Happy Thanksgiving

EJ decided he was going to prepare Thanksgiving dinner this year.

 Happy Thanksgiving from the New Family!

Buggy in Blue

SO Dad was a bit lax in keeping up with the wash. Liesel ran out of clothes to wear so Dad put one of EJ's outfits on her. She looked really good in it, so he left her in it long after the laundry was completed.

Reading Skills

DAD now makes time every day to read with the Twins, or tries to anyway.

Buggy does very well at it. She will get comfortable in Dad's lap and watch as he turns the pages, points to the words, and reads them. At the end of the book she will take it from Dad and sit there by herself flipping through the pages pointing to the pages and babble.

EJ, on the other hand, does not like to sit calmly in Dad's lap. He tries to disrupt when Dad reads to Liesel. He will attempt to close the book, or push her out of Dad's lap. He does take a book sometimes and flips through it pointing at the pages, but all too soon the book becomes just another toy to be thrown or chewed.

Boys it seems lag their female peers in literacy by 9 to 12 months. So Dad is not too worried about it now. It seems that they also lag girls in writing too, which seems reasonable given that reading is a precursor to writing.

What does concern Dad is Common Core standards. Standardized tests are written with the implicit view that boys and girls are the same. However, if boys consistently lag girls in reading, should not the test's designers take that into account? We segregate by sex in physical pursuits (e.g. football teams) in recognition of biological differences, why should we not do so for academic measurements (and instruction for that matter).

Spelunking

BUGGY decided to do a little exploring.

She found the side table to be a neat little "cave."

Of course Dad found her in there when he looked around to survey the area to ensure they were safe. When he didn't see her at first, he felt a little panicky since it had been several minutes since he had last laid eyes on her. Once found safe and sound, he had to get the camera.

The Expanded Kitchen Playspace

THE Twins so loved the Little Tykes kitchen that Mom and Dad decided to splurge a little on a bigger one so that they can play together (without fighting over the same space).

The new one captivated them for a long time. That has sense tapered off. They now play with both of them with equal interest. But they have not stopped squabbling over space.

Dad attacked for His Broccoli

DAD made the mistake of sitting down on the floor to eat his plate of broccoli. He was immediately mobbed by the Twins who stole his broccoli fistful by fistful.

He feels blessed they love the stuff and eat it like candy. But he would like some of it too without having to hide behind a baby gate to enjoy it.

Lunch

"NOBODY cares about that salad." says Mom.

Someone does. Dad knows who. Hi Vince! He is the newest friend of the New Family Blog is someone interested in taking control over their diet. Yes this is really what we eat and in the proportion of protein, to vegetable, to carbohydrate. The carb is there but in low density form.