Thank you, You're welcome, May I and Will you vs. Can I and Can you

Henry and I have been working on grammar a lot lately.  He's doing a great job saying "may I" and "will you" instead of "can I" and "can you" which doesn't make any sense grammatically in the way we use it...not that I'm perfect at grammar but I do know the difference between their, there and they're and your and you're which I see misspelled ALL the time amongst educated adults.  I am pretty obsessed with teaching my kids at least what I know and hopefully they'll end up being mindful of other grammatical issues as they grow up. 

Henry and I just had this conversation

Henry: Thank-you mom for my piece of candy
Mom: Thank-you for saying thank-you!

20 minutes later
Henry: Mom, you didn't say you're welcome when I said thank you.
Mom:  Oh, sorry. You're welcome, Henry
Henry: Thanks for saying you're welcome when I said thank-you mom(sweet smile). 

Oh, and he just asked me if he could recycle his sucker stick. I just love that boy:)

Lunch? What?

 Marta, Henry, Thomasin

So as most of the other children are graduating to cool Halloween costumes my son likes to stick with his theme of really cuddly, plush animal costumes.  His cousin was a cool pirate and Henry was a fuzzy frog.  He loved his costume and it kept him really warm.  Neither of my kids needed a coat and that's always a plus(Just ask Jerry Seinfeld).  He raked in tons of candy which I threaten or bribe him with daily.

I'm about ready to throw it away since he's shed a lake full of tears already when I don't let him have it whenever he thinks about it which is usually first thing in the morning...and every second until he goes to sleep.  I also realized that he has no concept about Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  Have any of you had trouble with this? I have tried to teach him and there's even a song that he knows from Signing Time about it but he still can't remember what Lunch is and when it's eaten.  That may be an issue stemming from me not having any sort of regular eating schedule until just recently.  I tell him he can have a piece of candy after lunch and he eagerly eats his breakfast and then asks for candy at 9am.  I tell him, "no, after lunch, which is in a few hours" and then he bursts into tears, sometimes for extended periods of time.

Two of the most disturbing costumes ever

He's also started turning my techniqes for threatening back on me like when I tell him I'm going to throw his candy away if he doesn't start behaving he'll say, "If you do that, then I'm going to hit Bea all day long and be really mad." Then I say, "Well I'll just put you outside all day then." at which point he says, "I'm just kidding mom."  It's getting cold out there.

Tears for Tomatoes

Today I broke down my garden and threw the withered, dry tomato plants in the compost along with all the tomatoes that Justin forgot to pick while we were on vacation that rotted on the vine.  When he saw they were all gone Henry burst into tears.  I held him and told him we would plant new ones next year and that we could go out and buy some today and he wept..."But I only love Heirlooms!"  That's my boy:)

BTW there are beautiful heirloom tomatoes at Right by Nature(local organic store) that are almost $6 per lb.  Is any other produce you can think of that's that expensive? I don't know that there is. Any ideas?

Henry also caught a walking stick the other day all on his own.  I'm so proud that he's following in my footsteps, loving bugs, nature, gardens.  He really loves everything now that I think about it.  I have so many interests that I usually can't choose between any one of them so I do them all.  I think Henry'll be like that too.  We can't wait to get him up on his own skis this year.  Many wipe-outs are to come!

Henry the Pirate Farmer

Pretend play is at a all time high these days with our little Henster.  He's constantly babbling and if I respond to cries for help or questions he's asking I frequently get the reply, "I'm not talking to you mom!"  Lately, however, Justin and I have been included on the fun as we play pirates almost every day.  Our couch is the main boat, the chair is the life boat (for rowing ashore) and a huge poster of the movie, "Land of the Lost" is our treasure map.  He has a periscope and his ride on toys are the dinosaurs he has to kill before he can collect the treasure. 

To give this a comprehensive description, you must know that everything is said in rough, scratchy pirate voices.  The first day I asked him who was going to be captain and he said in his usual voice, "I'm captain," and then I asked him what I do and he said, "you take care of the baby".  Not much of a roll change for me.  He gets off the life boat where he was supposed to fight a T-Rex for the treasure(I was the T-Rex growl) and as I was trying to play the part, he told me that he was only poking him in the bum but hadn't chased after him yet.  Finally he was chased and he used his sword to slay the beast. 

The all-time best was, though, when Justin was playing with Henry and they went around the house collecting pretend things to put in their treasure chest and when he was done Justin asked him what he had collected and in his pirate voice he said, "food, drinks and seeds." Justin asked him what he was going to do with the seeds and he said gruffly, "plant a garden so we can eat vegetables."  Justin and I couldn't hold in our smiles and chuckles.  That night for dinner he wouldn't eat his squash but I turned pirate and told him that he had to eat it because we grew it in our pirate garden and while he was laughing, I shoved a huge mouthful of it in and he happily chewed it and swallowed.  We just love our boy. 

I'm also going to start including my thoughts about the many reasons I wish to home school and time to pretend play and be creative is one of them. I heard creativity usually starts petering out as soon as kids enter the public school system.  Tragic! I want my kids to have all the time in the world to write plays, paint, roll-play with their siblings, etc.  I remember my sister spending hours writing and illustrating books when she was only 5.  I still think she could have been an amazing author but I think the busy life of a child going to school doesn't allow kids to develop their natural talents enough to make it enjoyable, at least.  I had talents in many things but I was always stressed and rushed to get practices in my busy schedule which makes things not fun at all. I even see it with Henry. He used to create these fabulous abstract paintings but now he thinks he has to draw or make something recognizable or it's not good enough.  He gets frustrated and won't continue.  I want him to think that whatever his hand does is fabulous and that he doesn't have to think or reason to create art.  I think I'll have to take him down to the museum of art and show him some abstracts to bring back his confidence.