I love to share about my children, as do most good Mamas! Most people who are parents, really, I think. But one of the problems about this thing I like to do, perhaps even a favorite past-time, is that others all too often have perceived in my love of my children and enjoyment of their accomplishments some pride of myself.
Admittedly, I do have to battle that insidious beast, as does everyone. Pride being the root of all evil.... But just because I share about my kiddos and what they are doing, and enjoy talking with someone who asks about them, doesn't mean I'm prideful about them! It means I love them and want to talk about them! Well, I don't get to do that all that often. I've been thinking about this recently and have decided that I'm going to start asking other Mothers about their children and listening attentively, in hopes that I might enable them to feel the joy that I have felt when someone (on rare occassion) asks and then listens with real interest and seems not to judge me. I hope I may enable them to feel that joy we're able to enjoy when able to share about the good in our children with someone who is interested and will not think harshly of us for ourr much gushing!
Well, I don't really have anyone in my daily life with whom I can comfortably do this... except about my littlest one. Apparently, since I now have a boy-baby as my littlest, this comes off as being especially fond of the "boy I finally got". PSHAW! I could care less that he's a boy. I mean... I knew I'd have two sons eventually, I didn't care if he was now or later, though. And I'm glad to have him because I know my family would be incomplete without him, but I also look forward to the others missing from our family unit and have and will continue to rejoice in my babies regardless of their gender.
Why is it, anyway, that most people behave as if it's totally acceptable and even cute for a Mama (regardless of how many times a Mama) to gush about her baby and not her older children?? ahwell....
Since this is my blog, I'm going to take time on this page to gush about my children. I'm not sure how often I'll add to it, but I think I'll add the most recent items of interest (to me, of course) at the top, so the older bits will be pushed down over time. :)
Today is September 2, 2011
Ria is my eldest. She is now 7.5 years old. As with all eldest children, she has the most difficult "part to play" in our family. She's the primary parent-trainer! Sweet Ria.
She is amazing! Her primary job in our home is dishes. She does them well when she focuses, though, all too often, she takes way more time to do it than necessary. And I have to remind her to do them and then to focus some days... but other days, she does them without being told and does them quickly and WELL without any reminders! I love those days!! :)
Ria is an phenomenal reader. She's reading 3 American Girls, 2 Hardy Boys, and at least 3 additional "fluff" type books and 2 additional "study" type books from the library each week. She's usually done with all of them a day or two before we get back to the library! This week she's reading Farenheight 451 by Ray Bradbury. I read this book when I was in 7th grade and LOVED it! She did not enjoy it the first day she read it. But yesterday she told me, "This book is really GOOD! I didn't think it would be, but it IS! I'm so glad you wanted me to read it!" I VERY much look forward to talking with her about it when she's a bit further in! My little girl is really getting a great brain on her.
But she's not just a great little brain! She's amazing in so many other ways! She LOVES the Lord in a way I don't think I would've comprehended at her age. She reads The Friend, but also enjoys The New Era AND has recently told me that she just LOVES The Ensign!!! Seriously awesome!
And this girl can Mem-O-Rize!!! Seriously fast. We've recently started scripture mastery, though I'm not sure if they are the same as those for Seminary... they are scriptures I feel Led of the Lord that we should memorize as we read the New Testament. We have 6 now. She knows them all (with some she needs the first word some days, but others she knows it herself) and is ready for the next one. The rest of us (Kat, Tea, and I) need more time to memorize the ones we have now!
Ria loves Science. She pleaded with me to allow her to learn about the human body for her science study this year. So, she is. She pours over it and is aching to do the activities and experiments. I've been trying to catch up with other homeschool things, but we'll be starting those on her third time reading the book. She's had all her newest homeschool books since the end of July, she's been reading them all the month of August and she finished her Science text by the middle of August.
Ria doesn't like Math much... if she has to do it on paper. But she is a WIZ when required to do ANY Math for her baking class, which she LOVES. SHe's done fractions addition, multiplication, addition, subtraction... all kinds of Math IN HER HEAD for her baking class. But she does not like the same on paper. She's practical. I love that about her. I think I am, too. ;)
Ria LOVES to run her business and LOVES to bake for her business as well as others. She is amazing! She now has three businesses: Rabbits, collecting aluminum cans, and the stand which will be The Yummy Stand when we start it up again! ^_^
Kat is my second child. Kat is 4, but will be FIVE next month!!! I can hardly believe it! I'm excited and nervous. Five was my most difficult year with Ria. I thought four was rough... and then five hit. YIKES! Hopefully it'll be different with Kat. Four has been rough with her, though. *sigh*
My Kitty Kat has a STRONG will, which make parenting her difficult. I know it will serve her VERY well in the future, but it is difficult for me here and now. When she wants (or doesn't want) to do something... she will not be reasoned with. It's very unfortunate at times, because it makes her life more difficult. I suppose we are a bit alike in this regard.
She is determined, though. I have not spent NEARLY as much time with her to help her advance in reading skill and comprehension, but SHE has advanced because SHE has put the time and effort into practice. I have been constantly amazed by her rapid improvements. They are not attributable to me. SHE has been working herself! She's amazing in that way... determined... another aspect of her Strong Will.
My little Star worries me sometimes because she often refuses to choose the right in her heart. I'll ask her a question and she'll choose the morally wrong answer half or more often. I have great hope that the time we spend in devotion to the Lord will change her heart to Him as it does with most of us, His children!
I love that Kathryn tries to do what Ria does (when that is good). She definitely admires Ria and emulates her in word and deed. I just wish she was more discerning of WHICH behavior she should mimic. I am working on teaching this discernment, but it is up to her to drink when led to the waters. :)
Kat has a great desire to learn and do. She's super smart and puts great efforts into her work. I'm so glad. This is definitely something that will help her in her life!
I love my Kat. She tends to be my more difficult child currently, but I wouldn't trade her for the world! I know that "this too shall pass" and it will seem as but a moment!
Tea (pronounced Tee-uh, rhymes with Ria) is my third daughter. She is 2, almost 3! She will turn three almost exactly two weeks after Kat turns 5. :) She is my obedient heart. Well, one of her Spiritual Gifts is Obedience, but lately she has been using her agency to be disobedient. I miss the days like the one when she was a new walker... somewhere between 10 and 11 months old when I told her to stay right in the house while I was on the step right outside of the house. She wanted to step outside. It was obvious in every little jiggle of her chubby little body that she wanted to step out, but she didn't. It was as if she couldn't. That experience, combined with quite a few others similar, have shown me, without a doubt, that one of her Spiritual Gifts is Obedience. Of course, where there is a gift, there is also the opposite. *sigh* Opposition in ALL things... and all that.
Tea is a go-getter. She desires to "do school" just like Ria and Kat. If it's something they do regularly, she MUST do it, too. She was THRILLED to get her very own library card recently. Now, she gets to go up and hand HER library card to our checkout helper. She is just SO happy to now be able to do this! She also pleads with me to "do reading class" with her. She's done quite a few, but she wasn't 'getting' it, so we're starting over again. We may do this another 10 times. I have a hunch, though, that she's going to be reading even earlier than Ria! Tea already finds the Hymns we're singing in an entirely seperate hymnal. Granted, that's not just words, but still! She's definitely got the brain for it! Whether we have finished How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons before Tea is 4.5 or not, doesn't matter... just an interesting thing to wait to see. Her value is inherent, not determined by comparison to her sisters. I compare to understand more and teach them special 'things' about them, but not to say one is better than another. They are unique and amazing in different ways and without each of them, there would be a gaping absence that could not be replace by another.
Tea has a funny expression that we call the "Tea Lip". She curls her upper lip up on only one side while holding a frown in her brow. It's hilarious! And when we turn to her and say, "Do the Tea Lip!" She knows exactly what we're talking about! Now, whether she does it or not... that's another thing entirely! Jessie and I were watching some of our OLD videos of our kids, which are on my YouTube Channel and caught Tea doing the Tea Lip as a newborn!!! Seriously! This is just one of those wonderful things that IS Tea! ^_^
Tea has had, as so all children, a difficult time with Jimmy's arrival on the scene. She is, finally, tired of him more often than not. However, tonight I saw a window of enjoyment and feel excited that she will begin to find him a joy rather than a Mama-stealer, which I've felt her feeling all too often lately. She was hugging Jimmy for nite nite and the expression on her face was PURE joy!
Oh, along the lines of wanting to be just like her sisters. :) Tonight I was reviewing with each of my older daughters what I expected of them for tomorrow. Ria and then Kat. Without asking Tea for any input (not thinking we needed to make plans since she is "only" 2), I was going to say good night to her. She got my attention and told me, "And I'm going to do reading cass, an hold Jimmy, and fode yawndry, and pick up back room." She was doing with me what I'd been doing with her sisters... except that she was setting her own goals! What a treasure!!! ^_^ (Yes, truly they EACH are that to me in different ways!)
Jimmy is currently my baby, but I expect he'll be outted of that position in the family before he's two. I certainly could be wrong, but I've just had a feeling. Jimmy is now more than 5.5 months old. He'll be 6 months old in only 10 days!
When Jimmy was born, I knew for absolutely sure he was a boy when my midwife stopped me from checking for parts and said, "Let's let Daddy see what he's got this time!" Jess did and then, as he did each time before, he started crying. But the crying this time was different because he'd already been crying when Jimmy started crying and had basically stopped. I have not yet cried after a birth. I feel too joyful to cry! ^_^ Which is strange because I used to always (and even now sometimes) cry while bearing my testimony. Anyway... so, since the moment we knew for sure we had a boy, there has been something different about Jessie... regarding this child. It's difficult to quantify and qualify, but I think it's integral to the who of Jimmy... so I'm going to try.
Jessie has always been very tender toward and with me after the birth of our babies. He sees how very difficult the whole birthing of our babies is for me and he's amazed anew each time I get through it as "well" as I do. He realizes my divine worth as a daughter of God anew, it seems to me. That does not mean that this sensitivity and tenderness toward me remains constant, because it does not, but it's a pleasure as long as it lasts. This time around it lasted quite a long time! At least the first 4 weeks, which is the longest ever.
When Jimmy was a day old Jessie had to work and on his way home from work he stopped to buy some diapers and wipes. Or, at least, that's what I asked him to buy. He came home with those items, (bulk sized!) and also had two outfits which he, my husband who has never cared for shopping, had selected himself. I couldn't even be upset. Just awed and slightly confused that having given him a son would really mean so much to him. His explanation, "We didn't have any boy clothes. He needs boy clothes." Well, okay then!
So now... about Jimmy more specifically. Jimmy is a cutie. He has one dimple when he smiles. And he's got a great smile. He's big for a baby his age. People think he's more like 9 months old or older. Nope. Just bit... and LOTS of hair. All of my babies, thus far, have had lots of hair. Black when born and then it goes lighter. He has blue eyes, just like me and all my babies. Jessie has green eyes.
Jimmy is a smartie! How do I know at such a young age? Well, physical milestones are the mile markers by which you can discern how smart a baby is. Since they cannot talk discernably for most people to understand, they DO. Jimmy was rolling over from his back to his tummy on his 10 week birthday and purposefully from then on out. He began sitting up when he was 4 months old, but only got a good hang on that ability at 5 months old. Jimmy began moving an object from one hand to the other just before he was 5 months old. He now scoots backwards proficiently. He LOVES to stand and has even scooted himself right off my bed to stand. He thinks THAT is THE coolest! ^_^ Jimmy is trying to crawl, but hasn't actually moved forward and landed on hands yet. He's rocking like a crazy rocking horse, he's fallen on his face a couple times, he can get into crawl position from sit, and he can pick up his hands, but he's not fully mobile just yet. He has pulled himself up to his knees from a sitting position as of tonight! He was stuck there. Crazy smart!!! ^_^
This little guy loves to laugh when he's in a silly mood! His laugh, as with all baby laughs, is a joy to hear and behold! When he's willing to giggle, I try to keep him doing it as long as he will. Pure joy is baby laughter!
My girls became Daddy's Girls at around a year old or older - depending on the daughter. But this little guy... he's had eyes for his Daddy as long as he's been able to see out more than a couple feet. And before then, if he could hear Jessie, he's try to find him. He inherently seems to know that Jessie is THE man of the house and OFTEN I see Jimmy trying to catch Jessie's eye. Trying to get Jessie attention because he wants his Daddy to hold him! It's amazing, surprising, and wonderful! I just love to see how much my children love their Daddy!
I think that's all for now. I don't know how often I'll update here (up top). And I may not write something about each child every time, but I'll be back. :) They are amazing gifts (even when trials!) these kiddos of mine. And I'm SO grateful they have been entrusted to my care with my good man, JessieWho!
