You know, I'm not really sure anyone reads this thing anymore, but I thought I'd write a bit of an update just in case.
Everyone is doing well. Gabe and Chi are both taking gymnastics this fall. Gabe really made some strides this last week. He's never been able to climb the rope and he managed to climb halfway up on Thursday. Halfway is actually very high as the gym is a lofted warehouse type structure. The major difference between boys' and girls' gymnastics is that boys have to spend a lot of time building upper body strength before they can really do many of the apparatus. Chi's class is a preschool class and he's the only one signed up this session. I'm sure he'd like some friends, but it's kind of nice that he gets a private lesson for regular price. He's doing really well and he loves it.
Chi recently faced the reality that only boys have penises. He is aghast. How can I go through life never being able to pee standing up?! But he feels the need to discuss his new found knowledge at length. In public. "I have a penis. Daddy has a penis. Gabe has a penis. But girls don't." Very loudly. I am truly amazed at the number of times he can utter the word penis in a short amount of time (kind of like what I'm doing now. ;) ).
Gabe participated in Adams Art Week at school. He went to an art appreciation workshop on Monday and then they had a program on Friday. We heard about their activities and had student presentations, then got to wander around and check out all the creations. It was nice.
School is going well for both boys. Chi now stays for lunch twice a week so he feels very grown up. He is doing really well with letters and letter sounds and has now read three simple phonics books. Gabe's class is still in the beginning of the year review. They start after Labor Day, but he's getting impatient. This is the first year of standardized testing, so they have been practicing the test as well. Don't even get me started on that. At least he likes his teacher and classmates. But I'm tired of most of his worksheets being works of art. I ask him how he has so much time to draw, and he's says it's all too easy and he always has lots of time left over. So that's a conversation for parent-teacher conferences.
Matt has been busy teaching, but he's enjoying the semester. He's in his tenure review year which is where they decide if he's likely to get it if he applies next year which would be the actual tenure year. It's like getting the green light or a caution before you go up for it and possibly get denied. It's going smoothly and we are not particularly worried.
I am taking a couple classes, working on my thesis and TAing for an American history class. I've been extremely busy this semester, and I'll be relieved when I am done with October, provided I survive it. :)
