Watermelon

Thank goodness for cold watermelon on a hot night . . .

. . . so sweet. . .
. . . and drippy!

Make And Do

Owen received a set of Childcraft books from Murmur a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed some of these books as a child, and Owen has gotten the Childcraft love of late too. He loves to pour over the projects in Make And Do. Before we moved, it seemed like he was wanting to make every. single. project. in the book. I suggested he take some sticky notes and mark pages with things he liked. I thought I'd buy myself some time that way ;o).

Recently, Owen reminded me that it was time to work on some of those projects he'd planned to do.


We made a cardboard box airplane (which was well-used before I thought about a picture), a pair of paper owls (see here on our new art wire), a tissue paper and straw kite which he tried

and tried
and tried to fly outdoors

but had no luck on a still, late-summer day. Indoor air from a fan didn't work much better so we're waiting for a dry breezy day - patience.


Owen still has lots of his own projects too: painting a thrifted picture frame with some yard sale paints,

lots and lots of Lego creations,
a family of flower people made from hibiscus,and oh so many other things each day - cutting, gluing, taping, sewing, drawing. . .

You've Just Gotta Love TN. . .

. . . where the play area at the mall includes all local stuff including this great possum!

More Diggin' In the Dirt

Ah, the joys of home ownership - when the poly pipe breaks, it's yours to fix. Owen enjoyed it more than Daddy I think.




We were all glad to get the water back on after two days without :o).

Horse Class

Owen had been asking to ride horses, and fortuitously a local unschooling mama who offers riding lessons offered a "horse class" in August. Owen (in the green shirt) enjoyed helping to brush the horse before saddling itand was pleased to get a turn to ride around the ring a few times
before everyone got a chance to pet a three week old baby and mama. The family live just a few miles from us and hope to offer more classes like this in the fall. What a great way to get a feel for riding and know if "we" are ready for lessons in the future.
A couple of days after we were there, Owen asked about them taking the horses to the grocery store - like the Amish. He was not easy to convince that they didn't take their horses to the store and around town for errands - that they just used a truck.

Writing

Last summer, Owen said he wanted to learn to read. So, we went out and got stuff - cards with beginning sounds and special paper for practicing letters, a workbook for practicing reading and writing skills and easy reading library books. I thought surely we'd hit on something that would fill the bill he'd given me. After trying a bit of all of them and then watching them gather dust, I realized that Owen didn't want to learn how to read - he wanted to know how to read. I mean who wouldn't want to know how to read? He just wasn't really ready to do the work of learning how to read, and a fed tries at it let us all know that.
And now, a year later, he has found his own way (of course) of starting down that path . He has picked up a bit of the alphabet and now asks for us to dictate spelling for him - mostly people's names but also things like cabbage - not sure where that one came from. A recent get well letter to his cousin Nathan who fell and needed stitches reads, "to Nathan from Owen (and) Caedmon." He was quite proud of his upside down w, and I tried not to smile when I explained that turning letters upside down just doesn't quite work.

Smiley Boy

Caedmon - normally our happy, smiley boy who grins from ear to ear whenever your eyes meet his

and brings a bit of sunshine to you

was feeling oh so very, very miserable this week. He's been sporting those two top teeth for over a month now. This week, three more popped through, and a fourth is close behind. He was fussy, and we had several sleepless nights. Runny nose and fever - why when they're teething? We even skipped Grandma Sharon's Wednesday Family Dinner (and missed tacos!).

Fortunately, he is feeling much, much better and is up to his old tricks like pulling the magnetic farm off the fridge
and using the dollhouse as a piece of gym equipment.