Noticing the Differences

In case this is your first visit here to my little blog home...we have three mostly wonderful kids. 



Halloween 2008


Jace
Our first born is definitely our most serious.  He loves learning, reading, watching TV, and being outside.  This summer he and Scott have done a lot of hiking.  Jace has a great sense of humor.  I feel like it's pretty sophisticated, but it might just be that my sense of humor isn't! 

Jace's current interests are karate, inventions, and learning cursive.  We just started cursive writing today, although he's been asking for weeks.  You've never seen a kid more excited!  He practiced the letters of his name, separately and together, for almost half an hour! 

Gracie

A bundle of unbridled energy!  She just has to jump, skip, laugh loudly, and (whenever possible) have her feet above her head!  She loves gymnastics, fashion, hair, jewelry, and all things girly!  She likes practicing writing and works hard to color in the lines...with every color she can find!

Every chance we get, Gracie likes to go places with me, without her brothers.  It doesn't matter where we go or what we do...she likes our "girl time!"  Gracie is reading more and more and enjoys homeschooling a great deal.  

Tyler

Our little guy is quite the monkey.  He's missing the tail and not covered in fur, but otherwise...totally monkey!  He likes to climb over anything.  Scott and I think it's more about the most direct route than climbing, but over the couch he goes!  He's mischievous like any little brother should be.  As a mother I probably shouldn't laugh, but it's quite funny when he goes up to Gracie and says, "Ha! Ha!" just to get her going!  

Tyler likes include vehicles.  That's pretty much it!  He likes trains, planes, cars, trucks, 4-wheelers, garbage trucks, firetrucks, police cars, motorcycles, construction vehicles...I'm sure I missed something, there are so many ways to get from here to there.  He also enjoys helping in the kitchen and cuddling with Mama! 

That's it...the kids in a nutshell.  It fascinates me to watch them grow and see where their interests are taking them.  There are certainly some things I don't enjoy...the apparent need to pick at each other, yelling or crying when someone touches someone else's toys, general obnoxiousness!  Mostly, though, they're quite fun. 

Staying home with them, and now teaching them, there are so many subtle things I've noticed about how they're unique.  It's a special gift, I think. 

The observation that prompted this whole post happened during math today.  Last week Jace was doing a review lesson that involved coloring half of an object.  He quickly shaded in half of everything with the side of his pencil.  Gracie's lesson today included the same task.  She got out her box of crayons and picked the colors she wanted for each item.  On the donut she colored the cake, frosting, and sprinkle halves each a different color.  She colored half the watermelon complete with red stripes on green background.  It hit me how different she and Jace are sometimes!  I can't wait to see how Tyler colors his lessons when he's learning fractions in a few years.