Enjoying the Weather

We have had a few unseasonably warm days and we have enjoyed the time outdoors.  I feel a little guilty because we haven't even looked at homework that is due this Friday, but exercise is good for them, too!  I have been upset about Tyler's progress report - he got an "S" in math (Satisfactory), and neither of them has had below an E for Excellent up until this point.  Tyler's teacher is getting stricter as she prepares to go on maternity leave (won't be back after Spring Break) and the work is getting a little more challenging in the second half of the year, but I know that when I can find time to work with them and at least check in on how they are doing everything goes a lot better.  I saw his math worksheet that earned him a - instead of a +, and I have to agree that the work is in no way "excellent."  Virtually every number was written backwards, and two of the simple addition problems didn't add up.  When I verbally asked him math questions, "what is 5 + 2, what is 8 - 4," he got them correct, but on the sheet he definitely didn't.  Despite literally everyone telling me that writing letters, numbers and even whole words backwards is completely normal at this point, I just really believe that Tyler probably has a learning disability of some sort.  They won't and can't diagnose dyslexia at this age, but  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he has it down the road.

One area that I can definitely see improvement in, though, is his coordination!  We rode our bikes on the Greenway again, and Tyler was a speed demon - racing down the path, doing circles, racing Katie, and that is the exact opposite only a couple of months ago when he was so cautious and would rather walk his bike and meander.  We have also played sidewalk/garage door tennis the last couple of days and they are both doing great.  They are much improved since their last tennis lesson and we haven't even touched a racket since then.  They are both pretty competitive these days, but have been working on good sportsmanship and have been praising each other for "good hits" and "good tries,"  Katie is a bit over-confident (she told me she "plays like a big kid and is almost like a child professional") and Tyler is not as confident as I would like ("I'm not as good as Katie and I am only good at art"), so we are working on bolstering Tyler and teaching Katie a little humility - ha.  Their approach to learning something new is so different, too!  Katie begs for another shot, or to let her do it again but gets upset if she sees Tyler do something better than her or if she thinks I like something he did better.  Tyler gets frustrated pretty easily and considers giving up, but he usually gives it another go and is genuinely happy if he OR Katie hits it well.  Strangely, Tyler's improvement can also be attributed to him hitting left-handed.  He seems to bat and putt better left-handed, but those have been very isolated incidents and not enough to make a call on.  With tennis, though, he automatically started trying to hit with his left-hand this afternoon and he made contact (and good contact, too) much more often lefty.  Apparently, when he grew 2 inches (all his pants and pajamas are now high-waters, but his little bitty waist makes it hard to go up in size - thank goodness shorts season is soon) in a month, he also switched his hand dominance!  

Horrible pictures - but here are some action shots of our tennis adventure the first night (when I was still making Tyler hit right-handed).  

Katie wants to hit it as hard as she can, every time.  Her outfit, by the way, is an unfortunate hodge podge of her gymnastics leotard, a skirt, and some boots that were the first ones she laid her hands on when I told them that I would go outside with them to play tennis.  She is such a little natural athlete - girls have better hand eye coordination early, I think, but she has always been very active and agile.  Our neighbor said today "I don't see how Katie eats enough to be like that" - I was so confused until she said that Katie is always running, and jumping and moving and she doesn't see how she can get enough calories to sustain her energy level.  Since the early days, she has definitely been active! 

 Tyler "keeping is eye on the ball."  That is his area of most improvement!  My new car in the background - loving it! 

We picked up their soccer uniforms this weekend and tried them on.  Katie was showing me how fast she is and her shorts fell down!  I ordered some XXS that I found online and am hoping that they can wear those instead of the true uniform shorts (same color, small different logo).  We can probably make the other shorts fit with some finagling, though, if we need to!  They'll be in their gear for their first game in just two weeks.  It should be interesting to see how they like soccer, and how their competitiveness translates in a new sport.  We have had fun playing together, and honestly I think that time together, and being active, and learning new sports is equally as important as academics so I am not going to worry too much that we will be cramming all of their homework in tomorrow night and that they probably won't get perfect scores on their tests this time!