Ready for the Road

I wasn't sure it was going to happen! It was well over a year ago that Landon took Driver's Ed. (although he hadn't gotten his range and roads in during the class, and it was taking forever to get them done). It was almost a year since he turned 16 ... and when he did finally get all the necessary hours in and passed his test, we still didn't get around to getting his actual license. I had to look into getting insurance (doubling our current monthly payment, and that was WITH a good grade and multi-policy discount) and we didn't have a car for him to drive ... I was SO dreading car shopping though, I just wanted something to fall into our lap.

Then Courtney and Clay had a baby. With baby #3, the car that Courtney had brought into the marriage (that Clayton was currently driving) wouldn't work for their family, and they bought a minivan. They offered their Toyota Corolla  to us for a steal of a deal and we grabbed it ~ the only problem? The car was a stick shift.  Landon was not thrilled about that, but after just a few days of instruction, he mastered it (as I knew he could). 

So the week before school started, we took the car in to pass emissions and safety inspections, then we had to pick up the car title and go get it registered. We got Landon's license, got a parking permit and ... whew, we made it! Landon was ready to drive to his first day of 11th grade.

Last year we had a carpool. Landon would get picked up in the mornings, and I'd do the afternoon pickup. But our carpools from last year weren't going to work this year, and my mornings were already committed taking Callahan to school (starting at the same time, in opposite directions). I didn't really have a back up plan for the morning, so I was very relieved when it all worked out. It also totally frees up my afternoons (saving me almost an hour every day), as Landon picks up Callahan on the way home. Of course it also saves money on gas ... not enough to make up for the increase in insurance, but what can you do?

It's been nice having an extra driver around ... he's been helpful running a few errands here and there. He likes the freedom of being able to run to the store on his own if he wants. When he went to watch the football game at school, I was thrilled not to have to go pick him up at 10:00. 

After a long road ... he's ready *Ü*

Baby Teeth

Colton has been VERY anxious to lose his first tooth! Well, he was anxious for the tooth fairy to come and leave him money anyway. It seems like all his friends in kindergarten had lost a tooth or two, and he was feeling left out. Then ... one wiggled, it wiggled for a while, until he happily came home from school and stated it had fallen out ... finally! In fact ... now tooth #2 is wiggling. It's already wiggled enough there is a gap to the side, so it looks funny all alone there on the bottom with empty space on either side.

I'm glad Colton's first experience with the tooth fairy was a good one ... I always stress a little about our "flaky fairy".  AND (UPDATE) ... sure enough, that other tooth didn't last long at all! It was out by the evening. Colton LOVES the little gummy gap there on the bottom of his mouth! Although he's already excited for whichever tooth is going to come out next. I've told him there is no hurry, he's growing up quickly enough as it is!

Kindergarten is Coming

It was Kindergarten registration today. Being a Friday, it was early out. I picked up the boys, hurried and ran them home, then turned around and went right back with Colton. There was a little presentation by the principal and teachers, then we went around to the classrooms to do some activities (in the picture above, the kids were told to write their name and then use it in a question survey ... the question was "What is your favorite ice cream, chocolate or strawberry?" ...I think the children were disappointed there wasn't really any ice cream ... but there were some cookies at a station in the cafeteria). And as part of kindergarten prep, Colton had needed to get his immunizations. I'd had a doctor's appointment scheduled for last month, but ended up usurping that for a bad ear infection (Colton's fever was high enough they wanted him recovered before going ahead with the shots). We did reschedule and made it in on Wednesday. Poor Colton, he tried to be brave, but he cried. The shots in his legs seemed to really hurt him, and he was walking stiff legged for the rest of the day.

With Colton being our youngest ... this will be the last kindergarten registration we'll have. I can still remember dropping Landon off at school his first day ... with Callahan, I misread the info about kindergarten starting a day later, and accidentally took him a day early. I signed Keaton up for kindergarten right as he turned five (August31), then decided to hold him for a year (so he actually registered twice!) With Cooper ... there was NO chance of him going when he was first eligible (just barely, another August birthday). Even an entire year later, I remember him crying all through kindergarten registration, even though I never left his side. I was so discouraged, but he has blossomed in school. I think Colton is excited and totally ready for school to start. He's such a social little fellow, he has a hard time at home when his brothers are at school and there's only Mom for company. Hurray for kindergarten!

School Pictures

So ... Maga (Grandma) was over the other day and noticed Callahan's school picture hanging on our refrigerator. She requested a copy of it, and the school pictures for the other boys. I didn't have one of Landon ... we'd forgotten picture day at school and neglected to send in a payment, so I didn't have one of #1 son. I found the picture of Callahan and snipped off one of the wallet sizes for her. Then I found one of Keaton ... or I thought I did. Then I realized it was LAST year's picture. I found the current one and compared them (shown below) and thought how similar they were. The same head tilt, the same smile ... of course there was a little change, but not that much ...

Then I pulled out Cooper's current picture and his one from last year ... WOW ... what a difference a year made in THIS child! You almost can't tell it's the same kid, he's grown and changed SO much. Why, he was still a baby last year (in kindergarten) ... this year, in first grade, he's definitely a little boy ...

What will the coming years bring?

Dress for Success

My baby is growing up! In just the last little bit, he's started to dress himself, and it is such a big help! Before, he would roll out of bed and immediately want to be dressed. It didn't matter if I was still sleeping, busy exercising or making breakfast for the boys, I would have to stop and go help him get dressed. In the evenings we would send one of the older boys to help get his jammies on, and then one day, he did it all on his own. I then encouraged him to dress himself in the morning and he did great! Sometimes things get put on backwards or inside out, but it's all good. He still needs a little help, as he told me this morning "I can do it all but the zip and clip" (referring to his pants). Socks were a challenge (often he'd just put his shoes on without socks ... I was a bit frustrated the time we went bowling and I hadn't noticed he didn't have socks on!) but he's now mastered them too!

At first, I would try to lay Colton's clothes out for him. It encouraged him to go ahead and try dressing himself, and often my judgement was needed to match the weather conditions for the day (no shorts when it's snowing please). Generally, matching clothes isn't that big of a problem for little boys, as jeans go with pretty much anything. When the warmer weather rolled around however, Colton pulled out some interesting combinations of plaid shorts and patterned shirts. I tried to show him that there were various colors in the shorts, and if possible, we should get a shirt of a matching color (preferably one without a pattern). He's actually done pretty well making matches. This morning, I laid some clothes out (May 24th ... it's SNOWING outside). I put some jeans and a long sleeved red shirt. Colton put them on but commented that they were "wrong". When I asked him what he meant he said "the pants are blue and the shirt is red, they don't match!".

As Colton has started to get dressed himself, he's also become quite modest man. He always wants the door closed as he changes clothes and gets upset if anyone walks in on him in his underwear. He seems oblivious to the fact that more often than not, the blinds on the window are open, so anyone walking by outside would have a clear view. And of course, this is the same child who makes a mad dash from his room across the hallway to the bathroom totally naked!

Bye Bye Baby Teeth

Cooper lost his FIRST tooth. It's been wiggling and loose for a while now. Early Saturday morning he excitedly told me it had fallen out. We put it under his pillow and he got $2 from the tooth fairy (I'm glad the tooth fairy was on top of things ... I can't TELL you how many times she's flaked out on our kids!).

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

No ... this isn't a post about the book or the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" ... but rather a note about a certain little Blackham boy who has a well-worn, much loved, pair of striped pajamas. I can't recall if these were handed down from older brothers, I don't have a picture (in my head or otherwise) of Landon or Callahan wearing them, but that could just be influenced by the MANY actual photos I DO have of Keaton in them over the last couple years. These are just a few I found ...
This was Father's Day breakfast in bed ...

Decorating Easter eggs ...

With all the brothers (above) and camping (below) ...
The striped pajamas have made the rounds...

Now Keaton kept getting bigger, but the pajamas of course, did not. They are a size 7 ... he is now 9 ... but he just could NOT give up his striped pajamas. Part of the problem was that he didn't really have any replacements. As the older boys got bigger, they stopped wearing pajamas and just started putting on basketball shorts and a white t-shirt for bed. While Keaton would do this occasionally ... he would always revert back to his striped pajamas. About a week ago, after doing his laundry, I took the pajamas and put them in Cooper's jammy drawer. Not being able to find his striped pajamas, Keaton did put on his red basketball shorts and a white t-shirt without a fuss. But then, a night or two ago, Cooper found the striped pajamas in his drawer and came out wearing them... Keaton did NOT handle it well. We actually had to have Cooper go take them off. The last couple days, I've been looking all over to try to find some NEW pajamas for Keaton. After a couple of tries (I had to make some returns & then still had to put my sewing skills to use changing "pants" to "shorts") I think he is comfortable in a new pair (or two) of pajamas and perhaps ... at some point ... he'll even be able to say goodbye to his striped pajamas... but not quite yet.

Right now ... the striped pajamas are still in Keaton's drawer. He's not quite ready to see them on Cooper yet (and Cooper really does have plenty of pjs). Maybe I will take the striped pajamas and pack them away in the box that holds Keaton's baby stuff and treasures through the years. Keaton did NOT wear the striped pajamas last night, he wore one of the new ones ... and he looked different ... older ... bigger,

...and *I* miss the little boy in the striped pajamas :)

Done with Diapers!

This post is actually a little late ... but sometimes you just don't dare make a statement like "we are done with diapers" for fear of jinxing yourself, but at this point, I think I can say, we are DONE. It's been over FOURTEEN YEARS of CONTINUAL diapers. I was just never one of those on the ball moms who was able to get one child potty trained before the next baby came along. So from 1995 until 2009 ... constant diaper duty. Now Colton had turned three at the tail end of 2008, and I hadn't even tried to work with him yet. Why? Well his older brother hadn't quite mastered the art of potty training yet. But in the spring of 2009, Cooper FINALLY got it figured out and I could think about working with Colton. We had scheduled a week long family vacation to California in October '09, and I decided to put off any potty training until after that trip. As soon as we were back, I introduced the potty to Colton and it seemed it was actually going to be a snap. But of course, then there was the common backtracking and it did take a little bit of time to work through. At Christmas however, Colton gifted his young cousin with several packages of diapers that he no longer needed. We still use the precautionary pull-ups for nighttime (for both Colton and Cooper), but I'm so happy to proclaim "WE ARE DONE WITH DIAPERS". It's about time!