Quick Kid Update

Well, I already slacked on my "2 posts per week goal" by only doing 1 vlog on Sunday last week. Life is crazy busy. I'm babysitting 3 kids now, ages 4, 2, and 11 months, from 8-5 Monday-Friday. Lydia had her first dance recital. Kids have been sick. Robert and I have entered a 6 week weight loss challenge. Busy, busy, BUSY! But hopefully more posts on that later. For now, here's a little update on my kiddos.

James - 2 years and 2 months

 What can I say?? This kid has me completely wrapped around his little fingers. He is just such a sweet boy and a total charmer. I hate to say it (because my kids playing this contact sport terrifies me!), but he LOVES football. He has been doing this cute little thing lately where he'll put his hand down in a lineman stance (if that's what it's called) and say "Hut, hut, HIKE!" and try to tackle you. (Robert taught him). We're also seeing glimpses of this super goofball side of his personality developing that already gets us laughing until our sides hurt. He'll throw a terrible two year old tantrum with the best of them, but for the most part he is a very happy boy with a chuckle that could put a smile on the grumpiest person's face. As much as he tries to talk, he says very few words clearly which has me more and more worried, but we'll take that one day at a time and we'll get some kind of intervention soon if it comes to that.

Mary - 4 years 5 months

Sweet, soft-hearted, soft-spoken Mary! She is so smart. She'll overhear us working on Lydia's homework and be able to answer nearly every question faster and more correctly than Lydia a lot of the time. She likes to keep to herself and will rarely go up to a kid to ask to play, but she lights up if another kid takes the initiative and asks her. She will immediately refer to that kid as her new best friend. She loves to craft. She will spend hours on end coloring or doing carefully thought out Perler Bead designs. She still is able to turn tears on and off like a faucet, a talent she's had since she was a baby. The other night I asked her if she wanted to start dance classes like Lydia when she turned 5. Immediately, she burst into tears and said, "I just really want to do soccer!!!" She's currently still on break from preschool and can't wait for it to start back up again at the end of February.

Lydia - 5 years 8 months

There is no shortage of spunk and sass when it comes to Lydia. She is the one that tests my parenting skills and patience the most, but then she'll turn around and do something the makes me burst into tears over how loving or thoughtful it is. I also occasionally have days where she is the extra helpful, not self-centered person I hope I'm teaching her to be. So hopefully I'm doing some things right. We're currently deciding whether or not to put her into the Chinese Dual Language Immersion at her school next year. We worry it'll be a struggle for her academically maybe too much of a struggle, but she is set on doing it because ironically her closest friend in her kindergarten class IS Chinese and she wants to be able to communicate better with her. We're leaning towards doing it but still weighing all the pros and cons and praying about it, so we'll see what happens. She just did her first dance recital. She had a blast and looked adorable. Hopefully there will be another post about that soon. She's liking dance so much that we're thinking we may want to move her into the class that meets twice a week. Grade school, dance recitals - I can't believe she's already at this stage of life!!

These kids have my heart hook, line, and sinker!! They've made me a better person. I'm proud and thankful to be their Mommy!!