Thursday, May 1, 2014

Mother's musings

David -

He is such a wonderful helper. While grocery shopping today he said he didn't want to ride in the cart because he wanted to be my helper. :) He works so hard in school, and he's doing so remarkably well. Jonathan is amazed at his reading skills. Jonathan couldn't read until he was 13, he just never mastered the skill. He'd spend all day reading but it just never clicked for him. He is so grateful that David is not struggling the way he did as a kid. David is also quite the writer and enjoys inventing amazing adventures about robots and monsters and carnivorous plants. He then draws intricate pictures to accompany his stories. His teacher regularly gives him extra writing paper to complete his assignments because he runs out of room writing about the things they are learning about. She reminds him how on his first day in this new school he didn't want to write anything. In fact, he cried and took considerable encouragement. He wrote four words that day. Boy has that changed! :)

David adores cub scouts and the projects we do there. He designed his space derby to look like a McDonald's rocket that would drop hamburgers for people. It was pretty hilarious. Especially as we haven't been to McD's in such a long time...
He'll race it tomorrow evening. Hopefully it fairs better than his pinewood derby. :) 

David works hard to collect cans from around the neighborhood and at church to support his mouse and his budding model building hobby. He also wants to save for a new bike. That will probably take a while, but with his determination I can see it happening. Though he doesn't much like spending money because it takes too long to earn it and he doesn't like seeing it all disappear so quickly. Smart kid.

Andrea -

She is such a girl. Tea parties, jewelry, fancy dresses. It is a rare day that she finishes the day in the same outfit she put on after getting up. She especially loves leotards right now, though most of them are especially small after this latest growth spurt. And heaven forbid we suggest she wear pants that aren't leggings. Getting her into denim is nearly impossible and only happens when every other option is gone. She's worn holes into most of her leggings now, too, which is a shame because it really is hard to keep her looking presentable without them. We tossed several pairs last week that were literally tattered with no way to save them. I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, so trust me I tried to save them.

Andi is also one of the most stubborn and whiney children I know. She often reminds me of my youngest sister who would just badger you over things until you caved. There are days that Andi will follow me around the house repeating the same thing over and over. The other day it was that she wanted to watch a movie upstairs (on the computer), but I wanted to listen to church music upstairs. I turned a movie on downstairs but that wasn't good enough. Two hours later she was still crying "But I want a movie upstairs!" non-stop. I'm not sure she even breathed between repetitions. She never got to watch her movie.

Another Emma-ism: Emma's answer to many road-way woes is "Just honk!" The other day we got stuck on a two-lane road behind a car that was trying to turn left into a parking lot. As we waited Andi became more and more impatient. Finally she said, "Ugh, just HONK!"

Gran sent Andi a pair of pretty gloves to go with her Easter dress this year. In the package was a complementary package of fake nails. Andi was just delighted over those fake nails!
Somewhere there is a picture of me that looks remarkably similar to this photo. When I find it I will do a side-by-side comparison.

Someday I hope I will appreciate her stubborn streak. Right now it can be tiresome, especially after two hours of the same sentence over and over and over again, but I hope one day it will serve her well. I hope she will be strong in the right ways. I want her to be determined to pursue her goals and dreams without feeling ashamed. I want her to be brave and unrelenting in the face of opposition.

Peter -

He is such a happy child. I'm grateful for his pleasant and calm demeanor. Now if we could just get his poor digestive system all sorted out.

Peter has learned how to blow on things. If we say anything is hot he starts blowing. If I'm working on something that will go in the oven he starts blowing. If it was hot at one point he starts blowing. I need to teach him to blow out birthday candles...

He is a very resourceful little guy. In an effort to prevent him from climbing onto the counters and stealing food we put the chairs on top of the table and lay Andi's underneath the table. Well, he's figured out how to set the chair back up and will climb all over the counters when given the two seconds to do so. Today he scraped his chin falling off a chair he'd set up while I was cleaning Andi's room. We also lock all doors because he WILL just walk outside if they aren't locked. I've done the whole search-for-a-lost-toddler-outside thing with David and don't want to do it again. Everyone knows to lock the doors and put the chairs down.

Peter loves to take baths but is terrified of the shower. Last week Andi went to take a bath while I was baking cakes. I strapped him into his high chair and gave him a banana and got to work on making cakes and doing dishes. A few minutes later Andi is yelling for me. I turn around and Peter is GONE. Turns out he'd really wanted to join Andi in her bath.


He loves peek-a-boo, this little piggy, and Doctor Who. He loves singing and dancing and it really doesn't matter what song is on he will stomp out a beat. Jonathan turned on some Gregorian chants yesterday and Peter nodded his little head along with the music. He has adorable curls that turn into snarls by the end of the day, and a fro if I don't wash it after two days. I was determined to get his hair cut the other day and told Emma I would allow her the honor of giving him his first hair cut when she came up. And then I washed his hair and giggled over his darling curls and declared that we'd never cut those little locks. And then he took a nap and he had a rats nest on the back of his head.

Peter played so well today while he was awake. He got up at 7:00 a.m., then was ready for his first nap by 9:00. He woke up at 12:30, had lunch, played with his toys, read a book, and then was rubbing his eyes and ready for his second nap of the day at 2:00 p.m. He woke up at 5:45, we went to the library, had dinner, picked up a lawn mower, and he was more than ready for bed at 8:00. That's a total of almost six hours that he was awake today, something I would expect from a newborn but is definitely not normal for an 18-month-old toddler. I am really hoping that tomorrow gives us some answers on Peter's health.

I know this is probably getting old, but prayers for Peter would be greatly appreciated.



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