Random Kid Things

I have gotta say - my kids are so sweet. Yes, there are moments during our days where "sharing" does not happen very peacefully, but when they are playing together, and laughing together it is an awesome thing. We were recently talking to some friends of ours who are planning to have only 1 child. It has made me thankful that I grew up with siblings and that my boys have each other - they are learning some pretty major life lessons as they interact together.

Well, for some updates...

We no longer have a high chair around the table. Chase has longed to be a big boy like his brother and sit around the table. I resisted this step for awhile, but the chair needed cleaning so I gave him a trial run. He loves sitting like us. We had talked about buying a booster seat, but have learned that the old fashioned phone book trick is working great and saves us the money! So far, no accidental falls have occured so maybe we are good to go. Chase has been placed at the head of the table, which has kind of become our joke because he likes to dominate meal activity. I personally have enjoyed not having that big chair in the way!

Reece has been doing really well at school. Today is only his 5th day to go - but on his third day he jumped out of the van and grabbed his teachers hand with no tears, and has done so each day since. We are so proud of him. Him enjoying school has sure served as affirmation to our decision to send him! He is tired by the end of a day filled with spanish - but he is really having fun. He had homework for the first time on Tuesday - 3 little tracing assignments. He was thrilled. I am learning quickly that his new step of going to school is creating a new "homeschooling role" for me too. He was not content with doing only his school assigned work - I created 4 extra assignments and he was begging for more. Yes, I will remind him of this love for homework a few years down the line. Another cool thing is to hear him speaking spanish a lot more. I had not expected that to happen for several months - but after the first day he was trying to recall phrases and put together "quieres jugar" (do you want to play) when he was playing with Chase. The other day his teacher told us he said all of his colors in spanish. I knew he knew them but was happy to hear that he has the confidence to speak out loud in school.

Chase is slowly beginning to say more words too. It has been fun to watch how excited Reece gets when Chase repeats a word. Chase enjoys singing and so we have had quite a few laughs out of letting him fill in the blanks to "there once was a little boy ________, down by the babbling _______, etc.. etc. Okay - to everyone else - they hear nothing but sounds, but to a loving parents' ear - we hear - "Da-vid" and "brook".....he is getting especially good at the "round and around and around" part. And has totally nailed the "crash" where the giant comes a tumbling down!

The other day we had some friends, Gerardo and Dulce over. At one point Benjy and Gerardo ran down to the tienda and I ran upstairs to get Chase who was waking from his nap. When I came back downstairs, Reece was sitting on the couch beside Dulce, telling her stories from his favorite Bible and she was listening intently (she understands some english). He was explaining who Adam and Eve were and then skipped way on ahead to the wise and foolish builders. Of course, it made us missionary parents proud to see our son sharing the "good news" at his early age.

That's it for now - just thought I would share some stuff about our kids. We are really loving this stage of our lives!