These kiddos of mine

September is sure flying by!  I am loving being back in a routine again.  I'm sure we'll be more than ready for a summer break when it comes around again, but for now we are all very happy with the back-in-school schedule!  Little sister finally got to go to kindergarten.  She was thrilled to have her hair done all fancy (although you can't tell from the picture) and to wear her favorite new yellow shirt and carry her new yellow backpack.  I walked her in the first day and she remembered exactly wear to hang her things up and where to get the take-home stuff.  Then she gave me a quick hug and kiss and I sent her out to the playground to play until the bell rang.  This little girl took herself to nursery at 15 months, and as I expected kindergarten was no different.  She was a little nervous, but just walked out the door ready to take on the world.  She loved her first day, her only complaint being that the other kids kept sitting on her number 5 on the carpet.  Apparently they weren't assigned numbers, just told to sit on one.  With only one 5 and a room full of five-year-olds, that didn't go so hot!  The teacher got rid of the carpet for day 2.  On day 2, little sister was fully confident in her ability to do this on her own and requested that I drop her off instead of walking her in.  She did great.  The most miraculous part to me is that we have no lingering special needs issues - as far as the teacher is concerned she is just an average student with an above-average love for the color yellow.  This little one has come so far.  Watch out world, here she comes!

 

 Big sister is doing very well in school, also.  She is in the highest spelling group, as usual, and is thriving in math, too.  In learning about division, she was the only one in the class who made the connection between multiplying and dividing by 5's.  The teacher praised her and told her that her brain must like math.  (And yes, I realize that means she is totally Daddy's girl!  haha!)  She is making new friends and loves meeting her old friends at recess.  This girl has a big heart and tries very hard to be a good friend.  I love that about her.  She is also discovering how much she loves reading.  She has always liked to read, but her skills are finally to the point that she can read chapter books on her own.  We have introduced her this week to Judy Blume, and she is staying up way too late trying to finish her stack of library books.  I have to go down and make sure she's putting her books down and going to sleep.  I am loving this quality about her, as well!  I just hope I can keep up with the back-and-forth to the library we'll be doing this year!

Big brother is loving preschool.  And they love him right back.  He has a big heart that match his big brown eyes.  He loves to give hugs.  His speech is improving a lot now that he's back in school.  He is starting to repeat things more and more.  We are still working on comprehension.  I was talking to a friend last week whose son has some similar delays.  It's nice to talk to someone who understands.  Right now he gets so frustrated because he doesn't understand what's going on all the time, and he throws a lot of fits due to that frustration.  Just like with little sister, we end up sticking him on his bed a lot and letting him cry it out.  Trying to explain just makes it worse.  I know he'll get there.  And it's good that I know that from experience with little sister because sometimes I feel like giving up.  My hope is that when he hits kindergarten, he will just be an average student like little sister is!  In the meantime, he is also loving that his cousins have moved closer and he gets to see them more often.  This little trio is full of fun and trouble!

Last but not least, little brother is loving that twice a week, for about an hour, he gets mama all to himself.  I love that I get time to just play with him one-on-one.  He is starting to repeat a lot of words and he babbles a lot, too.  I am really hopeful that he won't have the same communication/speech delays as his older siblings!  He is about 3 1/2 months away from nursery and mommy cannot wait!  At this point, he generally sleeps through Sacrament Meeting, and then I can either go to gospel doctrine or Relief Society.  He will not sit through both.  Since I'm in the RS Presidency, we wander the halls during Gospel Doctrine.  I get lots of comments on how fast he is and how he doesn't really look tall enough to walk.  He is very distracting in Relief Society.  He jabbers loudly and loves to drop his toys on the floor and yell "uh-oh!".  Adorable, but very un-reverent.  Last week he managed to pull the flower arrangement on  his head and scared the poor teacher who didn't see him there since he's knee-high to a grasshopper.  He is a lot of fun and trouble and I can't wait 'till January 1st when he is officially 18 months!