*You've always been my sweet boy. Lately though, I'm seeing little glimpses of perhaps teenager Miles. Attitude likes to come out every now and again. If you give me sass, and I ask you to come talk to me (in a different room maybe, so that I don't have to discipline you in front of others) you'll tell me no. You're too big for me to pick up and haul out of the room, like I did when you were little. Another parenting challenge. Yay. I'll just be grateful that your attitude doesn't pop up too often so far.
*Sometimes in the morning, I'm anxious for you guys to get your morning jobs done so we can start school. The other day I felt like it was taking you too long to take care of the rabbits, so I peaked out the back window to check your progress. Sometimes I find you and Gwen messing around and I'm half angry at you for wasting time, and half so glad that you guys are creating these memories, which is a big reason we have "livestock" for our kids in the first place. Anyway, I peaked out the back window and found you talking to and petting the rabbits as you filled their feeders. It made me so happy to see you enjoying this job so much and giving such tender care to these rabbits. You are such a responsible and tender boy.
*You have a friend on our street who you sometimes get along with, and other times don't. I know you aren't faultless when there are troubles, but from my Mama-bear point of view, this other little boy can be really difficult to get along with. (That's me being really nice and reigning it way in.) The other day I was getting in the van to run errands, and saw you running back from their house crying. You told me about the fight you guys had and sobbed in my arms. I had friend troubles when I was younger, so I feel like I can relate. However, being the parent, watching my kids go through these things is maybe even tougher! I took you on my errand run with me, where you told me you'd never play with him again (it lasted 1 day), and that your other friends are nicer (which I agree with) Hopefully it all evens out, and in the meantime you learn some valuable lessons that will help you be a better more empathetic friend as you grow up.
*One of my favorite things about you is that you seem to have this radar that is always looking for ways to help. If I'm in the kitchen, or carrying groceries in from the car, or folding clothes etc. I can always count on hearing your voice chime in, "Need any help?". I've heard the same thing from other adults too, so it's not just at home that you're looking for ways to help others.
*From what I understand, it's typical of the eldest child to sometimes act like they are the Mom and Dad in the house. You've really gotten into that lately. Even when Dad and I are sitting right there, you like you chime in on what you think the punishment etc should be. It's starting to drive us crazy.
Gwen
*The other day you brought me a copy of "Little Women" and asked if you could read it.(You've seen the play and the movie, and love them both.) This is the real version, not a junior version. I flipped through a few pages and told you that you could try, but it's a pretty grown up book and has some pretty hard words in it. I told you to go try reading just the first page and see what you thought. You came back in to the kitchen a few minutes later claiming you had read it. I didn't know whether or not I should believe you, so I sat down with you and had you read me the first page. It was incredible! You read the entire thing with no mistakes, even odd, hard words I doubt you've ever heard before. You even read Amy's part with your nose pinched together tightly! It was hard to hold back the proud mama tears. Because it's such a lengthy book, we haven't decided yet if I'll read it with you, or you'll read it on your own. Either way I'm excited.
*Dad was helping us set some spiritual goals the first Sunday in the new year. You decided that you wanted to bear your testimony at church, which you've never done. It was fast Sunday that day, and despite being scared to do it, you got it done and bore such a sweet testimony about planting seeds on good soil and how we can be good sowers and return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus in the celestial kingdom. I know I'm biased, but you seemed so composed and eloquent up there, especially for being only 7.
*With the new age changes the church is coming out with, it means you get to start coming to activity days with me now, instead of waiting until you turn 8 in March. You have been so excited! You were a little nervous to go to the first activity because you weren't sure you'd know all the girls there. When some girls your age came, you were happy and tried to join in with them, but some of the girls in our ward are kind of...clique-ish. I wish it wasn't already that way. Eventually, a good friend of yours came and you guys had a great time. It's not all the time, but Dad and I sometimes see this desire you have to be part of the "in-crowd", and their unwillingness to let you in. It kills me! We want you to be so confident of who you are and your own awesome-ness! We hope you'll learn to be the type of person who doesn't necessarily care about which group you're in, and more about what type of person you are and being a friend to everyone.
Lindy
*The older kids learned how to play "slug-bug", minus the hitting. Which basically means they just call out whatever color beetle they see. You didn't quite catch on, but you still want to participate. So if Miles or Gwen sees one and shouts it out, you reply with a different color. They'll see a red one and say "slug-bug red!" and you reply, "slug-bug....green!" It cracks me up every single time.
*A couple months ago, I got mixed up and had dad take you to dance on the wrong day. Long story short, you sat outside the dance door in the cold and knocked and knocked, then screamed and yelled, then started crying, then threw up because you were so scared. Eventually, the owner's husband came home and heard you and took you inside to watch a movie with Miss Vicki until they could get a hold of me and Dad. We weren't checking our phones, so it was an entire hour later. You were safe, and it all ended well enough, but I'm still not over that guilt yet. I cried a bunch that night. It would be bad if it had happened to any of our kids, but I think it was the worst for you, given your sometimes high anxiety. Hopefully you won't remember this incident. A mother can dream, right?
*The other day we went to the curiosity museum with friends. I had Benson semi-buckled into his stroller, and you kids were all around me as I got us checked in. But by the time they needed to stamp our hands, Benson had escaped and I didn't know where he was. I jumped into panic mode and probably snapped at you kids too quickly. I said, "Why weren't you guys watching him?? I was busy getting us checked in, you guys should have had your eyes on him!"Miles and Gwen were startled and sorry and started looking. But you immediately started bawling with worry saying it was all your fault. This is a big thing for you. There seems to be lots of guilt and anxiety under that beautiful face. You automatically think things are your fault, even if they're not or even if they're not a big deal, and then you say mean things about yourself. It breaks me heart. I don't know how to help you get over that. You were like white on rice with Benson the rest of the time at the museum. You never let him out of your sight. I both loved it, and hated it. Loved that I can trust my 4 year old to watch her little brother in a crowded place, and hated that you felt that responsibility so strongly that you may have missed out on some things because you were so worried about him.
*At night time, we've gotten into a little habit of you playing with my hair. I love it! Usually by the time we have read scriptures etc, I'm just ready for you all to be in bed and have some me time. But then you'll ask if you can play with my hair, and it's ridiculously hard to say no to. If it's not playing with my hair, you want to snuggle or put lotion on my feet or read more books. If I say that I can't and need to go get dishes done or something, you are totally heartbroken and tell me that you just love me so much and want to be with me. Talk about making it hard for me to say no!
*You have what I lovingly call, "Hulk moments". I think you inherited this trait from you Dad, although I can definitely relate. Everything seems to be going just fine, and then something happens that causes you to snap, and you snap like the Hulk. Full on rage mode. Most of the time I just have to laugh through it because if I don't laugh about it, I'll get frustrated right along with you. The other day, The Hulk came out because you couldn't get your seatbelt buckled as quickly as you wanted. Stuff like that.
*You're anxiety seems to be getting worse and worse. It's getting more typical of you to have a melt down if I have to leave you in the car for a second while I walk Gwen into dance, or if you're playing at the computer and then you look up and can't see me, you'll automatically go into full blown panic mode that I've left. I wish I knew how to handle this appropriately!
Benson
*You're favorite word is "Mama". I used to long for you to say that word, and now it's mostly just annoying. :) You say it constantly. To be fair, there are 3 other children vying for my attention, so you have to work a little harder to be heard. So if saying mama 10 times in a row doesn't do it, you'll grab my face and look me in the eye until I pay attention to you.
*I don't remember the last time I changed a poopy diaper of yours. You're doing really well with going #2 in the potty and starting to get the hang of going #1 in the potty too! Yay!
*You are turning into a stubborn little cuss! You love telling us "no". Sometimes you say it angrily, and other times super sweetly, but you rarely agree with anything we say or want you to do. Please, please, please let this phase pass quickly.
*You LOVE some specific songs these days. "It's raining tacos", "This is Halloween", "Super Spooky Skeletons" and "We are the dinosaurs". You catch on to song lyrics really quickly, which is pretty fun.
*I don't know what flip switched, but you HATE dinners lately. You may be our most picky dinner eater ever. It doesn't matter if it's a cheeseburger and fries, you will refuse food at dinner vehemently. We've tried every tactic we can think of and nothing has worked so far. I'm about ready to give up and let you just be hungry.
*You are a runner. You always have been. But man, lately you are just everywhere. Especially at any place where it's not appropriate or safe for you to run around freely. Super frustrating. At the museum, at Ilah and John's reception, at the park looking at Christmas lights....etc. You go from one place to the next at lightning speed. I can't keep up with you anymore with my pregnant belly, so I really rely on the kids, unless Dad is with us. He's your main wrangler and it's a full time job!
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