Let the Spelling Bee Begin!

For years my mom Jane (a longtime first grade teacher, now blissfully retired) has talked of the miracle of learning to read. And in the past month or so, I have witnessed this miracle myself through Brady.

The ability to look at silly written symbols and to create from them words and meaning doesn't seem so phenomenal to us adults. Heck, we've been reading and writing for so many years that our eyes, brains and ears simply work on autopilot. But to watch a five year PreK kid learn to truly sound out, read and spell words is simply amazing.

I'm not sure how it happened, when it happened or exactly what the adults in his life did to make it happen (I guess other than lots and lots of books in our house!) But yet, his little mind is now doing it on its own. Tonight Brady read a bedtime story to Parker and me. He didn't read it from memory. He corrected himself when he erred. He grasped the meaning of the story, showed Parker the pictures and took his time at words he didn't know to sound them out on his own. It was awesome, and my heart swelled with pride for the little man.

Last week Brady had his first PreK spelling test. He was so excited, and he beamed from ear to ear. While I certainly do NOT delude myself that all tests will have this outcome, it sure was fun for his first to be refrigerator worthy!

And what does Parker think about all this? Well today at speech he kept insisting to Miss Kim that she let HIM read the phrases they were working on! She told me that he would point to each written phrase and shout "I read it! [pause] What that say?" Considering he barely recognizes letters at this point, I think we have a ways to go on this front.

Inauguration Celebration - Parker Style

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but it's a cute shot of Parker none-the-less....

This morning after we dropped Brady at school Parker and I headed to Walmart to return something and get some batteries (exciting, I know!) With that accomplished, we headed to the McDonalds that is located inside the Walmart for a big cup of joe - I'm becoming more and more of a fan of McD's coffee! While waiting in line, we were surroundied by about a dozen Walmart employees. Some were in line. Some were eating at the tables around us. Some were simply chatting with their co-workers. None paid the slightest attention to us (nor should they have.)

After we ordered we scooted to the side to wait. There was a big TV showing CNN, and you can guess what they were covering at 9:30 this morning.

Parker looked up, raised his hands in "touchdown" mode and screamed, "BARACK OBAMA WINS!!!" Everyone stopped mid-sentence to look at this little guy screaming about Barack Obama on TV.

Then they started laughing, cheering and clapping!!! One guy said, "You know it, Little Man!" and gave Parker a High-5! Parker just beamed, though he had no clue why he was suddenly center of attention.

What a memorable way to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama ... with the employees of the Cobb Parkway Walmart!

Newman!

For those of you who grew up in the Seinfeld era, you will no doubt understand my title when I tell you that the Plummer family was once again foiled by Stone Mountain!

This past Saturday, Bill and I decided to tackle SNOW Mountain - the winter fun created by making tons of fake snow, a few tube runs and a kids' snow play area. We borrowed snow pants, gloves and even a ski jacket. We double and triple layered. We tucked socks into pants, and we headed east.

As my loyal readers will remember, we were turned away from an overcrowded park last month while trying to visit the Christmas lights spectacular (we did, however, make it the following day.) So, you probably know where this going.

With Parker looking like that kid in A Christmas Story (and he really did fall and couldn't get up, AND he was wearing pink snow mittens in honor of the pink bunny suit!) we arrive to find out that our annual passes do not get us into the snow area.

Bummer. OK, how much are tickets? $60 ($100 for non-members) for a limit of two hours, i.e. probably about four tube runs. Oh, and we're sold out through Monday.

Newman!!

So after taking a picture of the boys in front of the snow that they couldn't touch, we headed off to their favorite part of the park anyway... the top of the mountain!

We ran around the mountain, leaping from rock to rock and "teetering" on the edge.

While it wasn't exactly what we had planned, it was in fact a fun afternoon!

Better Late Than Never

Having spent two hours uploading a boatload of pictures onto Blogger only to have a series of "fast fingers" delete the entire session, I have decided to simplify the post.

Christmas was spectacular - tons of family and lots of merriment!

Here are a few favorite shots and a slideshow of happy moments.

Happy, Healthy and Joyous New Year to All!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Big Kid Games

As if the addition of teeny-tiny Legos and Blokus into my home weren't signs enough, tonight at dinner Brady proved to us that he is, in fact, a big kid.

He looked at Bill and said, "Daddy, Rock. Paper. Scissors!" What? Who taught him this big kid way of settling disputes and deciding winners? The answer was clear - awesome big cousins Will and Bella, of course!

And after a few pointers and modifications to his style (ex. Rock. Paper. Scissors. Throw!) he proceeded to keep playing until he was giddy with self-pride! Every day this child amazes me in some random way. Today was no exception.

Now if only we could convince him that being scissors every single time is not a good long-term strategy.