Liam: 5 yrs. 9 mo.

So Liam has been in Kindergarten for a few weeks now.  He is doing really great-even though the stuff he is learning he learned 2 yrs. ago?!  It is strange to have our kids that are 2 years apart learning the same stuff at school.  He came home today saying 'The A says Ah'....Poor kid is going to be so bored!  But, he is meeting new kids that live around our area, so that is good.  He talks about the different kids in his class. There are a couple boys that he mentions more often, so I think it is just a matter of time till he is making some friends.  Mike and I both went to Liam's K. assessment.  He pretty much Aced it!  I think the teacher was a little surprised how far along he is.  She pulled us aside afterwards and said that she could give him a little something different to do when they are learning how to blend sounds, he can make a sentence with the word. She also said he could start the reading program they have where they take books home to read, like they did at KV.  They also have some electronic devices where he can play learning games on. Having her tell us that did relieve us, although on the other hand, we haven't heard of it happening yet...it has only been 3 weeks or so, but hopefully soon.  He had the PTA carnival/ Fund raiser last week. The kids had a great time.  They had games there, and a bounce house which of coarse they loved.  They also had a silent auction, where we won about 35 books for just under $50.  We were pretty happy about that!  He started a golf class yesterday after school that runs once a week for 4 weeks.  He really seemed to enjoy that.  We figure if he won't be learning much at school, we can keep him growing in other areas.  Plus we will continue to do reading and worksheets at home too.  The hard thing lately about him has been his meltdowns after school.  They don't have snack time, so when he is out of school he is really tired and hungry.  The trick is to get him home in a good enough mood that he will eat, and be OK....it has been tough though.  His meltdowns are exhausting, frustrating, and depressing.  He gets on a 'I hate you-you hate me' kick, and it's very hard to turn it around.  There is going to be a parent teacher group meeting coming up soon, and they will be talking about how to avoid the meltdowns after school, which I look forward to learning about!  Anyway, overall he is doing great, and really loves going to Kindergarten!

comment by mom/grandma on 09/19/2013
He seems really positive about it when he tells me about school too. Hopefully they will get some enrichment going soon.

Rowan: 3 yrs. 9 mo.

Rowan has been doing really well in her new school.  She really loves going to her dance class too!  It has been a great relief to have both their schools closer to home.  They both were going to Kids Village for the last couple of weeks in August, and the commute every day was exhausting.  We will miss KV because it was a great school, and the teachers were always so nice, but since I am not working nearby it just wasn't convenient anymore.  KV was nice in that it had many different classes; music, art, science, and cooking...but I think that it did take away from some of the core learning time.  Her new school has one teacher, which so far I think is nice.  I think we will get better feedback on her progress...Before when they had teacher conference at KV, we had to talk to 5 different teachers, and their feedback was so general, and not very specific. We have already had a progress report sent home just after 3 weeks at her new school!  Also before school started they did individual assessments for all the kids, which I thought was good too.  The teacher told me when it was over that Rowan was where the kids will be at the end of the school year.  So she may be a little ahead knowing all her letters and sounds, but I do think the handwriting practice will still be helpful...also she needs some work on her numbers.  She comes home talking about what she learned, which neither kid really did at KV.  So I thought of a few of the words she says that is so cute: Pack-Kack for Back-Pack, she still says Lellow for Yellow, Chick Balls for Chick Peas, Yorget for Yogurt...I know there are more, so I still need to pay attention and write them down as I hear them.

comment by mom/grandma on 09/19/2013
She is such a cutie! She seems pretty excited about her dance class. So much fun, I bet she is a cute dancer.

Liam: 5 yrs. 8 mo.

Liam started Kindergarten today.  He actually doesn't start public school for another week and a day because they are doing assessments this week.  We are looking forward to talking to his new teacher 'Miss Shedden' on Friday morning.  Since we already paid for the month of August at Kids Village, the kids will be going there for 2 weeks.  He is in Miss Kelli's class, who we really love.  He had her for 1/2 the school year after his first Sweet Pea teacher left.  Miss Kelli was the one that recognized that he was ready to start reading, and got him on the reading program.  Sadly, the teacher he had the following year didn't even know he was reading.  And after talking to one of his friends mom who was in the same class, we realized we had the same complaints about that teacher.  Real bummer, since that was his last full year there.  We have heard that Kindergarten is learning letters, and sounds, and that is pretty much it!!  We are really concerned about him being so bored!  Although, we hope he does better about doing school work than he has been about doing the work books with us.  He started out really happy and excited to do them with us, then as the summer went on, he got more and more upset when we wanted to do them with him.  Hoping that his attitude about learning will improve!  Thankfully he did very well with his swimming lessons over the summer.  He listened pretty well, for him, and made some great improvements.  He started diving to the floor for toys, and often picked up more than 5 toys in one dive.  He worked on his breathing coordination with the swimming strokes.  He started doing the front stroke and back stroke, and floated on front and back.  He is so comfortable in the water now, I think it is just a matter of maturing a little more till he is swimming across the pool on his own.  Anyway, I look forward to picking him up from his first day today too, and hearing all about it!

comment by mom/grandma on 08/22/2013
He is such a sweety! I can't wait to hear all about his first weeks at school. We are all missing him.

Rowan: 3 yrs. 8 mo.

Rowan finished up her swim lessons last week, and today she started her 2nd year of Pre-school.  Since we had signed up the kids for Kids Village, and could not get our money back, they worked it out with us for the kids to attend for the month of August.  So Rowan is going to Kids Village MWF with Miss Korbi, and will go to her new school, Avondale, T and TH with Mrs. Ashdown.  It will be a crazy 2 weeks for sure!!  She loves to wear dresses now, and insisted on wearing one to her first day of school.  One of the cute words she made up over the summer is 'Pumper'.  I got them a suitcase to use for sleepovers at Grandma's house, and she decided it should be called 'Pumper' because the handle goes up and down.  We thought it was so cute we decided to keep calling it that.  Another word she says is Ibuprofie, for Ibuprofin.  There have been some other words too, but I will have to add them later since I can't remember them all.  So back to her swimming...for her age she did pretty well.  She is pretty stubborn and wants to go at her pace, and do her own thing, so it was a bit of a slow process.  She did learn to go under the water, and do some of the breathing, so that in itself is a great improvement.  She used to hate to get her face wet, but now she is really comfortable with it.  She got to go to a bunch of splash pads over the summer, and really was great with getting splashed on.  When I was let go at work, Rowan tended to get up pretty early in the morning, and she would sit on the top of the stairs and yell 'I want to get dressed now'.  It was pretty frustrating because she would often wake up Liam, who liked to sleep in.  After several weeks, we finally convinced her to come down the stairs quietly, and hang out with us in our room.  Another great improvement that happened in the last week, is she has decided to try some new foods!  In one week she tried 'Szechuan Tempeh', 'Eggplant Parmesan', 'Southern Stir Fry Pasta', 'Sloppy Joes' and Corn on the Cob....she decided that she loved all the new foods...Who knows how long this will last, but we were very surprised and happy about her willingness to try new things!  She has made a new friend this summer, named Meika, who is a little girl of one of my past co-workers.  They don't have many friends around here the same age, so we decided to get them together for play dates.  It has been fun, and hope to continue it over the school year too.  Anyway, I look forward to picking her up from her first day, and hearing all about it.

Liam: 5 yrs. 7 mo.

Been a long while since my last update on Liam, and lots of changes too. Not only with him, but also with our lives.  He has finished his 3rd year of preschool, and is reading so well!  He is also starting to do math in his head.  I keep telling him he has his dad's math brain.  Mike purchased several Sylvan Learning work books at Costco near the end of school, and Liam has been doing the 1st grade language book with ease.  We hope he isn't too bored in Kindergarten, but mostly it will just be getting used to bigger classes and going to school everyday.  Speaking of Kindergarten,  he will most likely be going to the school near our house instead of the one by Grandma's house because I recently lost my job which was in Orem (near Grandma's). 

We decided to continue with swim lessons over the summer even though it is a drive, and we are trying to cut down on our spending.  We feel that swimming is a very important skill to know, and can save a life too.  He is really excelling this summer with swimming.  He is getting very good with the breathing, and learning to float and all the strokes too.  We are very proud of how well he is doing! 

The biggest issue I have about staying home is all the bickering the kids do.  Both kids have dominant personalities which makes for lots of fights.  It drives me insane!!  I know I need to plan more things for them, but I have found it hard to do since they have swimming lessons everyday (Mon-Thurs), and it is right in the middle of the day so it's hard to plan play dates around....but I am trying!!  There is only 3.5 weeks left of swimming and then school starts shortly after....the summer has flown by so fast!  My hope is with school is we can establish a better schedule, and I will have a little 'me time' to get some things done during the day, which will be nice. 

Anyway, I wish I remembered all the little things Liam has done over the last several months, but he continues to be such a great kid.  One thing I do know is that his eating has improved vastly!  He LOVES spicy food.  He has tried and loved one of our pasta dishes called 'Fiery Fusilli'.  Now that I am home, I have been planning and cooking meals more often during the week.  It took him a while to accept the fact that I can actually cook (since usually dad is the one).  The other day I made an Asian Chickpea salad. He usually will not eat salad, but he tried it, and loved it!  He likes to mix up spices, and makes up recipes and tells us about it. He has been talking about having a cooking contest which we think is just adorable!

comment by mom/grandma on 07/25/2013 Watch out! He just may win a cooking contest, he has an amazing ability to put things together.

Rowan: 3 yrs. 7 mo.

Rowan absolutely LOVED her first year of preschool.  Her teacher Miss Marjan was wonderful, and Rowan still talks about her a couple months after school ended!  We are very sad that she will not be going to Kids Village for 2 more years, but hopefully her new preschool closer to home will be great too!  The tuition is actually less money, even with adding a dance class after school.  She always starts dancing anytime we put a skirt or dress on her.  We think she will LOVE it! 

She tries to keep up with her brother all the time, sometimes we forget that she is 2 yrs. younger.  While Liam is excelling in swimming, she seems to have reached her max this year.  She has learned how to go under the water, and blow bubbles which is a great improvement, but she has a hard time following instructions because she is distracted playing with toys and with bugs in the water.  We know this is normal for a 3 yr old, so we decided to scale back her time in the lesson and give Liam more time.  She doesn't seem to mind or notice, and we figured it was a better solution than stopping her lessons. 

Rowan is such a snuggle bunny, which we feel very lucky about. She is very loving, and is very serious about giving hugs and kisses.  She wraps her arms around your neck and squeezes pretty tight, and then makes sure to plant a firm kiss on your cheek.  While Liam continues to try new foods, she on the other hand is in her Hot Dog phase.  Thankfully, she likes the tofu ones, which are probably not the best thing, but beats whatever is in the 'meat' ones.  I mentioned the Asian Chick Pea Salad that Liam loved in his update....she actually tried a little of it, which is at least an improvement, and gives us a little hope that she will enjoy other foods when she is older. 

Anyway, once school starts, I am sure I will have more to write about!

comment by mom/grandmab on 07/25/2013
She has done amazingly well at swimming for her age. And she really does give great hugs and kisses, even to Koko!

Liam: 5 yrs. 2 mo.

So my last update for Liam was right before Christmas.  He had a great Christmas, and we all enjoyed some time off at home together.  Last month we went to Parent/Teacher conference.  Liam is doing really well in school.  His teacher, Miss Kathleen, was talking about how the kids are learning to blend sounds together to read words.  They have a reading program at school where they send home books to read.  It is meant to encourage parents to read with their kids every day.  We assumed that all the kids in his class were reading the books sent home, but I guess not all of them are.  He's been reading for a year now, so that made us pretty proud of him.  

Liam lost his FIRST tooth.  It started to get lose on Christmas Eve, and I joked that Santa and the tooth fairy would have to come in the same night.  But, it was just barley lose, and he was way too scared to let mom or dad try to pull it out.  Then Friday it was bent out, but he still was too scared to let anyone touch it, but we knew it was on its way out.  He spent the day wiggling it.  By afternoon, I drifted off on the couch while he was playing.  All of a sudden he woke me up shouting my tooth came out. I thought for sure we would have to pull it, and was a bit bummed since I was going to take a video...but, oh well, he did it on his own, and that is pretty grown up for his first tooth. We really didn't expect it to come out just after he turned 5! Both me and Mike were at least 6.  That night Liam asked me if the tooth fairy would know if he's asleep if the lights were on. I told him she would because she would hear him snoring.  He started to go back to his room, then came back and told me 'I don't snore'.  We thought that was pretty funny. 

We have noticed lately that Liam is absorbing more information around him, even if it isn't directed at him.  Mike and I have been working out the last couple of months, and I guess I mentioned to Mike how much weight I lost, because yesterday when I told the kids I lost another pound, Liam says 'So you lost 11 lbs?'  I didn't realize he heard me tell Mike, and I asked him how he knew that?  He then said to me 'I know things'...which we thought was pretty funny!   

So not much else has been going on the last couple of months, the kids, especially Liam, are very excited for Winter to be over so we can do fun stuff outside.  He really misses riding his bike and just running around outside!  And now that I am in a lot better shape, I'm pretty excited to get a new bike and ride with him too this Summer!

comment by mom/grandma on 02/09/2013
Liam is such a great kid. He and Daniel had a blast riding bikes Thursday, and it was perfect because he was really missing his cousins!

Rowan: 3 yrs. 2 mo.

Rowan had a great Christmas too.  She got lots of new dolls and a really cool Little People Castle.  We went to Parent/Teacher conference for the first time for Rowan.  Her teacher Miss Marjan said that Rowan has come out of her shell, and has really blossomed.  We were really surprised when she told us at the Christmas party that she was the quiet/shy one in the class.  She is the spit-fire in the family, but I guess they always are different around other people, but it sounds like she is more comfortable now, and being herself at school now. 

Rowan is now in her BIG Girl bed!  She is a whole year younger than her brother was when he graduated from the toddler bed, but such is the benefit of being the 2nd kid, also she is much less of a mover when she sleeps. She has adjusted quite well to the bed, and it has helped a little with her wanting to nap and go to bed at night.  She likes to have everything in its place, and will organize her dolls, and toys just the way she wants them on her bed.  She keeps her bed very tidy, and she loves having all her cozy pillows and blankets too.  And a couple months later she is still LOVING her big girl bed.  She sleeps very well at night, and is even starting to sleep in a little on the weekends.  Not sure if it was the time change in November, but she was up EVERY single day of our Christmas vacation by 7:15 AM. She started to come down stairs on her own, and want to snuggle in our bed.  It was nice, but wish it wasn't that early. 

She has done quite well with her potty training over the last few months. Once in a while if she is really into her playing she will forget to tell us she has to go, and has a little accident.  And sometimes I had wished we waited for her to mature a little more because she will use the potty to insert her control.  But perhaps that is just more a girl thing than an age thing?  It happened one time when we went out to dinner with a friend, and she kept saying she had to pee, but she really didn't need to go, but it seemed like she enjoyed making me leave my dinner to take her to the bathroom.  

Sometimes she will sit on the potty way longer than she needs to.  She also uses the potty to delay bedtime which is a big pain in the rear.  But, for the most part it has been a great thing to have her trained, and I'm sure with time potty time will improve. 

She loves dancing, and when she puts on her tutu she turns into a ballerina.  I have no clue where she learned some of her moves, but maybe it's just innate for girls.  She then tells us we should take her to a dance class.  So that is something we will have to look into in the near future.  Another cute thing she does is make up costumes.  At Halloween time when she had her princess dress on, she grabbed Liam's skeleton mask and made a funny combo 'Princess-Skeleton' costume.  Most recently she had her tutu on and then found Liam's Spiderman mask, to make her 'Ballerina-Spidey' costume.  The girl cracks us up, she is such a ham.

comment by mom/grandma on 02/09/2013
She is quite the dancer here too. So cute. She comes up with the cutest things, she keeps us laughing all day:)