Hello everyone.

It’s Wednesday afternoon right now. I’m starting this a little early, or some of you might call it way late (Tiffany) since I didn’t post an update last week, but I say it’s early because I usually post on the weekend! :P If my hubby were to come home and see me at the computer after walking past a humongous pile of laundry on the couch and through a dirty kitchen, he’d be a bit upset! No worries about that, though, as he rarely comes home early. If he did I’d know before hand. He tends to slam the back door which shakes the house so I’d have plenty of time to zip out of this chair and into some activity that makes me appear busy! LOL Shoot, my secret is out! Sometimes he actually does read what I write, but he says it’s too long, so maybe I’ll cut this paragraph out and paste it at the end! LOL

Hunter looks so much older with his glasses on! I can’t believe it! It took him a couple days to get used to them, but now he wears them every waking moment and has been good so far about putting them in the case when he showers and goes to bed. (I was good with that too in the beginning!) I think he is still amazed at how well he can see now. He likes how they turn into sunglasses when outside, too.

He passed his third Reading Achievement test last week. He chose another Junie B. Jones book. This one was called Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren. On April 21st and 23rd, Hunter will participate in the state achievement tests in reading and math. I have no big concerns, especially with the reading one, but Hunter’s not so good at timed tests in math. He goes so slow sometimes and is still distracted by his pencil, or sometimes even his fingers. I’m going to be asking his teacher what the setup is going to be for him.

The other day he came home and said he had some news to share with me. We sat down together on the couch and he told me that there’s a new law that students can’t bring snacks or water bottles to school anymore. I asked him if he meant a new school rule, but he said no, it’s a new law. I didn’t think he understood the difference, but I let it drop because then he said that a student had died in the school lunch room. WHAT? I quizzed him some more and he said that the teacher told him it happened at school, that she read it in the school newsletter.

In the Communication Notebook I asked his teacher about it, and the two above things are tied together and Hunter was right when he used the word law and not rule. Back in 2003 an 8 year old boy died of head injuries when a table he was helping to move in the school cafeteria fell and hit him on the head. I Googled it and found an article from the same year with the same aged boy. This happened in Canada.

His teacher went on to explain that because of that tragedy, the Ohio Board of Health and Safety has passed a new law. I’m not sure the correct wording of the law but am told it bans classrooms from having snacks and water bottles. She continued that until the school district releases a formal announcement the children can keep bringing their morning snacks and water bottles in the warmer months.

I think this is a huge jump. I was saddened to read the article that I found, more so because it happened in the month of December, but what does that accident have to do with snacks and water bottles? Are they worried about rodents? Then they should train and require more of janitorial services. Are they afraid of choking? It rarely happens, but if it does, have the teachers and aids be trained in the Heimlich. I just think this is overkill. Hunter's class doesn't have lunch until 12:45. He eats breakfast at 7:30, has a morning snack with his class at 11, and then lunch at 12:45. Without that snack, these kids are going to be starving and that will affect their performance in the classroom. I remember getting the note last May asking that parents send in water bottles so the kids can have refreshments at their desk and not out in the hallways all the time in long lines at the drinking fountain. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what that formal announcement says. A teacher mom friend of mine in another state says that her school has a problem with rodents and no food is allowed in the classrooms. But are they 9 and 10 year olds and do they have lunch at 1:00? No, they’re in high school.

One more thing about Hunter is that he’s been walking for 30 minutes every evening on the treadmill for almost a week! He didn’t last night because of scouts, but he was participating with us playing baseball after school and jumped on the trampoline. When I suggested he start doing it again I emphasized healthy hearts and bodies, muscles and such. I didn’t want to talk body image, but when I was finished he said, ‘Yeah. I need to lose weight.’ I guess I don’t need to be so tender footed around him anymore!

Devin. Oh, my Devin baby. Where shall I begin? He is a two year old terror, a pint sized pain in my rear, such a terrific trouble maker! I love him so much, but he’s driving me nuts! Here we go: I thought I had the crayons out of his reach. I had the idea that he’d ask to use them and I’d bring them down and he’d color in a controlled manner at the table. What the heck was I thinking?? He pulled a chair over, got the crayons out and colored on a couple walls and windows before I noticed.

It takes time to fold the clean clothes and a load of diapers, bring them to each bedroom and put them away in drawers or on shelves. But in a fraction of the time it took me to do those things, Devin emptied Bryce’s drawers in the toy room (Bryce’s future bedroom) and push off all the diapers on the shelf. He used a toy drum, a box of outgrown clothes and the dresser to climb onto the top of the changing table, where he hollered, ‘I did it, I did it!’

My charming little guy walks around singing songs and dancing and at the same time so innocently passes Bryce and then smacks him on the top of the head. Playing next to each other Devin will look at Bryce, laugh, and then hit him on the head. Devin will be coloring with me on the floor and says he’ll be right back. I hear a giggle, a slapping sound, another giggle and then Bryce crying. While comforting Bryce I ask Devin what happened and the little rug rat happily exclaims that he hit Bryce on the head! Every time he does that I tell him to go away, that Bryce and I don’t want to be around Devin when he hits. Devin does leave, sulking and crying. When I tell him he can come back everything is fine until the next smack and a giggle and we do it all over again!

He is so observant. I addressed a package in permanent marker and put the marker back in the mug by the telephone. I didn’t even notice he took that marker with him downstairs where he had been watching a VHS Blue’s Clue’s tape until I went down there to get him and go outside and play. But when I went into the play room and turned toward our big screen to turn it off, I saw that marker, black, bold and permanent, against the blue screen. Our time outside was out of the question. Devin sat in his chair and watched me gently scrub at those markings. I didn’t have any fun, he didn’t have any fun. Thankfully I got everything off the display, but no such luck on the fabric covering of the base. My hubby took it well. He said he’s accepted the fact that we won’t be doing anymore remodeling until the kids are much older!

In five days Bryce will be 11 months old. I can’t believe it. He gets around like a champion crawler and if you put food in his reach, his hand is there grabbing it before you can blink (you can ask his grandpa about that!) LOL I’m still nursing him mostly, but he eagerly zooms to the dining room table when we sit down. I gave my high chair/swing combo to my sister Amanda because she needs it more than me, but now I need to get a booster or something because it gets messy trying to feed him on my lap!

He has one new tooth on the bottom, totaling seven all together now. He’s still not sleeping through the night, which wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it is because he hollers about it. Devin would quietly whimper, but when Bryce wakes and wants to nurse, he is loud and will even let out a screech or two until I get back into position. My hubby feels like a zombie too sometimes!

For the first time only yesterday, Bryce did a little foot shuffle from his dad in the recliner to me on the couch! The left arm of the recliner is only a few inches from the right cushion of the couch. Bryce did a right left side step to get to me but he still finds crawling from one person to another as the quickest way!

My sister Karyn and her children K’ryn and Kyler are enjoying their spring break in Northern Michigan with our parents. I had offered her my house as half way point between her place in GA and grandparents in MI, but she turned me down. To my great surprise she called early Saturday morning to ask if the invitation was still open for a visit. You bet! The kids played well together, we ate spaghetti, fed the fish in our pond (one of the big ones made an appearance!), had ice cream sundaes and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks before bed. They were off by 8:00 the next morning. It was a short but sweet visit. I’m hoping to visit them at their place in June.

Hope everyone is having a terrific week. It’s now an hour after I started. I think I finished this in record time! Bryce is sleeping and Devin is going back and forth between activities; Moon Sand and Lincoln Logs. Stick with the Logs, son!

Take care!

Yo