Me and My Boys: August 2016

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Birthday Boy--9 years old

Caleb has never had to go to school on his birthday before; he was not excited that the first day of school this year was on his birthday. It helped that his new Math teacher also had the same birthday so they could commiserate together.

Presents: tennis racket, Wii dance game, candy

Not pictured: the game Operation

Also as part of his birthday, he and Matt went to an Astros game the Wednesday before his birthday. They got there early to try to get a signature and succeeded. Alex Bregman signed Caleb's baseball!

He also caught two foul balls!!!

Caleb is successful at anything he puts his mind to: piano, school, sports, games. He is a natural athlete and picks up any sport very quickly. Due to the Olympics, Caleb really wanted to learn badminton. We decided to buy a set and Caleb has become quite good!

He is also a great big brother--he fights the most with Carter but is so patient with Bryson and Austin. If he sees I'm trying to get something done like dinner or laundry, he generally jumps in and whisks the baby away upstairs to play with him. (It's so nice!)

This summer Caleb and I spent a lot of time playing games together (Carter joined in often) and playing badminton or tennis together. He played baseball and a Frisbee game called Can Jam frequently with Matt as well. Quality time is Caleb's love language.

Caleb is a germaphobe! He is very aware of others' germs telling the boys to wash their hands after they sneeze or cough.

He came with an amazing sweet spirit; he wants to obey because he knows it is right. He has been in the habit of praying morning and night for some time, and recently has started reading his scriptures daily (though I have been pushing him to do that for some time).

We are so lucky to have him as part of our family!

First Day of School 2016

Caleb's last year in elementary school as a 4th grader. He's in a portable this year.

Carter is in 1st grade.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Suzuki Book 1 Party

Caleb started taking lessons from a new piano teacher one year ago who taught the Suzuki method alongside reading music. It was a tough adjustment and quite humbling. He was progressing so well and playing challenging songs with his previous teacher that it was difficult to hear his new teacher say that he needed to back-up to square one and concentrate on technique. The first Suzuki book has many easy songs (Mary Had a Little Lamb, London Bridge...) in order to learn ear training and also focus on a specific technique or two in each song. He felt really embarrassed to be playing such basic songs that even Carter could play.

Though he and I both got very frustrated at times, today was pay day. He had his Suzuki Book 1 Party: he played all 17 songs memorized close to perfectly. He nailed the techniques for each song (wrist rolls, proper staccato, repeat note legato, phrasing, sequencing, etc.), he had a great balance between his left hand and right hand (letting the melody sing), and played with wonderful dynamic contrast.

He felt good about his performance and hopefully will have a better attitude as we begin book 2! :)

Sweet Dog

A sweet dog adopted our family 2 weeks ago. Matt had left the side gate open after mowing the yards on Saturday, and Sunday morning a mid-sized dog showed up in our backyard and seemed content to stay. We gave her water (she was very thirsty), and then got some dog food from our neighbor. She was so well-trained and obedient that we thought surely the owners were out looking for her. (She had a collar but no identification tag.) Instead of shooing her back out of our yard, Matt thought it would be better to keep her in one spot so that the owners could find her easier.

We reached out through our neighborhood website, but heard nothing the rest of the day. Monday morning came around and I dragged 4 kids to the store just for dog food. Tuesday morning Matt went in late to work so that he could see if she had a chip. No luck. The response from our neighborhood site was plenty of people offering to help with dog supplies, but no one willing to take her off our hands. Most encouraged us to keep her since taking her to the pound would likely result in her death.

As far as dogs go, she was pretty great. I took her running the 2nd day we had her, and she was able to keep up pretty well on my 3 mile run. Because we weren't sure of bugs/diseases and also due to her shedding, she spent the days on the patio under the ceiling fan. The first night she started barking at 3am; I didn't want to disturb our neighbors so I invited her into the laundry room and she did great the rest of the night.

As I mentioned previously, she was obviously well-trained. She would not come into the house unless invited in. She would sit on command and also did well at lifting her paw at the command "shake." She soaked up any attention we gave her running around the backyard, going for walks, or just sitting next to her and petting her. She only seemed to bark when she needed something or if she was scared.

If we were to get a dog, she is what we would look for! The problem is, we don't want a dog. I grew up with a dog, I worked in a dog kennel in high school, and I love dogs. BUT the reasons we don't want a dog outweigh the reasons why we might want one. A big factor right now is timing. I can tell you that it was not pleasant to be woken up by the dog in the middle of the night 4 of the 5 nights we had her. Sleep is too precious of a commodity with hoping all 4 kids make it through the night without waking us up. Finding someone to watch the dog during vacations is another big reason, and I can't handle a dog who sheds a lot of hair, which unfortunately she did. A clean floor is pretty important to me, and I get grossed out by pet hair all over the floor or collected in corners of the room.

It was a stressful 6 days/5 nights figuring out what to do with the dog. The boys enjoyed having her, and we didn't want them to get too attached. After 3 days of not hearing anything from owners, we then proceeded to reach out to people who might want a dog. We struck gold when one contact worked: Matt's newly married cousin who had permission to buy a dog for her birthday. Things seem to be going well and hopefully continue to do so!

Carter could often be found sitting next to her in the grass just petting her.