Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Chicken Pox + Chiggers = "Chicken Tenders"

Lu has a rash on his body from what I figured was something he got into while on our hike yesterday (it is). His teachers felt strongly that it was chicken pox (it's not) and insisted we see a doctor. While in the office waiting, Lu had the following conversation with Nate on the room phone:

"Hi daddy! What time will you be home? Well, I'm at the doctor right now. You know those mosquito bites on my body? Well, they're not mosquito bites actually. They're chicken tenders."




Saturday, August 1, 2015

He swims. He skips.

I am not typically one for new years resolutions, but this year I made a few.  One was to blog once/month.  Yeah, that hasn't happened.

I do miss blogging.  I know that this time with our boys is so precious, and the days months and years are just flying by.  I will look back and wish I had documented it more.  I'll wish I held onto these moments in more ways than juts my mind.  I know my mind can't hold them all!

These boys bring such light into my life.  We haven't done too many extraordinary things since my last post.  We're just living our lives, spending time in nature, nurturing our relationships with each other and growing together as a family.

BBZ has lost so many teeth!  His permanent teeth are growing in, and he seems to look so much more like a big boy than he has in the past.  He seems like a teenager in some ways, yet still a little boy in others.  He had an accident at camp that required 3 staples in the back of his head.  He was so nervous about it, but he stayed clam and handled it much better than I thought he would.

He is loving camp, and loving reading!  We're not as good about ensuring his summer reading as we should be, but he reads in his natural environment so well!  He reads the signs all around, and is interested in how words are spelled.  He was invited to be in the gifted program at his school, which will start in August when he starts 1st grade.  I'm so glad that he will have some extra support to use his mind and explore new ideas.

He insisted on doing sports camp this year, which I was a little concerned about because of his lack of interest in sports overall, but this has been wonderful for him.  He has tried lots of new activities that I don't know that he would have tried before.  He is taking more chances, and learning more things about himself and about who he wants to be in his life.  It's an adventure and a ride that I am so happy to be along with.  Plus, he's starting to tell me that he can go off on his own without me (he's right) and I'm learning when to back off and support his independence.  I love each time he reminds me that he can do it, that he is in charge of his life, and that he can make many of his own decisions.  I just love being a part of his growing up.

And he continues to LOVE to swim!

BBZ at the JCC pool 6/2015

Then there is my sweet littlest boy, LBZ.  I know that all parents think their children are amazing, and I am no different, but I have this strong sense that there is something quite special about my youngest son.  It seems that everything he touches turns to gold.  He loves music and can play the guitar and drums and sing better than most 3-year-olds I know.  He loves to draw, he loves to swim, he loves to play and listen to music, he loves to read words and sound out what words start with and end with.

And he loves to skip.

For the last few weeks or so, he skips everywhere.  Imagine for a moment what it is like to be with a little person who skips everywhere he goes.  He exudes happiness and light.  He has his moments like all of us of crabbiness or unhappiness, but overall, he is a ray of sunshine in what can sometimes be a dark and sad world.

LBZ's drawing, 7/1/2015

Like his big brother, LBZ also likes to swim.  He loves all sports and has excelled at every one he has tried.  If he had to choose, I think he would choose baseball, but he also loves soccer.  He has 2 metals for the sports he's tried so far (soccer and baseball) and he keeps talking about when he will get one for football and basketball.  He tries just about anything with gusto, and doesn't seem too concerned about how good/not good he is.  He is out to have fun and enjoy life, and it is beautifully contagious to all of us around him.

So I'm just checking in to say that we are here, we are doing well, and we are enjoying life.  We are taking a nice little vacation this week before the school year starts, so hopefully I'll have some fun photos to share when we return.