I have struggled over what to write about this week. It's just been very routine. I mean, Jenna losing two teeth and the fuel pump going out on my truck are two of the big headlining items I can think of, which just shows how interesting things have been. Sometimes slow is good.
OUR READER. Since Jenna only has one more week of summer left I've been thinking back over her vacation. She has been a voracious reader for a seven year old. Her favorite books are the Junie B. Jones series. It has been hard to maintain a routine this summer and our evening devotion time has suffered some but I have let Jenna read the devotion aloud on occasion. She does a really good job. She also reads to her brothers quite a bit.
OUR DRIVER. The other day Jenna showed Nate how to push the "gas" pedal on their Gator to make it go. When he first learned the trick he hadn't figured out the steering wheel and he drove several circles around Pauline's yard before I took pity on him and gave him another lesson. Nate caught on fairly quickly and while he may not be able to negotiate an obstacle course he can get around. The next day Vicki and Nate went over to Pauline's house. Nate jumped in the Gator and took off. He made it though our back yard without hitting any trees and even turned left toward Pauline's house when he got to the corn field. His only problem was in not straightening the wheels after making the left turn. When Vicki caught up with him she had to pull him out of the tall grass where he had run off the road (the reverse gear quit working on the Gator a few months ago). Nate also hauls trimmings from the flower beds to the edge of the field when we work out there.
What is becoming a parenting challenge is that Nate has claimed complete ownership of the Gator now that he can drive it. Nate has to be told to share it or let someone else drive for a while. And within a few minutes he "forgets" and kicks the offending sibling off the vehicle. Poor Ben gets the butt end of this most of the time.
OUR WINKER. You know that wink that people sometimes give when sharing a secret? Well, Ben has learned to do that. Aunt Mar was the first one to be winked at. It tickled her to no end that Ben took her into his confidence. He has done this several times now--here is one story: The other day he said to Vicki, "Mommy, I think Nate wants a Scoop like mine this Christmas [wink]." Vicki was caught off guard by the wink so she asked him to repeat himself. He did, wink included. Of course my words don't do the gesture justice but it was pretty funny.
Joe
