but it begs the question as to why. He wasn’t sick, and he’d had a normal couple of days before. But for some reason, it was important that he stay awake and keep an eye on his stars… all night. His screaming and crying out wasn’t just being ornery, they were full blown primal screams. Completely out of the ordinary for Evan. Needless to say, we figured out how to strap the turtle to a little side table and teach Evan how to turn it on himself. Problem solved. Sleep recovery, next step.
Also this month, Evan came up to Mama slowly one morning with his head hanging down low. He sat down beside his Mama, and she asked if he was feeling sad…and Evan replied “Yeeeah”. So Mama asked if he wanted her to help him feel better, and he said “Yeeeah”. They hung out for a few minutes cuddling and picked up a nearby book to read. This is something we’ve seen lately; Evan seemingly in touch with his feelings, enough that he can kind of communicate them even if he’s not sure what and why he’s feeling a certain way.
Notable quotes this month:
Dada getting Evan up from nap one day after Mama had put him down and gone to teach. Evan points and tugs at Dada’s shirt in the dim light and says, “This is not Mama. “
E: Dada, I want a peanut (after hearing about Calan eating peanuts during this last month)
D: Well, we don’t want to give you peanuts just yet. You could be allergic, just like you’re allergic to wheat and eggs.
E: I don’t touch wheat
D: That’s right, you’re allergic, so you don’t want to touch wheat or eggs
E: Don’t worry.
D: What did you just say? (surprised)
E: I don’t know…
D: It sounded like you said ‘don’t worry’, did you say that?
E: Yeah.