HaqNest.com

I’m dreading the day that Ethan ceases to respond with “I willn’t”. Doesn’t that make so much more sense than the word “won’t”?

On our way to the med center from the office today, Audrey spied a homeless person sleeping in a storefront doorway. Astonished, she inquired about why someone would be sleeping on the sidewalk and not in their bed. I explained that these were the people we’d recently discussed that didn’t have homes and/or food to eat.

It was a good discussion; one that really kept her quiet. I assumed she was just internalizing what I was saying and when I turned around to ask her what she thought we could do to help she was wiping away tears.

After initial hugs when Shahed got home tonight, she was anxious to tell him that she wanted to feed the homeless. Soon enough we’ll find volunteer opportunities at The Houston Food Bank.

I can’t remember where I saw it (probably Facebook), but I read about a mother that was on the phone while her kid was whining in the background. She asked the person to hold on and told her child that she was on the phone with Santa and asked if he would like to change his behavior. Then silence. I got a chuckle and then put it into action a few nights later.

We started bedtime at 8:00 and for the next 5.5 hours, Ethan refused to sleep. At one point in my desperate attempt to shut him up, I told him that Santa was keeping track of little boys and girls and that naughty ones wouldn’t get toys for Christmas, but a lump of coal. He asked me what a lump of coal was to which I replied, “a rock”. Content with my answer, he asked me to tell Santa that he wanted a little rock because a big rock would be too heavy for him to carry and play with.

At 1:30am, he finally crashed mid-sentence. I guess my big plan to build a fire station for him isn’t really necessary.

After repeated discussions in the last six months about the inappropriate and hurtful use of the words stupid and poo poo, Ethan asked me how to say stupid balloon in Spanish.

Hmmm. Sorry Ethan, Mom no Espanol.

For as long as Audrey and Ethan have been speaking they have used the term, ‘all up’ in reference to having finished a meal to emphasize that it was consumed in its entirety. A common exchange we may have is similar to the following;

Mom: Did you finish your dinner?
Audrey: Yes. All up.

This morning I heard Ethan telling Kim that he had finished his breakfast but he chose to articulate more precisely than he usually does;

Mom: Did you eat your breakfast?
Ethan: Yep. Aw Lup.

Ethan’s articulation has, over the year, slow improved.  He no longer yells for Audrey across the hallways as Auggie. I know I’m going to miss that. I wish I had made a video of a somewhat frequent exchange he had with Audrey when she tried to teach him to pronounce her name correctly. Here’s a transcript of one I recall;

Audrey: Say, ‘Audrey’
Ethan: Auggie
Audrey: No! Say, ‘Audrey’
Ethan: Auggie
Audrey: Aud Rey
Ethan: Aug Gie
Audrey: Say it like me. Audrey
Ethan: Auggie
Audrey: No! Say, ‘Audrey’
Ethan: Auggie

Tags: articulation, Auggie

Trying to get Ethan to sleep tonight, I was reminded of last night’s events.

Me: Ethan, did you know that last night when we were sleeping you kicked me in the face?
Ethan: Oh, did you say “owie”?
Me: Probably something similar and a little more dramatic
Ethan: Did I say “I’m sorry”?
Me: No
Ethan: Okay. Mom? Let’s do it again and this time I’ll say “I’m sorry”.
Me: Dude! Go to sleep!

The weather finally let up a tad and we were able to get the kids’ sandbox assembled a couple of weekends ago. I dismantled the sandbox I had built in Atlanta and brought it with me when we relocated to Houston so putting that back together was a cinch. Locating, purchasing and hauling the sand was only as difficult this time around as compared to the last time. Fortunately, this time we got just enough sand to fill the sandbox and no excess stash to lug around the garage. We spent a bit of time on Saturday morning making the materials purchase and then the afternoon to figure out where to place it. It took us a while to figure out where the sprinkler heads were and the French drain access values, etc. We finally found a spot that would work and assembled the blue box of fun. We used landscape fabric to hold the sand in and the box went on top of the fabric. The fabric extends further out than the edge of the box so that we could put some rocks around the sandbox and make it look neat. Once we get those rocks we’ll see if that worked. The sandbox is 6 ft by 6.5 ft with seating around three sides so it comfortably holds two adults and two kids. There’s room to have possibly one more unless they’re like Ethan in which case the other kids would have to have a lot of patience when li’l Godzilla walks through their partially constructed castle or tower. While we had the entire sandbox sitting on it’s end, Kim’s mom & I were hold it up while she was screwing parts in Audrey came running out screaming ‘fire!’.  Less than 15 seconds later, after a stern conversation with Audrey & Ethan, Kim returned explaining that of all the unfortunate times the kids picked right then to play with the stove.  One burner was lit while the other was letting off gas and clicking to ignite.

After we constructed the sandbox Audrey and I went to The Home Depot to get a tarp to cover the sand in case it rained the next day but as our luck would have it, it started to pour on our drive back to the house. Audrey was concerned for her new sandbox while I was concerned for all of my power-tools that were still sitting outside when I had left. After a bit of zoom-zoom we made it home and I rushed out to put the tarp over the sandbox. It seems that Kim had taken all of my power-tools inside so everything was safe.

On Sunday we did another Home Depot run and picked up some plywood, 2×2’s and constructed a folding lid for the sandbox that the kids will be able to lift up if they work together. We tried to make a lip around the lid that would sit snugly enough so that there aren’t any critters that make homes inside the sandbox over night - especially the colorful, poisonous ones. In the afternoon Kim & her mom raided Target and got a large collection of sand-castle making moulds so we’re all set now. Kim & Ethan went out to play in the sandbox on Monday morning after returning home from dropping Audrey off at school and discovered that the lift was left slightly ajar in the back on Sunday night and a little frog got it. It seemed a little dazed and confused but Ethan was really excited to see Froggy nonetheless.

Since we’ve built the sandbox we’ve had about a quarter metric ton of River Sand floating about the house so we’ve had to institute some ground rules to hang on to our dwindling sanity. Really the only rule is that the kids have to play on the play-set for 10 minutes after they play in the sandbox. This allows the sand to dry and fall off rather than be brushed off on the couch while they watch Ni-Hao Kai Lan. Ensuring that this is followed through has been a little tough - they don’t have the patience to go play on the play-set when they’re a brand new sandbox beckoning for them. They usually end up getting right back into the sand and then being turned away when they try to get back into the house. Audrey’s caught up to the rules mostly but Ethan is still struggling with it a bit for now.

Tags: build, sand, sandbox, sandcastle

We bought a house and moved in toward the beginning of summer. It’s in a golf course community in Cinco Ranch in Katy. We decided to get a place that was a bit smaller than last time so that we didn’t have unfurnished rooms or take days to clean up. Also, this time we went with a single story house. What’s interesting about this house is the size of the backyard. The driveway is just long enough to park two cars lengthwise but the backyard is gigantic - ours is the one with the longest yard in the satellite image. The plot of land is about 3/4 of an acre and the house is a regular tranditional style red-brick home. The front yard is landscaped and in the back the area around the patio is landscaped. The rest is waiting for us to dream up options. So far on the table are rain forest, bocce ball court, 30′ long picnic table, dry creek & bridge, wood workshop, badminton court and fire pit amongst other things. The playset is already in, and the sandbox is the next thing on the list.

We had it renovated before we moved in. The flooring was replaced with a dark brazilian walnut hardwood in most of the house. After much debate, we concluded on carpet in the bedrooms.

The backyard now has a massive playset for the kids, but given the heat during this summer they’ve hardly had a chance to play on it. It took them a while to get used to the new house and often wanted to return to the place we were renting for the past year, but I haven’t heard that request in the past few weeks, so I think they’ve begun to finally settle in. Today, Kim spent a chunk of the day reorganizing their bedroom so there’s a bit more space. Hopefully they like it better this way. We already took a pass at the coat closet a few weekends ago and converted it to a linen closet. The wall art isn’t all up just yet but it’s getting there.

We’re still shopping for a replacement chandelier for the rotunda. Though we haven’t yet concluded on a winner, there are a couple of options on the table.

The next big project will be to get the sandbox set up. I brought the parts of the one we built in Atlanta when we moved here last year, so putting it together will be pretty easy.  Building a lid for it will take a bit longer I expect since I just used a tarp to keep it dry and it was also built on top of a deck so water logging wasn’t much of a problem then.  When it rains here it really pours. Fortunately, the backyard is equipped with french drains. I’m also thinking we’re going to need a riding mower to keep this football field of a backyard in check. And of course the shed to keep the tractor mower in will be a beefy project too.  Lots to do and not too many weekends to get them all done in.  Having a fifteen minute commute to work certainly helps though. The last photo here is of the living room with the kitchen in the background on the left and the sliver of the dining room in the center.  Behind the shelves on the wall is the home office.  That room is a bit of a disaster right now - it’s always the last one to get unpacked.

Grandma, Audrey and I were hanging out in Grandma’s room before school today. Audrey picked up a bookmark from Grandma’s desk with the Books of the Bible listed on it and asked me to read it.

Audrey: “Mom, can you read this to me?”
Mom: “Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Ruth.”
Grandma: “You left out Deuteronomy.”
Mom: “Yeah, I didn’t know how to pronounce that one.”
Audrey: “Here Grandma. You read it to me.”

I guess it’s a good thing she can recognize when she should go to a more knowledgable source of information.

Tags: Knowledge

Audrey started school on the 8th of February. She has been talking about going to school for some time now so she was pretty excited to start. Unfortunately that excitement ran out about a week into it when she realized that it was a bit of a permanent thing and that it happened 5 days a week. She started off at a Montessori school near home that Kim stumbled across last month. It came highly recommended by another school that Kim did like but didn’t have space for Audrey.

We went to our first Parent-Teacher meeting last Friday and it was great! I was expecting to hear about what happens on a day-to-day basis and then talk about things that we could do to help Audrey catch up since she got a bit of a late start in the year. Instead we spent almost the entire 2 hours talking about all of the activities they do during the day and how Audrey is doing picking them up. I guess the other stuff comes later.

It was great to see what activities she preferred to do and how she’s interacting with other students. She has finally remembered the name of one student that she is now friends with - Repunzal I think. Anyway, they’re working on developing her hand-eye co-ordination, phonics & math. I’m excited to go to the next PT meeting to see how she’s developed.

Tags: math, montessori, phonics, PT, school