Just Trying to Remember...

Brigham has had another educational explosion lately.  He's so interested in letters all of a sudden.  He's been practicing writing his name for a couple of weeks now and today he wrote it without any help at all! 
He's writing and recognizing most letters quite consistently and today I showed him how to sound out a few CVC words.  He did really well with D-O-G, C-A-T, and P-O-P.  It was so fun to see him 'read' some words and be so excited about it!
Also, he's been drawing like crazy lately.  His pictures are making some sense, too.

I have to be honest, I've really worried about Brigham.  He starts Kindergarten in the fall and will be the very youngest child in his grade.  He barely makes the deadline.  We've gotten a lot of unsolicited advice about whether or not we should send him, but Stanton and I have both always felt like we should go by the deadline.  It's been a concern for me, though, that he just hasn't been interested in anything educational.  He seems to be a full year behind where the girls were at his age with so many things.  I worried that he'd be the 'dumb' kid at school -- the one who sort of gets left behind because he didn't have a good base to start with.  But here we are now, a few weeks away from Kindergarten registration and a few months from Kindergarten and he's on fire!  I really think he's going to be ready for school!  I'm so proud of my little guy.  And a little relieved, too.

Cannon is growing up on us, too.  He's become fiercely independent lately.  He must get himself dressed and brush his own teeth.  He's also so loving.  Definitely our most snuggly child. 
He's supposed to get his cast of tomorrow.  We're looking forward to being able to shower him again.  He's been quite the trooper with that cast these past few weeks. 

Cannon seems to be leaving babyhood behind for full-fledged toddlerhood/preschoolerhood.  He loves to sing his ABCs and to sing the clean up song while putting away toys.  He throws temper tantrums when I get the water from the wrong tap.  He talks and talks and talks.  We can often understand him.  He's sweet and reasonable much more often.  He loves to color.


Lily.  Lily is so driven by routine.  She stresses when we go off-plan and has a really hard time adjusting.  Lily loves to know "what's next."  She's always looking forward to the next big thing...even if that big thing is that it's Monday or that she has a playdate or that we're having brinner.  Sometimes she forgets to live in the present because she's so excited for the next thing but she's a gem.  She's obedient and consistent.  She can read a Junie B. Jones book in an hour and a half.  She and Brigham peck at each other constantly.

Chloe is maturing.  She's really trying hard to make right choices.  She's reading voraciously.  She's read all but 2 Junie B. Jones books in our house.  And we have a lot of them. 
She making crafts independently.  She's drawing.  She's writing cards to her friends and thinking of them on their birthdays.  She's taking time out to go to the bathroom (a huge step in the right direction for her).  She's getting a vision of what needs to happen to be early to school and independently doing it many days.  She's trying to be a peacemaker.  She's reading the scriptures on her own, not daily, but frequently.  She's a beautiful little person.  Still frustrating at times, still a bit of a dilly dallyer, but trying so hard to be her best.  I want to be more aware of it and applaud it more often.

We're getting a dog.  A puppy actually.  An Australian Labradoodle.  It is a miniature, but in that breed that means it will be about 16.5 inches at the shoulder and around 27 pounds.  It is chocolate colored and will have wavy/curly hair.  We're preparing for it more than we ever did for the arrival of our children.  Reading training books, etc.  We wonder if it will help us be better parents.  Ha!  We are all SO excited and a little nervous.  Stanton is like a little boy.  He is dying for it to arrive and thinks about little else.  I love it.  We wonder if we're going to be one of those families that puts their dog in their family picture.  We think we probably will be.  We're so excited for it. 

Life is marching forward.  It's such an incredible phenomenon.  I'm really grateful to be a participant, observer, and recorder of it all.