We seem to have a teeter-totter kind of house around here. One kid up (good behavior), and the other down. At least they take turns, right? That's thoughtful.
Ryker is having a tough time with his behavior. Dealing with his "fwust-twa-tions". He's working through it, learning that he does NOT like the consequences at home when he has a bad day at school. Hopefully he'll turn it around soon, and luckily for us, his behavior at home is not-too-shabby.
And while he has fallen down a bit, Jack has SOARED. He's doing SO well. He graduated (my term) from his therapy yesterday. She doesn't think he needs to keep seeing her because he's doing such a good job dealing with his anger and frustrations. Go Jack! He also started 1st grade at a new school. He's now attending Seven Hills Classical Academy, which is right up the street from us. It's a free public charter and really rigorous academically. They teach the kids Latin and he's loving learning that. Did you know there is no W and no J in the Latin alphabet? I didn't. So they replace the J with an I, making his first name Iackson.
The kids continue to crack us up - behavior aside. Jack and I decided that Ryker should be an Ewok for Halloween, only then I couldn't find any costumes that were for bigger kids. Jack then declared that he wanted to be the Incredible Smash. Huh? He meant the Incredible Hulk. Then he goes "Ryker can be Superman and we wouldn't have to buy a costume because he fits in mine." I asked how he knew that and he goes "I tried it on him - last night."
Ryker is learning to speak English in a way we can understand. He routinely cracks us up with his creative phrasing. He was trying to tell us about how much something cost the other day, insisting it cost "six eight monies."
Last night he showed me two tiny tins that he keeps in his room. They have a few Pokemon cards in them, some monies, two little green BBs that he found in the backyard from previous owners which he insists on calling "green beans," and one little folded up piece of paper. He pulled the piece of paper out last, carefully unfolded it, and showed me. It was a little note saying "45 cents," which was one of many that Jack made to denote the cards he would sell and for how much. Ryker goes "and den dere's dis." He was so proud of it. He goes "Jackson gave it to me. It says 'this costs $20, Ryker'." Then he nodded earnestly, carefully folded it back up and placed it back in the tin.
And I'll leave you with a story from last night that perfectly explains both of their personalities right now. We were in Walgreens and Jack decided he wanted to go a few doors down in the strip mall to the Dollar Store (thanks to Gaga for introducing him to that particular shopping experience!). We marched into the store and promptly realized it was NOT a dollar store. It was the Family Dollar, which was a deceptive title, and highly disappointing to Jack. I'm trying to play it cool and not turn on a dime to walk back out, and while I'm standing there, the saleslady grabs my bag from me and gives me a clothespin. 'Cause that's normal. So now I'm busy contemplating why she just did that, and Jack has stopped dead in his tracks and is trying to figure out what in this store is ACTUALLY one dollar. I go to him to whisper that this is NOT the Dollar Store and that we made a mistake. I turn around and see the saleslady coming back to me with Ryker trailing her. Apparently he had chased her down to ask why she took my bag from me and to make sure she was going to give it back.
That pretty well sums up the boys.
