Ah, to be a boy.

It's a fact that boys and girls are different. They think differently, act differently, see things differently; they're just different. There are things girls can do that boys can't do, they can bear children, people don't think they're strange because they want to buy yet another pair of shoes, they can choose to stay home with their children instead of getting a job outside the home and not be mocked. There are things boys can do that girls can't do too. Boys can be drafted, they can not shave their legs and not have people think they're gross, they can pee standing up. Okay, technically girls can pee standing up as well, but it's a lot easier for a boy to do it and not have to crouch in some creative position in order to not get anything on their clothes.

You may be wondering what made me post about such a subject, but it's not completely out of the blue here.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so the kids and I were going to play in the back yard. We normally play in the front yard where they can ride their bikes and things, but I had just put down a weed killer kind of fertilizer in the front and didn't want them to get it all over them. So we were playing in the back. Before we could do that comfortably, I decided I should clean up the poop back there left by our very large dog. Luckily, he limits the pooping to two areas in the yard, so there was a large area where the kids could play while I was cleaning it up. I had just finished cleaning it up and turned around to check on something, when I saw Chris standing in the yard with his pants around his ankles, peeing. I had to restrain myself from laughing because it was kind of silly, but I had to talk to him about how we don't pee outside when we're close to a bathroom. He said he also wanted to poop in the grass, so I had to take him inside and make him use the toilet for that. I must say though, I was grateful that he decided to pee in the grass rather than in his pants. And I was grateful he was a boy and could do it without getting it all over himself.

So yes, boys and girls are different. My boys may be very active, but I'm glad I have them.

Dentist

So today was the big dentist appointment day. We got to the dentist right at about 8:00 and then waited for a bit. The boys went to play in the playroom while we were waiting. Chris decided during that time that he had to use the bathroom, after I had asked him and he said no, so I took him in there. Of course, he had waited long enough that he couldn't really hold it and started wetting in his pants and spraying all over the bathroom as I was pulling down his pants. So after he finished using the bathroom, I had to call Bryce to come over to the office to bring me the extra pair of pants and underpants that were in the van. While we were waiting for Bryce, they called Ben back. Ben didn't want to go, but went fine when they said that Alex could go back with him and watch. So Bryce got there with the pants and I got Chris changed and had to clean up water on their table where he dumped a cup of water, when the hygenist came back again to have me go back and try to help Ben let her polish his teeth. He had done his x-rays fine, but didn't want to let her polish. So I went back and tried to get him to let her, which he wouldn't do. So she decided to let Alex hop up and try it. Alex was really good and was cooperative for everything. She polished his teeth and then took x-rays of his mouth, then the dentist came in and had a look at his teeth. After he looked at Alex's teeth, he had Ben hop up and he looked at his. Ben kept trying to scrunch down in the chair to kind of get away from it, but did let him look. He liked seeing his x-rays where we could see his new top teeth waiting to come in. After the dentist examined Ben, he left to examine other patients for a bit and Ben finally let the hygenist polish his teeth and was actually pretty good about it. Then the dentist came back to look at Chris's teeth. He didn't want to open his mouth, so we had to have Chris sit on my lap and kind of lay back onto the dentist while he tried to get a look.
As it turns out, Ben has 3 cavaties and was referred to a pediatric dentist because he had such a hard time letting them look. Alex had no cavaties and Chris had no cavaties. It actually was a pretty easy visit, even with the little trials. It went quickly and the boys weren't running around and getting into things they shouldn't have been. And the boys loved getting the bags from the dentist that had toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and a flosser. And they were very excited to be able to get a prize out of the prize bucket. I think they'll be happy to go back next time. Well, except for maybe Ben. We'll have to see how he does when he gets his cavaties filled.

Just because

Just to keep it a little more interesting for those of you who have Google Reader - so it won't keep saying there are no unread items, I thought I would do another post today. Aren't I nice? Well, after you read this, you may wonder why I even bothered and may think that was just a waste of time. But it's the thought that counts, right?

Last night we had our Relief Society birthday dinner. I, along with 3 other women in my ward, did a musical number for it. We sang an arrangement of "Sweet Is The Work" that actually had some really pretty harmonies in it. For some reason, I would have a hard time getting my part right when we'd sing it all together, but I think I did okay when we sang last night. Of course, they had us eat dinner first and they served ice cream cake for dessert, so it was a little bit scary at first. We all stood up to sing and all of us had to keep clearing our throats. So it was a fun beginning for those listening. We did get lots of compliments after, and made at least one person cry (and of course, she had to say the closing prayer right after we sang, so she didn't appreciate it), so at least we weren't really bad.

I finally broke down and made dentist appointments for my family. Daniel is still a bit young to have a dentist appointment and only has 2 teeth so far, so it would be a bit pointless, but the rest of us all have appointments. Bryce and I have appointments on the 14th (if Bryce can end up making it). The 3 boys go tomorrow morning at 8 am. Yes, that's 8 am in Meridian. I was kind of hoping that Bryce would be able to take a little time off in the morning to help me out, but he has a really big bid due tomorrow and didn't have time yesterday to work on it, so he only has the time today he might be able to get to it and tomorrow, so he can't. I'm trying to be optimistic and keep telling Bryce that it will work out okay and I'll be able to handle helping the 3 boys at the dentist by myself. I guess we'll see if the optimism worked by tomorrow afternoon. The good news for the google reader group is that means that tomorrow there will probably be yet another unread item for you when I leave a post about how that turned out.

Belief-O-Matic

So for fun today, I went to beliefnet.com and took their Belief-O-Matic quiz. I had read on another blog where someone had gone there, so I thought it might be fun to try. And surprise, surprise, my beliefs were 100% Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Can you believe that? At least it's good to know that my beliefs match up with the beliefs of my religion. Especially since I teach Gospel Doctrine in Sunday School. It would be kind of scary if they didn't, huh?

Parent Teacher Conferences, doctor follow-up, etc.

We took Ben to his second parent-teacher conference on Wednesday night. His new teacher, Mrs. Rounds, seems to be fairly nice. As usual, Ben is pretty smart and knows his stuff. Mrs. Rounds said she'll ask Ben things if the other kids seem to be struggling and he always knows the answer. She showed us some charting with the last iri testing he took. He was well above average with everything except for segmentation (where they're given a word like table and have to sound each part out separately). He was right at the top of the average section there, so pretty close to being above average. He didn't get the highest score in the school for Kindergarteners this time. He actually was 2nd in his class for most of it, except the segmentation, where he's 11th (out of 22, so right in the middle there). We had practiced segmentation with him at home and he did it really well, so I think he just didn't do quite as well while he was tested. Mrs. Rounds did say that sometimes Ben has a hard time listening and doing what she's asked him to do. She said there have been a couple times where she came close to calling home, but she knew that the conferences were coming up, so she'd discuss it with us then. She said she talked to Mrs. Warnke (Ben's old teacher) and found out about the bean system we had been doing, but Ben keeps insisting that he doesn't need to do the beans anymore, so she's letting him try it without. She also wants Ben to work on his handwriting a little more, mostly with getting the letters the right size so that the uppercase are taller than the lowercase, etc. She thinks that Ben is getting a little bored with some of the things, like when they're still discussing the letter sounds. He knows that part pretty well. He'll be starting in a group that's a little more advanced when they do their workshops so that he can learn things he may not already know. He may start doing a thing with the library where they test him to see his reading level and start sending home books with him to read.

We took Daniel to the doctor to follow up on his pneumonia yesterday morning. His blood ox level was up to 100% and he was looking and sounding better. He still had fluid in one of his ears, but the infection seemed to be gone. He had also regained a couple of the ounces he lost, but has a bit more to go to be back where he was before he got sick. The good news is that we can call him over it, but we just still need to watch him to make sure he doesn't get worse again. He has his 9 month well-baby check up on the 17th, so the doctor will check him again then to make sure he's completely over it.

After the doctor appointment, I took the boys to the zoo. They had a really good time. Daniel had fun sitting up in the stroller and playing with his brothers and they all had a good time seeing the animals and playing on some of the slides and toys they have there. As we were driving away, Chris kept saying, "I want to see more big animals!" I'd tell him that we saw them all and he'd say, "No! I want to see more!" He's been asking me today if we can go back. I may brave it again, since they were pretty good, up until the point where Chris had to use the bathroom. That's when having another adult with me would have been nice.

Here are a few pictures:

The boys are coming down the slide together:


They're playing on the animals:


Daniel is hanging out in the stroller:


This one is just Alex and Chris making silly faces: