As I stated in a previous post I intend to dedicate each Thursday's blog entry to my kiddos. In retrospect I think loosing my PDA info has been a blessing; it has forced me to re-examine how well I journal my life and my children's lives, but man do I have a lot of work ahead of me!
This past week Sarah got her Jr. level green belt in Tae Kwon Do. She is in the "Little Dragons" class and loves it. We only have one more month on the contract and asked Sarah if she'd like to try something new, but she insists that she stay with TKD until she gets her Jr. level black belt. A couple weeks ago Sarah lost another baby tooth, so now she has 4 adult teeth. Is it just me or does anyone else get sad to see the baby teeth go? I look at how small they are and remember the time that she was barely months old and broke in that "first tooth" and I get melancholy.
The one thing that Sarah has been doing lately that I need to nip in the bud is her reaction to discipline, meaning that when I get upset she can't help but smile and sometimes laugh. And that is a big mistake--I want to be taken seriously when I'm reprimanding. Of course I realize that it's probably due to the fact that I yell too much or give her a reaction that she's wanting, and I seriously need to work at that. I know the Love and Logic response (let her deal with the consequences & not care more about her choices than she does--in other words let her learn from her mistakes), but why is it so dang hard for me to implement it?
Sarah trying out her new rollerskate shoes that she got from her cousins
This past week Emma had a hearing test. I try not to compare my kids to each other, and I know each child develops at their own rate, but Sarah was very articulate for her age at even two years old, and Emma, at 3 years old, is still very hard to understand sometimes. I remember learning in my Communication Development class at USU that evaluation should always start with the hearing, because if one can't hear correctly they sure aren't going to be able to speak or repeat words correctly. On one hand I wanted them to find something wrong (but not really), turns out that she has great hearing--passed with flying colors. So apparently she's just choosing to ignore me. Now I know. Anyway, she has a speech evaluation test next week where I fully expect to get a diagnosis and starting point.
On another note, we fully expect our kids to do certain chores around the house simply because they are a part of the family, but we give our children an allowance for special chores or things that challenge their growth and development. Gene, being the only male in our home, insists that our girls grow up NOT afraid of bugs and spiders, so he implemented a reward/allowance system for squishing bugs. 1 bug or spider = 25 cents. I've been using this system to try to teach Emma the value of money. For example, when the ice cream man drives down our street and they want a Popsicle they need to use their own money "Well, that Popsicle is a whole dollar, or 4 quarters, or 4 bugs worth. Are you willing to squish four more bugs to earn another dollar?" (FYI: we really don't have an endless supply of bugs or spiders for them to squish, our house is fairly clean in that regard, but Gene didn't make an exception so Emma will kill an ant on the driveway.)
I love this photo of Emma swimming--she looks like a froggy to me
Little miss Morgan is already 5 months old today. She is just about the sweetest baby anyone could ever have! I am so in love with her it's not even funny! She cut in her first baby tooth on July 24th. Sarah says that the tooth fairy recycled her baby tooth and gave it to Morgan. Morgan is blowing raspberries (even while nursing -which cracks me up) and cooing and full-blown laughing at times when her sisters act silly or I tickle her sides. She rolls all over her room and will get stuck between her dresser and the rocking chair and just sigh "Aaahh aaahhh aaahhh" and wait patiently for me to rescue her. She's also starting to lift her tummy off the floor, which means that full-blown crawling is right around the corner. Time to get these carpets shampooed! And put up the baby gates!
Morgan kick, kick, kicking
hangin' loose
