Happy Earth Day!

Miles and Max wore their earth colors today in honor of Earth Day. We took Miles back to the doctor today to look at some new spots (we thought associated with the impetigo) but thankfully turned out to be bug bites. We had our first family adventure in a hotel room together over the weekend. It was fun being together, but we all slept poorly. The breakfast in the hotel lobby was cute with Max strapped into his booster chair sitting at the table with us.

I am blown away by how smart both boys are, each in their own way. Max is very practically smart, his comprehension of things seems excellent. He follows instructions, manipulates things well, interacts beautifully, and is able to communicate his point of view. Miles is so intellectual. I am shocked at some of the things he says. He received consequences the other day for telling Ron and I we were "stupid" when angry with us. Today he was annoyed with me and he said, not directly to me but nonetheless directed at me, "Who left the mickey mouse on the steps 'stup?' I said, What did you say? and he looked alarmed and backpeddled, saying he was talking to the mickey mouse. I repeated what he said and he said "Stoop is to crouch." His attempt at rationalization was immediate and sophisticated - where did he come up with that definition? I, of course, didn't buy it and he received consequences. We are doing our best to teach him to be respectful while not being over-bearing. He was around a couple of individuals who smoke, and after they left, he commented to me that they smelled like smoke, but that he didn't tell them that. He demonstrated what we have told him about not hurting someone's feelings with a negative comment. The thing is, I don't know how he knew how to identify the smell of smoke, or that smelling like smoke was a negative thing to say. He asked me the other day, "Mom, are you attracted to me?" I asked, where did you learn the word, attracted? He said from the book Pocahontus, Pocahontus was attracted to John Smith. Another day, he demonstrated his understanding of social/environmental awareness that his teacher exposes him and his classmates to. When reading The Lorax, he commented how sad the story was (during the parts about the animals having to leave due to pollution) and was visibly uplifted at the end when the boy received the very last seed. I asked him if he knew what it was for and he lit up and said "To grow new trees!"