Alder is writing and drawing!

I had not thought too much about how fun it would be to see our children's creativity begin to emerge (and be expressed in more than just colorful scribbles).  Lately Alder has been enjoying sitting quietly and drawing and we are loving what he is creating.  He can color in the lines now.

At his school, children can draw on these peices of paper and then they ask them what they drew.  The teacher uses a highlighter to write the words and then the child uses a pencil to trace the letters.  You cannot see the tracing very well, but Alder is getting pretty good with this though he prefers to write the letters he knows in print.  Here are a few favorites from lately:

This last one is especailly sweet - a fire station for Heath.  Alder asked me the other day as I was laying down with him to take a nap, if he was going to marry when he got older.  I said that I hoped so, I hoped that he could find a best friend that he loved that much.  Then, a couple of days later he said that he was going to marry Heath.  So sweet.  Don't worry, I did go on to explain that marriage was not really for brothers....

Here is one we are especially proud of, and actually older than the others here.  We were going to a birthday party and making a card for the special girl.  I coached him through the letters he did not know how to write by writing them on another peice of paper.  He would then trace it and write in on this paper.

Lastly, Alder has begun to learn to read a clock at school.  Here is his second O'clock Book that he has brought home.  Again, you cannot see that he has traced every word and number as well as drawn the hands on the clock correctly.

An interesting comparison, here is one of hte first drawings he brought home, last April.  Things change so fast...

“Bad dream” ( a note to Grammy and PaPa)

After spitting toothpaste out, Alder looks at me, bright eyed, bedhead, having slept way late…

Alder: Daddy, bahmember that I had a dream last night?

Me: Yes, you had a bad dream last night.  I do remember.  You woke up crying and yelling Grammy and     

     PaPa’s names.  Did you have a bad dream with them in it?

Alder:  Yeh.

Me: Do you remem-

Alder: Yeah, I was at Grammy and PaPa’s house playing, and then in about one second, I blinked my eyes and 

     I was in my bed again.

Me: That doesn’t sound bad.  What else happened?  What made you cry?

Alder: Because I woke up in my bed.

Me: Oh, so you were crying because it was a dream and not real, that you were at their house?

Alder: Yeh (with a big smile)

And I burst out laughing and tickled him into the carpet.  I’m telling you, from the screaming I’d have thought something happened in the dream, not that he was crying because the dream ended.

So funny.   

Another one to come (I hope) about Heath’s complete obsession with every aspect of the game of baseball.

(Note another very new post follows this one.)

New cousin....YEAH!!...and other random stuff

First and foremost, there is a new Bulluck in this world:
Jonah Thomas Bulluck

A brand new grandboy, cousin, nephew, and first son to Ana and Travis, who seem to be taking the new role of parents with grace and raw skill.  Here's to Jonah, and to Mom and Dad for being wonderful parents already, taking it in stride... a new stride that is.  We are excited to see him again soon, either by skype or more preferably in person!

This meant a quick yet very enjoyable visit to see everyone in NC.

The boys had a great time, as always, at Grammy and PaPa's.  Walking over to see the chickens across the road, riding in the trailer behind the "tractor", riding bikes down the driveway, chillin' in the baby pool, playing with the collection of matchbox cars, and so much more....

Nothing like a little nakey buns time around the homestead for example.....

PaPa pulled out his banjo (from many years ago) and let the boys strum on it.  They loved putting the picks on their fingers mostly.

On a completely unrelated note, Jason and I have been working to create a food blog for the boy's school.  Part of tuition is to volunteer so many hours each year and we have been thinking about making a cookbook with our Vhours.  This idea morphed into a blog (Jason is the chair of the food committee).  The primary goal is to share ideas for healthy lunches with new parents - the school has pretty strict rules on what can be brought for lunch and many new parents have a hard time with this.  We are also (as you will see) posting dinner ideas and other general tips on how working parents can cook healthily, easily.  We will solicit recipes from other parents here soon and Jason will make some trips into the classroom to photograph healthy lunches to post as well.  So stay tuned for lots more activity as we release it to all parents and get more reipes in the coming weeks/months.  Check it out if you like HERE.

The weather just got much cooler here as a cold front made its way in.  We are loving it - the boys were so excited to put on long pajamas after their bath tonight.  Alder is SO funny these days.  He is developing an even more fun and unique personality that makes us smile so often.

Also, his imagination is exploding.  The other morning, he and Heath were pirates and the couch was their ship.  When I came home later that day, they had picked it right back up and Jason had made an island, where they set up a tent (large blanket over the furniture).  They were marooned there and were cooking dinner over a fire (metal bowl full of very random things).

Alright one more....Last night when the boys were supposed to be calming down to go to sleep, I walked down the hall to tell them to quiet down, but stopped to hear what they were saying first.  Alder was pretending to be a doctor and was giving Heath's dog pillow (pillow pet) two shots followed by "cars bandaids".  The voice he was using was hilarious - sort of an urgent, this is so important, be still while I make you all better voice with lots of "all rights, ok's" thrown in.  Heath is there mimicing every other word and trying to be just as serious.  I really need to record them.

Here's an example of the routine randomness that happens quite normally.  Its amazing to think they are seeing things completely differently from us as they play.  Hopefully as they get older they can continue to be so free and capricious, without concern for trivial matters like whether they are doing things "right", what they look like or are wearing, etc.