Quick Kiddo Update...

I’m really busy at work, which is unusual for December. Usually during this time I’m able to get everything ready for my busy time starting in January, clean up my office, and be able to take time-off guilt-free (of my own doing…not by anyone else). But this year is different. I’m working on a memo that is, quite frankly, draining me. It’s about a topic I just can’t get my arms around, and that’s so frustrating to me. I know that I will figure it out, I always do, but the road has been/will be bumpy.

So I’ll take a minute to give a quick kid recap and then I’ll dive back into the madness :)

-Kylie is the best big sister I’ve ever seen. She plays with Josh a lot, and hates it when he’s upset or getting in trouble. I can leave Ryan with her while I run and do something and know that she will watch him at all times and make sure he is not climbing the stairs!

-Joshie is adorable! His knowledge of sports never ceases to amaze me. He knows players, and rules, and teams and scores. Joshie knows his numbers a lot better than Kylie did at this age just because of watching so many sports! He’s also learning addition a lot earlier because of sports – his imaginary football games will have scores and we’ll work through what the new score is now that a team has scored a touchdown.

-Ryan is my buddy! Hearing “mamma” come out of his mouth in his high-pitched voice never gets old (even at 2:00 in the morning!). He’s a tough little kid…he bonks his head a lot and he’ll just sit there and rub it and move on. We have a little kids’ couch (made out of foam) down in the play room, and he likes to climb over the back of it and tumble down – he’s such a roly-poly! He has also mastered climbing up the little Tykes slide we have and sliding down. I can’t trust him completely by himself yet though…he likes to stand up and look over the edge :)

-Kylie is my little smarty-pants. We had her conferences and her reading evaluation put her at the level they like to see kids leaving first grade at. It’s no surprise as she loves to read and does it all the time. She does great on her spelling tests, and this week is her first week with two “challenge” words which are extra credit (holiday and thankful). She’s good at math, but not as strong as reading. Just about every other night John gives her a page of addition and subtraction problems as a timed test (this is what they do in school). She gets flustered and tells herself she can’t do the problems. I keep trying to work with her and tell her that she can do them, she just needs to calm down and breathe!

-Joshie makes me laugh the most. He makes the funniest faces when he talks, and he tells me “seriously” all the time. The way he pronounces his “Rs” is adorable and when he talks I just want to scoop him up and eat him! My worry with him is his weight. Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but the kid is seriously skin and bones. When I pick him up I feel like I could break him. He doesn’t eat a whole lot…we make him eat his lunch and dinner, but it can be such a struggle. And just by watching him every day, I can see his caloric output is a lot higher than his input.

So that’s a quick recap…counting down until I get to spend the whole week with them after Christmas!