Jared will kill me if I don't put this in. Maxwell wrote his name today. While I was doing my computer stuff, he sat behind me on the floor and started writing on some handwriting paper. (Red, blue, and dashed lines on gray paper) I am just going to tell this story in sequence, it lasted around twenty minutes. He came up to me and asked me how to write his name so I wrote it down for him. He looked at it, turned the paper over, and preceded an attempt at writing his name. First he wrote MAELL from memory. I again wrote his name out for him, telling him he missed some letters. Again MAELL, so I again wrote his name out for him on that same page. Every time he went to write his name again, he would turn it over or get a new page once I wrote his name on it. For whatever reason or logic he did not want to copy what I wrote. He would put numerous of his own attempts on a single side, but mine apparently ruined that side. Then there was MAXELL. I told him he was missing the W and showed him a few times how to write a W. He had a meltdown over the letter W saying, "I can't do it!" Finally he got the W and from there it was a few tries until he got it all together in order with what he considered to be legible enough or good enough letters. When he finished he got up and did a touchdown shuffle, shouted, "I did it!" and ran over to give me five. I don't know at this point if it will stick or not but it was still quite amazing. He definitely has Jared's determination and follow through. He puts superhuman pressure on himself in everything he decides he is ready to do. I will have Jared scan the final version in tonight and post.

A few days ago we started the reading lessons. At this point, I have no idea how quickly it will go- whether it will be 100 lessons in 100 days or the first 10 lessons in 50 days. However, he is enthusiastic and desirous to learn so I am willing to try. The system has the potential of working with 3 1/2 year olds if they can comprehend some of the instructions.

Xander is now reading his first official chapter book- Magic Tree House- Dinosaurs Before Dark and he reads the Eye Wonder books on his own. Xander prefers to read to me then for me to read to him. Xander has completed three K-1 level workbooks and is starting another one. I made flashcards for Xander with the words from the book like: Pteranodon, Anatosaurus, shriek (which he always shrieks), and cautiously.

Elijah just loves to read and eats books up. He has read Books 1-13 of the Magic Tree House series, Cam Jansen mysteries, Bones mysteries, and Nate the Great books. He also likes Junie B. Jones but I don't let him check those out from he Phoenix library. I do allow him the choice at the school library though. Last week he was complaining about running out of chapter books. We went to the library the next day and he checked out The Mouse and the Motorcycle. On Thursday I took him to the store to purchase some more books. He put in his $5 from Grandma Landon for Valentine's Day and his $3 allowance for a perfect behavior week at school. He was worried about not having enough money, but I told him if he put in all of his $8 I would help him out. He picked out Magic Tree House 14-16 and Stuart Little. He wanted a Junie B Jones, so we had the talk again about how I feel about Junie B. Jones. The books have horrible grammar and use words like stupid and shut up. I don't mind him reading them every once in awhile. He enjoys pointing out everything she does wrong. (I think it helps with his need to tattle-tale.) Sometimes he even points out the grammar issues. My biggest issue with them is the horrible grammar. Elijah spends most of the time in the car reading. We spend a lot of time in the car because of the sharing one car.

I think I am feeling pretty wordy today. Hopefully this will translate to the Monthly Newsletter I am creating today for Relief Society. Maxwell picked out a Veggie Tales coloring/paint book during that same trip to the store for his $5 from Grandma Landon. It is funny to see what your kids pick out when they get to choose. It came with paints, crayons, and a little paintbrush. He painted seven pictures on the first day of having it and used up all the paint. Xander plans on picking out a similar item with his $5. Elijah, Maxwell, and I went during Xander's karate.

Maxwell asked me, "Where's Leila?" after he got out of the bath this morning. He really enjoyed having her around.

And now I think I am done. Seriously.