Spring Break

It's spring break here. We are not somewhere exciting or exotic. But we do have a few new things around here... 

We sold my 1994 Nissan Altima with 227,000 miles on it. It was getting a little too unreliable for us to drive...so we finally decided on a "new" old car. A 2008 Prius!! We got 45 mpg on the way home from Seattle! Woot Woot!!

We had an awesome Easter and few days down on Bainbridge with Grammie Susan and Grandpa Mark. The sun was out, the air was warm, we hunted for eggs, rode bikes, watched soccer, and played. 

 Eliza is getting awesome on her balance bike. She really got the hang of it this last weekend.
Tutu's are for every sport!

 When we got back up to Bham, we got some new chicks. Two black Barred Rock's; George and Fluffy and a Golden Sexlink; Fuzzy. 

We were hoping to get into the garden too...but the weather is back to rain. We do have seedlings ready for the greenhouse. The garden is mostly weeded, we are eating the last of the winter Kale, and planed our peas and radish.  Spring is here!

iLVU

I see I haven't written a We Like Gryffin post since the end of March...2012. This should tide you over for another year.

We have always surrounded our kids with books. I read a bit. They know me at the library. And by always keeping Corbin and Eliza supplied with stories, we've surrounded them with something else, too: Words.

This is a Corbin post. Though Eliza is starting out on this journey herself.

Any time Corbin has a book in front of him, we call it reading. Some people may say that just looking at a book doesn't actually qualify as reading. I disagree. Reading is interacting with text or story. Corbin has read the pictures of his books since he could hold them. His is interacting with the story through its pictures. With wordless picture books, he reads them the same as anyone else. So he has always been a reader.

But it is still exciting that in the last couple months he has really started working on sounding out words. We've never pushed word-reading. But when Corbin expresses an interest, we help him with it. We've got the alphabet down. At his pre-K, there is a letter of the week, and they work on both finding the letter and writing it. They work on the sound the letter makes. We piggy back on this, and Corbin has sounded out full words on his own. He's not quite at the stage where he will sound out words in books he is looking at, independently. He will try, when he is ready. He is stepping through his own stages as a reader.

Corbin has also been copying letters for quite a while. We will write what he wants to write, and he will copy it. We call it writing. And it is.

In the last couple of weeks, Corbin has been a bit of a terror (see previous post). It has been very challenging. But a couple of times he has initiated his own coping strategy, one that we had never really suggested. The first time he did it, he told Erin, "I really need a pen." Then he proceeded to draw a picture to let out his feelings. That's right. Corbin is into art therapy. All on his own.

Then, this week, I did something that Corbin didn't like. He left and came back a minute later with this:

It's a little hard to read, but you can see the angry, sharp-toothed man that might be mean-me, or might be angry-Corbin. Next to it, Corbin wrote "iDNDLKU." So, that's "I don't like you." Which made me a little sad, but also HOLY COW HE WROTE SOMETHING!

I think I said something like, "Oh, that makes me really sad...But look! You wrote that all by yourself!" I couldn't really contain my excitement about it, despite what it said.

He left and then came back with more added. "iLVU."

Whoa.

This was the first time Corbin had sounded out and written his own words. It was amazing.

"Corbin! You're figuring out the code of writing!"

He was excited. He left and came back with a picture of "MOME" (Mom-ee) and "DADD" (Dad-dee).  What a step to witness.

Today, Corbin came home from daycare with this picture:

We couldn't decipher the word in the bottom left, even with Corbin's help (he tried sounding it out), but you can clearly see "Love" and "Mommy." He also scribbled out a "Love" in the top left. Maybe he wanted it in a different place, or maybe he wasn't satisfied with it. It's hard to know, too, how much his daycare person might have helped. Still. Writing.

Corbin will go to kindergarten next year. It makes me a little nervous, for a variety of reasons. Mostly, though, I am worried about reading and writing. At home, Corbin is a reader. He is a writer. He is a lot of things. I don't want that to change. I don't want anyone to tell him that he isn't a reader yet. That he isn't a writer yet. I don't want anyone to tell him what books he can read and which ones he can't (Of course I'll read that Dora book with you, Corbin [but it might go "missing" later...]).

But what can I do? Some things we can't control. In the meantime, let's read this book. Or write this story. Clearly, Corbin is on his way. He has taken a few more steps on the reading and writing continuum. We're pretty excited to be tagging along.

Conflict

Corbin and I have had a lot of conflict lately. It's been bringing me down on my parenting. He is not making good decisions. I am not making good parenting responses.  I feel like I am stuck in a 4 1/2 year old rut.  I need to dig out some books again. We need to bring back our Family Meetings to give him some positive power. I need to take more deep breaths. I am sure there are a lot more needs or things that could be done. I am definitely loving working more this year but I also think this is one of the downsides of it. I am tired. He is tired. We are all tired. Not an excuse, just the truth.  I feel like I just need to purge some of these feelings... this is a purge post. It's not all bad, as I will tell at the end. Just need to know I am not alone...

He has been spitting lately. Ugh. It's driving me CRAZY! And guess who decides to copy him. He does it to be funny. He does it to be mean. He does it to me. He does it to Adam. He does it to Eliza. Help! How do I stop it? 

One minute he is loving on his sister, the next, he pokes her in the eye. Eliza's new phrase, "Corbin's being mean..." He is the bossy one but she doesn't always just take it and do what he says... equals conflict. Arg! The minute we step into the house after school/work/daycare it's non-stop. You cannot leave the two of them alone without fear of one of them killing the other... add to that a HUGE mountain of couch pillows each night and it could end in disaster. 

We have been having some real power struggles lately. I am engaging in them, which is probably what is making them worse. It's amazing how easily I can find myself in one before I know it. And then I feel bad. He feels bad. We both feel bad. He seems to get over it fast than me. 

I know part of it is just him growing up, trying to figure out his place in this world. Eliza is becoming more interactive, more verbal, more imaginative, more independent. Thus taking some of the attention away from him. He loves it on one hand because he now has a play mate but he also has to share us more now too. Some of it's amazing. Tonight at dinner, we were having the best time just watching them. Eliza is having these strings of conversations about pretend things. Her toddler hood is going away. Corbin has so much spirit and determination. He tries to rationalize everything. He has a reason for everything. Literally everything. Sometimes its exhausting. Sometimes it's amazing! 

And then there are nights like tonight...start off bad and then end up better... We had a HUGE battle last night (every night) with him getting his PJ's on for bed. He wastes time. We loose book time. Last night it took him forever to get his clothes off, go pee, get his diaper on, PJ's on, etc. So when he chose his 2 books for bed and one was really short, he got really mad. He wanted 3 books since one was so short... I said, "NO".  He wasted time getting ready. Then he poked Eliza in the eye for no reason. We had to talk about that for a while. Basically, we did not have time for another book because he had wasted time. Screaming. Kicking. Whining. Pleading. Yelling. Crying. Everything. Nope, my answer was still no. I said, "tomorrow, let's work on getting ready faster and then if we have time for a 3rd book, we can read it." He calmed down enough for me to say "I love you" and to tuck him in... and then I left to work out. I know Adam had to go up again... 

So tonight we talked about not wasting time. Getting 3 books. Getting ready in a reasonable speed. Nope. SLOW. Even with help. Even with encouragement. I gave a warning. I went to help Eliza. I told him he had lost that 3rd book again. We could still read 2 but not 3. He lost it again. This time he slammed his door and said he was never coming out of his room. He yelled through the door. I am never coming out. Don't come in. I will put my self to sleep. I don't need your help. And on and on....Wow, this was a new tactic. So I said quietly through the door that his tooth brush was waiting for him  and that when he was ready, I would love it if he would join me and Eliza for some stories in her room. He said. "NO. I am never coming out. Not until my birthday. Not ever. I won't come out till my birthday. Then I will have my birthday and you will bring my presents to my room but I won't come out till then (his birthday is in June)."  So Eliza and I started reading.  I heard him come out. Go and brush is teeth. Then quietly he came over to us. Just wanted to see what we were reading. I told him he was welcome to read with us. He started to walk away... then he turned back and said. "Ok, I will read this one story with you. Then I am going back in. I don't want you to tuck me in. I will do it by myself. I am never coming out of my room." So we read the story. Then he said he would go back to his room, until he saw what we were reading next. "Ok, I will read this one too. But then I am going in my room, will tuck myself in. And never come out." 

I told him, "I will miss you if you never come out. What will you do for food? What will you do if you get hungry?" 

He replied after thinking for a bit. "I will stand at the top of the stairs and yell for food. Then you will bring it to me and I will eat it in my room." 

Hmm...Ok. "Well, what about school, won't you miss seeing your friends? Or going to your friends house? Or being outside, riding your bike?" 

"You can arrange play dates my friends can come here and play in my room."

"What about going to your friends houses? Like Brody, Alden or Lux's?"

"I will go to their houses only. Then come back to my room. They are my best friends, so I will do that. And I won't go back to Pre-K, not until kindergarten and after my birthday".

"Wow, I would really miss you that whole time. It might get boring."

"Nope, I will be fine. I will tuck myself in. Let's read more". 

Well... ok then... so we finished the next book. 

He looked at me, said, "I am going to go and tuck myself in. And read myself a book. But could you stop by on your way down?..."

"Yes, of course."

After putting Eliza down, I went into his room. He had gotten into bed, turned on his night light, and was reading quietly. He seemed very proud of himself. We had a quick snuggle, I said I was sorry we had been fighting so much and that I really would miss him if he stayed in his room till his birthday. I said I love you and good night. He told me he loved me too. 

I hope he comes out tomorrow :-)

Winter Play

We went to Bend to have some winter fun with my parents after Christmas. Luckily there was lots of snow, even down in town. We arrived in the dark but the kids saw snow and wanted to play. After dinner my dad, Buppa, took them out to play before bed. Corbin was in 7th Heaven!  Eliza also loved it so much more than last year. She even got a new "PINK" snowsuit from my parents for Christmas, which of course, she loves. 

We decided to pack it all in. We went sledding first and then skiing, which we could have been better planned but oh well, next time. 

All bundled up and ready for some sledding!

Corbin was so brave going down all by himself! 

He could barely see out of  his hat!

Then we headed skiing on Corbin's new skis and Eliza on Corbin's old ones. They were so cute getting on their skis! 

"Here Ellie, let me pull you."

"This is how you do it. Watch me."

My two little love bugs all bundled up and ready to go! 

And of course, lots of time to play in the snow. 

Corbin's skis were really fast. At first he did not like them, he kept falling but he was getting the hang of it. 

More playing in the snow. 

On Sunday we decided to ski to the cabin for lunch. Corbin skied almost the whole way and then the whole way back. 

The whole family! 

He skied all the way back. When he was getting pretty tired, he met another  girl who is from Bham and went to his pre-school! 

Going downhill with Buppa. 

Eliza on her way down. 

Eliza helping Grammie Push the Chariot. 

Someone went by and said "did you see that. The grandma was pulling the Chariot, not the parents!" She is such an awesome Grammie! 

Daddy trying to help Ellie ski along...

Our little family at the end of the day!