Gifted?

So. It seems that about 85% of children in the US are "gifted," according to their parents at least. I personally know many children who have that label. All of them are in less than stellar school systems. Once I had a conversation with a "gifted" kid that went like this:

Me: Doing anything this vacation?
Gifted Kid: I going to gifted camp.
Me: Gifted camp? What do you do there?
GK: Its only for the gifted kids.
Me: But what do you do? Is there a theme? Ancient history? Space? Pottery? Kickball?
GK: No, we only do gifted things. You wouldn't understand if you're not gifted.

The summer camp my eldest wanted doesn't have a registration form. It has an application form and an acceptance letter comes later in the mail. It wasn't until I was completing the dang application form that I realized it was a "gifted" program. I had to attest to my kid's IQ, experience and ability to withstand the rigors of the academic camp. What???? He is perfectly average overall in my opinion. Reading skills a little weak, his math skills are stronger, but perfectly average. Normal. Fine. And really I think that might be okay.

Sitting outside his vacation program this week would make you think he is a genius. Again, an "academic" camp but really just fun. Applying Newton's laws to superheros. How much better could it get for the six 6-9 year old geeky boys? But the parents seem to think they were in there working toward world peace.

Clearly I don't understand since I'm not gifted. And I think that might be fine.

The April Vacation That Felt Like Summer

An Arme of Herts by LLS

For your reading pleasure.

Hearts

Hearts are big.
Hearts are small.
Hearts have powers.
Hearts are strong.

And on and on and on it goes. I'll spare you the following 45 pages where "armes of herts" battle one another.

Coming soon- "Prinses uv Magic" by ALS

Same Zoo, Different Experience

One gets to play with her brother's hair. The other naps. One gets up close to the gorilla statue. The other still naps.

One hangs out in the playground train.
And thinks it is just grand.
The other just gets her mouth cleared of bark mulch.
Sometimes life just isn't fair.

An Introduction to Cookies

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Boys with Pitchforks

Logan had a couple buddies over after school and the weather was amazing. After after a few hours terrorizing the house we went into the woods. With shovels and pitchforks. Logan hates going into the woods, just as much as he hates coming out again. Kinda like getting a two year old into the tub. They had a great time and we try to ignore them as much as possible while they are doing their thing. I wish I could just send them in there alone with the instructions I had as a kid. Be home when the street lights come on.

Playing the Potty

Do I need to explain what was going on here? It actually sounded pretty good.

Strawberries

I got 50 strawberry plants in. A couple of years ago that wouldn't have been such a big deal but it feels like a major accomplishment these days. I thought I would pen the girls in the kiddie pool but Meryl kept tumbling out head first. They ate a lot of dirt, tasted many pine needles and teethed on stones. It is going to be a long summer. Finley enjoyed the shadow of the diapers flapping on the line.

Five

We did have her party, finally. 5 little girls. It was great, but could have easily have been an hour longer. They had "things to do."

We had a little tea party.We dyed tights and decorated flip flops.
And almost forgot about the cake!
All in all, I would say it was a successful party. The babies were awesome, just following the group around. An hour after the party I realized Finny was a little "off" and took her to the pedi office, just out of instinct. Her ear drum was close to bursting due to the infection she had barely complained about.

Playing Together

Doesn't it look so spring-like out that window? It's cold. Their little hands freeze when we play outside since they can only crawl and the ground is pretty wet. They really like the water coming out of the sump pump and make a bee-line for it as soon as they can!

A New Stage

The "taking things off" stage has begun. Soon to be followed by the "taking things out" stage. Logan is 7 and has yet to pass through the 'putting things away" stage.

The Rumble Bed is Back

YeeHaw! The space is enormous when you've got a little body!
Yes, the girls do 'play' together, if you mean tear at hair, pull at eyelids and take things out of each others' hands.

My quest for a solid night's sleep was thwarted by the head cold with fever that struck everyone. And I mean each and every one of us had it. Logan went back to school today.

Meryl has been falling asleep independently when I tie her down so she can't move. General society calls it a car seat, but really folks, aren't I just tying her down?? She sleeps well in it since she has to stop moving for a minute. Last night she fell asleep in it at 8 pm, woke happily at 10 pm and put herself back to sleep for another 50 minutes. I'd call that a small success. Do they make car seats for 50 pounders?

Finely can fall asleep on her back (since it is like tying her down- she can't roll over, so she's stuck there.) But she can't stay asleep on her back so I roll her to her belly.

So anyway the rumble bed is back for the time being. Everyone loves to play on it and Finley is falling asleep on it as I type.