Reading or Bust

Our kids spent most of their summer playing in the sprinklers, lounging in the baby pool, sparring with water guns, hitting baseballs, coloring, riding bikes and scooters, and even (gasp!) laying on the family room floor on sweltering afternoons with the fan spinning overhead, watching My Little Pony, Transformers, and Sesame Street. I completely and wholeheartedly subscribe to Samantha Bee's hilarious take on summer vacation with three kids in the house: "A Long Summer for Weary Tiger Mothers."

But alas, we live in Moraga, known for its amazing schools. Our little town even made it to the big leagues this year, and was named the eighth best school district in the nation by Forbes Magazine. In a nutshell, we had to up our game. Who knew what kind of super-smart and super-competitive suburban kids Joey would encounter in kindergarten this fall?

My natural inclination to spread a blanket out on the lawn, let my baby crawl all over me, and get "misted" by 3 and 5 year-old attendants wielding water weenies had to be squashed (just slightly) to further an ambitious goal: Get Joey Reading by the Time Kindergarten Starts. That was the gist of Tim's expectation for the summer months. Yes, the diehard non-reader in the house was laying down the law when it came to hitting the books.

So, Joey and I put our nose to the grindstone and began tackling this doozy of a project little by little, with the help of  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

Yes, this manual is the size and heft of a phone book. Yes, it looks like it was penned in the 1970s (and it was), and yes, next to Tag readers, iPhone reading games and www.starfall.com, it just might be the most antiquated reading primer on the market today. But I fell hard for its more than 650 glowing reviews on Amazon, decided to take the plunge, and had it shipped to my homeschooling homestead in late June.

Since then, nearly every day Joey and I have carved out a half hour (usually during Molly's morning nap) to tackle a lesson at a time at the dining room table.

For each completed lesson, he gets to place a sticker on a giant chart in our family room, and for every 20 lessons he completes, we make an excursion to a toy store to pick out a special prize. I'm not ashamed to say that stickers and bribery have been key (key!!) ingredients in helping us to conquer crazy consonants and funky vowels, and they're the reason I can stand here today and tell you that the day before kindergarten started, we completed lesson #50.

As Joey carefully chose his sticker and placed it on his chart, and it sunk in for both of us that we had completed 50 lessons, and had 50 more to go, I felt both victorious -- Joey can now read a simple story up to nine or ten lines long -- and exhausted. After all, we've only completed half of our marathon. But I still feel a huge sense of pride that we've overcome so many hurdles already (namely, squirminess, squirminess and squirminess).  We even persevered through one particularly bleak moment around lesson #43 when Joey refused to sit down at the table, and then said (excuse me while I wipe away a tear), "I really, really hate reading. I never told you that before because I didn't want to make you sad, but it's just BORING!!"

In fact, more often than not, the lessons have been truly fun. I'm so glad I'll be able to look back on this summer -- the eve of his first school year -- and remember watching words click into place for the first time for my little man, seeing him master letters and sounds that frustrated him just two months ago.  I'll treasure his excitement over reading stories all by himself, and the way he chuckled at rhymes and delighted in recognizing words on the page.

These lessons haven't exactly been as "easy" our textbook's title suggests, but I'm thankful that it's me -- not his new kindergarten teacher -- who has the best seat in the house as Joey takes on this challenge and learns to read -- surely one of the most amazing things our kids learn to do!

Now that takes some nerve...

I guess Sara isn't worried too much about first impressions. She accidentally took my keys with her to a Kindergarten play date at the school playground. I borrowed Kyle's car to retrieve my keys and was pretty appalled to see where Sara decided to park....showing absolutely no regard for Joey's standing with the school administration as school is set to begin.

"Chest"

Checkers is so six months ago around here. Tim took a break from his own addiction to Chess with Friends to acquaint Joey with the world of pawns, rooks, bishops, knights, queens and kings, and he hasn't stopped badgering us for a game since.

While sparring against an electronic opponent on Daddy's iPad for hours at a time helped him learn the rules (the game won't allow a player to make an incorrect move), and gave him some leniency as a beginner (he loved the "undo" button), nothing quite compares to playing against a family member, preferably Daddy or Uncle Kyle, who have each played dozens of games against our obsessive little man.  

We're amazed that Joey the interest as well as the patience required to learn this game, and yet he still cannot remember, despite constant corrections, that the game is called "chess," not "chest." We're crossing our fingers that he doesn't tell anyone at kindergarten this week that he "loves to play chest with Mommy!"

Nooks and Crannies

What's better than a pint-sized baby exploring pint-sized nooks and crannies?  

Twins for a Day

Clara never pays more attention to her clothes than when cousin Bridget is nearby. She has a way -- at four years old!! -- of looking Clara up and down and appraising her entire outfit in a single head-to-toe glance. Luckily, she always seems to approve of Clara's garb (phew!), and, more often than not, wants to raid her pajama drawer or inspect the dresses and shoes in her closet.

So naturally, the very first thing that Bridget wanted to do when we met the Stechers in Tahoe last week was take a good, hard look inside Clara's suitcase. After not-so-subtly making a play for Clara's jammies, she discovered that they had both packed the same dress. To say that they were mutually delighted would be a gross understatement. Our new "twins" could not have been more excited to don their matching frocks, get matching piggy tails, and do a mini photo shoot on the back deck.

Ta-da!

A Fishy Story

The older your kids get, the more opportunities they have to publicly "out" you for your parenting fails. For us, one of those moments came during an evening library storytime last winter.

The monthly "Pajamarama" attracts whole families. Both moms and dads stand around the perimeter of the storytime room while our pajama-clad kids cluster in front of the librarian, sitting Indian-style on the floor, listening to stories and joining in sing-alongs.

This night in particular, a great time was being had by all... until the librarian launched into a peppy little day-of-the-week ditty about what's for dinner. For each day, she slapped a different felt cut-out of the night's meal on a giant felt board. All was going smoothly for Monday (roast beef), Tuesday (soup), Wednesday (chicken), and Thursday (spaghetti). Then Friday (fish!) came along, and the librarian slapped a giant felt golfdish on her board.

While all the other kids in the room seemed to take this staple in stride, Joey emitted an outrageously loud guffaw, turned to his neighbor on the left, turned to his neighbor on the right -- definitely looking for affirmation that this was completely absurd --  and squealed, "FISH??? FOR DINNER!!??"

Let's just say he was not using his quiet voice, and I may or may not have totally disowned him, and/or waited until the very last parent filtered out of the room at the end of the evening before collecting my non-fish-eating child. From that moment on, I vowed that we would move beyond fish sticks and shrimp ("shrimpy chicken" in our house), and start sampling some fishier fare at our family dinner table.

One of our latest adventures in Tahoe inched us closer to this goal. We not only got up close and personal with live fish, but we grilled it up to eat later that night. Who knew that the Tahoe Trout Farm has been around for more than 30 years, on a side street just off Highway 50 in South Shore? Sign us up!

Their approach was both simple and ruthless: They offered us two fishing poles and bait, directed us to a pond teeming with trout, and also equipped us with a piece of burlap cloth and a lead pipe. Apparently, their "humane" approach to fishing requires fishermen to sieze their freshly caught fish, throw his flailing body on a stump, cover him with burlap, and club him to death with the lead pipe. (Clue? anyone?)

Despite seeing the fish emerge from the water, squirm around desperately on the sand, then get beaten to death in front of their very eyes (in fact, they both wanted to help!), both Joey and Clara had no problem eating our catch for dinner that night.

Mission accomplished!

A man and his son headed to the pond (note the burlap cloth hanging over the pail)

Pulling in the first catch of the day!

Victorious!

  

Clara catches a fish, and then immediately flees the scene in terror.

Here she is watching the killing from a safe distance.

Even Molly got in on the action!

Joey's mood during this whole adventure can best be summed up with the next two pictures, but his heartless, victorious cackles in the video are absolutely priceless, and leave not a shadow of a doubt: He will never be a vegetarian.

Thanks to Uncle Kyle for getting 'er done: removing the flailing fish from the hook, helping with the killing (Tim did disturbingly well at this, too), and grilling the fish up that night!

Tahoe in August

We spent more than a week basking in the beauty and relaxation that is Tahoe in August, and have way too many pictures to show for it, but here's a tease for our loyal readers. Others will make their way into future blog posts, as well as an online photo album!

Molly marveling at kites at Nevada Beach

Joey showing off his awesome goggles at Meeks Bay Beach

Clara channeling her inner Army Ranger at Nevada Beach 

and showing off her guns at Meeks Bay

Molly accessorizes... and she's not sure what to make of it

Molly walked... and walked ...and walked... and walked in Tahoe.

She loved "the loop" from family room to kitchen to dining room!

 Joey and Clara caught some major air at the trampolines set up at Heavenly Village

 Joey caught some more air "cliff-jumping" at Angora Lake

Mommy, Molly, and The Thumb at Nevada Beach

and finally, Daddy and Molly watch the trampoline action at Heavenly!

We loved every minute of our escape, and are now back home ramping up for the school year! Stay tuned for our back-to-school adventures!

Finding Her Sea Legs

You always hear that babies learning to walk look like drunken sailors. But I've never had a baby be this cliche before.

Molly began taking tentative steps about three or four weeks ago, but still hasn't mastered the art of walking on two feet yet. Her wobbly form needs a lot of work, and she would much rather crawl or be carried.

Here's the progress we've captured on video so far. For the record, she started taking steps at 14 months, exactly on par with her brother and sister. Yes, we make exceptionally lazy babies. But aren't they cute?

Molly in Tahoe in early July

Molly at home -- sporting a ridiculous ' do - in late July

 

Joining in a game of Duck, Duck, Goose with all of her Raley cousins in late July

Dogs, baseball, and a naked, toddling baby... welcome to the Cecchin backyard

So You Think You Can Dance?

Joey was inspired to get his own groove on after viewing cousin Tommy's dance fever a couple of days ago.

His performance was met with gales of laughter by his target audience: Molly.

Is it painfully clear which cousin has a dance teacher for a parent?

Swim Daze

We loved every minute of our swim season this summer... The yummy smell of sunscreened kids, the deliciousness of drying off on warm concrete, the fun of picnicking at the pool during "rest period," and  the ease of showering and shampooing on the pool deck.

Even the messy pile of wet towels, swimsuits and goggles in the swim bag at the end of the day -- to be sorted through during naptime later in the afternoon -- was a reminder of long, happy hours at the pool.

Every day blended into the other, a suburban kid's version of  Groundhog Day. Here's the shots I managed to capture at various points during the season, usually on my iPhone, with a baby on my hip.

Clara and her buddy Erin, both among the very youngest in the Mini program

The Minis before practice one day 

Clara and Gwen dry off after practice

Clara and Gwen showering... a highlight of every day at the pool!

Joey and his friend Michael (both headed to the same kindergarten in a few short weeks!) 

Joey showing off his chlorine-bleached 'do and his abs

A happy, be-goggled little swimmer

Clara and Gwen wait in line for the diving board

Swimming + Snacks + Sun = Sleepy Kids!

Possessed

We always suspected Clara had a devil on her shoulder, but now we have photographic evidence... here she is at Clara's side at a birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

FREAKY!

(Anyone else have this happen with an iPhone4 camera? Anyone?)