I feel like I haven't written much about my "other" children, i.e., Miles, Jonas, and Emmy. Lucy gets updates monthly, but my others have been left out for a while. So here I go.
Miles. He is getting a few weeks away from finishing up the 1st grade. I think he's had an excellent year. I judge that mostly by the fact that he loves school. Loves it. To me, that is one of the best things to gain. We just did a read-a-thon fundraiser for 4 days. I picked out 20 books for him to read from the library and he did pretty great. It was fun having him read that much.
Miles is scared, or "doesn't like", a lot of things. Mainly germs, diseases, etc. He thinks that there are diseases or germs just about everywhere (and, okay, he's probably close to right). But he's dealing with his fears and other irrational thoughts okay. They are not consuming him and so I hope this is just a phase. We'll see.
He got a tadpole habitat for his birthday - almost 2 months ago. We sent in the coupon for the tadpole and have been waiting and waiting for warmer weather for it to be sent. Well it arrived today. And oh the excitement. Only to release it into its habitat and see a dead tadpole. Totally lame and sad. Miles handled it very well, considering. Mr. Dead Tadpole is now buried in our backyard. I immediately called the company and they are mailing out another one ASAP - let's hope it has better luck.
Miles likes to leave little treats under our pillows for us to discover as we go to bed. Things like chocolate, marshmellows, gum, notes, etc. It's pretty adorable. Unfortunately we usually have just brushed our teeth. . .
Jonas. He's great. With the exception of when he whines, he is so darn good! We ask him to do his chore, and he runs right up to do it. No complaints. He can be such a good breath of fresh air. Pleasant, silly, and fun to be around. He's a definite goof, too, and can be so entertaining. He hardly ruffles anyone's feathers (except when he whines). He has loved being outdoors as often as the weather allows. Swinging, playing in the tent, creating games with Emmy, etc.
We have a little index card with each kids' name on one. Once they get 10 stickers (for doing good acts) they can go to the "prize box" and choose something. Jonas was the first to get his first 10 and now is cruising right along with his next 10. I think he not only is trying to be good, he really and truly wants to be good.
He got his kindergarten shots last week. Due to the time I took my 3 kids and had to chase down my 2 boys through corridors, under chairs, etc., I had vowed I would never take them again. So Ben was the lucky one. Jonas was pretty furious when I told him he had to get them. And I guess he did throw a pretty sweet fit at the office for Ben - but, fortunately, no running away. And poor little guy got 4 (!) shots. He didn't feel terribly well that night nor the next day. He told us he's not getting his shots when he's 11 (that when the nurse told him he'd have to get them again). So now he's all ready for school! Eeeek.
When we were doing our little read-a-thon with Miles, Jonas went and got some "Bob books" (beginner books) for him to read. It was awesome. He's a good little reader.
Emmy. Definitely my sugar and spice. Wowzers. We still do our school each week - it's not as organized as with the boys, but it's what I can do right now. We have workbooks, memory-shape games, counting exercises, etc., so it works. She used to not be very in to it at all, and truth be told, couldn't even count to 10 (gasp! I admitting my child is not a super-genius. yet. . . .ha.). Couldn't or wouldn't, I don't know but I could guess. She just doesn't care about learning quite like my boys (weird, huh?). But lately she has been much better and has been a joy to do school with. I hope it continues.
She went to a birthday party this week . . . all alone. No parent and no sibling. We've never left her anywhere all on her own, so it was quite the deal. She couldn't stop talking about it the days leading up to it. It was so fun and makes me want to invite friends over for her birthday in August. :) She had a fabulous, fabulous time! It was just great for her to do something all on her own. A rare occasion in our household of 4 little ones. . .
She is adamant about being a princess when she grows up. Miles and her were in an argument about it just this morning. Miles trying to convince Emmy she couldn't be a princess due to his reasoning that older people are Queens, not princesses. I tried to sort and soothe the whole mess out.
I don't put her to nap everyday. And on the days I do put her to nap, sometimes she doesn't. Which is okay since she usually just stays upstairs and does whatever quietly. But she still needs naps. We will sometimes find her, before dinnertime, fast asleep in a cozy nook on her bedroom floor.
She is full of wonderful expressions and wonderful dialogues. True delights. She is full of wonderful scowls (that she can maintain for almost an hour) and wonderful screams. Sugar and spice indeed.
And that's it for now. (Lucy will get her own special Update later this month, marking her 9-months.)
Lucy was such a great sport - she just mainly chilled and pulled/ate the grass. What a great fishing buddy.
Oh I love Miles' true smile shining through in this picture.
As Ben said, "Emmy in the one-minute of her fishing." Love it, though.
Miles caught 2 fish. He wanted them both to be released back in the water. Which is fine. I'm frankly surprised that he hadn't asked us to do that earlier. He was quite worried about the fish not being able to breathe. I think they both survived.
Sweet little Jonas. He wanted to catch one so badly. It pained my mama-heart. So towards the end I finally had got one and it was a big one - seriously! I had Jonas come over to start reeeling in "his" fish. Ben came to help and was surprised that it was a big fish. Too bad that within 2 feet of coming to shore, that darn fish got away. I was so mad. But at least Jonas could claim that he caught the biggest one. :)
When Lucy was bored pulling and eating grass, big sister Emmy helped and fed her some Cheerios. What sweet sisters they are. Love my girls. Love my boys.
