Subject: Samantha and Christopher update
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 21:40:35 -0500

School has been going for a month now and we are fully entrenched back
into the school time schedule. Samantha seems to be enjoying first
grade just as much as she did kindergarten, which is to say, a great
deal. Her teacher has commented to me that her reading skills are
great! I guess all that reading we did over the summer helped, eh?
Samantha and Christopher both enjoy the walk to and from school. If for
some reason, we have to drive, they both howl about it the whole way.

Stephen is coaching Samantha's soccer team. It is an all girl's U7
team. To play in U7, all of the girls had to be six on or before July
31st. We've played and lost two games so far. This past weekend's game
was rained out. The girls have shown great improvement in each and
every practice, so I expect that we will have a couple in the win column
before too long. Since Stephen is the coach, we have the practices in
the common area by the playground in our neighborhood. We load up the
gear and the soccer goal in the wagon and Samantha rides her bike and
Christopher rides his tiny trike to practice.

Oh, and speaking of riding bicycles. Samantha has learned to ride hers
with no training wheels attached. She was just about ready back in July
when she broke her arm, but had to take a break from riding until she
recovered. So, when we finally got the bicycle back out, it seemed
almost effortless for her. She loves riding her bike now. I think that
riding bikes, playing soccer, reading, and climbing are her favorite
things in the whole world. I must be becoming immune to her climbing
antics. Yesterday, we stopped at the playground on the way home from
school for a little while. Some of her friends were there, so I sat
down to visit with the other mom for a minute. I looked over and there
was Samantha making her way across the bar above the swings. I didn't
even flinch, just called out to her not to forget to bend her knees when
she jumped down. For awhile, she would stop and climb to the top of the
stop sign at the end of our street whenever we walked in the direction.
Fortunately, she does realize that she shouldn't do that in her school
uniform on the way to school!

Since we walk to school and to soccer practice, Christopher has it in
his mind that we should walk everywhere. He never wants to get into the
car anymore. He always begs me to walk no matter where we are going.
Considering that the air conditioner no longer works in the van, I would
say that he is a pretty smart kid!

Speaking of walking everywhere ... since school started I have been
doing an informal study on the law of diminishing returns. The first
week and a half of school, Christopher came home after walking Samantha
to school and fell asleep sitting up on the sofa while watching morning
cartoons. He never even made it through one 30 minute show. By the end
of the second week, he wasn't falling asleep when we got home anymore,
but he was taking a longer nap. By the end of the third week of school,
he was back to his normal short nap, so I decided that I would not take
the wagon in the morning anymore, he would have to walk the whole way.
In the fourth week, he took a longer nap for a couple of days, then
adjusted nicely to the new routine, no problem, so I started letting him
pull the wagon in the afternoon to go get Samantha. During the fifth
week of school, Samantha and Christopher started hopping, skipping,
jumping, and running the whole way to school. I had trouble keeping up
with them. Although Christopher begged to be carried on the way home,
not a blip on either the nap or bedtime. This is the sixth week of
school. Today, I let Christopher ride his tiny trike to school in the
afternoon when we went to get Samantha at the end of the school day. I
took Samantha's bicycle and helmet with me so that she could ride home.
You should see Christopher go on that tiny trike, zoom! Paradoxically,
it takes longer to ride home from school than it does to walk? Anyway,
Christopher burned up a lot of energy and went to bed early tonight!
Hmmm, I wonder how long before I have him pulling a wagon load of bricks
back and forth to school just to get him tired enough to go to bed at a
decent hour! He's only two and a half! I do want him to be in shape
... but I just wish it took him a little bit longer to adjust!

I guess I have been adjusting a little bit, too. Today, while
Christopher and I were sitting in the waiting room watching Samantha's
gymnastics class. Christopher was climbing up into the chair next to me
and them jumping into my lap and wanting me to lift him up in the air
... over and over and over and over again. One of the other mothers
commented that I must be very strong because she didn't think she could
catch her daughter and then lift her up that many times in a row, let
alone a child the size of Christopher. Christopher weighs 30 pounds and
her daughter is a petite little thing that probably just barely breaks
20 pounds.

Christopher is still a huge train fanatic, but we also have a new fad in
our house these days. Christopher adores Bob the Builder, and Stephen
and I definitely use it to our advantage. The theme song for Bob the
Builder goes like this: "Bob, the Builder, can we fix it? Bob, the
Builder, YES WE CAN". We've used that little jingle for lots of things
like "Bob the Builder, can we eat them (green peas)? Bob the Builder,
YES WE CAN". And, get this, it worked! He ate every last pea on his
plate. Of course, Stephen, Samantha, and I were singing the jingle the
whole time, but hey, whatever it takes, right? We've even tried "Bob
the Builder, can we potty? Bob the Builder, YES WE CAN". Not as much
success on that one, but at least he will sit on the potty without
screaming NONONO the whole time when we sing the jingle. I am certainly
not above using Christopher's interests to my advantage. I have also
discovered that if you take a perfectly ordinary piece of roast turkey
lunch meat, which Christopher will not touch with a ten foot pole, and
take a train shaped cookie cutter and cut that lunch meat into train
shapes, Christopher will eat every last train and ask for more.

Have a nice day? YES WE CAN!
- Tana