Recently...

Trevan - I love this kid and he boggles my mind at the same time.  I love (or am I embarrassed?) that I never check his homework.  Someone asked me how much homework he has a night, and I couldn't tell them.  I was like, "Well, he reads for at least 20 minutes every night..."  I guess I know he will ask for help if he has a question, because he did that for the first time last Thursday.  I have glanced over his shoulder a few times and told him he would have to rewrite whatever it was he was writing because his handwriting was too sloppy.  I was getting tired of having to remind him to put away his shoes/lunchbox/backpack every day after school, so I made a chart for him to check after he does it and I haven't had to remind him once since them.  Realizing what helps make him tick is one less weight on my shoulder.  I'm a chart person too, so I get it.  He has been helping me do the dishwasher almost everyday without complaining and without payment.  I love him for that!!!!

Mallary - This girl is going to give us a run for our money... At back to school night you would have thought she was running for student body president running from kid to kid, not wanting to sit with us because she was too busy talking to everyone or saying hi to everyone.  She was the queen of the carpet while I sat in  her class and I overheard her telling kids what to do and where to go. Hmmm.... I wonder where she got that from??  Her teacher stopped me when I ate lunch with her last week and raved about how much she loved Mallary, what a good listener, helper and wonderful she was, and how she could go on forever talking about her.  Not even ten minutes later, the TA in Mallary's class stopped by and said, "I just want you to know I have to refrain from taking your daughter home with me everyday, she is so adorable."  She went on and on about her, while I listened dumbfounded.  Apparently, she could see it on my face, and said "Well, just be thankful that is how she is at school!" 

Jonah - I love having him home without the two oldest during the day.  He loves to tell me not to feed Everett when I'm feeding him.  He loves his reading time with Mom everyday.  He is potty trained and was a super fast about it.  At the beginning of August one day, I literally had no diapers left for him and decided I wouldn't buy anymore either.  He had one accident everyday for four days in a row.  He pooped in his pants two times. He hasn't peed in his bed once, I thought he had, but he made it out of bed just in time to pee in his pants!! So we had him potty trained with a total of about 8 accidents (to date...), and that included a lot of long drives!  Go Jonah!!  I never even bought a single pull-up!  He was 3 yrs. 4 months!  I'm a firm believer in waiting until your kid is ready then you don't have to worry about cleaning up messes.  For real, I'm just really lazy and don't want to clean up any messes!  We didn't use a little potty or do the let him go naked thing all day.  I gave him chocolate chips for peeing (and cheered really REALLY loud - to the point that he started doing it as soon as he got on the potty for a few days) and told him he could play on the DS when he pooped in the potty - and it worked!!  But, that first day I had to listen to him whining for me to let him wear a diaper because he just wanted to poop in his diaper.  He finally couldn't hold it anymore and the DS was calling his name I guess!!  Yay Jonah!!!  and thank you for making something in my life easy.

Everett - Homeboy is 9 months now and about 23 lbs.  He has only gained three pounds since he was four months!!  He is definitely thinning out.  He now has his first tooth (the earliest of any of my kids), and just started cruising (a few side steps holding on to the edge of something) this weekend.  We just can't keep that baby down.  Unfortunately, all of our traveling and him being sick has now made him think that it is always okay to sleep with mama.  So, now we have to work on training him back to sleeping in his crib all night again.  He started feeding himself Cheerios (broken in half) last week (AND they were FROSTED!)  That just goes to show how much you change as a parent.  I would have NEVER given Trevan frosted Cheerios.  He probably had them for the first time as a five year old or something (IF THAT!)  HA!  He also recently started not liking baby food that he has always eaten and then we started giving him a banana in tiny pieces instead and he was down with that.  So, our baby is growing up!  Fast!  Stop it!  He is so super smiley and during the day loves to follow Jonah around.  He gives you hugs and likes to scratch your arms and his face with his sharp nails!!