Heskimos and more!

Tonight we were out grabbing a bite to eat. It was all four of us, which has been rare lately with our crazy schedule of activities! Tye decided he wanted to play a game.

Tye: I will sound out the animal and you guess.

Girls: Ok!

Tye: K-K (as in the hard C sound). They guessed. Then he whispers and asks what sound the O makes in cow. So he sounds it out and adds on the OW sound.

Rachel: COW! (she was doing a great job of playing along)

Tye: You guessed it! Now it is your turn.

So she did one and he guessed. Then it was his turn again.

And he starts...H-H-H.

She guesses H.

He continues. He gives the short i sound, like in the word IT.

She guesses I.

Next...G-G-G.

She and I look at each other, a bit perplexed.

She guesses G. Yep.

So then she asks him, is this an animal?

Tye: No, it isn't an animal. L-L-L.

L? she asks. Yep.

Now OOOO.

She and I stare at each other. Amberlea kind of cocks her head in confusion.

Rachel: Um, HIGLOO?

Tye: Yep! Good job, you got it...higloo! You know, a higloo?

Rachel: Ok, but it is igloo, not higloo. Eskimos live in igloos, not higloos.

Tye just giggled and was quite surprised to learn this new bit of information. We were all very excited about his ability to sound things out like that, regardless.

Go Falcons!

Today was Rachel's first volleyball game. We made the trek to South Holt, and they won! It was so much fun watching her play. Rachel got a few good digs and several good serves. I could tell she was nervous, even if she won't admit it!

A Few Laughs

On the way to Bethany to pick up Tye and go out for dinner with Phillip and Denise...

Amberlea: Camero's? What is Camero's?

Me: It's like a steak house.

Amberlea: Ooo, steak! I love ribs, pork and steak. I'm a ribs, pork and steak alcoholic!

Now that was just plain funny! I said, you mean you are a steak-aholic. Oh, that's what she meant!

I had the chance this weekend to spend time with Rachel and Amberlea, just us girls. We watched My Girl. The girls had never seen it. Despite the fact that before I ever saw it back in high school, my little sister told me that the boy dies, so the whole thing was ruined...I still cry every.single.time! The worst part is when Veda runs into the casket and is telling people that Thomas J. is missing his glasses. We got a good cry and talked about how difficult it would be to lose a friend.

I forgot one of the funniest lines of the movie, when Veda realizes she has started her period. Shelly and Veda go upstairs and have a "talk", and Veda says...my mom and dad did that?! But the line that had us laughing our heads off...Thomas J. comes to the door and asks if she wants to go swimming. She shoves him and says...NO! And don't come back for 5-7 days! Amberlea didn't get it, but it seemed to slip by her ok for now!

We are off and running in yet another busy week. Throw youth group in there, and we've got a duke's mixture of activities that keep us hopping! And the homework, oh my! Rachel has really had to adjust to the homework load, and I am thankful that she had already developed good study habits.

Tye's teacher stopped me today to let me know that he had a great day! Again, I am thankful, and I appreciate her helping him work on things. I know that a few good days (we're up to about 5 decent days in a row) doesn't mean we don't have things to work on, but I certainly don't feel as frustrated as I did during the first week of school.

Tonight at dinner, I asked the kids how their day went. Before anyone could answer, Tye said...no, we are going to do it this way.

Tye: You need to say to me...Hey, Tye, what do you say, what did you do in puters (computers) today?

The girls and I repeated, and he told us he typed. Then he preceded to sing the same things to the girls...Hey, Amberlea, what do you say...and then on to Rachel. He had to think of something else because Rachel didn't have "puters" today! It was fun and the girls got a good laugh.

Tye is big into homework. Hearing Rachel talk about hers, he thinks he's got to get all his done. He made a list of words that rhyme with cat. I would just say bat, and he would sound it out and write it. He got cat, bat, sat, rat, pat, mat and hat. I was pretty impressed. Amberlea was trying to help him and said black...what? I said...black doesn't rhyme with cat. She just giggled and said, oh! Then he did dog and log, then tree and bee. He was entirely too busy to do much of anything besides all that homework tonight! I'm so happy to see him interested in academics, instead of just farting and burping and playing on the playground!

Tye Update

I am actually still blogging on both sites. Be sure to go to www.halleyswaronmelanoma.blogspot.com to keep up with details about my life without Brian, and how I am dealing with it all. I also often rant and rave about melanoma. But I seem to be having trouble distinguishing WHICH blog to write on when it comes to the kids. I wrote an entry on the other blog entitled Football Frustrations , mostly ranting about no daddy and the daily trials of a very active kindergartener.

Well, tonight I wanted to report just on Tye, so here I am, on this blog. The last few days have been much better. Not perfect, just better. So we are making progress. I have really made a big deal about his progress, and we continue to talk constantly about how he needs to act. He even did better at football tonight and had a lot of fun doing the drills. He had on his uniform for pictures and looked adorable.

When we got in the van, he said that he was so hungry he couldn't stand it. I said, well, you've had a good couple of days. Where do you want to go? Pagliai's, of course, so off we went.

We at pizza and chatted about the day. I quizzed him on the kids in his class and he made me guess most of them by who started with which letter of the alphabet. He told me about the weather and how many days he has been in school (11...they are counting to the 100th day). I told him again that I was really happy that he was working so hard on listening. (disclaimer...I know he has a ways to go!). He told me they lost something in their room and made me guess. It has 6 legs. Hmmm...before I could answer, he said...well, I think it has 6 legs. I guessed the pet crab, Hermie. He told me all about Hermie's escape and how Mrs. W found it near the bathroom.

Then he scrunched up his face and said...but Mom, I did have a little trouble today. I sighed and said...really, why? Well, I sneezed all over the puter (computer). I busted out laughing. I guess I am so used to the punching and pushing and whatever else, that I totally didn't expect that to come out of his mouth. I said...well goodness, what did you do? He said...I just cleaned it up. Super.

It is a good thing he's cute!