April update

- I caught Grace with her bouncy balls in her hands over her head just above Matthew this morning before hitting him with it.  I immediately told her to go to her room.  When I sat down and asked her what she had to say she said, "I'm sorry I hit...threatened to hit Matthew."

- Matthew woke this morning calling me "Mommy".  I guess my days of being called "Mama" are now numbered.

- Often times in the morning, when Matthew sees breakfast finally being served he yells, "Yeah!" and starts clapping his hands.  I must say, he is a very patient observer since it can take me a while to get everything together in the mornings given the many distractions.

- We purchased a swing set/play structure for the back yard for the kids this month.  It promises to be a good investment given the excitement the kids have exhibited since its arrival!

- Grace has been talking a lot about taking a plane to heaven to see Memaw (her grandmother that passed away in September) lately.  She said that she misses her singing to her.  The songs she used to sing were "Baby Face" and "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck".  So I've downloaded them from iTunes so we can listen and learn the words together and keep Memaw's memory alive.

- Grace put on a shirt and pants (including zipping and snapping the pants) all by herself this morning before school! (4/4)

- Mama Lisa split a cookie and offered Grace to choose which side she wanted to eat. Grace said, "I want both sides!"

- Grace is a very enthusiastic communion participant at church.  If given the opportunity, she would be the first person in line for communion every week!

- One night before we said our prayers, Grace said, "God made my [stuffy] nose better."  It's so refreshing to see the pure faith of a child. 

- One evening while being ushered to time out, Grace told Jeff, "You look adorable with your haircut!"

- Matthew now officially has a favorite book: "Otis" by Loren Long.  It was a gift from my Dad's cousins on his mom's side.  He also loves the picture/vocabulary books and can spend a good 30 minutes just sitting in my lap pointing to pictures and having me name things.  He especially likes the pages with photos of kids doing things like laughing, hugging, kissing, etc. and the animal pages.

- The other day at school I was chatting with Grace's teachers and it occurred to me how much she has matured over the school year.  They told me that Grace is very observant (she hears everything even if you don't think she's listening), she's a leader among her classmates, she's a good helper and she's very persistent (especially when it comes to testing boundaries).  Although these can be challenging traits in a 3-year-old, they are great traits to have in life as an adult if they are molded for good use.  Some other things that have changed this year include: 1) she now always holds my hand when in a parking lot or a street (not threatening to run into traffic), 2) she has a healthy fear of things that might hurt her like knives, ovens, stoves and strange dogs, 3) her temper tantrums are less frequent and 4) thankfully she has become much better at understanding consequences (ex: if you run through the mud at the park when I've asked you not to, we will go home). 

- Matthew is growing up quick too.  In some ways he still seems like a baby (he's still seriously attached to me and Jeff and cries like crazy if one of us is not with him), but in other ways he's more mature.  When we get to our neighborhood park, the first thing he does is looks for a stick, and the he's off happy as a lark playing by himself!  He doesn't play on the toys that are too advanced for him and he stays away from potential hazards (like edges he could fall off and break a leg).  He continues to sleep through the night and takes a decent 1-1.5 hour nap in the afternoons.  He's very communicative and leaves no doubt whether he is happy or not.  Thankfully, most of the time he is happy.  Besides the separation thing, our other challenge is getting him to eat veggies.  In addition to his food allergies (peanuts, dairy, egg, mustard) he's picky and will often eat a meal the first time it's served, but then not the following time.  This makes mom tired when trying to plan and serve meals.  However, he loves fruit, breads and certain meats so as a result he continues to put on the pounds.