Plans and Deeds

We finally decided we will be going to the Rethinking Education Conference in Dallas on Labor Day weekend. I'm excited. I'm hoping I will get some inspiration and some great ideas. I'll be driving down with the boys. The girls will stay home with Ian. I'm sad to be leaving the girls. They are only 18 months old. But we will survive and next year I will make sure that we all get to go -- it's called something like advance planning.

Yesterday Zane wanted to go buy a new Bionicle with his own money that he has saved up from gifts and the tooth fairy (we haven't started allowances yet). He never thinks about spending his money or buying something he might really want. This is a stark contrast to Caleb who wants to buy everything in every store and on every commercial he sees. So we went to Target. I love to go places in the middle of the day now that school is back in session. We went to see the matinee showing of Ant Bully on the first day of school. We practically had the place to ourselves. Anyway, back to Target. Zane already knew what toy he wanted because he read product reviews on a bionicle website. He picked it out and Caleb got one too. Zane paid for his. Then we went home and he put it together by himself which is a first. He was very proud of himself for putting it together. They played with them for hours.

We need to make some changes around here. Nothing is safe in our house from grabbing baby hands. I realize I have put a lot of pressure on the boys to make concessions for their sisters. They are the ones that have to move their things and themselves up and out of the way. I'm working on coming up with some solutions that give them their own space away from the girls but where we can still talk and be together. I'm also making a better effort to distract the twins while the boys are watching a movie or something before the fighting starts. I can hardly blame my 5 year old for poking and hitting the babies when they won't stop climbing all over him. He plays sweetly with them most of the time -- usually several hours a day. The grabbing babies have made things stressful the last week or so because they have figured out how to move chairs and get up to counters and high places that were our last safe places. It has been stressful for me because they try to pull up to the stove or the counter while I'm making dinner. One got onto the dining room table which happens pretty often even with the chairs on their sides. While I got her down, the other pulled her chair up to the stove in the kitchen. The stove was off but it was still hot. She didn't get hurt. But I was a tab bit frazzled by it. I'm trying different things to keep them safe especially during dinner without locking them up. They are old enough to be distracted and entertained by something new or unusual. Sometimes I give them a little water and lots of containers to practice pouring. They also like to dump out buckets of crayons or dig through the movie cabinet. Sometimes it is the only way I can get dinner made. Then I'll clean up the mess when I get the chance.

Zane wants to build a catapult. So, I checked out The Art of the Catapult by William Gurstelle. I need to get the supplies. We'll probably start it after we get back from the conference. I'm also anxious to start my worm bin. I have deliberated for months about where to keep it once it is built. I have finally decided to make a wooden box on casters that fits into the pantry closet (there is one side that doesn't have shelves). I will actually keep the bin in the garage which is just off the kitchen but move it indoors when the temperature is above 90 degrees or below 20. It just gets too hot and occasionally too cold here to keep them outdoors. Now with that decided, I can get started making the thing. This is my project but I hope the kids will get involved and enjoy the process of a live compost in the house. I'm planning to make it tall enough so that the girls won't be able to reach into it until they are older.