Mikailey - Fifth grade is not a great year for an 8 year old girl. The older girls are getting hormones - Mikailey obviously is not. The bus stop and recess are not fun for her this year. Clothing is a big issue. She feels pressured to conform to the "dress code" but has maintaned her sense of self and still wears her "Hug a Tree," "The bright side is GREEN," and the more light hearted "Conserve water, drink chocolate milk" t-shirts, which are decidedly un-cool in 5th grade. She has developed a passion for green energy and thinks she might want to pursue a career in green technology ever since becoming passionate about politics and the Obama campaign. (She also wants to work for a government agency such as the NSA, or CIA or become a politician, become an artist, musician, forensic scientist, and spa owner. I'm sure she can do anything she wants, but not sure she can do *everything* all at once). She recently discovered the other 5th graders aren't especially interested in politics and was upset. She also read both the "Time Kids" issues on Obama and McCain, and decided to rip up the McCain one once she was done with it:-) I thought this was pretty funny. She watched every minute of the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, which we recorded for her because we wouldn't let her stay up that late on school nights. She began playing the clarinet with the 5th grade band. So far she's terrible, and we live in a small home so it is loud. I hope she gets better because she likes it! She wants to take art lessons but we can't currently afford them. She is actively searching the internet to decide on which magnet schools she wants to apply to next year.
Jordan - He began yet another school program this year. He's not thrilled but it's OK. We don't know what to do with him now and don't know what to do for him next year. That never seems to change! Because he didn't attend 5th grade, he was not able to begin playing an instrument with the school band and so could not take band classes at any other school without prior school experience or private teaching, which we could not afford. This has always disappointed him. When Mikailey got the clarinet, he decided to spend $80 and buy himself and Ocarina. "What is an Ocarina ?"you may ask if you are as musically ignorant as me, which you probably aren't. It turns out that it is one of the oldest instruments in existence, and was very popular in China 14,000 years ago. It is a clay whistle type instrument that plays sounds that he described as "so zen" before he even knew the history of the instrument. He chose a 12 hole tenor Ocarina, which is more difficult than the ones with fewer holes, but not for beginners like the ones with fewer holes. Upon doing research, I found that one can become a famous Ocarina player in an orchestra. I am clueless about music, but I have never seen an Ocarnia section in an orchestra. What's better, it is the instrument used to play the music in the video game "The Legend Of Zelda." He never learned how to properly read music etc. but has decided to teach himself and is finding himself online lessons. He is learning to play both Zelda songs and more ancient and traditionally Chinese songs and he's doing pretty well with teaching himself. Here is a YouTube video of kid playing part of the Zelda "Song of Time" on the same type of Ocarinia Jord has
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nad5AJaIcBI What I find even more odd than his sudden interest in Ocarina playing, is that one can make an Ocarina out of a carrot. Yes, a carrot. Clay works better but apparently you can play a carrot for a day or so. I assume the carrot rots eventually? There is a whole group of people really in to this instrument I've never heard of and I have no idea where Jordan found out about it. But it's cool. For whatever reason, listening to the Ocarina is less annoying than listening to the clarinet, both now being played constantly by beginners in our home. The Ocarina is very "zen" as Jordan said, and somehow soothing even if it isn't played exactly right. The clarinet is much louder and can make some pretty ear piercing sounds. And Jordan is still wearing distintly Jordan clothing to school like Mikailey- tie-dyes, shirts with silly sayings, etc. I think he's the only kid around with a t-shirt with a math forumla for the circumference of a circle and slices of pie on it, lol. I can't type the characters for in here but it says, "2 Pi r better than 1" with a picure of two slices of pie. Again, this is not cool in 8th grade where name brands rule the world. He's also studying a college cryptography text book he found at a tag sale for 50 cents, and according to his mentor is not out-dated so that's cool. He was in a summer program that allowed him to earn money toward Friday tag sale shopping and he brought home the oddest things. The $80 cryptography text book, which was signed by the author, for only 50 cents was his favorite "find" though. These two kids definitely don't fit any mold, but I prefer it that way.
Abby - Abby has made wonderful progress and is talking up a storm. However, she displays none of her troubling behavior at school. She saves all of the self-stimulating, mushing food, head banging, and spinning for home after each long day of keeping it together at school. She's starting to use the potty, but not consistently. However, each pee in the potty is a little savings in our pocket so I am thrilled:-) I think the Montessori School she is attending with Noah and a friend's child is the perfect choice for her. The calmness of it all seems to bring out the best in her. Shopping, and now dressing her for school is impossible because she is a bit round for her height. She won't wear jeans or anything scratchy, and all of her pants are too long in order to fit around her belly. Girl clothes all seem to be small cut and "slutty" even for toddlers, and t-shirts for girls found at normal stores have sayings I find obnoxious such as "Where is my tiara?," "Princess in training" and other stupid things that are all superficial. Boys clothes are definitely easier to shop for. Socks are a constant battle, but at least she's not stripping naked at school. At home I believe she would win a contest for the fastest stripping three year old. Nakedness and not being potty trained don't mix well - just a tid bit of information. The most important update on the Abbster, Crabby Abby, or Abby Dabby Doo (depending on her mood) is that it is amazing to watch my baby come out of her own world and enter ours. I can't explain what it is like to hear my daughter finally communicate with me, to finally hear what is going on inside her little head. I've always known her because she is my baby, but I am getting to know all the parts she couldn't communicate before, so in many ways I am being re-introduced to my own child. Now that she can often ( but definitely not close to always) say why she is or was screaming or freaking out, or just give me a clue, I'm getting to understand her much better. When a child on the autistic spectrum freaks out and you can't find a pattern or trigger, it's all guessing. Just a little more information, and I feel like I can meet her needs so much better now. She along with Noah picked out twin monkey costumes for Halloween.
Noah - Noah is also enjoying pre-school very much and thriving in the environment. I also think that having them seperated for the first time is great for both twins, but especially for Noah because Abby's special needs have always seemed to overshadow him in environments where they are placed together. He's coming in to his own little personality. He loves the "responsibility" of washing windows, polishing tables, folding napkins and helping to care for the class pets. He doesn't know he's learning. To him it's all play. But today when he refused to nap, I listened to him singing and counting to 100 and then sing his abc's, that apple starts with A, etc. He was really just trying to wake Abby up, who DID take her nap, and was singing for her. He's asking me what letter every word starts with and is starting to sight read simple words. I hope it's just the school and he's not gifted, or at least not gifted enough to cause any issues. His medical condition is still un-diagnosed, he still can't potty train because of it, and he's still a tiny peanut. I am anxiously awaiting answers from the specialists at the Children's Hospital. Finally, like all of my kids, this little monkey is also quite quirky. At home he jumps on the trampoline like a maniac, he climbs over everything, he balances on things etc. If I go to the bathroom, he can easily climb up on the counter despite being as short as an average 17 month old, and then get in to the top cabinets. He climbs up his dressor, which is of course anchored to the wall. He's actually quite coordinated, and high energy, so he reminds me of Mikailey in many ways. (Jordan and Abby are not coordinated at all!). However, he seems to hate any movement that is beyond his control. I didn't make the connection at first because he's such a monkey/daredevil. But when we tried to take him swimming this summer he freaked out and screamed as if we were trying to kill him in deep water, despite us holding him. He said it was "too wet" but at the same time he enjoyed the baby pool where he could control what he was doing. I took him on the swings, and he also burst in to terrified tears. The swing was, according to him, "too swingy." He has since told me that he does not like the slide at Center road school because it is "too slidey" or the see-saw type thing because it is "too tippy" and at gym class at each school they have tricycles for the children to ride. I've been told that they haven't yet seen a child so scared of a ticycle. He acts as if it might kill him and cries when asked to try, so now he just watches. The tricycles are... what else? "Too rolley" of course. I dunno? Go figure. He is also obsessed with vehicles and has taken to watching those Discovery Channel shows where they feature the big "mega-excavators"and such. I wonder if it's as bad to let him watch the Discovery Channel as cartoons? He's memorized the name of every type of construction vehicle since bridge construction began this summer at the end of our driveway. Abby has to cover her ears and close her eyes because the noises are too much for her, but she goes willingly to visit the trucks anyway because of her love for Noah. Sometimes watching twins is so cute (other times it's well... not so cute. They are plotting to take over the world just so you know.) The truck drivers all wave to Noah (and Abby whose eyes and ears are closed), and the garbage man waits for him, or at least did before Noah stated school, because Noah LOVED watching the garbage truck. The garbage man said he waited for Noah because none of his other costumers clapped for him and jumped up and down with excitement as their garbage was hauled in to the truck:-)
My kids are goof balls. I love how different and unique they all are. I love how they all show their individual personalities and have strong preferences, and now that Abby has joined the club of verbal kiddos, it's even more of a blessing to have 4 very individual and quirky kids who I get the privilege of raising and watch grow in to independant adults. I didn't know what else to write about because I have no life outside of the kids, but wanted to update the blog. For anybody else, this information will be boring, but hey, it's more interesting to me than laundry. If you find this too boring to bare, I will gladly update the blog about how our washing machine always eats socks. It really does. Maybe this is one Mikailey's new "green" inventions - a sock powered washing machine meant to save electricity:-)
