Isaac:
Isaac is learning to read. He is resistant to much instruction and is reticent to read for us because "those are hard words" but once you get him going he's a good little reader. He gets so excited when he reigns triumphant over a page! Today he spelled "elefant" and "igloo" phoneticly (sp?).
Isaac is learning to play soccer. I sense that this has been a big stress in his life, actually. He's getting better little by little and asks for Joey to go out and play with him a lot of the time. He wants to practice. But then before the games and practice he gets grumpy and says he hates soccer and doesn't want to go. If he gets his foot on the ball at all he just grins from ear to ear. If I wasn't his parent I could enjoy watching him play a little more (and I should be able to anyway!) because about 89% of his second game he spent in La-La land...shooting at things, dancing with his shadow and talking to himself. It was hilariously frustrating! I think he'll not do that too much next time. We talked with him a little bit about helping out his teamates. He did much better at the next practice. I'm looking forward to seeing him progress or maybe decide it's not for him. Whatever he chooses.
Isaac is very curious. He asks a lot of questions about the things Joey and I talk about, things he picks up on in movies etc. Today he asked who and where "bad" people are. I won't go into my response but we ended up talking about war and he couldn't seem to get enough information about it all.
Isaac loves to make-believe play. He is always sword fighting something into a corner. He does amazing sound effects complete with Star Wars music being hummed in between blows. Lately he's been watching Star Wars 1 and loving all the characters from that movie.
Isaac is incredibly sensitive. Isaac loves for me to crawl in bed with him after Joeys tucks them in and sings them songs. If he hasn't already fallen asleep I get to see this tender little look on his face...as if he's just won an olympic medal...when he sees me coming. It's worth a million dollars to me. And yet, sometimes I put off going in there just to "get things done". I'm trying to be better about things like this. When Isaac is in a good mood, well rested and thinking clearly, he is the sweetest brother. He takes care of G, shares with her, laughs with her, plays with her. Even when he's not, actually, he is a good big brother. He tends to hit a little more when he's grumpy but he and G get along incredibly well. Because of his sensitivity he doesn't take criticism too well but the best thing about him is that he knows this about himself. He recognizes it and I can always reason with him. He has been so good about changing his attitude when I remind him to do so. I see him learning how to control his emotions a little bit better every day. I understand how hard this is for him and I am so proud to watch him grow and work hard at being more under control. Recently he has begun laughing somewhat forcefully when he hurts himself;) When he did this today he said, "I'm working on being tough." Too cute!
Isaac has become a BIG helper around the house. He now mops the floor, takes out the trash, sets the table without complaining and sometimes does this without me even asking. He helps unload the groceries, sorts the laundry and helps Georgie with things that she can't do. It's quite nice having all that help on house cleaning day!
It seems like a lot of information, but I know there's more;) I'll think of it as I am trying to fall asleep tonight! One of these days I'll get around to updating Georgies "profile"!
