ADHD

The other day I was at Home Depot with all three boys - again - and the cashier saw Jack and Win running circles around the cart.  She said, "Wow,  your kids are really hyper."  I just said, "No, they just have a lot of energy," and I walked out of the store feeling very proud of myself for not getting annoyed.  I think boys get labeled "hyper" when really they just need to run.  I have done it myself, admittedly, but at that moment I had to see the situation as it really was: they needed a physical outlet in the freezing 1 degree weather we had had all week long.  Who can blame them?  You can only run so many times back and forth in our little basement playroom.  So, for one moment I felt in control as my boys got out a little pent-up energy (and probably bothered everyone else in the store).  

The next day, I took all three to the grocery store (we were having our main floor bathroom torn out and had to get out of the way for a week).  When I walked up to pay the cashier said, "we saw you coming and said to each other, 'Three boys!  I wonder what her day is like!'"  I laughed and just said, "pretty wild at times."  I couldn't lie, but all of you mothers with three girls must feel life is pretty wild too, right?  Well, I'm okay with wild boys that need to run, but I wouldn't mind a thoughtful, quiet girl someday, if the rumors are really true about girls...

Art Education

We thought this was so funny with the nudes in the background - little did he know.

Over Christmas we took the boys to the Art Institute of Chicago as much for our enjoyment as to introduce the boys to some of the most amazing and important pieces of art in the world.  I love this museum.  I have been there many times with different groups of people, but this is the first time with the kids.  I learned that the whole basement floor is geared towards children. You can try on armor, make crafts, re-create a piece of art with blocks, and sit in the reading room with all the picture books and little pint-sized nooks and crannies.  The best part, however, was the audio guide for kids.  I listened to a bit of it and it was fantastic.  Jack learned who Abraham Lincoln was from the guide, and of course from the pretty incredible sculpture of him.  

For those of you who have read Freakonomics you know the authors' opinions about the value of taking your kids to an art museum:  they aren't getting as "cultured" as you may have hoped - just stay home and read together.  I have to believe that showing the boys Seurat's gigantic "La Grande Jatte" up close will teach them about pointillism (in a very basic way), or coming eye-to-eye with the sculpture of an open-mouthed, roaring lion wrestling a Roman god will teach them about stone, movement, and emotion, all far better than looking at a book of art on our laps.  Can't I hope for maybe a love and respect of art?  Perhaps a burning desire to study art history?  I'm not really that idealistic, but maybe they will actually sense from Christian and me our love of the art we saw and remember that aspect of the trip.  But, who am I to go against pages of research?  Just a mom - and moms always know best!  So...who's up for round two?