What Will's Reading

I thought I would try and capture Will's reading level at this age, for future reference. So here is the text of the book he brought home today, with the words he needed help with red, bolded, and italicized.

Will, age 6 (and a few weeks)

A Look at China
"China is a country in eastern Asia. China is the third largest country in the world. The capital of China is Beijing.
China has deserts, mountains, plateaus, and rivers. Each part of China has different weather.
Giant Pandas and golden monkeys live in China.
More than one billion people live in China. They speak and write Chinese. This language is made up of symbols. (Hello is NEE HOW, goodbye is TSEYE JEE-en)
Many people in China use chopsticks to eat. The Chinese eat vegetables, meat, and fish. They also eat soup, rice, and noodles.
Chinese New Year is an important celebration. Families and friends gather to celebrate. They watch parades and fireworks.
Some Chinese people work in factories to earn money. Some people are farmers. They raise rice and other crops to feed their families. China's money is counted in Yuan.
Most people in China travel short distances by bicycle. They travel long distances by train. People also travel by boat, car, and airplane.
The Great Wall of China is more than 2,000 years old. It is about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) long. Thousands of people visit the Great Wall every year."

Since he finished reading, he has made a picture of the symbols for hello and good-bye, and wrote those words on the paper. He also made a little paper that says NEE HOW on it so he can take it with him tonight to remember, so he can tell his Chinese friends, Victor and Leo, on his baseball team hello in Chinese. I love that kid.

Ballet

Am I a horrible mother, or just emotional and pregnant?

Once again I cried throughout Kirstine's entire recital. Christmastime wasn't really a recital. The moms and a few dads came into the classroom and watched the girls do a few songs. She saw me, cried and refused to do anything else. She was held by her teacher most of the time, and eventually came and sat in my lap. I cried the whole time.

But times have changed. She now likes ballet a lot, or so she tells me after practice every week. She still never really wants to go, but she enjoys herself pretty much. She was crazy excited about the recital, loved her costume, was so happy that daddy and Will both were coming to see her, and promised us that she was not going to cry and was going to dance the whole time. I saw her right before we went in to sit down. She was very happy and excited and gave me a big hug.

It didn't start out horribly. She wasn't participating quite as much as everyone else, but still... no tears at least.


Downhill from there. And I cried the whole time.



The other girls were so freaking cute up there. Kirstine just stood there. At least in the beginning she was doing all the moves and steps, just real tiny right in front of her where we couldn't see. But then when they did the routines where they faced the audience she just bowed her head. and when they left to get props, she came back in in her teacher's arms. And for the last number she stood on the floor next to her teachers.

But as soon as it was over she was all smiles and jumping up and down again.

It's safe to assume that we are NOT taking ballet again next year.

At least we got a picture.

Preps for Bethan

Have finally started to begin. I had my first (and only) shower Monday evening. The girls in my small group had a little diaper shower for me. We had lots of good dips and appetizers, and some yummy desserts. To make the night even more perfect for me, we had a beautiful thunderstorm come through right after it started. The lightning was beautiful. It made me feel like I was back home in Tampa. I really miss Florida summer storms. The power went out and stayed out for over an hour. We had a flashlight in the middle of us to give a little light. Perfect evening! I've been working on getting stains out of clothes for a while, and I'm almost done with those. But I finally bought Dreft and am washing all the rest of her clothes now. Then I've got to do all the blankets, bibs, burp cloths, etc. I've started making my list of what I need to buy. Which isn't much. And I've made my hospital list. I feel like I should have tons of other stuff to do right now, but there's really not. Since Benjamin is still in the crib, I can't really get that ready. I probably won't move him into Will's room until about a month after she's born. I DO have preps for the other kids. We've got to buy a twin mattress for Kirstine and figure out how we're going to fit her back into her old room. I also need to get new bedding for one of the boys. My long term plan is to give Will's train bedding to Benjamin, and get Will Gator bedding. But my ideal is an orange/blue plaid comforter from Pottery Barn with actual Gator sheets. But PBK refuses to make an orange and blue set. I've been waiting for almost 2 years now and still nothing. So since we don't have that yet, I guess we'll just have to get something cheap and temporary for one of the boys until we decided what we will do permanently. Am I boring you yet? I guess that's all for now. Oh, and I guess I should buy her a baby book at some point.

Will's best game EVER!

I am so crazy proud of Will today. He played so incredibly fabulous. Unfortunately, Scott had to work today and missed it :( You will notice him progressively hitting worse as the game goes on, but everyone did today. It's because they were so EXHAUSTED! We only had 7 players today (most teams play with 10). So not only did 3 people have to bat twice every inning (we play 10 batters per inning), but Will had to cover the ENTIRE outfield pretty much by himself. I say pretty much because there was one other kid out there. But in his mother's own words, he'd rather be dancing than playing baseball, so it was kind of as if he wasn't even there :) Needless to say Will ran around a LOT and was therefore pretty tired when it came time to bat. 2 memorable plays: He tagged someone out at 2nd base, and got the winning out at home plate. Good game, Will! And he also got the game ball. Oh yeah, did I mention that he got his first ever HOMERUN?!?!?!? 1st at bat: HOMERUN

2nd at bat: Double

3rd at bat: Out at home plate, but if he wasn't the last batter he would have stopped at 3rd base. (Last batter you just have to get the ball to home plate and anyone who gets there after you is out)

4th and 5th at bats... wimpy singles :)