Anyway, the kids

All the time you read blogs about kids: Parenting blogs, homeschooling blogs, and just blogs that have random mentions of kids. Heck, you may even see blogs written by kids. I'm actually thinking of having my two start blogging. "Why?" you may ask. Well, there are a few reasons.

Last week we had parent teacher conferences. Amory's was first. Last year, we did his second so he felt vindicated this year. I didn't really know it was a competition, but if your kids are in the same school, you might think about it. Last year, we had a good conference and he was doing at or just above grade level in some things, and below grade level in writing. Let's just glaze over all the behavior issues. (I always write that word behaviour because it looks better all Canadian, but my firefox says it's wrong. Just like theatre is wrong.) Anyway, back to this year. We go in there expecting some of the same. I volunteer most of my day on Monday at the school. I'm in the 1st grade from 8:00-10:00 or 10:30. So, it's interesting that this kid who didn't know his letters before kindergarten, is a top reader! He is reading chapter books and I guess I didn't realize that wasn't normal. His sister was at that level at this age, so it's normal to us I guess. He's at grade level in math. I'd like him to do better at that, but he just doesn't like to sit still long enough to deal with it. Oh, and his behaviour isn't an issue this year. I don't know if it's because he has such great experienced teachers, or if it's him being better. I think a bit of both, probably. His teachers ARE excellent though. Anyway, what the main concern with him is writing. We need to catch his writing up with his reading. Again, I think it's mostly he doesn't want to sit still for it. He never colored as a preschooler. We tried getting him things he liked: spiderman, cars, trucks. Nothing worked. So, ultimately, I think his motor skills are behind. However, he can play video games like a maniac, so that slightly skews that theory. So, back to the blog idea. I was thinking of having him just write a few sentences here and there to encourage the writing process. It won't be HAND writing, so he may go for it. It will help with comprehension and getting thoughts to "paper". We'll see.

Now, on to the girl. She is very bright. However, she won't take risks. She does the minimal amount of work to get what she needs done. I've noticed lately, that means her sentences are very short and boring in most things. So, that's my goal for her. I'm going to try to get her to expand her thoughts a bit. I have no doubt this kid could be way better at most things if she just tries. She used to always be top of the class in reading, writing, math, pretty much everything. Now, she's NEAR the top I'm sure, but everyone else is catching up. I'm not saying average is bad. I'm saying EFFORT is good!

5 things you might not know about each of us

Amory

1. Amory is almost exclusively called AJ now. I honestly think that one friend of mine, the principal, and I are the only ones that call him Amory. The principal is swinging towards AJ too. It's so bad that he was across the street and I knocked on the door and the grandma answered and I asked if Amory was there and she said, "WHO?". The mom knows what kid is mine, grandma, not so much.

2. Amory is musically talented. He can memorize music and sing guitar parts after only hearing them a time or two. He makes up his own songs. He can keep a beat on a drum set and is awesome at hand drums. However, he can NOT play guitar hero or rock band.

3. Amory is a geek (like his mom). His passions include star wars, comic books, and transformers.

4. Amory loves to read. His favorite books right now are dinosaur books. I swear he has probably checked out the whole section at school. When reading them out loud it amazes me that he can pronounce most of the words.

5. He loves animals. His favorite thing to do is to go to the pet store. They all know him there and pretty much let him do whatever. He's helped catch a koi from the pond, he's fed fiddler crabs, held a bird, petted a snake. He just goes in and asks, "What are you doing? Can I help?" Of course, he did get bit by a hamster and it bled like crazy, but they took him to the back room and cleaned him up and he thought he was awesome.

Corey


1. Corey is a typical big sister. Many people think she's this nice, sweet girl. She's really not. She does things quietly to get her brother in trouble. She won't let her brother do anything with her unless it benefits her. She also beats her brother up way too much.

2. Corey was reading before kindergarten. She's always been good with reading. She loves it. She is now doing above average in math though. Her teacher had to come tell me how well she did on a standardized test the other day. Always great to hear.

3. Corey can take a shower for over an hour if you let her. It's insane. Wait until she's a teenager. I'll never get her out of the shower!

4. Corey loves to bake, cook, draw, color, paint, and pretty much everything else that is creative. She is an artist on every level. Her new passion is cake decorating. Also, she's an amazing singer.

5. Corey is very sensitive and things really upset her. The good thing about this is she is very aware of things going on around her. She pays attention to everything and has an opinion about everything, but she is also empathetic and wouldn't want to hurt feelings.

Nikki

1. I don't have a lot of hidden secrets. If you have known me for any amount of time, it's easy to know what I'm all about. Seriously, I'm an open book and have been about the same person since I was a kid. I'll go with some general info I guess. Oh, this is an old picture. I don't have long hair in the front right now, and never really wore clips in my hair. Here's my opinion about hair. It's just something that grows on your head. Who cares! I prefer to cut it short and ignore it.

2. I like sports. All sports. Well, ok, I'm sorry but golf is boring to watch and I've never played it so maybe not golf. When I was a kid I was a huge Lakers fan. I couldn't stand Larry Bird and the dorky Celtics. Now, I'm all about the Celtics. I've been into them since Paul Pierce left KU and went to Boston. Strange, I know, but I tend to follow players rather than teams when it comes to the NBA.

3. I'm shy. Most people don't believe that. I always say I lead from behind. I will do this at work, home, and even did it as a kid sometimes. I can't even remember how many times I'd make my brother do something for me. Shoot, once we went to see Body Count, he had to go get autographs for me. At work, I'll let the aide in my room lead us into a field trip. I'll say, "Just go in and say we are from CLC and we have an appointment." Then I hold the door. Why can't I go in? No idea. I think it's because I don't want to seem like an imposition. Even if I've been to a place before, that's how I am. I guess I don't want to cause trouble. (I'm the peace maker). Also, that's one reason I like playing drums. You get to be in the back and hide. Once I'm in my element though, I can't shut up. How can you be so shy and so social? No idea!

4. I failed Calculus 2 at KU. I don't even know why I took it. My advisor sucked that's why! I didn't need it. I could use it as an elective. Well, the TA spoke no English, he couldn't say half the names in the class. I was failing so bad, I should have dropped it. Instead, I stayed there. By the time finals rolled around, I said screw it an F is an F. I didn't even go to the final.

5. I moved around a lot as a kid. I really hated that. I went to most of the grade schools in Oak Harbor, Washington. Then we moved to a small town in Nebraska. I'm thankful we moved from there. When I say small, I'm not joking. The year I graduated highschool, the graduating class for that UNIFIED school was 2 people! Unified means from several towns in that area! Two people. TWO. Anyway, then off to Lincoln, Nebraska. I honestly never liked the cornhuskers, but Lincoln was a lot of fun for a kid in 5-8th grades. Well, it was good friends and lots of places to play. I never wanted to leave there. In fact, my family moved. I stayed with my grandparents a few months. I had to go to Hiawatha, Kansas after that. What? Never heard of it? Really? Maybe that is because it's small. Not as small as that first town in Nebraska, but sure not big. The plus is, I knew everyone I graduated with. The down side is there wasn't nearly as much to do. Also, I never really felt like that was home. I kept wanting to go back to Oak Harbor or Lincoln. Luckily, we didn't move any more. I moved to Lawrence, KS for college and have been here since. Love it. I plan to let my kids grow up in one town and keep all their friends. Sure, there isn't as much to do, but I think it's more a sign of the times. People just don't let kids run around like we did when I was a kid. This neighborhood does have kids running around some.

Kenny

1. Kenny is the cook around here. I will cook, but ultimately, Kenny is the one who makes things. He makes his own spaghetti sauce. I also like when he makes fried potatoes and rice bowls.

2. Kenny is a pacifist. He can get angry, but never to the point where he wants to hit someone. Well, sometimes my brother pushes him, but even Ghandi would want to deck him.

3. Kenny feels the same way about Hallmark holidays that I do. They are cheesy and we don't need to have a card or a special day to tell people we care about them. Of course, he seems to feel that way about birthdays too, and my birthday SHOULD be a holiday.

4. Kenny was born in the same town both his kids were born in. That's pretty cool. Sure, he hasn't lived in Lawrence all his life, but he was born here. The kids like to see the hospital they were all born in.

5. Kenny is a guitar player that is wasting his talents. Seriously, he's pretty good and gets better when he actually plays. He has not played in a band in about a million years. I sometimes wish he would play somewhere, but he's really a homebody.