Parent-Teacher Conferences

So last night we had our first ever parent-teacher conferences with more than one kid. It's not really a lot different with more than one kid scheduled, you just go from one to another and are there a little longer.

Ben's was scheduled first, so we all headed to his classroom and waited outside for a couple of minutes while another student was finishing with hers. Ben's teacher offered to let the other kids draw on the dry erase board, which they thought was pretty darn cool. Anyway, Ben's teacher had mostly good things to say about him. Yes, he still has occasional problems, but they're normal for his age and he's usually pretty good. And she thinks they usually stem from him being bored with what they're learning. She talked about how he and one girl in his class are going to start doing the accelerated math stuff (which usually starts in the 3rd grade, but they get to do it now). She also talked about how advanced he is in reading. He tested at 147 correct words per minute in reading, which is well above the benchmark for his grade. I looked at his report card where they list the fluency benchmarks for all the grades and they had listed the benchmark for 5th grade in spring at 145. So Ben is doing pretty well, I'd say. As far as his grades go, he got all E's and one E+ (that's A's to you and me...E stands for "exceeds standard"). We were both really impressed with Ben's teacher and how much she's doing to try to make sure he's actually learning new stuff and able to do things on his level. She even said that she will let him stand to do his work if he needs to, and that she'll let him doodle while he's listening to her, since he seems to actually listen better when he's doing something like that.

After Ben's, we went over to Alex's room. His was actually a lot faster. She showed us how he's doing pretty well. She said he usually listens and is good in class and that sometimes she needs to remind him to keep him on track, but he's usually pretty good. She will be going on maternity leave here within the next couple of weeks since she's due on the 14th, but her student teacher (who I already knew because her daughter Molly was in Ben's kindergarten class and she went in and did some work with the kids sometimes) will be taking over while she's gone. Alex's teacher sent home some letter flash cards and a sheet to practice writing his name, so he can keep improving on those.

After those conferences were over, we went into the music room where the music teacher said they're both doing pretty well and participating, and then to the gym where the gym teacher said they're doing well. She did say that sometimes she'll be talking to Ben and he'll just kind of shut down (due to frustration usually) and other times he'll jabber away, but he's doing really well. And Alex is doing well too. After we left the gym, we went to the library where they were holding their book fair and bought 3 Goosebumps books for Ben to read (and he's already on Chapter 7 of one) and another Star Wars book for them to read.

It's always nice to go to the conferences and hear that the kids are doing well and not really having problems.

Abby's 6 month WCC

I took Abby to the doctor this morning for her 6 month well child check-up. It was your typical appointment with weighing and measuring, checking ears, eyes and other things, and 3 shots and an oral vaccination.

Abby now weighs 16 pounds, 12 ounces (a little above the 50th percentile) and she is 26-1/4 inches long (a little under 75th percentile). Her head is 16+ (I can't remember and am too lazy to go look it up) inches, so that's 30th percentile, which is higher than it was last time, so she's growing well.

She was funny and kept bouncing when the doctor came in like she wanted him to pay attention to her. She was happy the whole time, except for the shots, which she did not like at all.

I would have had her get a flu shot, but the office is already out of them. Of course, right? But they have been giving everyone papers on what to look for with the H1N1 virus. I was reading it while I was waiting for the doctor to come in. Of course, the first symptom was fever, but it had an asterix by it, so I looked down and read what it had to say about that, and it said, "It's important to remember that not everyone with the flu has a fever." So I immediately thought, "Oops." I had thought with all the hubub about the H1N1 virus that they always said something about a fever of 102 or higher with it. Some of us here have been kind of sick this week, with sore throats, headaches, stuffy noses, coughs, and fatigue. I just assumed it was just a cold, since none of us had fevers. Apparently it could have been the flu. Fun times.

Abby at 6 months

It's hard to believe that 6 months have already gone by, but they have. My baby girl is 6 months old today. Crazy.

She has always been such a good baby and still is. She's very patient when she has to wait a while, she will be fine when other people have to watch her, she's very even-tempered and seems to be happy most of the time.

We look at her and see her brothers in her, so obviously our kids have similar traits. But we think that's okay, since we think all our kids are pretty good-looking. And we're not biased at all, right? Of course, all our boys kept their hair (or at least some of it) and Abby lost hers, but she seems to be getting it back. We can't decide if it's coming in blonde or dark though.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took of Abby on her half birthday. She was kind of tired when I took them, so didn't want to smile for me much.

Ben's lip

Most of you probably know about Ben's lip by now. He had a mucous seal growing on the inside of his lip and had it removed on Monday. The doctor said that the youngest he had done it in the office was probably 7, but may have been 8, so he was willing to let us try to do Ben's in the office rather than going to the hospital for it. I was pretty glad about that, since it would have been more expensive in the hospital.

Ben did great with it. He only got a little nervous when the doctor was going to put the anesthetic cream on it because the thought that part would hurt, but once he realized it wouldn't hurt, he was fine. He even sat still for the needle part. And he totally cracked me up while they were removing it. They were holding his lip still and he kept talking throughout it, saying, "Hey, I don't feel that!" It's especially funny when you realize that Ben is our shy one and doesn't typically talk around people he doesn't really know. So there he was in the doctor's office with basically strangers who were trying to hold his lip still, and he wouldn't stop talking.

His lip started hurting a little bit later that night, but hasn't hurt him since.

Here's Ben showing his mucous seal:


Here's a picture Ben took of his doctor. Nice, huh? I don't know why, but I see this picture and think, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." And the doctor didn't remind me of that at all in person. He actually reminded me of my home teacher (who is blonde, so he reminded me of a dark-haired version of him).


Here's Ben after they put the cream on his lip, trying not to swallow any of it.


Here he is in the chair after he's been numbed, waiting for them to come back in and remove it.


Here's his lip after.


So while it wasn't fun for him to get it removed, he did great. The doctor said he thought that was worth a $50 Christmas present for him, since he saved us lots by not having to have it done at the hospital. I agree. But I got him an icee on the way home from the doctor and we rented a movie to watch that night (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which he really liked). He thought that part was fun.

Christopher's 4th birthday and more

So I used to be pretty good at posting things as they happened, but lately, that hasn't been happening. So instead, you get a single post with a few things. Probably keeps it more interesting that way anyway though.

Chris had his 4th birthday on August 30th. We were all going through a stomach bug, but mostly everyone was okay on his birthday during the day, so that was nice.

Here's Chris blowing out his candle:

Here's Chris with his birthday cookie. He wanted birthday cookies instead of a cake this time, so that's what we did:

Chris is unwrapping his presents:

Everyone checking out Chris's presents and getting ready for ice cream:


You may have noticed that we go to the zoo a lot. Yes, we do. We have the season pass and the kids love it, so we go. Here are some pictures of our latest trip, most are pretty self-explanatory:






I had to throw this one in. I'm not sure how well you can see it, but the snow leopard was sleeping in the barrel and it totally cracked me up, so I took a picture:


Alex has started playing soccer again, and this is a picture from his first game this season:


In other news, Abby is getting her first tooth. I first noticed how close it was two Sundays ago and noticed that it was cutting through last Saturday. If I hadn't seen it, I would have had no idea she was getting it. She's a good teether.

So that's all for now, sometime I'll post more. If you want to hear more about what we're up to, you can always check out my other blog.