Peter is doing very well at school - he is happy, having fun, and when asked what his favourite subject is, he'll tell you he likes everything. I think my favourite subject was always recess. Report cards come home tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing his, and judging by the tests and material that have come home he is doing excellent academically. He loves to read and if he's in a generous mood will sit on the couch with his brothers and read books to them. He usually takes turns reading verses from the Bible with his Dad when we are doing family devotions after dinner, and his reading skills are quite impressive for a little guy who just turned six! It can make it a bit complicated when Mike and I are trying to discuss something we don't want the kids to know about - spelling things out is not really an option anymore. He regularly asks to go for a B.I.K.E R.I.D.E. and other such former "code" words. I also can't get away so easily with paraphrasing while I'm reading them books if there are words I don't want to use (stupid, crazy etc) or if the book is just too long and I'm only reading parts of it... he can call me out on that now. I just measured him on the growth chart after his birthday, and he's 3'9.25" and about 45 lbs, which puts him at about the 45th percentile for both height and weight. Aaron is almost the same size as him, at 48 lbs and 3'8.25" (about the 90th percentile). Nate comes in at 34 lbs and 3"3.25" (70th percentile) and the last time Stephen was weighed he was 17 lbs 9 oz, 26.8" (90th percentile)
Aaron is growing up so fast! Well, they all are, but Aaron just seems so much older than he is, and it's been like that for a long time. He just wants to keep up with his older brother. He looks forward to Story Hour every week, where he is the self-proclaimed "little kid boss" which sounds worse than it is. He loves to help the Story Hour teacher with handing things out, craft activities, and cleaning up. If we're doing chores around the house - dishes, vacuuming, cleaning up toys or books, cleaning up around the yard, sweeping up crab apples - he is the one who most consistently will do a good job. He can be a very hard worker and loves to be helpful around the house - as long as he's in a good mood of course. But isn't that the way it is with most of us? Things always go better when we've got a good attitude about it. Aaron continues to come up with interesting observations about the world, about God, and about the people around us. He proclaimed to me a while back that he is "as smartinal as a cardinal, because cardinals are very smart." The other day at lunch he spilled a bit of yogurt on his arm and didn't see it until a few minutes later when he was eating an apple. He looked at the yogurt and thought it had spurted out from his apple. "Mom! Yogurt came out of my apple! I just did my first miracle!" One of the lovely things about kids is they give you regular moments of hilarity. He is at a particularly amusing age. He has also self-proclaimed his miraculous powers when the toilet paper is clean after he wipes. He has told me, "Sometimes when I open my mouth really wide and Peter looks in, he can see my buttocks because he has super powers." "Mom, do rain meters meet the rain?" "I'll go get a loaf of Kleenex for you, Mom". Oh, the reasoning of a four year old! These verbal observations can also be the source of significant embarassment. Yesterday at the grocery store, he spotted a hugely obese man in a scooter doing his shopping. Aaron loudly proclaimed to me, definitely within this man's earshot, "Mom, I just saw an enormous man!" We bee-lined it to another section of the store where I tried to make it very clear to him that we don't talk about other people like that... if he's got an observation about anyone in the store, please whisper it to me instead! Sometimes they say things that are just plain shocking, such as one morning last week walking to the bus stop. They often watch a show called Super Why, and the characters have different super powers, like the Power to Read, the Power to Spell, etc. So we're on our way to the bus stop, and the boys like to pretend they have super powers too. Their power of choice that morning was White Power... running along the boulevard, yelling WHITE POWER!! How do you explain to young kids that White Power is not an appropriate super power?
Aaron and Nate spend a lot of time together, and while they can get along very well, they also have stretches where they don't get along AT ALL. I guess this is typical of most siblings, but they can be so mean to each other! When all three older ones are home, it often ends up being Peter and Aaron against Nate, and the older two find great pleasure in building traps for Nate. I've often got to warn him not to go downstairs, because I know something is up. "Nato, come downstairs with us. There are no evil plots..." or "Nato, come climb on the bridge that we built. It is very strong and safe." Peter tries to protect image of innocence by sending Aaron up to deliver the malevolent invitations.
So Nate has had to learn to stick up for himself. He is quick to be loud about his displeasure, and he is pretty good at being pesty himself. He can also be incredibly sweet, and gives some of the best hugs out there. He is becoming more and more independent, dressing himself, putting on his shoes, doing small jobs for me. He is finally FINALLY out of diapers, which was a battle-and-a-half! It took a lot of attempts over the past year, and a final run at it in the last month and a half, but the task is pretty much accomplished. Staying dry wasn't a big problem for him, even overnight, but the pooping was really frustrating. I spent days putting him on the toilet every 15 minutes or watching him all.day.long, ready to rush him to the bathroom at the first sign of business, only to have him stealthily poop in his underwear while I was distracted with Stephen. What a literal stinker! Potty training is not a whole lot of fun when kids are not motivated by stickers, candies, ridiculous amounts of praise, or even rinsing out their own nasty underwear in the toilet. Thankfully we haven't had many accidents recently and although I wouldn't say we're completely out of the woods (he still needs to be reminded to go), I have happily packed away the size 5 diapers in the basement until Stephen needs them.
Nate also comes up with funny little observations. If we have grapes for a snack, he likes to pick out the "smart grapes" which are the tiny ones (like a smart car). On the way to the grocery store a few weeks ago, he asked me "Can the Superstore fly, Mom?" Another morning at the bus stop I was showing the kids a maple leaf and explaining to them about how this type of leaf was special because it is on our country's flag, and I sang Oh Canada to them. When I was done singing, he looked at the leaf he was holding and threw it on the ground. With a grin, he announced, "That's a Canada leaf, I am going to BURN it!" and proceeded to pull out his imaginary fire-shooting hose and burn the leaf to a crisp. So much for teaching patriotism to pre-schoolers.
Stephen continues to be a joy for us. He is an incredibly sweet baby, quite content, and quick to give us huge smiles. He almost always sleeps straight through the night (9:00ish to 7:30ish), which I realize can change quickly but for now it is really appreciated. He is lovingly doted on by his older brothers who have to be gently reminded not to smother him too much with their affection. He is a big time drooler, and is often chewing on his fist or fingers, although I've been trying to encourage him to keep a soother in instead. No teeth have popped through, but I wouldn't be surprised to find them sometime soon. He's had some introduction to solid foods starting a few weeks ago, including applesauce, carrots, beans, yogurt, oatmeal cereal, and banana. He watches intently as we eat, but he hasn't been overly excited about his own food yet so it's only a few spoonfuls at a time for him yet and for the rest he's just taking formula. Usually he has five bottles, downing 5-6 oz per bottle, generally around 8:30, 12:00, 3:30, 6:30, 9:00 but definitely not tightly tied to a specific time. He's starting to talk and coo more in the last week or so, which is a delight to hear. He has been rolling from his tummy to his back for quite some time now, but not back-to-tummy yet although he is soclose. He doesn't really like being on his tummy so it isn't a huge motivation for him. He's been pretty healthy aside from a bout with croup at the end of September. We had three of our four boys in the ER over the course of a week dealing with respiratory difficulties. Peter was even taken via ambulance one evening after I called Telehealth to ask them if I could give him an extra dose of Nate's ventalin puffer. The nurse I was talking to listened to his breathing and had an ambulance dispatched to check him out. Six or seven doses of ventalin and an ambulance ride later, he was doing much better. Thankfully the boys recovered after about a week or so, and we haven't had any significant illness since. The latest injury is a third-time tooth-through-the-lip incident yesterday with Nate. Poor kid!
Mike has just finished up writing his report cards, which is always a big task. Parent-teacher interviews next week, and then a few more weeks until Christmas vacation! We're hoping to get some work done in the basement over the holiday, replacing a window and starting work on a basement bedroom.
I'm sure I've forgotten about something in this update, but I can't sit here at the computer forever. That's it for now!
Stephen trying out the exersaucer for the first time
Happy, drooly Gerber baby
Can you find two boys? They hid here, reading for a while together and then had a great idea to play tricks on Mommy. They would sneak up to the door, ring the doorbell and race back to their hiding place. I sure enjoyed watching them from inside :)
Sweet babe
Showing off their Lego creations
Four boys on a couch, September edition
The three older boys were busy for quite some time outside one day, building "traps" for the squirrels. This trap was meant to lure the squirrel into a bucket, Hansel and Gretyl style. I'm sad to report that they did not have any success in their squirrel-trapping venture.
Sweet boy
Lovely smile!
Daddy and the boys playing hockey, a favourite past-time
Who needs a sandbox when you've got a locust tree?
Guess who lost his first tooth! Actually he lost his two front bottom teeth within a few days of each other. Pretty exciting stuff!
Love this guy's smiles!
Family picture attempt #1
Family picture attempt #2
We went to Queenston Heights with Mom VD, Karen, and Andrea. There were a few bald eagles flying out over the cliff, wonderful to see and be reminded of the promises we have been given
Check out that gap!
Someone wasn't in the mood for picture taking.
That's more like it Aaron!
His smiles tend to look a little weird on camera, but they sure are sweet!
Our living room had a make-over!
Stephen sittiing for his 5 month picture
Four boys on a couch, November edition
Daddy and Stephen
And to end off in a somewhat gory manner, Nate's latest teeth-through-lip injury.
