February snippets

Here's a little bit of this 'n that from the family in February.

*I texted Jared after being at the office all day on a Friday before getting in the car to go home: "On my way"
Jared texted me back: "That is always my favorite message"
I texted Jared: "amen" (I love it when Jared is on his way home from work...I love it more when he's actually in the house :)

*Karcyn reported one morning that she had a dream that she was eaten by our cat Madi when Karcyn and Madi were the same sizes they are now. Karcyn said she went down Madi's esophagus and through her stomach and traveled through the small intestine and then into the large intestine. (Maybe Karycn's seen one too many espisodes of the Magic School Bus :)

*On the 4th of February, Calvin went out to wait for the bus...with no coat. Of all things, it was snowing flurries that morning! The next day, 2/5, "No Coat Calvin" went out to wait for the bus. It was 26 degrees, but felt like 22. I shivered and shook in my boots and watching him seemingly not bothered one bit by the freezing air was seriously painful to watch. I'm just waiting for the Department of Human Services to come and take him away from me for child neglect. I can only IMAGINE what Calvin's bus driver must think of me. It took me weeks to convince Calvin to let me put his sweater (not even a coat, mind you) in his back pack, just in case, he needed it at school.

*Having a book for free reading is a requirement and part of a daily grade in Jake's language arts class. When Jake isn't reading a book from the library or one that he's borrowed, he takes his Book of Mormon to school to read. He said, "Now I can actually EAT in class" because, as he explained, he is "feasting on the words of Christ."

*Pointing to me at dinner one night, Calvin said, "So your FIRST name is Mom, your middle name is Jenn and your last name is Hough. Right?" Sure feels like it!

*Calvin is a great reader, but he refuses constantly to read at home on his own. Talk about super underachiever. I've tried several ways to persuade him to read out loud. One way that worked was if we read in his bed and we take turns. He reads a page, I read a page, etc. Usually the page he starts with has the least amount of text compared to the other page but it doesn't always work out that neatly, so it's not always a true every-other-page deal and I often end up reading more. But I go with it if it'll get him to read. We started his library book one night. The first page of text started on the right. It had two sentences--a perfect place for him to begin. I pointed to it and encouraging him to start said, "Okay, go ahead." He corrected me and said, "No--you read this page. And I read this page," moving his hand over the blank white page on the left.

*Karcyn came home from the school's Daddy-Daughter dance and was so proud to announce that SHE had won the 1st/2nd grade dance contest. Jared said there were about seven other kids dancing. He's convinced that her run-and-slide-on-her-knees-while-in-her-long-dress helped her clinch the title. It's nice to know her dance lessons are paying off :)

*On February 23rd, JJ showed up in the kitchen when I know I put him in his crib myself and no other sibling was around to get him out. He had attempted AND succeeded in climbing out of his crib. With all the things he's scaled and climbed (counters and tables without the the assistance of chairs, dressers, etc) I'm actually surprised it took him 2 1/2 years to finally escape. We put him back in so we could witness this for ourselves and see how he pulled it off. It was actually a highly technical process. The edge of the crib on one of the short ends is about chest high on him. He would pull himself up and lean his stomach on that edge, his body teetering like a balanced see-saw. He'd reach out and put both hands on top of the dresser which was the same height as the crib edge and about 1 foot away from the crib. He pulled himself farther out of the crib, balanced one foot on the crib edge and stretched his other foot onto the dresser. Then he pushed off the crib with the foot that was resting there and knelt on top of the dresser. Then he turned, so he was facing the wall, and scaled down the dresser and voila! He was free and very proud of himself. And we took the crib apart a few days later. And put a door knob cover on the inside of the bedroom door :)