Happy 4th Birthday Isaac

My dear Isaac.  Today you turn 4.  Oh what these 4 years have been.  You have changed so much, but you have changed me.  You made me into something I never was before, a mommy.  You made me stronger.  You made me tougher.  You caused me to find a strength that I never knew was within me.  4 years ago when I was pregnant I had a fairy tale image how everything would go, you must have laughed at that one when you tossed it out the window and came a full 12 weeks early.  (and your brother the same 3 years later, but thats another blog....)  You always were stubborn, but your stubborness was the key to your survival.  As frustrating as that can be as your  mother, don't lose it, it will serve you well in today's world of conformation and peer pressure.

Today you turn 4.  I must say 3 was a challenge for me, and I'm sure for you.  Age 3 started hard for you, with mama missing your party and you having your first overnight stay, which resulted in a week at grandma's and a baby brother.  A baby brother who took up a lot of Mama and Daddy's time with HIS 3 months in the NICU.   But one day, you will be glad for him.  (Probably when he stops chewing on your toys.)  I still feel sorry for missing your birthday and getting to go on that "rweally cool ambalance (ambulance) ride" without you.  Trust me, its not all its cracked up to be (as you learned in February when you had your own).  This year you learned to use the big potty, for which I am thankful.  You learned to count to 11.  We are learning your ABCs.  This year you also got Mommy to stay home and be the kind of mom I always wanted to be.  We've done storytime, shopping trips, park trips, ice cream stops, and various "fun" things.  We started homeschooling PreK.

I'm sorry for sometimes NOT being the cool mom.  For having to give spankings, time outs, and for sometimes just flat out losing my temper.  But its because I love you and I just want you to learn whats best and right.  And well..you are stubborn.  You like things YOUR way.  And if you dont like it your response of "I think NOT"  Oh Isaac...you are my little sweetie and my little stinker.  

So Happy 4th Birthday to my Boo Boo, my little man, my big boy.

B is for Bee/Butterfly/Brown Bear

The letter B got short changed a bit between stomach bug, VBS, and Peach Festival.  However, he already was familar so I feel confident moving on.

We started the week with watching Magic School Bus episode on Bees.  We counted bees, we colored butterflies, we read Brown Bear (and pointed out all the letter B's), we ate honey!  (Pet peeve of beekeeper hubby, why do all the bee stuff have WASP NESTS for beehives...lol)

Our biggest challenge is him learning patterns, he is really struggling with the concept of what comes next, but we are still working on it and I'm sure he'll get it.  He's sitting here right now gluing and copying a pattern of CANDY!  (C is for Candy!)    And off to count some M&Ms...colors, numbers, letter C...its all good!! Maybe we should also make COOKIES!

Letter C will also get a bit shortchanged when we revisit B for BIRTHDAYS!  Yes, its birthday week!  We'll soon have a 4 year old and a 1 year old!  (Stay tuned for birthday posts!!)


Also have a speech therapy evaluation this week, while he has an amazing vocabulary and talks no stop most people have trouble understanding him so we'll see if he needs a little help!

MOB BlogHop

I decided to join the MOB (Moms of Boys) Blog Hop!  Trying to get back to regularly blogging now that I'm living the leisurely life of a SAHM.  (ha!)

About me..I'm Erin.  Married to Klay, who is an IT guy, and mommy to Isaac and James. Isaac will be 4 and James will be 1 here in just a couple weeks so we are currently planning parties!  Both boys were born very premature, 28 weeks and 25 weeks, so I post a lot about our challenges as preemie parents and our NICU journey, my blog has helped me heal a lot of wounds over those experiences. 

We live in rural Arkansas.  We like to try to live a self sufficient lifestyle and "homesteading" on our small little place.  Mostly just playing but we are teaching our sons valuable skills and lost arts.

We are dabbling in homeschooling this year as Isaac is now preschool age.  We are not 100% sure what our future holds in regards to school but we are open to whatever we think is best for our children at the time so no point in making a bug decision right now!

Isaac is a true boy, he loves trains, construction stuff, trucks, etc.  He will spend hours building train tracks and driving trains.  He loves being a fireman and you can find him in costume nearly every day at some point, running around yelling "Dont worry, Fireman Isaac is here to help"  When he grows up he wants to be on the volunteer fire department like his Daddy and then be a "delibery man, and drive a PPS truck"  (Delivery man, UPS truck). 

Excited to join the MOB Society and looking to make new mommy friends!! 

A is for Apple/Airplane/Alligator

Today we started our homeschool preschool.  I was going to wait but he was getting bored, things were organized, and he was excited and interested so we started! 

We are doing "letter of the week" with other concepts and activities based off that.  Today was the letter A...which I'll probably breeze through and go on  because he knows that one.  Of course we'll review regularly.

We talked about the letter, introduced the idea of "big letters" and "little letters".  Which was new to him.  We looked at the letter on flash cards, picked it out of the magnetic letters, colored a letter A.  Traced the letter A.  Did fingerpaint Alligator and Apple.  Did some tracing of "airplane routes" and counted airplanes. Which he surprised me on...he is now counting to 9 and recognizing numbers I didnt know he knew!  (If you look at the pics of the counted planes, he counted them and circled the correct one but wanted to X out the wrong ones..) 

FIne motor is something we need to really work on, along with pencil control but he is only turning 4 in a couple weeks so while we are working on the writing we arent pushing it hard yet. 

I also quizzed him to see what he knew, he knows ALL his colors, most of his shapes (Rectangle and Diamond are newbies to him).  He also recognizes nearly all numbers 1-9, with the exception of 6 and 9. 

Busy July

July is one of the busiest months for our family and this year has been no exception. 

We usually kick it off with hubby-doo organizing and putting on our local fireworks show.  This year it was cancelled due to extreme drought.  However, he in turn has kept busy with lots of fire calls...thankfully the really bad wildfires have not been in our immediate area, there have been some bad ones around, but our little community has been spared so far.  

Trying to wrap up what little garden stuff we have to can, just a few tomatoes left.  And since we are under a water conservation order, watering of them is done.  I have a batch of spaghetti sauce simmering now, and need to go pick another pan of tomatoes, then they will probably be done. 

Next week we have VBS at church, always a wonderful experience but very tiring, especially when you have two little balls of energy.

Then comes birthday week!!  Yes, this time next month I'll be mama to a 4 year old and a 1 year old.  What a whirlwind this last year has been.  Seems like just yesterday.....I hope to attend Isaac's party this year.  :-) 

Still working on organizing "homeschool preschool" for Isaac.  The internet, specifically Pinterest is FULL of amazing freebies, my stack is growing!  While waiting for my tomatoes to get done simmering I'm organizing stuff right  now...  I'm anxious to start but I want to be organized first so I am making myself not just "play school" right now and wait until I'm ready.  On a positive note, he's finally decided to pay attention and is counting to 10!  And knows a good portion of his letters!  A few weeks ago I was horribly discouraged...now not so much.  He's a smart kid but stubborn as all get out!