Carschooling

I saw this in a parenting magazine once and I had to laugh. Carschooling is the education and instruction you give to your children when they are strapped into their carseats or booster seats. We don't spend TOO much time in the car, since the kids aren't in any activities like soccer yet, but we do go back and forth to preschool, church and Nona's house quite a bit, so it does add up. This morning we talked about several important things on the way to preschool. I said what does B-A-T spell? Sound it out. And Jonathan worked it out with me, and his face lit up and he said it spells, BAT, Mama! I almost drove the car off the road, I was so happy! i told Jonathan, omigosh, buddy, I'm so proud of you! You're so smart! And he said, Yes. It's like when I am good at those video games, I think my brain is activating. (He is so funny!)
I think this is probably one of the most amazing processes to watch in my children, their journey towards literacy. One day they can recognize one letter, maybe two, and then suddenly they are building on that into actual words. I think the first time I hear him read a sentence out loud I will just be awed!
We also sounded out several other words. Then we talked about penguins for a while. Jonathan said, do you remember when I drew that penguin? And I said, yes, I certainly do! I was so proud of that penguin. I started telling them that I am always so amazed at what they can do because I can remember when they were tiny babies. When they had just come out of my tummy, and they could not do anything at all, and then slowly, they could lift their head, and then roll over, and then crawl and walk and talk... That led to us talking about the time they spent in my tummy, which always seems to boggle their minds a little. And it boggles me a little too, honestly. I told them how we saw them on the ultrasounds and they did not even look like babies at first, but then every time we went back they got bigger and bigger and then they were suddenly out and into the world! Even though we had seen them on the ultrasounds and heard them on the monitors so much, it was such a shock to me when they were actually born. I don't know what I was expecting, but I just remember being totally shocked when I saw them for the first time. It was surreal. It is hard to believe that the whole deal actually works, and works so well, from conception to birth. It really is such a miracle. It always amazed me when I was pregnant with them how I had to do absolutely nothing. It was just automatic, once everything was set in motion, it required no effort on my part.
Then I started telling Jonathan how he was my hiccup-er because he constantly had hicuups in utero and I could feel them all the time. And I told Anna how she was my little kicker because she was always in action and liked to kick me a lot. I think she was just so much smaller, she just had more room to do acrobatics in there. She looked at me in the rearview mirror and said, I still kick you sometimes Mama. Like when you do my eye drops.
This is true! I am so glad that's over with! She said, Me too. I hate those drops in my eyes.
Later, on the way home from school, I was telling them that they needed to wash their hands when we got inside (I always make them come straight in and wash their hands). Jonathan was picking his nose a little and I said, Buddy! Get your fingers out of your nose! That's how you get germs! And Anna said, Yeah, Bubba. You better wash your hands, or you might get the pink eye!
I love driving up and down Wickham with them. They always bust out with some of their best stuff in the car. They are so fun to talk to. Even though I only got three hours of sleep last night, because I am coughing like crazy, and even though I am still running a fever, they make life such a joy.