Just Tark

I've been so behind on blogging lately, every now and then I can find a few minutes to put up some pictures, and give the typical run down, but no real journaling about the boys and how they are doing.  So, I will "try" to play catch up for the first have of this year... Clark first.

 Clark is out of school for the summer! So far he hasn't really noticed.  As much as he loved school, I think he is happy he doesn't have to get up early in the morning anymore (just like his Mama).

He did really well in school this year, learning so much.  I loved when he would come home and I would ask him what he learned at school, and he was would tell me this long long story.  Sometimes I could figure it out, sometimes I couldn't.  One day he took 10 minutes to tell me the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it was the best thing I ever heard (I have never wanted a video camera more in my whole life).
His talking is getting so much better too!  He is still a little hard to understand when he gets too excited (he stopped using his bottom lip a little when he got his stitches and still doesn't from time to time), or he tries to say too long of a sentence/story, but he has come so far from where he was last year at this time.  I wish I knew how well he did in school, but the communication between his teachers and I was not very good (something I am going to work on more next year... being sick so much the first half of the year really put me behind, and out of place).  Anyway, the few times I did talk with them, they would always tell me how well he was doing, you know "no news, is good news".

He is doing really well with his letters and numbers.  He can recognize and say all of the alphabet, and he can spell his name.  In fact he is really into spelling lately, he likes to tell me how everything is spelled (not from memory, but reading it to me).  And he has started trying to write his name, he gets most of the letters down pretty good too.  

Clark loves to sing songs.  Old McDonald, nursery songs, primary songs, songs from the radio, anything. We learn a new song every week.  It is so much fun to hear him singing along to himself when he is playing.  The other day when he was playing video games he was singing,
"do as I'm doing, e-i-e-i-o", a mix of Old McDonald and Do As I'm Doing.
I love it when he sings the theme songs to Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter.
He will say, "Mom, we watch Harry Potter, do-do-dododo-do..." and hum me the entire theme song.
Sometimes he will ask me to rub his back while I hum a song for him,
always mostly Harry Potter or Star Wars.
It is my very favorite.

He is quite the bossy pants.  I don't know if he means to be, or its just his nature of being the oldest,
 and pretty spoiled (again, just like his Mama).
Whenever I tell him he is a being a bossy pants, he says "NO, just Tark!"
(Tark is how he says his name.)
If I call him Tuna, or any other sill nickname we have for him, he says "NO, just Tark".
The other night we were watching some Superman cartoons, and he (finally) made the connection that Superman's name is Clark too.  He said, "Oh, Tark, like me. Superman is Tark."  It was so sweet, and I swear I saw a little twinkle in his eye.  I was starting to worry that his growing obsession with Batman would get in the way of his true destiny.  (Kidding, kind-of.)

He is really looking forward to having a baby sister.  He feels my stomach all the time.  Sometimes he likes to push out his stomach and tell me about the baby sister he has in there, silly boy.  I'm never sure how much he really understands, but there is always excitement there.  I am really looking forward to him meeting his baby sister, I know he is going to be a good big brother.

(It's so hard to play catch up when you are so far behind.)

He loves his friends so much.  He is always talking about Porter, and all the things he wants to do with him (play trains, chase, go camping...).  One evening, after having dinner and a play date with our friends, Clark cried the whole way home because he needed his own Thomas to take home (Thomas was the name of one of the boys, a couple years older than him).  I always say that Clark was born in the wrong order, he should've been our baby, with older brothers and sister.
He just loves to be around people.
He is a total video game addict!   From sun up, to sun down, all he wants (and asks me) to do is play video games.  Lego Indiana Jones, and Lego Star Wars are his two favorites.  And he does pretty well on his own, never asks for mine or Jason's help, and he can pass his own levels.

I am having trouble with him understanding things from time to time.  I can say something to him 1,000 times, and he will just look at me like I am speaking a different language.  I don't know if it is a boy/male thing (sometimes Jason can be the same way), or if it is a Clark thing.  It is maddening.  And disipline is still a total disaster.  When I stick him in time out he just cries and cries, apolgizes over and over (he seems really sincere), and panics until I let him out.  The reason for the actual time out NEVER sticks, never, and the lesson is never learned.  It has gotten to the point that I can't even threaten time out with out him freaking out.  Whenever I try to correct him, his face will fall and he begs me to "be happy Mom, happy please", which makes me feel horrible.  

I don't even feel like I am as strict or stern with him as I should be.  

Something, somewhere in our communication is getting jumbled up, and we are not understanding each other.

It is something we are going to work on very hard time summer, along with the potty training.

(Yes, my 4 year old is STILL not potty trained, but we are working on it.)

I am mostly just astounded how much Clark is growing up.  Sure he is getting taller and looking more and more like a little boy, and the young man he will soon grow into.  But he is also getting more mature (Clark has always been a little on the immature side).  He catches onto things so fast, and is so willing to learn.  He sleeps in his own bed, all night now (that took us 4 years to accomplish!).  He wants to do his own things, and he wants to help out.  He wants to be a big kid.

I love to see him grow and learn, even with all the challenges of his -sometimes crazy- personality, he is a delight to be around, and I thank God for him everyday.