Porter is 7

On Saturday, Porter turned 7. As it so happens, he also lost his 7th tooth that night and has been referring to it as his "birthday tooth."

Porter is my practical and logical child. We often call him "practical Porter." Whenever Dallin is telling some fantastical story or coming up with some hair-brained scheme, Porter usually explains to him (not so patiently) why his ideas are wrong. A couple of days ago, Dallin was saying that he wanted to buy a toy for himself. Porter said, "Dallin, you don't need to spend your own money, you just need to ask Santa and then it will be free." Dallin, who can't wait for anything kept insisting that he wanted to spend his own money to have the toy now and Porter kept telling him that he was being ridiculous, because if he asked Santa, then he would have the toy and all of his money. (Porter is full of advice and edicts for Dallin but Dallin usually doesn't appreciate Porter's wisdom). This morning, Porter had put his birthday tooth and one other recent loss under his pillow (well, not actually under his pillow. He put them under his body so he would feel if anyone tried to remove them. It was quite a hassle for the tooth fairy to try to figure out where those teeth were). The tooth fairy left him a note telling him that she was leaving an extra dollar for the birthday tooth. Porter was sure that it was from me because (1) I also have a red pen, (2) we have a small notebook with paper the same size that the tooth fairy used, and (3) the writing was pretty nice like mine.

Porter is also very shy. He is trying to be braver and I have noticed that when he is just among his peers, he can be fairly outgoing. Even members of his family don't realize that he can have extended conversations about things because he doesn't like to talk too much in front of people or even look people in the eye. When we went to visit Santa at the mall, Dallin talked his ear off, while Porter looked away, rubbing the fur on Santa's coat and just whispered what he wanted. As part of his shyness, Porter likes to keep secrets. There are lots of things that he tells me that he makes me promise not to tell Dad or Dallin.

Porter likes to be funny. He has been reading joke books and likes to tell us jokes all the time. For Halloween, he had a hard time deciding what he wanted to be because he thought he should be something funny, like a giant banana or a whoopie cushion because he is such a funny guy. I think when he is alone with his friends, he tries to be comedian of the bunch.

Porter also likes to save things. It is hard for him to make decisions about which toy to buy, which shirt to wear, etc. because he likes everything and wants to keep things around him. He saves his teeth instead of putting them under the pillow because he likes to play with them and show them off. He wouldn't put this most recent batch under his pillow until I had taken a picture of them so that he could remember them. When he lost the previous two teeth, he wanted to take them to school so that (1) he could show them to his friends and (2) he could pretend he lost them at school and get one of the tooth-holder necklaces that they give out at school to kids who lose their teeth at school. Unfortunately, both teeth got lost while they were being shown off (though one survived long enough to get the necklace) and he couldn't put them under his pillow.

Porter is also our little athlete. He likes to run, play soccer, and now play basketball. He also was pretty good at gymnastics but doesn't want to do it right now. I am going to try to coax him into taking it a little longer though. He also likes to swim but doesn't know how to very well. Since, Breann moved and hasn't been around to give them lessons anymore, I haven't found any swimming lessons for them. I will be more diligent this spring and summer though because Porter really wants to swim all the time.

Finally, Porter really likes to draw. He gets nervous about getting his pictures just right, so he likes to trace things whenever possible but we also make original art pieces. We signed him up for an art class this fall and he pretended not to want to go but he clearly really liked it. Whenever they were supposed to paint one picture, he would come home with 7. As part of his artistic side, Porter has learned how to make other crafts. He has learned how to make boondoggles and we bought him kits for those and he has learned to finger knit. He likes to try to make scarfs and necklaces for people. One of these days, I am going to have to find someone who can teach him how to knit or crochet for real.

I love my Porter. Happy Birthday to him

Dallin is 5

Dallin turned 5 on Sunday. It is hard for me to believe my little boy is so big. In my mind, he is still my baby. Nevertheless, he is still growing up. Even when I look at the things he could do a year ago, I am amazed at how fast he is growing up.

He can write his name and identify and write all of his letters. He wants me to teach him to read so I have been working with him a little. He is surprisingly fast. He always shocks us with how much he knows. He is good with numbers too. Sometimes he has to remind us that he can't do everything though. I will ask him what something says he and is quick to let me know that he can't read it yet.

Dallin is also pretty creative and funny. If you catch him at the right time, he will tell you stories about things that never happened (about what it was like when he was in my tummy or what happened when he was 7 and Porter was 2). My favorite part about him though is how expressive he is. He make such funny little faces and gets so worked up about everything that I can't help but laugh at him sometimes. Last night he told me that he wants a phone for Christmas. We have told the boys that they are not old enough to have their own phones right now. Dallin decided that he would tell Santa that he is 7 and Porter is 8. He kept giggling to himself, thinking about how he was going to trick Santa into bringing them phones (unfortunately, Santa knows how old they are and knows they are not allowed to have phones until they are at least 10). I have also related Dallin's dealings with the poisonous beetle on this blog. I think those stories illustrate how Dallin's mind works. He builds up weird or scary stories in his mind and then just builds on them for months. He never forgets things that are important to him (like looking out for poisonous beetles). By the way, when we were driving to Las Vegas, we saw a giant beetle outside of one of the gas stations. Dallin believed it was a rhino beetle (also, apparently poisonous) and had to be carried past it so that he could use the bathroom.

Dallin and I have had the chance to spend time alone together more this year because Porter is in school all day. I have learned that Dallin is fairly thoughtful. Whenever he gets a treat or something, he makes sure that we get one for Porter too. He also likes to be helpful. He likes to vaccum and clean the bathrooms. He gets tired of it easily though and after about 10 minutes of work, he claims that he needs to rest on the couch and watch a movie or something. (He doesn't tire when he doing something like riding his bike or playing something that he likes).

Dallin loves to play sports. He has been playing soccer for a while and really likes it. He also likes to go to the rec center with Joe or I and swim or play basketball. He likes to do gymnastics and wants to take karate.

Dallin also thinks he is very sneaky. For some reason, he doesn't want to flush the toilet or wash his hands and tries to convince us that he went into the bathroom for some other reason. He sets traps for us around the house and can't wait for someone to get caught in his snares. He sneaks candy and treats when he thinks no one is paying attention (including eating Porter's halloween candy, etc.).

Even though he can pretty naughty, we love Dallin and are glad to have him. He brings so much happiness and joy into our family.

the return of the beetle

Today I sent Porter and Dallin outside to ride their bikes while I mopped the kitchen floor. Dallin came in after a few minutes, upset. It seems he couldn't get his bike out of the garage because the beetle was waiting for him near his bike. This was not any beetle, but the poisonous beetle. The beetle who tried to bite Dallin months ago in the empty field near our house. The beetle who ate the extremities of the dead mice, also found in the empty field. Apparently this beetle is no longer content to pursue people and animals in the field. It has decided to come after Dallin personally. I don't know how long it has been making its way over here, but it was just waiting for its opportunity to bite Dallin (and probably eat his hands too). Luckily, Dallin saw it before it could get him and he decided to sacrifice me instead. I had to get his bike out for him. I assume that the beetle is still waiting for Dallin and will hope for another opportunity soon. I guess Dallin should sleep with one eye open because the beetle could show up anywhere.

the answer

Okay, so nobody figured out my riddle but there were some guesses that correctly determined that the riddle precedes some kind of announcement. So here it is. Our family is expecting another baby, due in mid-March. The numbers all relate to the baby's position in our family.

3- the number of Montague children that will be in our immediately family

6- the number of grandchildren Joe's parents will then have

7- the number of grandchildren my parents will then have

15- the number of great grandchildren my Campbell grandparent will then have (sorry, the 12 was a typo, though I don't think it threw too many people off)

23- the number of great grandchildren Joe's Montague grandparents will now have

24- the number of great grandchildren my Nielson grandparents will now have

(I know there should be one more number for the number of Struthers great grandchildren. I don't know that number and neither does Joe though. He couldn't even tell me how many Struthers cousins he has so we couldn't even come close to guessing)

A riddle

I know am a poor excuse for a blogger. Most of the problems stem from the fact that Joe did something to our home computer and I am still not really sure on how to operate it and from the fact that Dallin, in a fit of rage, threw my camera and broke it beyond repair. We did finally buy a new one but I don't really know how to get the pictures off of it yet (see problem one). Anyway, this is not a post about my poor blogging efforts. This is about a riddle that I have made up on my very own. It goes like this:

What do these numbers have in common?

3, 6, 7, 12, 23, 24

things Dallin finds funny

Lately, Dallin's sense of humor has been coming through more than ever. Here are a couple of examples of things that Dallin thinks are funny:

1. If I pick the boys up from daycare, Dallin doesn't want me to tell Joe. Instead, he wants Joe to go to pick them up and find that they aren't there. It is Dallin's greatest hope that Joe will think that they went on a field trip and will wait for them at daycare indefinitely. Dallin will giggle to himself thinking about it, imagining Joe sitting around daycare waiting for them.

2. Dallin sets "traps" for us in the hallway (they are usually made up of his gator golf clubs and other odds and ends from his room). It is his goal for one of us to get tangled up and stuck in his trap. Sometimes we pretend to be caught in the trap. Then he laughs and laughs.

3. On Sunday, Dallin rolled up his pants for church and then laughed to himself about how funny it was to wear pants that looked too short. He was sure he would trick everyone at church into thinking that his pants were too small.

The Graduate

Porter is now a graduate of kindergarten. I kind of hate the proliferation of graduation ceremonies lately. However, the program was really cute and not too long. They did a reenactment of the book, The Grouchy Ladybug. Porter was the Gorilla. It was supposed to be a secret but he was so excited that he spilled the beans to me the other night. He wouldn't tell Joe or Dallin though.

They sang several songs. This is the actions from a song about a crocodile. The kids were all so funny doing it. Porter really got into the dance moves and made me laugh.

The got their "diplomas"

And they said goodbye to their great teacher, Mrs. Colon.

Porter was really lucky this year to be in a class with these three other boys from our neighborhood. All four of them are great friends and good to each other.

This is Porter a couple of weeks ago at the school's Bee a Reader program. If they read (or their parents read to them) a certain amount for the whole year, they got a certificate and a medal.

The most fearsome creature

Do you know what the most terrifying creature on the earth is? The answer may surprise you. It is . . .


The beetle.

Our tale begins Conference weekend in April. On that Sunday, we made Porter and Dallin lay down for their resting time. Joe also fell asleep. As soon as he thought everyone else was asleep, Dallin snuck out to ride his bike on the dirt trail in the empty lot across the street from our house. I saw him go and, after a few minutes, decided to go collect him. I went out to look for him and couldn't see him. I got nervous and started hurrying over to try to find him. As I got closer, I saw him walking with some teenage girl and he was crying. I asked what happened and he was sobbing and she said that she thought he had fallen off of his bike. I started walking him home and, when he had settled down, asked him what had happened and if he was hurt. He sniffled and said that he was riding when he saw a poison beetle. He screamed for help but no one was there. He jumped off the bike and tried to run away because the beetle was trying to bite him and then Dallin bit his own arm to demonstrate. When the girl found him, he was hysterical and she couldn't understand that the beetle was trying to kill him.

We did not see the beetle again for several weeks. However, last week, Porter was riding his bike through the empty field when he came across a dead mouse. He came home to tell Dallin about it and mentioned that its feet were all gone. Porter didn't know what happened to its feet but Dallin almost immediately gasped and shouted, "the beetle!"

Everyone who lives nearby by, beware. There is a poisonous beetle living in the field, menacing people and animals alike.

Dallin's observations

On Mother's Day, Joe and boys got me a new grill. It was very nice and I am grateful for it. When I woke up, it was in the living room and Dallin shouted, "it's so you can burn hotdogs for us!" He also thought there were thunder and lightening buttons on it.

A couple of days ago, Dallin wanted to wear socks and shoes instead of flip flops. I was trying to talk him into wearing the flip flops because it would be faster. Dallin told me that he needed socks because his feet were "private." Then he listed the other "private" parts of his body. He finished up the whole conversation singing a song of his own invention which was apparently called "My private penis."

After Osama bin Laden was captured and killed, Dallin and Porter wanted to talk about it. Joe and I hadn't mentioned this particular event to them because (1) they had never heard of bin Laden as far as we knew, (2) it wasn't really relevant to their lives, and (3) it is hard to explain why it is okay to kill some people. However, they heard about it somewhere and were talking about this guy who was dead (who may or may not be President Obama). I set them straight on who he was and said that the army had killed him because he was wicked and had killed a lot of people and would keep killing people if he got the chance again. Dallin made a very astute observation after that. He said, "it is like wicked King Noah. He was naughty and killed Abinadi. Then they killed him. He wanted to still be naughty."

why Porter and Dallin can't take a normal picture

On Father's Day, I thought I would take a picture of Joe with the boys and the cards they made for him (they also got him shorts but we didn't take a picture of that). I can see now that my children can''t smile nicely for a picture because their dad can't either. Happy Father's Day Joe!

the misadventures of Porter

It has been a kind of trying month for Porter.

First, about two weeks ago, I got the call that I always dread from daycare. Porter had been hurt. He had a pretty deep cut on his head and they were going to take him to the hospital. Luckily, Joe was already on his way to pick up the boys so he went and collected them both and took Porter to instacare. Because I was in Park City, I left immediately, but was still almost an hour away. The daycare people were frantic and I hadn't seen Porter, so I was really panicked. I told Joe to call me as soon as he got to the hospital, as soon as they saw Porter, etc. Joe, who had seen Porter and knew that he wouldn't die wasn't feeling as panicked and so didn't feel compelled to call me regular updates. I kept trying to tell myself that Joe would call if there was a problem but I couldn't stop myself from trying to call him every 30 seconds (because he turned off his phone at the instacare) and silently cursing him for not contacting me. When I did get to the instacare, Porter was done and had one staple in his head. Dallin thought it was pretty great. He got see the doctor give Porter a shot in the head, clean out the ouchie, and put the staple in. Also, he got a sucker and a sticker. It wasn't terrible for Porter either. It apparently didn't hurt too much and he got to go for ice cream afterward.

The next Thursday, I got my second most feared called. No one had picked Porter up from kindergarten. The worst part - Porter finishes school at 11:30 and no one called me until 1:00. The school claimed they were trying to reach me before but apparently they were using morse code or something and when that didn't work, then they called mine and Joe's cell phones. I was again in Park City (I'm sensing a trend) and couldn't go get him. Joe went and got him. The daycare said they had gone at the appointed time and Porter hadn't been there. Also, Dallin had told them I was home so they thought I must have taken Porter to get his staple out or something. Dallin, by the way, is not always the best source of information. He had also spent the day trying to convince daycare that he was sick and needed to go home. First, he said he was "sick in the head." When that didn't work, he said his stomach hurt. Finally, he said his feet were sick. Anyway, Porter handled the whole being-forgotten thing pretty well but I am still annoyed that it was an hour and half after he was supposed to be picked up that people finally realized that he was still at school.

Then, on Tuesday, Porter stuck his hand under the car to retrieve a lost soccer ball. The problem was that we had just gotten out of the car and it was still pretty hot underneath. He burned the tops of his fingers. Luckily they weren't terrible burns. Still, several hours after the event, after keeping his hand submerged in cold water the whole time and giving him advil, the burns still hurt pretty badly. I took him the instacare. One of his fingers was burned kind of badly so they put a bunch of creams on his fingers to help them feel better, stop infection, etc. and wrapped him.

Finally, today, Porter was riding his bike. He said he thought his helmet was loose so he tried to fix it while still riding. His handle bars turned on him or something and now he has several large scrapes across his chest. Also, we are now out of bandaids because of several smaller injuries he has inflicted on himself.

pictures

Day care photos, how I love thee. Each time I get pictures of my kids from daycare, I think they have reached a new low and the pictures can't get any worse. I am always wrong. This newest batch may be the best ever. Some of it is our fault. We didn't know that it was picture day and so the boys had each done their own hair in particularly bad styles and had dressed themselves in clashing clothes. The poses this time aren't as ridiculous as some in the past, but the facial expressions are good as Porter and Dallin have ever done. I know my children can sometimes smile strangely (Porter especially has a hard time effecting a natural looking smile). Therefore, I think the photographer hit upon a perfect solution. Don't you think? Really, Porter and Dallin could be models with range like that.

too funny

Okay, I know I haven't blogged in several months. I have vague plans to do some kind of catch up but it always seems like the longer I wait, the harder it will be. Anyway, despite my poor performance record, I had to share this. I was looking through Porter's school bag for homework, handouts, etc. and found this document. For those of you who don't read kindergarten phonetics, it says, "Here's the plan. We dig a hole. We put the worms in the hole." (I added puncuation too). At the bottom is a picture of Porter and his friends holding their worms. From left to right they are Jordan, James, Porter, Carson, and Gavin. Before I saw this picture, Porter told me about finding worms on the playground and putting them in a hole. It was apparently a very exciting event. I didn't know the worms were all part of a plan though. I stuck this on the fridge because it makes me laugh everytime I see it.