*Your friend on our street, Colston, has introduced you to Pokemon and Minecraft. Now you are fairly obsessed with both. He generously gave you about 100 of his pokemon cards in a fancy carrying bag and taught you how to play the Pokemon game. After that you said, "My Christmas wish came true!" I said, "From last Christmas??" And you said, "No, I was wishing that this Christmas I would get Pokemon cards, and now I've already got them!" The other big pull is Minecraft. It's become a real trial for you to not go over and play Minecraft every.single.day. When we say no, you try to change our minds by telling us that Colston gets to play video games and watch TV all the time. Yeah...that doesn't fly at our house. It messes with your attitude, and it's not a favorite thing round these parts. So we're trying to help you work on that.
*Maybe someday, you'll become a drummer. You're constantly tapping out beats with your hands, fingers, mouth, feet etc. With my low tolerance for repetitive sound, I feel like I'm constantly telling you to stop. Hopefully I'm not crushing your future as a professional musician.
*You are wanting to sew a bunch of stuffed animals to take to sick kids at the hospital. I'm so glad you have such a giving heart, but I'm having a hard time wanting to jump on board with this one! Sewing is not my strong suit, and I don't feel like I have the energy to devote to such a project. After asking me to do this for about the 1,000th time today, I said ok fine, got you scissors, fabric and pins, and told you to figure it out. I've learned that I can be a really controlling parent. Sometimes, it's probably good that I give you more freedom and let you figure more things out, even if it might be frustrating to you at first. At least that's what I'm telling myself to ease my guilt at not helping you with this wonderful project you've started.
*You started writing a book! It makes me giddy when my kids start to appreciate something I love so much. You very meticulously hand wrote about 10 pages. But then Lindy accidentally got a few pages wet. You were devastated. I told you we could fix it by typing it up on the computer! Originally I thought you would read it to me, and I'd type it for you, since typing is still a new skill to you. But I wasn't always available when you wanted to type. So you started doing it yourself. It's a very slow process, but you're making progress and feel very proud of it!
Gwen
*We went to a park the other day and you were climbing around on the fake rock structures like a little monkey. You're really good at it! I even had another Mom come over and comment on how gracefully you were climbing and posing on these fairly high "rocks". She guessed you were in dance of some sort because you were so in control of your body.
*You have recently mastered the concept of whistling. So we hear you whistling constantly. Not any tune in particular, just a few tones over and over again. :)
*You recently lost your 2nd tooth and were so excited! The first time you lost a tooth, it took the tooth fairy 2 whole days to find you! Can you believe it?? So you were doubly surprised that the tooth fairy came that very night.
*This morning I woke up to Benson crying, as usual. When I pulled him in bed with me, I realized you were sleeping where Dad had been. I tried to keep Benson quiet for a while to not wake you up, but eventually it couldn't be helped. You just pulled him in to you and snuggled as much as possible, even in your half awake sleepy state; never minding when he crawled on your head or cried in your ears. You were jealous that Benson was snuggling me more than you. :) But just by a little, really. He snuggled you a lot and has a real soft spot for you. It was a real treat for me to watch you, in the early morning light, take care of Benson with a smile on your face and with genuine love for your little brother.
*You are catching the entrepreneurial spirit. You sold some of your artwork a few weeks ago, and yesterday you decided that you're going to rake people's leaves for them. So you practiced on ours.
*You are crossing over that line in reading where chapter books are a norm for you. Once you get started on a book, you burn through it. The other day, I grabbed a book from the library that I had put on hold because it was an easy chapter book I thought you and Miles would enjoy. I handed it to you in the car, and by the time we got home, you had finished it. No joke!
*One of these days, you are going to like having a clean room. But right now, you are probably my most messy child. Yours and Lindy's room is ALWAYS messy. No matter if you guys "clean" it during the day, and if I go in later and clean more, the next morning...it will be messy again! It's baffling! Your little area next to your booster seat in the car is always full of garbage. You always leave your dance bag, coats, shoes, piano books etc all over the place. It's frustrating. I'm looking forward to when you're more capable in that area. :)
Lindy
*Usually your prayers are hit and miss. But you said the most relevant prayer the other day! "Dear Heavenly Father, Plee-Bleh (please bless) brother Simonsen (your old nursery teacher who you miss), please bless Jeffrey and Cora to not be sad, please bless our family be really awesome, please bless our family be good, please bless we not get any sickness, please bless my hair not get tangles in it. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
*You are all about muscles lately. You'll ask, "Mom, do you have muscles? Strong muscles?" I'll say yes, and then you'll ask to feel them. You rub my elbow, and then remark on how strong I am. Then you ask me to feel your "flexed" muscles. If I feel your bicep, you say, "No, here" and have me feel your elbow. :)
*Yesterday when I told you to go get ready for tumbling class, your eyes got really big and you said, "I go tumbling class AGAIN??" I assured you that this would be a regular thing and you expressed yourself in face, voice and body, like the luckiest girl on the planet. It was the best part of my day.
*We're becoming more and more worried about your speech. We're looking into some things that may help. You specifically have problems stuttering, not being able to say digraphs and blends, and "pausing" in the middle of 2 syllable words. Such as "Beh-en" instead of "Benson".
*Today was the primary program, and as most sacrament meetings go, it wasn't super interesting to you. However, when they started singing, 'The Wise Man and the Foolish Man', you just lit up! I could see you in the audience and I sat on the stand, and you did all the actions with enthusiasm! It's your top favorite song these days.
*How do we stop you from whining??? Dad and I are tired of the whining tone. I feel like we are constantly reminding you to use a nicer voice, and ask for things more politely.
*You can turn anything into a fun story with your imagination. Whenever I do your hair, you usually grab a toothbrush, or rubber-band, or whatever is handy and make up some sort of story while I work. The other day, you were "helping" me make a dessert, but quickly lost interest. So instead you became heavily involved in a story involving the vanilla and almond extracts, the salt shaker, and 2 cups. From what I could understand, it was riveting! :)
Benson
*You have never liked pacifiers, and never been a thumb sucker. But you love to chew on your fingers when I lay you down for naps. I think it's because you're getting new teeth and gnawing on your fingers way back in your mouth gives you some relief.
*You have the funniest, maniacal laugh. Not all the time, but sometimes when you get really excited, you do this laugh that it so quick and monotone. I don't even know how to describe it in words, but it cracks us all up.
*You have learned that you need to blow on hot food before you eat it. It was really effective at first, but now you just blow on everything before you eat it. Including nursing. :) It's now morphed into you thinking that blowing=food. When I get you out of your crib in the morning, you just start blowing cause you're so anxious to eat!
*You are such a little sweetheart. When you give us the open mouthed kisses and when you snuggle in for hugs, you "say", "ahhhhh", like Dad and I do when we give you kisses, More of an "awwww!" sound. And then you'll pat us on the back when you hug us, just like we do to you. :)
*We took you in for your year check up and you are only in the 60 something percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight. WHAAAAAA???? I've never had a kid be less than 80% in ANYTHING...EVER. I was so shocked. I asked the doctor if that was ok, since it was such a big drop. She said you are growing just fine and are completely healthy. You may just have some small genes in there somewhere. Crazy since you were my biggest baby at birth!
*You are a man on a mission. You can crawl anywhere these days, and quickly! Gone are the endless snuggles on the couch. Boo! You don't like to sit on laps anymore, you want to be constantly moving. You have a taken a few steps here and there if Dad and I really work with you. It's only a matter of time!
*You took your first official, all-by-yourself steps yesterday! (10/8/17)We weren't even pushing you to do it. You pulled yourself up on the bench at Grandma and Grandpa Garner's house, and took 4 independent steps! Yay Benson!! You took a few more later that night too!
*You know what snakes, chickens, and horses say, what yes and no mean (You love to nod, "yes" when we ask you questions), you sit when we tell you to sit, you blow when we tell you food it hot and then say, "Ha", you know you're not supposed to put things in your mouth if we tell you it's yucky...you're just learning something new everyday!
*You are really into climbing things lately (uh-oh) and sitting inside boxes or cupboards or totes. You climbed in the kid's sensory box today (which was filled with dried beans and things) and sat there contentedly sifting the beans with your fingers. You never ate them (thank goodness) just played with them. You LOVE sensory things. You are ALWAYS on the move these days, but if you find a pleasing texture, you will stay still for at least 20 minutes. Small rocks, sand, dried corn, leaves, dried beans, these have all been highlights in the last week alone.
*We are officially done nursing! I'm equal parts happy and sad about it. I was only nursing you in the morning because you wake up so early and if I nursed you it meant I could snuggle you in bed and try to rest a little more. However, you weren't getting much, so we let that snuggle time go. For a week or so, when you woke up early I would just take you on the couch and snuggle you for a while. But now, I think you realize you aren't going to get fed, so you've been sleeping later in the mornings! YAY!!! No more 530am! (knock on wood)
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