kosty ties his shoes.

I'll admit I wasn't pushing or even suggesting this kid learn to tie his shoes. He is a hard kid to teach, easily frustrated & discouraged, and such a perfectionist. He is super hard on himself too so if it doesn't go well, he will let it pretty much ruin the day (for all of us). When he got a new pair of shoes, he asked to learn and Jer was up for the challenge. He has a simpler way of doing it for some reason that I just don't get. When he got the hang of it, we were all excited and of course he was acting annoyed by us all and like he could care less. The next day he woke up and tried, and couldn't get it. Then he asked me to show him the way Madison did it, which was a funny way that I had never seen done before her, but he got it! now that is his preferred way, and I'm glad he can think of Madison when he ties his shoes everyday. 

Won't that be a cute story to share at their wedding, Lori?

sunday afternoons.

Sunday afternoons can drag now that we have 8 am church, but I love when the boys get creative and play together. This particular Sunday they set up all their stuffed animals and gave me and jer shields. They wanted to have a war and basically hurl animals at each other. All was going great until I picked up Rudolph and flung it at Kosty....the hard metal noise maker came out of the zipper and whacked him right in the head. He cried and cried, it was so sad.

  I'm a total party foul. 

yet another lego submission.

So apparently what I get for not actually reading the Lego Club magazine, is that I missed the whole point of submitting photos. Every issue has a building challenge...this past issue's challenge was "robots"...the winners of each are the ones who get featured. Now maybe he will actually have a slightly higher chance at getting his picture in there. (Thanks Jamie for pointing us in the right direction!) I told Kosty that he needed to build a robot, and in less than 5 minutes he was ready and waiting at the table with this guy. 

bowling.

We took the kids bowling a while back, and it was fun, but Kosty of course was doing his obnoxious "can't-look-like-I'm-having-any-fun-at-all-even-though-I-really-am" face the whole time. Little weirdo. And holy moly--bowling allies and my camera are just not compatible. Ah well.

PT conferences

I just got back from Parent Teacher Conferences, wanted to jot down what I learned about these two from the ladies who spend more time with them than I do. Kinda sad when you think about it that way!


Brayden: Mrs. Hufford said that she loves to watch how the other kids follow what he says and does. She said that his love for journaling seemed to make journaling "cool" and now there is a group of boy journalers in the class that are now just as excited as he is about them. She said that she loves how even though a lot of things they do in class may not seem like a challenge, he will modify things on his own and get more creative and detailed with whatever it is. She said she loves reading in his journal and thinks he is hilarious. 


Koston: Mrs. Wilson said that Koston is very attentive and an extreme perfectionist. (no surprise) She said that in their "free" journal writing, he will try to write a sentence but will erase it if its not looking right, and then he'll move on to the picture and skip the writing. They only have "free" writing on Fridays and so I was able to look through his journal and on all of those entries I could see where he wrote "I wint.." and then erases it all. Kinda heartbreaking to see. She said that a lot of the younger kids in the class are drawn to him and that she can tell sometimes that he is annoyed by all of them. When I told her that he throws books at home when he gets to a word he can't read, she was shocked, and couldn't imagine it. Its so funny how different he is at school. She said he loves to answer questions and participate, and that he's not afraid to give an honest answer. Like when she asked him if he had a fun play date with one of his friends, and he bluntly replied, "no." She also commented on his maturity compared to the other kids in class. She said, "sometimes I feel like he is a mini teenage boy surrounded by 5 year olds." She said that even other Kinder teachers have commented about him and that he seems like he should be on the beach with a surfboard with his hair and his teenage mannerisms. Made me laugh because at home he is known for thinking and acting like he is too cool for most things...I guess there are a few themes that are carrying over from home to school. (lets hope he keeps fooling her in the other areas)


I always love hearing what teachers have to say!

just journaling...

(says: #1 Dad)

Kosty is something. SO frustrating sometimes lately because he comes home from school just rotten to the core. He is hungry and tired and he "misses home", but he WILL NOT talk about it. He won't eat either at that point because he is over-hungry and over-tired. He comes home and just falls on the floor and starts whining and groaning (could there be a worse sound? it makes me want to punch something.) and being super rude. He also has a new favorite phrase which gets under my skin like no other. "I don't care." 


I can't have a snack ready because he is so weird about food and never wants the same thing. So, I have to wait for him to chill out, usually by ignoring his rotten attitude at first and then tickling him or picking him up and squeezing him till he starts being sweet again. I know so much of his temperament is affected by over stimulation and being just plain HUNGRY. As soon as I can get him to eat something, he instantly snaps out of it. The hard part is trying to get him to eat something healthy. I know he needs protein and not sugar. Yet, he wants sugar and hates most things with protein. He's allergic to peanut butter, won't eat cheese (any form! coooome on!), lunch meat, or yogurt (most days), which are obviously the quickest and easiest protein snacks. He does LOVE eggs but he eats them every morning so I'm trying to get him to like a different kind of protein. I'm always torn between 'eating something is better than nothing' or he might as well eat nothing if he's gonna eat junk. However when it comes to dinner, he is ALWAYS the first one at the table, hands washed and ready to eat. He loves dinner. And he scarfs it. I'm so grateful he loves eggs for breakfast and eats a big dinner, but its all the in between that he is lacking. 


He whines when we have family prayer and usually whines about personal prayer. However he is the only one who won't touch a bite of food until the blessing has been said. He has such a hard time expressing love and emotion, which I worry about. I told my friend in my new ward the other day that he rarely hugs and NEVER kisses, and she about flipped. Sometimes I wonder if I am making him like that somehow, or what could I do better to help him be more affectionate. Jeremy and I both are very  affectionate with both boys, though so not sure what to do about that. 


He shows his love always unexpectedly, however. 


Like the other night at dinner, when I was teasing Brayden about acting like I was a waiter. I said something like, "waiter, waiter, where is my water?" Kosty JUMPED out of his chair, jumped onto the counter, got out a glass, filled it with water and ran it over to me.


 Or like yesterday, I was teaching art masterpiece to his class and the whole class went to wash their hands, and I was cleaning up a paint spill on the floor, and suddenly he came up behind me and gave me the biggest bear hug of his life. I about balled right then and there. 


Or like today, randomly after school, he started coloring a picture, and then he asked me which door daddy would be coming in when he gets home. He taped it right to that garage door for Jer to see. 


Never an easy kid, but he sure is a challenge I am always up for. 

school lunch.

Kosty knows how much I love a bean & cheese burrito, and he tried the school burrito and said it was delicious so I told him the next time they serve it, I'm coming in to eat with him. Today was my lucky day. When I saw it on the menu, I asked him if I could meet him for lunch, and he gave me a quiet yes through gritted teeth. (pride is his game)

I showed up as he was walking in the lunch room and he pretended to not see me. So I walked right along with him, through the lunch line with my burrito tray, and followed him like a puppy dog all the way to his table. He was sitting on the very edge and laughing with his friends. I walked up, looked over my tray at him, and asked if he could scoot over so I could sit down. He glanced at my tray and then glanced over at a far away table and nodded his head in its direction..."you can go sit over there."

I was such the part of a nerd trying to eat at the cool table!! 

Luckily, as I was about to squeeze my way into the cool crowd, a lunch aide informed me that the adults may bring their child and the child may bring one friend over to the "visitors table". Phew. 

He ended up acknowledging me a little, and while he didn't admit he loved my visit, he did say YES I could come again. 

Oh, and the burrito was fantastic.