Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Kids ½ birthday updates July 2015

Carson 6 ½
This boy has grown leaps and bounds in kindergarten this year. I can’t believe he has finished and will be a 1st grader in a few months. Carson is such a sweet, thoughtful boy. He ADORES his baby sister and will do anything for her. I’m starting to have to say no and discipline her more and he does Carson does not like it. He is very social and loves to have play dates. He’s made a lot of good friends this year. 

For the most part Carson and Luke are buddies. Even though it’s only a 2 year difference 4 to 6 is a big difference in maturity and interests. It’s fun watching them play. Carson did baseball for the first time. He learned the lesson that if he practices he gets better, imagine that! He had fun being part of a team and learning a new sport. He learned some life lessons of disappointment and triumph.

Carson could play or watch something on a screen all day if I let him. Screen time has to be limited for sure. Carson is a hard worker. I’ve instituted a new list of responsibilities for the summer and he is doing great at it. He makes his bed, puts the dishes away, waters the garden, cleans-up toys, etc. We have something called 40 minute clean-up every day. He does a task then asks what he can do next. I’m grateful for his willingness. Funny story, I taught him how to make his bed one morning. Since then he hasn’t slept under the covers. He gets a throw blanket and sleeps with that so his bed is already made.

He made swim team this summer and has improved 100% over the past month. His first swim meet is this week and he is excited to race! Toileting issues are not resolved, but much better. He has a sticker chart and loves to fill it up and work for fun toys/games. Carson is a deep thinker. He always has questions about deep things, i.e. Heaven, Jesus, etc. He is a spiritually sensitive kid and I love watching his mind figure all this out. He has a really good memory too. Sometimes I wish it wasn’t as good as it is!


Luke 4 ½
Luke is getting a little more reasonable, I think. He is stubborn as can be, but is also sweet, snuggly and fun. Luke LOVES Skylanders. He talks about the Skylander guys to anyone that will listen, strangers included. He also has a potty sticker chart and is always working towards a new Skylander guy.

We’ve been swimming a lot this summer. Luke started with water wings and loved the freedom they brought. He’s now swimming without them and is doing great. I think he’ll be a pro by the end of the summer. Luke is doing preschool twice a week during the summer. He enjoys it and is a good boy at school. His speech went well this year. Improvement is being made slowly but surely.

Behavior… Some things are better, some are worse. Things have to be a certain way or he loses it. He has to go in the car the same way. He has to jump down the stairs, not walk. He will only wear long sleeve shirts and pants. Books have to be closed a certain way while saying “the end.” I can go on and on. The rage and emotions are still there when things don’t go his way, but what he is doing better at in controlling them. He is able to calm down quicker after a tantrum and is starting to think a little more rationally. He is taking commands better too, compared to before when everything had to be his idea or else it would not happen.

Luke loves his brother and doing things with him. He loves Kendall too. He doesn’t have quite as much patience with Kendall as Carson, but that’s typical for the age. Luke is my snuggle boy. Actually both my boys are great snugglers. Every morning when their timer light turns on they climb into my bed to snuggle. They take turns on the right side (the best side apparently.) The early wakeup call use to make me groan, but I realized it was inevitable and have embraced it. I know there will be a time that they won’t want to anymore.

Luke is a man of few words. He’s the type of guy who doesn’t talk for the sake of hearing his own voice. He has started imaginary play with his Skylander guys. It’s fun to hear him do their voices and have them talk to each other. Speech went well this past school year. He was down to one time a week. His teacher, Ms. Laura said she has seen much improvement. Toileting is still an issue as well. It’s better. He hates going and will hold it as long as he can. He hates being told what to do, even if it is by his own bladder!


Kendall 1 ½ (actually 20 months…)
Kendall went from being an angel baby to a sassy and loud toddler! I can’t complain too much, because she still is pretty good. One word to describe her right now is BUSY! She is non-stop. She gets into everything. She especially loves my make-up drawer and can do some serious damage if it’s left open. Her other favorite thing to do is pull and the dental floss out of its container. Kendall is finally down to one nap a day, which really opens up our days for fun activities. She is a non-stop eater. She is always finding snacks and bringing them to me. She loves gum and demands it if I am chewing some.

She is very girly and loves to have her hair done. In the mornings she often brings me a bow to put in her hair. She loves shoes and will go up to strangers and show them her shoes. She likes attention from strangers. She waves and says hi. She shows them her bows or pretty clothes and wants to them to tell her how pretty she looks. The one thing I wasn’t looking forward to about having a girl was the high pitched screaming. She is the queen of it! Not because she is upset, but just because she loves to make those noises. It is ear piercing and her favorite place to do it is in the car. It drives all of us crazy.

She is naughty in the car. She doesn’t like it and will throw fits. We just flew to Washington and the main reason for the flight was because we didn’t want to drive with her for 13 hours! I’m afraid to say she has a temper like her brother Luke. When she and Luke get in a tug of war over some toy it’s not pretty. Kendall’s vocabulary is increasing. She has a few single words she says. Mom, Dad, up, gum, please, cheese, on and more. I think we might have another kid with a speech delay. She isn’t saying much and what she is saying is hard to understand. I was hoping we wouldn’t be three in three, but what can you do.

Kendall is still the light of our lives. Everyone is thrilled to see her when she wakes up. I’m appreciative that she sleeps until 7:30 am (an hour+ longer than her brothers.) We love having her around. She is a good sport doing big brother things all the time. She loves swimming while Carson is at swim team and loves going on the boat. She loves doggies and is thrilled to pet any animal. She loves rough housing with her brothers and Dad and especially loves pillow fights. She is still a good little sleeper of which I am much appreciative.

The transition to nursery was as easy as pie. She loves to go and has no stranger anxiety. She wants to be in preschool so bad. When we drop Luke off she tries to stay and pretend like she is part of the class.  I am so glad to have a little girl in the family and grateful for her two big brothers who love her and take such good care of her. 

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