The Foot, the Tonsils, and other Ramblings

Chase has had an interesting few days. Thursday was his last day of College for Kids. Parents could go to classes that day so Chase wanted me to go to all of his classes with him. Let me see, 4 hours with a baby who needs a nap and a Cade who is "active" - did not sound like a good plan to me. Instead, we came to his last class of the day - Geology. They were erupting volcanoes. Dylan ate it up! He was participating in the class discussion and talking about what classes he was going to take next year. Chase really enjoyed it too. His favorite classes were Geology and Legos. He wants to go next year too. After the class, we ran a few errands and then we went swimming. Chase stepped into the pool and hit his toe funny. He was really hurt so we waited a little while to see if it got better. Instead of getting better, it started swelling and Chase started crying. We tried to make it to the car to go home, but Chase couldn't make it. I had to call Mark - who wasn't feeling well - to come up to the pool so that he could carry Chase out. Mark took Chase to urgent care where they took an x-ray and determined that it was just a sprain. Chase now gets to wear a boot on his foot for a couple of days. I am having a hard time being sympathetic because Chase has a way of being upset by a tiny scratch or a slight ache. It gets hard to judge whether or not he is truly hurting or just milking his injury. He was certainly milking it today. Everywhere we went he would have to stop and tell people about his foot. We went to his ENT appointment today and he is scheduled to have his tonsils out on August 11th. I WILL have sympathy for him then. The doctor told us that he would miss school for a week?! Is that true? That seems like an excessive recovery time, but what do I know. I hate the thought of surgery, but I love the thought of no more strep throat. Poor Chase. He has been poked and prodded more than any of our other kids. Nate making a break for it!
Nate in his favorite sleeping position. He loves his blue bear blanket that he is holding, but only when he is sleepy.

Nate has learned a lot this week, he now can crawl all the way up the stairs - and FAST! We look away for a second and he is halfway up! I am going gate shopping in the morning. We think we have a gate in the attic, but it is almost impossible to go into our attic and then it might not even be there. Nate also has started saying "more" in sign language and he has started to clap. He is very proud of himself (and so very cute). At the pool, he started to crawl in and I knew he was going to try to go head first. Instead, he stopped himself and turned around on his belly so that he could go in feet first. I love to watch him learning and growing.
Here is Cade's nerd picture. He got dressed himself and was insisting on tucking his shirt into his shorts (with the shorts pulled up high). I was laughing so hard at him that I had to take a picture. His behavior has been so much better lately. I have started to use 1-2-3 Magic. I never wanted to use it before because I wanted him to mind the first time. It is working wonders with him. In his words, #1 means that he needs to stop what he is doing, #2 means that this is his last warning, and #3 means that he is in trouble. It is really helping him learn how to control his behavior. I wish we had started this earlier. That is all for the long ramble!