Goodness....and patience....

So as I sit here typing, I'm listening to my youngest wind down from his first true temper tantrum...yea, that may sound mean, but they are purely crocodile tears.

It started out as me telling the middle one, Andrew to eat his dinner (he had been sitting there for an hour looking at it like it was going to metamorphisize into some weird bad guy from Power Rangers - hello its merely honey ham, broccoli and noodles!). Well, Nathan, the youngest, decided to engage Andrew, at this point in time, in a conversation about playing hide-and-go-seek. OK...this is my 2 year old having a conversation of this type with my 4 year old...

Needless to say, I told Nathan to leave Andrew alone so he could eat his dinner. Nathan stood up as straight as he could (he's only 4 inches and two years behind Andrew, keep in mind - he's tall) and crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. Now, I'm talking about full blown "bass mouth" as my grandfather used to call it. He stomped his foot and looked at me defiantly. I told him if he did it again I would have to spank him for disobeying. So what do you think he did???? Yep, he went after Andrew and not only bothered Andrew, but pushed him out of his chair.

So yes, I had to pop his bottom for it. His response - he literally threw himself on the floor (the floor of our cozy doublewide shuddered), started kicking the floor (I think the foundation itself was rattling at that point), and started crying for Daddy....like HE was going to save his this fate. Not so much, babe.

So....here's the news around this household.... Here's a pic of Aunt Theresa and Nathan. He wasn't too sure of her at first, even though they've met several times since he's been born...but he warmed up to her quickly when he discovered that I would take a picture of him with her. My youngest son...shades of his photogenic mother...always willing to pose nice for the camera!!! But as you can see from the other pic...she did have to chase him a little bit....while Padme sat there to see how much she could pilfer off of her plate.

Alas, homeschooling....I agree with it. I would love to say that I could do it forever. I don't know that I can. Not with Cody. He needs more structure which has been hard to provide here at times - especially with the two little ones running around, and Andrew needing so much help with his learning style and speech... We're trying to get him into a charter school (they're free, but the kids that get accepted are picked via a lottery system) that's local. He would have the same math program and testing that he was used to in a homeschool setting, but....his chances of getting in are only going to be by God...please pray. We do have a new elementary school that is being built and will be ready by his fourth grade school year - it's about a mild up the road from us. Dan and I feel comfortable enough with where Cody's morals are at this point to send him out there "into the world." The school systems are getting better out here where we live, in this part of the county. Even if he just goes for a few years and then wants to come back home, I think it will do more good in the long run, than harm.