Skip to main content

Lots to Learn


 A while back I had a conversation with a friend.  Yes, I have friends.  

Fine...it was an acquaintance.

The point is, we got on the topics of school as is often the case.  She mentioned that she had asked a kindergarten teacher what she would like kids to know when they started school.  The teacher, she said, wanted kids to come in knowing the basics. 

I considered that our boys know their colors, shapes, numbers and letters and proceeded to mentally pat myself on the back and breathe a sigh of relief.   

Then she continued to say, the basics like personal hygiene, how to wipe their own bottoms, get dressed after using the bathroom, wash their hands, and open the food in their lunch pails...

My heart sank as I looked at our youngest with his shirt on backwards, his pants on backwards, undoubtedly his underwear on backwards and his socks upside down.  Then I looked at our oldest, his boxers were bunched so high that the legs were above the waistline of his pants, and that was because he had just dropped his pants to his ankles to pee on a tree...next to the road...at the park where we were having lunch.  

That's when I realized we have a lot of work to do in a few short months.  

Captain Clogger, has to learn toilet paper portion control and proper wiping technique.  The Black Handed Bandit is going to have to learn what soap is.  Both boys, have atrocious table manners.  Suddenly, I am very aware of how much they use their hands to eat and how they wait until their mouths are filled to maximum capacity before they try to talk.  Forget finishing school, does anybody teach starting school???     


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sheltering in Place

In the past three months Corona Virus has more or less turned the world on its head.  I feel almost guilty for not being more stressed or put out by the whole thing.  We have been extremely fortunate. What we thought was a most impractical move on our part, wound up being a huge blessing.  With our two boys and our two newborns, we moved out of our house with no yard in the city limits and into my parents' house in the country while waiting for our new house to be completed.  The weekend we moved "quarantine," "social distancing," and "shelter in place" became the new mantra of our state.   Moving in with my parents meant ten plus acres of play space and two extra able bodied adults to help even out the score with the four kids.  Win for the St. Clair's!  Unfortunately, my parents are beginning to realize they may have made an error in judgement.   Yesterday, Sawyer gave their cat swimming lessons.   Last week th...
1 comment
Read more

Fear Factor

 Did you know that it has been not  scientifically proven that a baby can smell her mother's presence through a closed door.  It's probably the smell of fear that they are actually attuned to, but nonetheless.  I hold my breath and walk on tiptoe past the baby's room and still get busted nearly every time.  My fear is pungent. Besides waking the babies, I have another fear currently in the forefront of my mind.  Don't mind me, this is just another episode of True Confessions.. .  Here it is: the boys are getting so much outside time that they are building up incredible endurance.  It's great really, but it is   becoming  so hard to wear them out. It used to be an hour at the playground and we were golden.  Now, they basically put in an eight-hour workday, and it's just a warm-up!  Does anybody have a treadmill....?  Real school is going to be a bit of an adjustment for the big guy next fall.    Speaking of s...
4 comments
Read more

For the Love of Kids

I love the contrasting sides of our children.  It's one of my favorite things that I didn't know I was going to love.  I think it's fair to say that when we have kids, we all know we will love the squishy babies, hearing kids laugh, seeing holidays through their eyes, and dressing them in the cute little outfits (I'm told boys don't wear outfits , but it's my blog). I didn't know how much I'd love seeing my loud, dirt loving, gun fanatic, wrestling maniac five-year-old turn into the sweetest and most gentle big brother while holding his baby sister.  He sits and quietly tells her stories about his fishing and hunting conquests unaware of anyone else in the room, and my heart absolutely melts. Then we have my slightly crusty, flannel loving, mismatching three-year-old that will choose a princess dress from the costume closet because although he likes sand and rocks and sticks and filth, he also likes and appreciates things that are beautiful. I lov...
Post a Comment
Read more