Natalie reading a book

Natalie got caught!  This afternoon after lunch I heard her reading a book and actually had enough time to capture her on video before she stopped.  In fact, she kept reading long after I stopped the video...



I love how she stops to look at the pictures after reading a few lines.

Homework Update

I haven't updated the blog with pictures/video of Natalie working on homework since Kindergarten last year...please excuse me for being remiss!  She's made a lot of progress...still very slow, but when I compare to K, I can see how far she's come, and it's a big reason for posting now so we can look back again and see how much she progresses from this moment.

Here's the first side of her homework (and you can see her working on it in the video at the end of this post).  Per her OT's direction, I outline the top line in green, the middle line in yellow and the bottom line in red to help her see and understand the size and relationship of the letters.  She knows how to form all the letters well, but size and placement is her next challenge.  Four days a week, this is her homework: writing on one side and math on the other.  It takes about 20-30 minutes each day.

 
Here's the math side.  The top part, she completed all by herself:  she's improved a lot at counting one-to-one, so she can count the tens and then count the ones.  And she understands (from this format, or does she really understand the concept?) that 2 tens and 3 ones is 23.   The bottom part of the math is impossible for her to complete without my assistance, helping her count on my fingers and add and subtract from the fingers I hold up.  She knows all addition doubles:  1+1=2, 2+2=4, 3+3=6, 4+4=8 and 5+5=10, but other addition facts and subtraction facts have not yet stuck.

And here's the video of her writing the sentence above:


Go Natalie!

Dominik talking about laundry

This fun video shows Dominik helping with the laundry...and also documents the way he currently says "Konrad".

For the record

The other day, Dominik handed me the ball and wanted me to hold it while he whacked at it. I quickly came up with a homemade t-ball. So when, sometime in the future, Dominik plays college and/or major league baseball, this is how it all started.

Natalie writing

We've just come off a long couple weeks of math homework for Natalie (long, because math is soooo hard for her...and because in the middle of it she was home with stomach flu for three days), so imagine my joy when the homework today was back to "high-frequency words".  Whoo-hoo! 

Oh, wait, you want her to practice writing those high-frequency words, not just reading them?

Reading she loves, but writing is another matter.  Imagine my joy again when she readily wrote the words! 



I can tell her aide has been working on writing a lot, that she doesn't push away the paper and pencil immediately.  Well, Natalie has worked hard too, and it's showing.  I've seen lots of classwork coming home with Natalie writing on top of highlighted writing, so I wasn't surprised when Natalie asked for the markers...I picked a nice pink one, but she said, "no, yellow one."  She wanted me to write the word and she would trace the word.  Which she did!  See the video above.  I don't know if you can imagine how laborious this has been in the past...to keep her practicing writing.  Today I even got to go mediate a dispute between Lukas and Konrad, and came back and she was still writing!  Usually the moment I leave her she stops writing...usually the moment I take my hand off her arm, she stops writing (I gently placed my hand on her arm and that helped her propioception).  I haven't been able to take video of her writing because up until today, it's always been a battle that takes two hands to get her to write.

So her new habit requires us to write and she traces...but I can see her writing soooo much more this way, that she HAS to get better at writing and have the confidence to write on her own.

Brag alert

Warning:  this video contains graphic evidence of parental bragging.  Turn up the sound and proceed at your own risk...

(Natalie had never seen these cards before I showed them to her for this video.)

A morning at Pretend City

Last week Tom took a break from his backyard construction (I still need to unveil that on the blog, don't I?) to go with us to Pretend City.  We were so blessed that a friend of his from work gave us five tickets, so we only had to buy one ticket...it's definitely on the pricey side for a family of 6.  We were there for just under two hours...the rush started at around 11:30 and we had to leave in order to retain our sanity.  Even with two adults, it's hard to keep track of four kids, each going in a different direction, when there are so many other kids too.

Pretend City is a kid-sized city with many places for kids to pretend they're being a grown up.  The whole family loved it.

Dominik spent quite some time mowing with this fireman hat on.  As you will see from the video at the end, this is one of the few times that he had the hat on correctly.

Natalie had fun at the grocery store, buying food.

But she had even more fun at the cafe, making some tasty food!

Konrad like the construction area.  Hmmm...we have pipes like those!

Dominik rode almost every ride-on toy...here he's lifting the airplane to make it fly.

Lukas enjoyed checking out the construction area too...

...but what he really liked was earning money.  He was a little disappointed that he couldn't redeem anything for the "money."  But, hey, we can take it home as use it for math lessons!

Dominik enjoyed the control tower.  This is how he holds a telephone--over his shoulder.

And Dr. Konrad was in the hospital keeping everyone healthy.

We've intended to go to Pretend City before, so it's surprising that it's taken us this long to get there.  Definite thumbs up from The Happy Ones!

And here's the video of Dominik, a hat, and a mower. It's really very funny!

In which Natalie reads a book

I've been meaning to post a video of Natalie reading for you...but I haven't found the time until everyone is off school. Hopefully I'll get to all the other projects I've been meaning to do during the school break, but for now, let's check this off the list.

We are so pleased with how Natalie's reading has improved since she started kindergarten (she even got an award!)...she was reading single words before, but now she's reading sentences, although, as you will see, she still needs practice going directly to the next line and not getting distracted by other things on the page or in the room. These stories are practice stories from school, and I think it helps that there are no pictures on the page, because pictures would distract Natalie even more. But she does pretty well with books with pictures too.

Enough, here's the video!

Natalie gets an award! And other school activities!

Yesterday afternoon, Natalie's teacher called to tell us that Natalie would be getting a reading award today, so we might want to attend the award assembly!  Wow!  Tom and I were so proud to watch our little girl receive an award for her awesome reading skills.  Way to go Natalie!



After Natalie's aide showed her that we were in the back of the room, Natalie said, "Hi Mom!"  "There's Mom and Dad!" for the rest of the time she was on the stage.  There were a lot of snickers from the other kids, and the principal reminded everyone to be quiet, but Tom and I were bursting with pride.  It's so wonderful to see her get an award that isn't a result of modifications.  I told Tom last night that I wasn't sure Natalie would appreciate the award ceremony...sometimes special attention on her isn't exactly welcome.  But we could tell that she was proud to walk up and receive the award, and had a lot of fun at the ceremony!

Then it was off to music class for Lukas.  Since I had the camera along, I took pictures of the boys enjoying the drums before class, and Lukas practicing during class.  He has a Christmas concert tomorrow night!  I am so excited to see him participate!

Tuesday is my day to focus on Konrad and Dominik.  Konrad received a craft project for a birthday present that requires him to paint the wood pieces, then assemble into an airplane.

 

This is what Dominik was doing while Konrad was painting:  strapped in, refusing his snack because he wanted to paint too.  Sorry, little man...but your time will come!  First play-doh!

Easy Tuesdays

Lukas goes to homeschool enrichment classes (music, P.E. and art) every Tuesday morning, so with Natalie at school I only have two kids at home!  These are the days that I get to focus on the two youngest Happy Ones, Konrad and Dominik.

Today Konrad painted and Dominik played with play-doh.  Konrad played with play-doh too, but this video is all about Dominik.  And then, we had a playdate with an old friend (check back soon for pictures from that fun time).  I can see that Tuesdays are going to be a lot of fun (if we avoid more doctor appointments like Natalie had this afternoon...that's yet another post!)

Anyway, this video gives a small idea of how Dominik is talking these days.  The first part is just him saying "cheese," which he's picked up from his siblings.  I can't seem to break any of them of that!

Laundry boy

Kids love to help with laundry...until they turn 5 years old and it's their job!  Just kidding...now Lukas tells Konrad to not help him with his chores.  I remind Lukas that one day laundry (collecting the laundry from the different rooms) will be Konrad's chore.  Konrad already helps with "switching out the laundry"...putting the wet laundry in the dryer and the dry laundry in a basket.  Natalie also does laundry from time to time, but usually I do laundry in the morning while she's at school, so she doesn't get the chance so much.

Dominik is always trying to close the machine doors when I'm putting laundry in...so this time I showed him how to put it in, and he was only too happy to help! Am I biased, or is this video seriously funny?

Wordless Wednesday

Walking

Dominik's first unassisted step was last Friday, and only one week later he took his first multiple steps.  He's ready to chase those brothers!

The Armor of God

It's Easter (Spring) Break here at The Happy Ones, which means we're playing and making videos.  We're not doing any school this break (I think the teacher needs as much of a break as the students do!)  But we're still doing Bible time every morning, which is so much nicer and more relaxed when Natalie doesn't have to rush off to the school bus at 7:10.  And...we get to make fun videos like this.

Lukas knows this Bible passage (from Ephesians 6) more perfectly, but it's quite funny to watch Konrad and Natalie say it together, especially when Konrad is suddenly more interested in his toes...and he thinks it's a race!

In which Natalie discusses several topics and builds a doghouse

For Brandi, and everyone else...

...Dominik is 11 months old tomorrow, and this is where he is with his walking.



Brandi is my dear friend and fellow RTS mom who horridly predicted that Dominik would be walking at 7 or 9 months, wasn't it?  Dominik is pulling up on my legs all the time, so I'm trying to redirect him to walk with this walker. He has stood independently for 1/2 second, and he likes to cruise on the couch (sideways).

But this is forward walking!

Houston, we have a sign!

I must be on a roll with the videos...there sure have been a lot lately...which probably means I'll stop taking video and switch back to still photos.  Or not.

Anyway, here is Dominik's first reliable sign:  "all done".  For international signers, it's usually done with both hands, but Dominik is conserving energy by doing it with one hand, I guess for all the crawling he's going to do when I let him down.

Puppet show

A long time ago, my friend Susan gave us this puppet show set.  As you can see, it still provides hours of fun!

Natalie has the last word

Here's the final installment of our video series for this month.  I was trying to get Natalie to sing a song for you, but she didn't want to sing any of the songs I suggested.  She wants to sing "Won't You Be My Friend?" by Rachel Coleman of Signing Time fame.

I have to admit I don't know the song well enough to coach her through it...but she knows enough of the lyrics to make a statement...and the last thing Natalie says on this video, says it all!

Lukas' thoughts on being Seven