Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Owen the Big Boy


In honor of Owen celebrating his big birthday, I just wanted to share a crazy story about how big he is getting.

A few weeks ago, Owen was sleeping and somehow lost his binky in the middle of the night. For those of you that know Owen well, you know how much he loves his binky at night (luckily he has always understood that the binky is just for bedtime and naptime--but he definitely looked forward to being able to use his pacifier). After some searching in the night, Kristine couldn't find the little binky and Owen was forced to go to sleep without it. Surprisingly to both myself and Kristine (and probably Owen too) he made it through the night. We decided to use this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of the binky.

Kristine is an incredible mother and when it was time for James to give up his binky, she made up the story (illustrated and all) about the Binky Dragon. When little boys and girls get to be too big for their binky, they wrap it up like a present and put it out at night. In the middle of the night the Binky Dragon comes to collect the binky and then takes it to a new baby that needs a binky.

So when we found the binky the following morning and unsuccessfully hid it, we decided it was time for another visit from the binky dragon. Owen wrapped up his binky--with the help of James of course.

Then we put the wrapped binky on mommy and daddy's dresser (because Owen was a little scared about a dragon coming into his room at night). The binky was gone in the morning and we haven't needed one since (Owen has said that the Binky Dragon took his binky to Charlie--maybe it was easier knowing that his little cuz was benefiting from his sacrifice).

Owen has been going through so many big boy changes that it has made me a little sad that he is growing up so quickly. He has made the switch into sleeping in the top bunk bed above James, he has made some progress with potty training, and it just makes me sad that my little trouble maker is growing up. But nevertheless, happy birthday my little Owie bear.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Battle of the Books II


I have recently posted about a few of these books, but I thought that I would provide you with the entire list. So far, I haven't loved these books as much as last year, but if you love fantasy and science fiction there are several that the students have enjoyed. So feel free to grab some of these and let me know what you think!

Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher
Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz
Atherton: House of Power by Patrick Carman
Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson
Eyes of the Emperor by Graham Salisbury
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull**
Fire on the Wind by Linda Crew
Girl from Yamhill by Beverly Cleary**
Half-moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer**
Minerva Clark Gets a Clue by Karen Karbo**
Peak by Roland Smith**
The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynn Jones
Sea Otter Rescue by Roland Smith
The Stout-hearted Seven by Neta Lohnes Frazier
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
**Books I highly recommend

This year we only chose books that are written by authors that are from the Northwest or the setting of the book takes place here. If anyone read Beverly Cleary's books when you were little, you would enjoy A Girl From Yamhill. It is a memoir written by her. I loved it. Happy reading!