She's Talking.....

.... with her hands! Lydia said, "all done," and "more" today. She was very pleased with herself. It is very useful since she wnats to eat everything we do. She kept saying "more" for applesauce and cheese and her brothers we excited for her. Of course she loved the attention.

We had ice cream the other day. William insisted on finishing cleaning up before he would come for ice cream. Brian wanted more and I told him we needed to save some for tomorrow. He announced, "I don't want ice cream tomorrow!" Curt said, "Funny children!"

William giggled. Brian, puzzled, said, "Where?"

Brian is interested in puzzles now. We have a book of Tonka Truck puzzles and he can do them all (35pc). William still loves maps and spends a lot of time reading and writing. Today he read a few books to Brian and then helped him do StarFall http://www.starfall.com/ - a website that teaches phonics. Brian likes to do the school things that William does, so I always try to find something he can do too.

Though William is super smart about many things, we are trying to not make a big deal of it. Don't want it to go to his head. He was almost apalled that Brian can't read! He doesn't remember learning to read and didn't realize it was something that had to be learned.

The boys were playing with cars in a waiting room yesterday. A man asked William if he liked Lightning McQueen. William asked who that was. The man said, "Have you seen the movie, Cars?" William said, "Well, yes, but I don't really like it. I like to do Legos, and read books, and write." I'm sure he can come across as being odd at times, but we like it that way!

We Miss Daddy!

Curt's driving truck again and we all miss having him home. The boys especially miss his bedtime stories and I miss his putting them to bed for me. Sometimes the days just drag when he is away..... Yes, today is dragging.

In alphabetical order.....

Yes, William now recites all 50 states in alphabetical order...... in under a minute. This he learned by looking at the state flags on the back of his placemat - of course listed alphabetically. So now he wants to learn the countries of the world. He's given up on alphabetical and has been writing them by region in his notebook so he can study them. I don't think he's quite normal, but we love him.
Today Brian started pronouncing his "L" sound. He says, "I would lllllike _________," and smiles, pleased with himself.
Lydia started waving bye-bye yesterday and is getting more sociable by the day. Still not crawling. Every time I get her on hands and knees, she pushes back until she is sitting.

What William Knows

This weekend I discovered that William knows most of the State Capitols. No, I did not teach him, I just let him play with his USA puzzle and gave him "Our Fifty States" to read. Wish my memory was that good. He's been teaching Brian about the states too. I'm impressed at how many states he knows and he can put the puzzle together all by himself.

Tonight he was sorting his legos according to which set they belonged to. No, he didn't need the instruction book. He just knew where every. single. piece. belonged.

He also learned that he shouldn't leave his books on the floor. Lydia managed to eat a page. Well, she didn't ingest it, but it's well chewed. He handled it very well considering the damage. Perhaps it's because I've been warning him for several weeks now that he needed to keep his things put away if he didn't want her chewing on them. (She tends to only really chew cloth and paper.)

Nature Lesson

Curt has been doing a lot of yard work lately. He put up a HUGE tarp on the other side of the garage and is storing his tractor and attachments there. He also moved the wood pile there today. Later he found a little garter snake in the grass where the wood had been and showed William who showed me. It hadn't moved an inch since Curt found it (only part of it was visible), so we poked it with a stick and discovered that it was dead - mouth wide open.
Later I found Brian with it in the sand box making it slither all over. It was the best toy snake ever! We had a little discussion about why it's not a good idea to play with dead animals.

Beach Pictures

Lydia's big enough to sit in the booster seat - even though she's not big enough to eat anything yet!
Last week we went to NH with Curt. He's been working on a job up there, so we stayed with some friends. It was really relaxing and I even took the kids to the shore for the day! The boys LOVED the ocean and got as sandy as humanly possible. Lydia took a long nap between some blankets and I just relaxed in the sun.

Boys on a rock at the beach.

The boys stood watching the water come and go. The water was freezing, but they didn't seem to mind. Well, Brian didn't care. William ran up the beach and got his rubber boots.

Purrrfect Response

Tonight as Curt was putting the boys in bed, he patted Brian's back and said "Good night." Brian said, "Hey, don't pet me! I'm not a cat!"

Fun with Cousins

She's very snuggly. (This outfit barely fits her now.)

HAPPY EASTER! Picture taken after church today!

A child's view of Mommy.

I asked William the following questions and these are his answers. I LOVE numbers 9 and 13. Brian's answers are in ( ). I his attention span and comprehension were limiting factors.

1.What is something mommy always says to you?
Clean things up.

2.What makes mommy happy?
Obeying (Daddy)

3.What makes mommy sad?
Disobeying. (Daddy)

4.How does your mommy make you laugh?
By making a funny face. (I don't remember that.)

5.What was your mommy like as a child?
Ummm. Playing with stuff, maybe.

6.How old is your mommy?
31

7.How tall is your mommy?
About 114 inches. (High up to the sky. Okay?)

8.What is her favorite thing to do?
Help us clean up. (Clean up, washing things.)

9.What does your mommy do when you're not around?
Look for me. (Turn around and around.)

10.If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Writing a list for what you want to buy at the store.

11.What is your mommy really good at?
Doing laundry. (Playing.)

12.What is your mommy not very good at?
I don't know. (Cleaning up.)

13.What does your mommy do for a job?
Everything! (Clean up.)

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
Beef Stroganoff.

15.What makes you proud of your mommy?
That God made you my mommy.

16.If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Bob the Builder.

17.What do you and your mommy do together?
Help clean up if there's too much to clean up and Brian is having his nap.

18.How are you and your mommy the same?
Our hands are different sizes.

19.How are you and your mommy different?
I think our eyes are different colors.

20.How do you know your mommy loves you?
Because God loves us.

21.What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
Working on his tractor. (You like Daddy.)

22.Where is your mommy's favorite place to go?
To the grocery store. (The store.)

Lydia Joy Miller

William helping with laundry!

Tired Daddy with tired baby.

Big brother often says, "I like her."

Lydia sleeping shortly after birth. She's a sleepy baby.

Lydia was born at 2:43pm on Jan. 2nd 2009. She weighed a healthy 7lb 15oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. Check out the hair! She came rather quickly as I was in labor less than four hours, but we did make it to the hospital in plenty of time - despite an unpleasant drive getting there.

Of course my parents were disappointed that they missed all the action as they left for home the morning she was born, but my dad may be here tomorrow night (trying to get a truck load out here) and Mom is flying out on the 13th.

Lydia is a squeaky baby. Lots of little noises and a squeaky little cry. She's nursing well and is healthy. Brian loves to hold her and William is a big help. He helps with laundry and setting table and runs to get things for me. Enjoy the pictures!

We now also have a five year old in the house! I can hardly believe William is that old! His new passion is numbers and he is constantly thinking of math problems. He taught himself subtraction and multiplication and loves large numbers. Numbers like 999,999,999,999,999,999 - And he can name them correctly! At night I can hear him whispering math problems to himself as he falls asleep. He's just a little bit like my dad.

Brian is still the little social boy. He LOVED having Grandparents visit (both sets since Nov.) and really enjoys having Aunt Sarah and Uncle Ben around. He likes to help take care of Joshua (3 mos.) and helps entertain him. He'll run and get anything you need for a baby. He's also become quite independent and wants to everything himself, whether he is able or not.