"Los pollitos dicen..."

Some friends hatched chicks in their home and we had the pleasure of watching 1 hatch and playing with several others. The kids were even asked to help think of names! JA chose Princess, JT chose Prince, and JMC chose Pollito Prince.

While trying to think of names, JMC said, "Quiero Pollito Lodo." We thought he wanted to name his chick Pollito Lodo (mud chick), but after some discussion and lots of guesswork, we learned that he wanted a chick made of mud! :)

While playing with the chicks, JT noticed something green on his pants. He nonchalantly asked, "What's this green stuff?" and was slightly taken aback by the answer. Thankfully, I had a change of clothes for him in the car, and that ended his desire to play with the chicks. :)

JMC refused to hold one, but wanted to be near the mommies whenever we held one. He did try once to hold a chick, but the moment the little feet touched his palm, he shrieked, "da cosquillas!" and contented himself with just petting them in order to avoid the tickles.

JA couldn't get enough of the chicks, and didn't want to play dress up, with the piano, or anything else. She just stayed in the kitchen for over an hour playing with the baby chicks. 

6

Last week, JT turned 6 years old! It's difficult to believe he could be so big already, but he does all the things a 6 year old can do: he reads, writes, rides a bike, and plays on a soccer team.

To celebrate the day, we spent the morning at Chuck E. Cheese (it was a Wednesday morning, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves!), ate lunch at Denny's, went to JA's art class, had spaghetti and meatballs with melted mozzarella cheese for dinner, and birthday cake covered in Smarties. It was a great time! 

Moving, again

After a little over 2 years of renting, in 2 different cities, we are moving once again. This time, we are moving to a home of our own and are all so very happy about it. Renting has definitely had it's advantages, especially when something breaks. :) But, owning our own home will be good for us.

Our new home has 3 bedrooms, so the kids are excited that there will be a boys' room and a girls' room. There is a yard to play in and a park down the street.

So far, we have painted the kids' rooms (yes, pink and blue, at their request) and begun to move things over. We're only moving to the next town over, about 20 minutes from where we are now, and we have until the end of the month to move completely out of the apartment, so we are able to take our time. We make at least one trip each day, moving toys, books, and clothes, and in a couple of weeks, we'll move the furniture.


Things got busy around here, and before I got around to publishing this post, we had moved. :) There is still a little left to move over, and many boxes to unpack, but for the most part, we are moved in to our new home. Everyone is enjoying the space, and figuring out where everything goes.

Conversations

We've been enjoying many interesting conversations lately, especially now that JMC talks well enough to join in. Here's a sample:

JMC was disappointed to learn from JT that he will not grow up to be a mommy. JT did a great job telling him about all the great parts of growing up to be a Papi (you grow up big & strong, you will have a beard and mustache and you get to decide if you want to leave them or shave them off, etc.) That afternoon, JMC came up with a solution, "Mami, hay un mono en mi barriga. Tengo la barriga grande como tu, y hay un mono adentro creciendo. Dije uu, aa."  ("Mommy, there's a monkey in my tummy. My tummy is big like yours and there's a monkey growing inside. It says ooh ooh, ah ah.")

JT accused me of not doing enough chores. I hadn't made my bed, and it is on the chore list. Well, I don't think he'll be making the same mistake again anytime soon. Especially since I was in the middle of washing dishes at the time of his accusation.

JMC saw a picture of an X-ray in a book and that began an entertaining discussion about bones. We touched our joints (knuckles, elbows, knees, etc.) to feel the bones inside. He got it right away and said, "Tengo huesos, JT tiene huesos, JA tiene huesos, Mami tiene huesos, Papi tiene huesos, JL tiene huesos, y Mercedes tiene huesos.  Quiero ver los huesos de Mercedes." He walked over to the dog and picked up the rawhide bone she carries around, so proud of himself for finding the dog's bone. :) Hmmm, maybe he didn't quite get it after-all. :)

JA and Grandma have begun a book club. They're reading, Little House in the Big Woods, and emailing each other after each chapter. It's been good for JA to practice typing, spelling (gmail accuses her of misspelling, not me!), and thinking about sharing her thoughts of what she's read.

JT needs to share his favorite bird in our homeschool group today. So, to make sure he had thought about his favorite bird, we talked about it in the car yesterday. First, he said his favorite bird was "the bird they make out of balloons." I told him that's usually a parrot. Then, he changed his mind and decided that his favorite bird is the kiwi bird. How does he even know about the kiwi bird? I haven't a clue. :) My friend is his teacher in the class, so I'll be sure to ask what answer he gives this morning when it's his turn.

We recently purchased a new home and are in the process of painting and cleaning to get it ready to move into. Well, the other night, Papi and a friend of mine were painting JA's room. When they finished, JMC walked up to my friend and said, "Ahora mine!" It was already after the kids' bedtime and we had to go, so she very sweetly said, "Not tonight." Well, the following evening we were there again, getting more work done, and he asked several times,"Viene Mrs. A. para pintar mi cuarto?" (Is Mrs. A. coming to paint my room?) Poor boy, he is so excited about his new room, and it's just not getting painted yet. So, yesterday I painted 1 wall and it was enough to satisfy JMC that we won't forgot to paint his room too.

Conversations with JA have become more involved. She has asked about peoples' beliefs, war, modesty, finances, and many other big topics. It's been a joy to be able to share with her about these topics, but challenging as well.