A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Last week the time finally arrived when Madeline's hair was long enough for a cut. Since this precious girl of ours had seen her brother get his own hair cut multiple times, she knew exactly what was expected of her. She did so well, never crying. In fact, she was quite happy at the whole prospect of a hair cut. "No move. Snip snip," she would say in preparation for the big day. You'll have to pardon the quality of all of these images, as they were taken with my iPhone. The digital noise is horrendous. But still, I wanted to at least brighten them up so I could share them.

When the gal was finished cutting her hair, she asked if she could put ribbons in it. I, of course, said yes. When she asked what color she would like and tried to answer her own question with "Pink," I had to correct her. "Orange, please. Orange is her favorite color." Yup. Craziness...and a good thing, I tell ya, that she has orange bedsheets and an orange, custom-made bedskirt. lol.

Caleb got his hair cut too. He just keeps looking older and older (and more and more handsome!) He loves to get color "painted" in his hair, always going for red and blue stripes. I took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch afterwards (and to play). They had a great time.

We've been keeping busy with our light summer school schedule. Caleb blows my socks off in math, as he is now tackling division with quotients and remainders. I. kid. you. not. I remember doing this stuff in 4th grade. I'm just blown away.

We LOVE our new phonics/spelling program, doing the Writing Road to Reading, using the Spalding method. Caleb has almost all of the phonograms mastered. (Out of 70, there were about 15-20 that he hadn't learned from his previous phonics program.) I gave him a diagnostic spelling test, and he tested at Grade 2.9! So with his program, I'm sure his spelling is going to take off. And I can already see improvement in his reading. :)

Caleb has thoroughly enjoyed playing Stack the States on our ipads, and consequently has learned all his states. He loves looking at maps and our new globe. About a year ago, I purchased a Melissa & Doug states floor puzzle, in the hopes that it would help him to learn his states. I helped him put it together a few times, but that was it. Fast forward a year (and after Stack the States), and he can put that puzzle together lickity split! He even insisted on putting together the states puzzle at the library when we were there the other day. I just love his zeal for learning. It warms my heart.

Next week, Caleb and Madeline begin swim lessons through Infant Swimming Resource. They will each have 10 minutes every day 5x/wk. Madeline's lessons will likely go for 6 weeks since she doesn't know how to do anything in the pool. She will learn how to float on her back and wait to be rescued, which is what we want her to learn as a newbie "little fish."

Caleb, on the other hand, knows how to swim. He can swim the length of the pool under water and can also swim in the deep end. But we want him to learn what his limitations are and know how to rest safely in unfamiliar water. Swimming in our own pool is one thing. Falling into the river is a whole 'nother animal. We want him to be prepared. Hopefully his lessons will only last 2-3 weeks. This means our summer will be quite busy, to say the least. I'm at least thankful for an ISR instructor who lives 5 minutes from us, who can schedule the kids back-to-back, and who is willing to work with limb different children....

...which reminds me. I knew our application would get flagged for medical review because my sister indicated it would (with both kids having limb differences.) Well, as I was reviewing their applications, I wondered why Madeline's wasn't getting flagged. So I went back to review the questions to be sure I answered them all correctly....I didn't. I totally missed the first one, which asks "Does your child have any physical or mental disabilities?" I answered "No." Oops. Technically Madeline does have a "disability" because she's missing her left forearm. But it's clear as day to me that she really doesn't.  It's not a label we use to describe her because nothing can stop this girl. She can do anything she puts her mind to. So she might have a disability "on paper", but that's where it stops.

Anyway, both kidlets have colds at the moment. Not fun for either one. I've been wiping noses A LOT. Hopefully they will resolve before swim lessons start next week. And hopefully they don't pass them on to mommy and daddy. Somehow I doubt that will happen.