I am going to own up to a deficiency of mine. I am horrible at communicating with my family. I don’t write. I don’t call. And you can all probably count on one hand the number of times I have called you on or around your birthday since I have become an adult.
Now I have never liked this about myself and have made attempts to change this over the years. This has worked about as well as my mom’s dieting schemes. I want to do better.
I mowed Aunt Mar’s yard today. I like to mow. With three kids in the house riding the mower gives me plenty of time to think. One of the things I mulled over today was this problem of mine. As I thought it over I decided that I can certainly find 15-20 minutes per week to peck out a short letter about what’s going on in our family and e-mail it to all of you. Given my past track record all I can say is, “Enjoy it while it lasts.” That said, here’s the news of the week.
JENNA IS LOVING SCHOOL. She has just completed her second full week of classes and is having a great time. Her teacher’s name is Linda Jakes. She goes to Mt. Carmel with us. Last Sunday night, as we were putting the kids to bed, Vicki reminded Jenna that there was no school the next day due to Labor Day. Her bottom lip pooched out and she cried, “But I want to go to school tomorrow!” After we explained that it was a national holiday and that no body in the country would be going to school she brightened up and was content to wait until Tuesday.
East Robertson Elementary celebrates Grandparents Day in a big way each year. G’Anne, Aunt Mar, and Maw Maw Jones all went to school to take part in the activities and have lunch with Jenna yesterday. Jenna was very proud to show them around her classroom. We heard that while the meal was good, getting in and out of the seats was another thing all together.
BEN IS NOW TOP DOG. With Jenna away at school during the day Ben is now the oldest sibling. He seems to really enjoy that. He is now going to Mom’s Day Out at Cross Plains Methodist Church on Tuesdays and Fridays. This has been a good thing because he wants to go to Jenna’s school. His teacher says he is very smart. He is the youngest in his class.
We can tell a real difference over the last few weeks in Ben’s use of words. He is commanding a greater spoken vocabulary and asking better questions.
We are still working on the potty training with Ben. He is getting the idea for doing #1. Doing #2 is more of a challenge.
NATE IS SITTING UP AND EATING FOOD. Just this week Nate has gotten his balance down good enough to allow us to sit him up in the floor and leave him alone. We can sit him up in his room and put several of his favorite toys around him and he is happy for 30 minutes or more. We’ll come check on him and he’ll just grin.
Nate also started rice cereal last weekend. We had kind of put it off due to potty training and Jenna starting school. Nate’s reaction was, “Where have you been hiding this stuff?”
OUR LUCK WITH THE LAWN MOWER IS HOLDING. Our mower has broken down some 6 or 7 times this year. Not a good thing when we are taking care of 3 yards. It seems like I have used Kenny’s mower about as much as I have used mine. I am most grateful for his generosity. I lacked 30 minutes finishing Aunt Mar’s yard today when it broke down again. Cub Cadets aren’t what they used to be.
VAN PROBLEMS. Vicki took Jenna to school on Thursday. When she and the boys got home the van was making a gurgling sound and steam was coming out in a big way. When I got home and looked at it the radiator was bone dry. I pulled out the hose to refill it, and as I was doing that water starts gushing out of the side of the engine. With 153,000 miles on the thing we were just holding our breath when the guy from Tate’s came to tow the van in. Fortunately the repair is around $100 and most of that is labor because they had to remove other parts (like the alternator) to be able to reach the problem.
A MOVIE REVIEW. Last night Jenna spent the night with Pauline, Ben spent the night with Mom and Aunt Mar, and Pauline agreed to keep Nate for the evening. Vicki and I went out on a date! We began our date by splurging (we had a coupon) on seafood at a great little seafood place in Springfield (Captain D’s). If you had looked in on us a bit later you would have seen us taking a lovely walk through a nearby garden. When we left the produce section we continued our leisurely stroll through the grocery store (more coupons in hand). Between these two things we stopped by the video store to rent some movies (still more coupons). When we got home we put Solaris in. Whenever I figure out what the film was about I’ll let you know. If any of you have seen the film and want to enlighten me, please help me out. Other than not getting the point of the story it was pretty good. But maybe that was due to the bowl of ice cream.
Joe
