Kid update

Lance: Imaginative, contagious laugh, loves to wrestle, striving to be a part of the big people world. Can sing whole songs, quote movies (Bambi is his favorite!), string events (i.e. we eat, take bath, go to sleep, wake up and go _____ ), thinks he can tell time, can count to three or five depending on the day, dress himself (usually everything backwards) and loves to snuggle with mommy.

Lance has taken to carrying around two toy dogs (both named Tank) and can do just about anything and hold them at the same time.

 

Here Lance is nursing his Tanks, properly covered of course.

Lance is very excited about the “baby in Mommy’s tummy” and has offered several theories about how this could have happened. He loves seeing the picture in my email update each week and knows that the baby has to “grow bigger and bigger” before it can “pop out.”

He wakes up most nights needing to go potty (which is better than wetting the bed!). Recently he stared waking up early if a light comes on, more than excited to sip hot drinks on the couch with Mommy. If it’s really cold he’ll snuggle under a blanket or pull on any hat he can find.

His imagination takes pieces of life and applys them to play in all sorts of fun ways. Today he built this house out of “bricks” and was more than pleased when I couldn’t blow it down.

Ivy: Cheerful, uninhibited, full of life and curiosity. She can’t run without skipping, loves to “cheese” for the camera, enjoys the games Lance makes up and can open the front door by herself. She’s potty trained except at night, has outgrown her brother and tries to take her shoes off everywhere we go. 

Life is a game in which to play. Any new object entering her world is thoroughly examined and tested for the amount of entertainment it can provide. This cage gave mommy an entire morning off while the kids enjoyed its potential.

A true middle child, she plays well with Lance yet also reaches out and loves on baby Flora. Here they play on a contraption that Lance built, informing me it was a hayride. They wanted me to ride and we stopped at McDonalds and three grocery stores – getting ice cream at each place!

She’s rarely still except at night and when reading books. She and Lance will look at books for hours and anyone who will read to them is an instant friend!

Never a dull moment when she’s awake. In one week she squeezed out glue on the couch, shampoo into a toilet, and suntan lotion on the porch. She has also spread toothpaste everywhere on three occasions, experimented with what makes an appropriate toilet and drooled an Easter egg dye tablet over her fresh new outfit and the carpet.

Ivy provided opportunity for me to teach the kids about prayer when she stuck an air soft pellet up her nose. We rejoiced together over answered prayer when it came out after much effort.

And finally Flora! Not one to be left behind, Flora watches and imitates her siblings, trying to follow them everywhere. Once I took the older kids out to check the mail, leaving her in the house with Daddy. On returning I was informed that she burst into tears when the door shut behind us.

Compared to Ivy, who talks in paragraphs, Flora is totally non-verbal. At almost a year old she communicates her desires by pointing and soft grunts, delights with little cackles and injustices with tattling cries.

She makes up for her reticence with mobility. We call her our roving toy distributer, often carrying an object in her mouth. She’s also a bit of a Momma’s girl.

Flora’s a good eater. Around 10 months she refused to eat anything offered her by spoon so Brian tossed a green bean on her tray which she promptly ate by herself. Since then we just put things in front of her and let her deal with it. Her chair is next to Ivy’s (both strategically placed on a protective plastic mat) and has benefitted from Ivy’s generosity when Mommy isn’t looking – including an oreo cookie!

Keeping these three constructively busy takes most of my time but we have fun, laugh lots and enjoy the memories we make along the way.