Cookie Thief

Tonight, Zackery decided to go to bed with a cookie is in his possession. Layla not missing a beat took the cookie away and brought it into Mom and Dad's room. "Look what Zack had under his pillow," as she unveiled a cookie with one bite in it.

I, of course, was curious how he got the cookie since we placed the cookie package on top of the fridge and asked Layla, "Did you give him a cookie?" She quickly yelped, "NO!" However, her body language told a different story and we had to bring in Zackery to ensure she was telling the truth. So 1 long minute, Zackery comes in, cuddling his teddy bear in his arms. "How did you get a cookie?" "I wanted it." "I asked how did you get it?" "I had to climb up." "So YOU climbed up there and got it?" "Yes." Layla was dismissed back to bed and Zackery had to go talk to dad. Dad had to take him back into the kitchen and talk to him about not climbing up the kitchen counters and he is NOT allowed to eat cookies without permission. He, of course, cried at the realization that he cannot eat cookies as he pleases and got sent to bed cookie-less.

Ending note: It's hard to believe that January has flown by! The Boye Family continues to trek through the ups and downs on their daily lives and enjoying all that we are involved in.

Highlights:

• Mom is 12 weeks away from the end of her ASU semester.
• Dad is making positive changes to his work day.
• Layla is tackling harder texts to challenge herself in reading.
• Zackery is getting ready for Kindergarten round-up.

Bring it on February! We only have high expectations!

Friday Night-Family Night

Zackery grabbing my leg as I walked into the house this evening.

The plan for tonight: drive over to our friend's neighborhood school and attend a Sock Hop

What we did instead?

Go to Dinner at Mimi's Cafe and enjoy each other's company. Mom got home too late for us to make it to the Sock Hop, so we made adjustments to our plan. On the way to the restaurant, Mom was talking to Dad about the current situation: she's had a very busy week and feeling overwhelmed by all the things on her list to do. "If I spend my free time grading, planning and reading then you and the kids are losing a part of our family time and that makes me feel horrible. Then on the other end, if I devote my energy on just us, I'm losing out on reading, grading and planning. It's a no win situation." Luckily dinner with the family helped Mom feel so much better.

We had a great night of sharing our highlights of our day and some disappointments. Layla delivered some jokes. Zackery entertained us by simply being himself. There were lots of hearty laughs and the food was fantastic.

Our highlights:

Zackery: "making my penguin at school"

Layla: "keyboarding class"

Mom: "spending time with you (pointing to Layla, Zackery and Dad)

Dad: "finishing up on my project at work"

Zackery led us in a vote.

Our disappointments:

Zackery: "my DS is dead. Dad you need to charge it"

Layla: "since I went to keyboarding, I missed the spelling bee I was practicing for"

Mom: "having so much to do in a small time frame"

Dad: "having to go to work."

Sometimes, all you need to do is stop for a moment to breathe to get it all back into perspective. I'm glad I took a moment to breathe.

Other moments worth of sharing:

Zackery offering a bite of his grilled cheese sandwich to me and Dad. He gets to Layla and offers it to her then as she is going in for the bite, takes it away and says "No! You can't have it!" We asked him, "Why?" Z: "Layla is dangerous, Mom! She can't have any!"

Layla taking a big bite of her "worms in dirt" and looks at us with her front teeth blackened from the chocolate pudding. She was trying to say something serious and we couldn't help but laugh at her. We couldn't get one word out and ended up pointing at her mouth to let her know what we were laughing about.

On our way home, we started talking about the new Muppets movie and Zackery says, "IN CONTROL! Dad say it!" Dad: "IN CONTROL!" Z: "AGAIN!" D: "IN CONTROL!" Z: "ONE MORE TIME!" D: "in control." Z: "Please one more time!" D: "NO!" So Mom chimes in: "ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME!" Layla and Zack join in, "ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME! ONE MORE TIME!" Derek had no choice, "IN CONTROL." Uncontrollable laughter ensues....Z: "one more time! one more time!" (all alone)

One last moment: Zackery and Dad hiding behind the building and scaring Layla and Mom as they left the restaurant. Z genuinely scared us and got some screams from Mom and Layla that it scared him.

Lies! Lies! Lies!

We took the kids to eat at Panda Express this evening. It was "Salk Elem" night and 20% of our total was donated to Layla's school. Since we can't make it all her school events, we did our part. While at dinner, we chit chatted about each family member's events. Mommy was in the middle of sharing stories from her first grade adventures, when she looked over at Layla's fingers. She, of course, forgot to use her fork and was using her fingers to slurp up noodles when I noticed a "blue" forefinger.

"What happened to your finger?" *shrugs* "What finger?" *points* "That finger? Why is it blue?" "Ooooh that finger....nothing!" (LIE #1) "Nothing?! It looks like you've been eating kool-aid." "Eating kool-aid?! What?! No. I didn't eat anything." (LIE #2) "Well it's stained from something, how did it get stained?" "I don't know." (LIE #3) "You don't know, huh? Well I know that's what a finger looks like when you eat kool-aid. Were you eating kool-aid?" "No." "No?! Hmm...well you were eating something that stains your finger. Was it some type of candy?" "Umm...." "Oh yeah, like Fun Dip?!" "No...but okay Tomi and I like to trade things so she gave it to me." "Gave you what? Kool-aid?" "No. This bottle where I dip my finger in...." "Oh the candy you're not allowed to eat. The candy that is just flavored sugar." *head goes down* "Yes." "You know you're not allowed to eat that candy, it's really bad for you. So you took candy you're not allowed to eat and tried to lie about it." *silence* "Wow Gurly! You lied! That's worse than just saying, 'Tomi gave me some candy.' You knew it was wrong by taking the candy and then you tried to hide it." *shakes my head* "Yes I did." "Well that candy goes to the trashcan, where is it?" "At home." "Okay well when we get home we'll throw it away and we'll need to have a talk in your bedroom." *head down*

All the way home, she tried to distract me by talking about everything she learned in Navajo class and her plans for the next day. She admired the stars and moon. She talked about her DS. She rushed into the house and tried to race to the bathroom for shower time. But Momma didn't forget.

"Zack, you need to get out. I need to talk to Layla. Where is the candy?" *she pulls it out from beneath a pile of papers, concealed.* "Wow! You tried to hide it. That tells me that you knew it was wrong and still did it. You were willing to lie about it and hide it. How am I supposed to trust you if you can lie about the small stuff?" "I know it was wrong. I shouldn't have lied. I will take the consequence for my actions." "Okay, that means a spank."

As it pains me to do so, there we were mom and daughter. It hurts me more than she'll ever know and all it took was one. She knew what she did was wrong. I walked out of the room, crushed. She didn't see the tear that fell down my cheek, but she learned a very valuable lesson tonight. After a couple of minutes, I returned to the room and hugged her. Told her I love her, she tried hard to be resistant and continued to cry and try to hide under her pillow. She needed a little tickling and a quick chat on how to get control of our emotions. I told her, "Why hold on to anger now? It's over, you know it's wrong and you won't do it again because I believe you when you said you would." And it was done!

*I'm so blessed with a church who teaches me the value of disciplining in a Godly manner. I'm so happy that I took those parenting classes because I really think this structured method of spanking does more wonders than just having a go at it. Tonight was only Layla's 3rd time ever getting a formal spank from me and/or Dad.*

Diné Bizaad

Daddy took the initiative to register Layla and Zackery up for Diné Bizaad classes. They are being offered on Tuesday evenings for the spring months. The instructor is a guy named Freddie. They are also going to attend Diné singing on Saturday mornings, with an instructor by the name of Jolyana Begay.

Dad says Layla seems very eager to embrace her new learning. She was a bit nervous when the class was asked to introduce themselves using their clans. So she quickly asked Dad for his help. Of course, he obliged and told her "next time you have to say it yourself" which prompted Layla to practice.

Zackery might be too young for the class since his Tuesdays are already full. He goes to preschool in the afternoon and always is on the grumpy side when we get him in the evenings. So we might give him a break and try again next time.

Sidenote: I think it is so important for us, as Native people, to remember to embrace our cultural backgrounds. We might not agree with all elements, but we can always learn and synthesize which aspects to use in our daily lives. At the end of the day, I do not want to contribute to the devaluing of our native language and culture. Our ancestors were far too important and fought so hard for their survival so long ago. That makes me remember that today, we must make them proud and let them know they didn't fight in vain. So family and friends take a moment and think about how you could take a moment to learn a little bit more about yourself as a Diné hastiin or asdzáá.

Some Friends Are For A Lifetime

Eating Fries

For dinner tonight, we decided to eat at Famous Dave's after such an eventful day (at least on Mom's end). Zackery was happy to share with us his new technique for eating french fries. Enjoy!

LAYLA IS MISSING!!!!

After the quick trip back to see family over the weekend, we're trying hard to adjust our sleeping schedules to tackle our week. It's only Monday, but it was already a hectic day.

We all traveled to our destinations to get to work, school and Tricia's house today. We all got there safely and went about our days, either learning, teaching, playing, or modifying

.

Sometime in our day, Dad decided he was going to rush home to pick up Layla. He was afraid that the after school program would not take Layla since we were unable to send the payment in today (due to busy schedules). So he rushed across the city and got there just in time. Layla was pleasantly surprised to be getting picked up and cheerfully left with Dad at dismissal. They spent the afternoon browsing the aisles of Bass Pro Shops and Home Depot. Before that time, they made a quick stop at home and also managed to pick up Zackery.

What they failed to realize was....or should I say Dad forgot... "to notify the school and properly check" his daughter out so they knew where Layla went. This one crucial step sent her school into a frenzy. The great child care providers went into panic mode as they realized "Layla was missing!" They made all the phone calls to Dad and Mom. When they got no answer they went to the next person in line: Bonnie. They even went as far as calling my work place and talking to my principal for this EMERGENCY!

Mom was in the middle of teaching a math lesson, when I could hear my phone going off silently and after 8 consecutive buzzes, I went over to check it out. I thought, "Bonnie knows I'm teaching, she wouldn't be calling me if it wasn't an emergency!" So I excused myself to make the call backs and as I left my classroom, there was Mrs. B running around the corner and looked right at me. "Come with me, HURRY!" So we ran down the hallway to her office where Bonnie was on hold to tell me, "Kids Corner called me since they couldn't get a hold of you and Derek. They said, "Layla is missing. They can't find her. Call them ASAP."

"WHAT?! Okay." *click* I'm frantically trying to dial his number on my cell phone and Mrs. B and I are freaking out in her classroom. Then her phone rings again, this time from Mesa Public Schools and again asking for me.

"Hi, Mrs. Boye. We can't find Layla. We've looked everywhere. Hold on..." (meanwhile I'm trying hard to get Derek on my cell phone)

..."Okay ma'am, we finally got a hold of Dad and he checked her out. Layla is with Dad. We were just worried since we didn't know she was checked out. Okay. everything is okay now. Thank you." *click*

Let me tell you when you hear your child is missing...it's not a good feeling. I told Mrs. B right away that Derek has her. He checked her out. We both took a moment to calm down. "He's dead when I get home!" We both laughed. I had to walk slowly back to the classroom and breathe. That was such a scary moment and Dad now knows the proper steps of taking his child from school. *whew* BIG SIGH OF RELIEF!

"You're being Naughty"

Tonight while Mom was across the city attending her weekly Thursday night class, Dad was in charge of spending time with Layla and Zackery. Here is a snip-it of tonight's dinner conversation:

Setting: Eating dinner at the kitchen table

Zackery: "Layla, you're being naughty!"

Layla: "What?! How?!"

Zackery: "Layla, you're being naughty. You dropped food on the floor."

Layla: "What?! You drop food all the time!"

Zackery: "No! You dropped food right now. Zackery and Daddy will have to spank you."

Layla: "I don't think so."

Zackery: "Layla go get a chair. You're going in time-out right now!"

Layla: "A chair?"

Zackery: "Yes! Get a chair. You're going to time-out right now."

Layla: "Oh, you mean get a chair so I can watch tv."

Zackery: "NO! You're going to time-out!"

Layla: "Oh, you mean get a chair so I can play Wii."

Zackery: "NO! Layla you're being naughty! You need a chair to go to time-out."

Layla: "Oh, you mean get a chair so I can play my DS."

After each response, Zackery get angrier and annoyed with Layla and Layla giggles in her small victory over her brother.

I loved hearing Derek tell me this story when I got home from my day. Hearing about their small sister/brother battles and how the scoreboard always comes out about even. Today Layla earned her point!

New Words & New Problem

Zackery keeps astounding us with new vocabulary he acquires in his day. It's so awesome considering it was a bit of struggle to get him talking.

He's mastered his IEP goals that were created in March 2011. It only took 9 months! The teachers are hoping they can keep him in the program for the rest of the year. This is also our hope because he absolutely loves "going to school on his big yellow bus with his friend Gabriel." I don't want him to lose out on this unique preschool experience and I don't want to stop getting his little crafts that he makes us every week.

But one week at grandma's house----he came back with his current favorite words "wah" and "wah jin." We couldn't stop laughing at dinner tonight when he used one or the other every 5 minutes. He knows exactly how to use the words, too. It's always perfect timing and with just an edge of great comedic timing.

Instances:

• His fried potatoes fell off his fork on at his way to his mouth -- "wah"
• Layla forgetting to finish her homework -- "wah"
• Mommy can't find her phone -- "wah jin"

On a side note -- he also came back from Patricia's house on Tuesday and she had these words to share:

"He's doing great keeping his hands to himself. He's doing good not hitting or pushing with the kids anymore. But...he's starting to kiss everyone. So I had to keep reminding him and telling him not to spread his germs. We don't want anyone getting sick"

Compliments

After my evening run, I quickly chatted with our neighbor. In the midst of our conversation, he paid Layla a great compliment. "Your daughter is such a sweet child, always well-mannered, and nice to others. She's always a joy to see and talk to."

Music to our ears to know that all our parenting hard work is shining through. Great job Layla!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FAMILY

7 days into the new year and the Boye's are already busy. We all returned to work and school this week. So as we begin to juggle the many components to our lives remember to keep us close to your hearts and in your prayers.

We love all of you and a day doesn't go by that we don't miss and think of you. Be blessed this year!