The Im Family

a couple of weeks ago, the science teacher at ozzy's preschool did a lesson on "what's inside?"  and the kids looked inside fruits, vegetables, chicken, and fish and saw the seeds and bones inside.  they also talked about the human skeleton.  ozzy was very interested in the idea that his body contained all those bones.  for several days afterward ozzy would question whether an object had bones.  mom? he'd ask, 'does this have bones?"  while holding up a dinner roll, or a potato chip, or a toy train, or a stuffed animal, or pointing to a bug.  and periodically he'd poke at a protruding bone on his own body and announce, 'yup, that's a bone there."  last night, at bedtime, as he snuggled down in bed in his relaxed repose with one hand down the front of his pants (i think that's like a genetic 'guy' thing), he seems to be in a pensive mood, he turns and asks me, "mom, does your pee pee have bones in it?"  not sure what ...

while at the mall the other day, mimi says she wants to pop into the american girl store.  so we do.  she goes in ahead of ozzy and me.  when i catch up with her she is standing in front of this beautiful doll closet.    a $350 doll closet.   i told her it would take her awhile to earn something like that.  she nods and moves on.   later at home, as she's carefully folding her doll clothes into an old briefcase that Rob gave her (i think it belonged to his dad?), i was putting away some clothes she had outgrown, and was moving around some cardboard boxes, and mimi eyes the box thoughtfully and then says.  mom, i bet we could turn that box into a really cute doll closet.  then we wouldnt have to spend any money and i'd like it because we made it.   no doubt about it. she's got my DNA. (however, i think we might be able to find an unfinished wooden doll closet for a fraction of the cost of this....

yesterday ozzy called me into the bathroom with him, screaming he needed me to stay with him b/c there was a bug in there.  what is it?  i asked. it's a mast!  he says. a math?  i ask, confused. NO!  a MAST.  he says. i dont know what a mast is.  oh, you mean a MOTH?  i say. NOOO!  a MAST.  he insists. ozzy, i dont know what a mast, is.  does it look a like an ant?  i ask, trying to determine what he was talking about. yeah, he says.  a tiny ant, but it flies. oh.  you mean GNATS! yeah.  that's what i said.  mmmmmaaassst!

it is still hard to get video of ozzy reading, but i was able to sneak this one in last night.  i was working on the iPad while he was reading out loud to me, and discretely switched it to camera and recorded him.  i think he gets embarrassed because there are words he doesnt know and he doesnt like me to record him when he cant do it all perfectly.  if i ask him first if i can record him reading, he whines that he doesnt know how to read and refuses to even try. he's still working on 'level 1' type readers.  repetitive words/structure, lots of picture support, one or two lines of text.   he will read 1 or 2 books for me each night if i promise to read him a story or two.  i think that's a pretty fair exchange.  ;) he's also starting to do some writing practice.  he can write his name, but his Y looks like a football goal post.  lol.  he can make a P, D, O, Z, Y, I, C, F, G, L, Q, T, V, X, a, b, d by himself.  he loves to d...

last night, ozzy woke up at his usual midnight timeslot looking for me, but instead of crying that his usual bad dream about a monster taking mommy away from him made him scared, he said he needed me to stay because he was "too little to sleep by myself."  you're not too little.  you're a big boy now.  i told him.  he shook his head and said, "but, i'm really not.  i really am too little."  dont you wanna be a big boy and do lots of things that big boys do?  "no.  i wanna stay little and i want you to stay with me." ------------------------------------------------ today at tae kwon do, ozzy earned a green stripe for listening, following directions, and improving his punch technique.  his teacher, Master E, tells the mommies watching to give ozzy a hand for his accomplishment so we clap and cheer.  then he asks ozzy if he'd like to say a speech.  ozzy nods.  so master E tells ozzy to turn around, face the mommies, and say his...

while taking a bath tonight ozzy fills a cup with water and says it full of dictionaries. me: "dictionaries!? do you know what a dictionary is?" ozzy: "no" Mimi: "it's a book that tells you what words mean. and there's another one called a thesaurus. do you know what a thesaurus is?" ozzy: "a DINOSAUR!"

as i packed mimi's new dance shoes in her dance bag this afternoon in preparation for class this evening, i was struck by the sheer size of her feet.  YOOGE ! when had they gotten so big?  didnt seem so long ago that i was buying those adorable little kid shoes.  i fetched her ballet shoes from when she was 18 months old and put them next to her new shoes.  and i cried.

on tuesday, august 23rd, around 1:50 pm, while the kids and i were home, we began to hear a rumbling sound, like a lawn mower, getting steadily louder and louder.  thinking at first there was some nearby construction beginning in our street, i went towards the windows to see, but before i got even a few steps towards the front door, the sound became a loud grinding and the whole house began to shake alarmingly.  i could hear things starting to fall off walls and shelves and crash to the floor.  mimi ran to me, calling out in a fearful voice, mommy, what's happening?!?  i think it's an earthquake , i said, as matter of factly as i could, trying to be calm while also trying to figure out what we should do next.  mimi clung to me, sobbing, "i'm scared.  are we going to die?"   i start moving towards the door, waiting to see if we needed to bolt out the door immediately or if it was going to stop soon, as all the previous earthquakes in the area had been...

a little while back DH found a coupon online for a local zoo in maryland and thought it would be fun for the family to go up there, visit the zoo/safari and then camp the night at a local park/KOA.  so he bought a huge tent and sort of last minute we decided to go this weekend (b/c we were running out of weekends before the tickets expired).  we started the day at the Catoctin Zoo and safari in Maryland.  lots of animals to see and feed. although it was quite hot and ozzy decided 10 minutes into the visit that he would like to go home now (after several hours were spent packing and loading up the car, then driving for an hour to get there).  we kept shifting his attention to the animals and food and that seemed to work. while we waited for our turn on the safari ride, the kids played in the little playground by the outpost and mimi got to ride a camel.  after a quick potty break, then it was time for the safari ride.  the kids enjoyed getting close to t...