What a slacker!

Wow! It's been a month since I've posted. And I've got so much to talk about! I'll give snippets today, and expound later.

1. Austin is doing VERY well on the medication. I feel like the little boy I knew was inside his non-focused, impulsive, emotional body is out for all the world to see and enjoy. Things are going incredibly well at school, at karate, at home. It is wonderful ... and very satisfying to feel that Tim and I made the right decision. No doubt about it!

2. Austin really likes school!! And his teacher really likes him ... she thinks he's a hoot. She's started writing down the funny things he says. An example: they're learning about the ear and hearing in science right now. Yesterday, Austin told Mrs. Johnson that his ear hurt. When she asked how long it had been hurting, he said "not long ... I just yawned and felt something pop inside ... I think it was my hammer." If you know your inner ear parts, you'll find this amusing. :)

3. Maya is swimming right along in school. I am still amazed at her phenomenal reading. She constantly has her nose in a book and reads with intonation and fluency that is absolutely unexpected at her age ... heck! It's unexpected at Austin's age to read like she does. She's doing very well.

4. Karate continues to be fun ... we're learning a lot. I am so impressed with how much the kids (especially Austin) retain from classes. I think I'm going to be a karate mama for Halloween. :)

5. Running is going really well. I have found that listening to classical music while I run is a good thing. I feel peaceful and enjoy the run more. (Thanks for the suggestion Tim ... I'm glad I finally decided to try it.) Yesterday I ran for 40 minutes. That's my longest ever!! I would guess that I ran 3.5 - 3.75 miles. And it felt really good!!

6. Last weekend we had a Schario girls' weekend here at the house. WOW! Did we ever have a fun time!! There was almost a constant buzz of laughter in the house ... often reaching a roar. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to catch up with my cousins, aunts, sisters, stepmom and mom. We sat around and talked a lot (Magi and stayed up until 3:30 am Friday night gabbing!!), played Scruples--which was really fun, ate lots of yummy food, went for a walk / jog Saturday morning, kind of watched a movie (Intolerable Cruelty) and some of the OSU game. But mostly, we just hung out. And it was absolutely fabulous!! I'm already looking forward to the next one!!

That seems like a good place to pause ... I've got to get to the mundane--laundry, dishes, mowing. Sigh.

breakfast in bed

What a great morning! I woke to the sweet snuggle of Maya. (She had a bad dream last night and had crawled into bed with Tim and me around 5:00.) After about 20 minutes of cuddling and talking with her, Austin woke up and came down to my room. He climbed into my bed and nestled in, too. I was surrounded by my kids--our arms around each other, legs intertwined. We were talking about what we'd be doing today when Austin asked if they could make me breakfast in bed. My first thought was "this could be messy" and my second thought was "I've really got a lot I need to get going on for the day", but my best thought was "this could really be fun--for all of us." So I told them that I'd love to have breakfast in bed.

Off they scurried to the kitchen. I heard drawers and cupboards opening and closing, the toaster oven beeping, the refrigerator opening and closing and them talking and giggling all the while.

Maya brought me a tray with 2 pieces of toast made into a sandwich with mayonnaise and sliced tomato--"cut with a butter knife because I'm only allowed to use those, not really sharp knives"--and an apple. She was very formal and proud as she presented me with this breakfast masterpiece. She also made sure to tell me that Austin was "still preparing the second breakfast" and told me not to get too full.

A few minutes later Austin brought me another tray with a jelly sandwich, a piece of cinnamon toast and a sandwich made with a cinnamon and brown sugar mini-bagel with (a lot of) peanut butter and two slices of tomato--"to make it an interesting creation." He was also very formal in his presentation and beaming with pride.

They both climbed into bed with me and I shared some of my food with them ... after all, it was a lot of food! We all agreed that everything was delicious (except for the tomato on the peanut butter bagel sandwich ... interesting, but not tasty). The kids were quite pleased with themselves--that they were able to make all of that by themselves ... and that they were doing something kind and thoughtful.

I was also quite pleased with them. What a nice way to start the day!!

more exciting news

Yesterday was our belt promotion / graduation at karate. It was a very cool program. The studio was packed with family and friends of the nearly 60 of us graduating. We were broken down into groups (the little preschooler group called the Dragons--very cute hearing their itty bitty voices shouting out kias ... and watching them break boards!!, those of us in the beginning belt ranks, then the middle belt ranks and the advanced belts). It was fun for us to get to watch the advanced students and what they've been learning. And we were also glad to see what the students in the Blackbelt Leadership program have been working on. The Blackbelt program is for the definitely dedicated students who show potential to not just go through the lessons and learn the blocks, punches and kicks, but who will be exemplary students really giving their best ... and they also learn more advanced things like sparring, weapons use and grappling. To be in the Blackbelt Leadership program you have to be invited by the instructors after they've seen that you possess the right attitude and work ethic for the program. At graduation yesterday, our family was invited to join the Blackbelt Leadership program!! Yeah!!!

We're very excited and proud! :)

we are so proud ...

On Wednesday, we all took our test for belt promotion in karate. I'm very happy to say that we all passed with flying colors. The look on Austin's face when Mr. Mitchell gave him a red stripe on his belt--indicating that he passed the test and was indeed being promoted--was just priceless. Aus was absolutely beaming with a smile from ear to ear. When Mr. Mitchell told Austin that he's very proud of him and all the progress he's made, noting that he's become a great leader in the class, our typically talkative son was tongue-tied ... barely able to get out "thank you, sir." Our graduation is Saturday. We're very happy that Stef will be here to go with us ... and I'm hoping she'll be able to take some photos that I can include in my next post.

Speaking of photos to post, I finally was able to cajole my disk reader into working this morning, so I'll have to sit down and do some work to get them up for you to see. (We've still got our Disney trip photos to share!!)

I did have time to get this one up ... Austin's new do. It was his idea to style it like this ... (a few kids in karate have similar hairstyles, a few of the dancers on So You Think You Can Dance wore their hair like this and he found out that his friend Daniel also has this hairstyle). I'm sure that there are people who will think I'm crazy for letting my kid wear his hair like this, but I don't care at all about this kind of thing. I figure that hair and clothes are a good and simple way for kids to be able to express themselves and explore their style. Besides, hair will just grow back and clothes and styles change all the time anyway. I think it's pretty cool!

"you karate do, yes--ok ..."

A month ago, we started taking karate as a family. It's been a lot of fun and has really done wonders with helping Austin focus and use more self-control. The life lesson we've been highlighting is self-discipline. We talk a lot about different ways to show self-discipline and the benefits of doing so. When either of the kids is getting off track with behavior and choices, Tim and I can quickly and fairly easily get them back on track with a few questions about using self-discipline. It's been really effective carrying over the terminology from class into the home scenario. They really respond well to it.

The other thing that we emphasize in class is using the 3 rules of focus--focus your eyes, focus your body and focus your mind. That has been an amazing tool for working with Austin. He has been doing pretty well with pulling himself in to show all 3 rules of focus whenever one of us--or the instructors--mention it. He still has a good, long way to go ... but we're happy to have another strategy to use.

We have our first test for belt promotion (from white to yellow) next week. Hopefully we'll all be wearing yellow belts in about 10 days!!