Happy Day, oh 6-year-old...

Just a few more pictures from the big day for Will, the big 0-6. :)

Photos from Will's birthday party

Will's birthday party

Will's Mojo

"Mommy, Mommy, come here!"

Seriously, when you're trying to put a cranky, tired baby down for bed and you hear Will's dulcet tones reverberating from the bathroom right next to the nursery, it doesn't inspire shiny, happy feelings. So after some loud-but-hushed "Shh! Shh!" spit-fests, I go in there.

"What, Will?" I ask, opening the door. And then I see it.

His sweetly grinning little face pointing to the colorful foam letters that stick to the bathtub when wet. Yes, that's right: MOJO. That's what it says. I didn't even know he knew the word mojo. I just busted out laughing.

"Mojo?!" I ask. "How do you know what the heck mojo is?"

He smiles mischeviously. "You know, Mommy -- mojo jojo, I got the mojo." He says it matter-of-factly while shimmying his shoulders in a way that make me wonder if we have free movie channel previews of which I am not aware.

"Will, how..."

"I sounded it out."

Oh. Okay. Thanks for putting that pricey private-school education to good use...but I am still dumbfounded and laughing.

I did eventually discover that apparently Ron Stoppable says something about mojo on Disney Channel's Kim Possible cartoon, which he loves (and Ben and I kind of enjoy, too). But still, it was hilarious. I called Ben in, I got the camera, good fun was had by all.

Coolest kid's room...EVAH!

Will's room used to have a certain disheveled lameness to it. Yes, he had a twin bed taking up most of the floor space, and not enough shelves for his little mini-me library. His LEGOs were a particular problem, especially when we stepped on them.

And then the clouds parted, the sun shone through, and we saw the light...and it was named "IKEA."

Anyway, we decided a growing boy needed a room he could feel comfortable and happy in, especially because his once free roam of the house has been restricted since we generally frown upon strewing choking hazard toys throughout the house for his sister's sampling displeasure. So after a lot of thought, we went with this loft and desk from IKEA. You can't see the wall of shelves on the opposite side of the room, but it added MUCH needed storage space. He has his little electronic piano mounted to the wall on the other side of the window. The only thing missing now is really good lighting. That's sitting in the corner waiting for daddy to install it, however!

But the room has been like this for a while. What I'm really showing is Little Edison at his new computer. I wish I'd gotten a better pic of the unit itself in context -- the glowing blue and green lights really add an ambience to the room. (If you're curious, look a couple of posts down for a slideshow of the computers generation via daddy and Will genius.)

He loves his room, and I have to say it's gone from being one of the most impassable rooms in the house to being one of the most functional for it's main purpose, which, in this case, is being the HQ for a brilliant little boy.

When a toddler chooses her own clothes

Personally, I think she's got some style. Anyway, she was insistent about wearing that little yellow dress, and since it was a cool day here in Louisiana, we had to mod it a bit.

Regardless, Little Lady is definitely coming into her own. She has a lot of attitude, and pair that with an ever-increasing vocabularly, and there's been some major sassiness sprouting around here. (I mean, how could you NOT be sassy in that outfit?)

Please, do enjoy the tantrum photo (#3). She doesn't tantrum much, and this was a choice photographic moment. Tantrum in Pigtails, I call it.

Just so you don't think Little Lady Laila is MIA...

vroom, vrooom

Come see Will's big project...

Will and Daddy Build a Computer

And out with #2

This one hung on for a while, and believe it or not, *I* was the extracating parental faction on this one. He asked for a paper towel to get a better grip, and then said it was too slippery. So I took the paper towel and used it to get a really good grip on the tooth. I was just about to tell Will to grab on when he jerked backwards and it popped out.

The funniest part? He didn't jerk backwards to get the tooth out. He had gone without talking for like a full 30, 45 seconds. He couldn't take it anymore and had something to say, so he yanked back, impatient. He didn't even realize it was out until I was like, flipping out and waving it in his face. He then started leaping around like a fish out of water and called everyone, starting with Poppy, who he is convinced has a direct line to the Tooth Fairy. I'm not kidding. Poppy is a dentist, and Will says this gives him the hook up. I don't know if he envisions a secret dentist database with regional tooth fairy email and phone number info or what, but he is flat convinced.

Regardless, there it is, the Mack-truck-sized hole, and he is happy. (Even if he doesn't look it in the photo -- he just doesn't like the flash!)

Home's cool.

We've made a big decision. Will is going to be homeschooled next year.

This is in NO way a reflection on his school, which we still love and support. Rather, it's about Will. We didn't come to this decision lightly -- it was the product of a lot of talking, thinking, research, and introspection on our parts. But ultimately, we decided this is the best thing for him -- and for us -- right now.

Tentatively on the schedule for "first grade" is architecture (learning about styles and letting him do some basic design), computer programming (HTML mostly), lots of science, probably some photography, and of course math and handwriting. You might be noticing the abscence of reading, which seems pretty elemental for a first grader, but of course, Will gets reading all the time every day. He is a voracious reader, and while he's going to be reading books for fun, he'll also be reading to learn.

We're really excited, and he is too. We plan on keeping in touch with his friends from school as well as meeting new homeschooling friends. Adelaide will continue to go to her preschool program, and basically, things will be pretty much normal.

We're so at peace with this decision, which is a big contrast to the "tied in knots" feelings we were dealing with thinking about it all. Once we decided, it was like, "whew!" We could just relax again. We plan on using the money we'd set aside for tuition for things like more family vacations and supplies for school, among other things.

I fully intend to keep writing as much, if not more, than I am now, and while I realize this will be a major life change, I feel comfortable we can work it out. I think I may start getting up with Ben and working some before the kids wake up!

We're so excited to share this news with everyone. Thanks for your support.