Athena is such a picky eater. She wants junk food. She doesn't like things kids usually like which happen to be healthy such as apples and corn.
When Tiberias was a toddler he would choose wheat bread over white and carrots over cookies! Athena refuses the corn holding out for candy. It's a fight. She won't eat. So I bring her down from her chair and she reaches high towards where candy hides.
Ty has always liked vegetables. Luke disliked vegetables as a toddler but we made him eat them throughout his childhood. Now he is use to them and likes some of them. Luke is almost 7 yrs old and Sterling and I are loving how responsible and easy an almost 7 year old is...in comparison.
Lachoneus is a great big brother. And it's so wonderful that he now knows how to read books for Athena and Tiberias. Luke is learning to babysit for us...by keeping Athena happy when I need her away from me or by watching the two younger kids on a separate level of house than mom and dad are on.
Athena is now 16 months old. She has started talking. About a week ago she woke in the middle of the night and I went in her room to assist. She was practically still asleep but said to me "water." The next morning she said more words. A few days later when I opened her bedroom door I said "Good morning." She replied in an attempt to say the same back to me. Sterling heard it as well. It was adorable!
I have yet to get her to say "Please" or either of her brothers' names.
Summer Begins
Lachoneus finished his 1st grade year on Friday May 23rd. I was as excited about the school year ending as Luke. During this school year there have been many mornings when Luke has been playing so nicely with his brother and did not want to stop. I am excited for them to have more time to play together...hopefully Sterling and I can help them to not fight when they feel they have too much time together.
I finished teaching Preschool with Tiberias and his friends. Had about two weeks of a break and will soon start teaching my boys Summer school. It won't be intense. I want their summer to be fun and be "summer." But I want Luke to keep up on his reading, writing and math. And I want Tiberias to learn all of his letters and sounds. The first part of the alphabet Aa-Ff he knows the letter, the sound and a word that begins with that letter. It's after that where he needs some help. We worked on it all school year but he needs more time. He knows his numbers 1-10 but I want him to know and recognize all the way up to 20. He also needs to practice drawing straight lines, circles, writing letters, coloring and cutting.
This summer we have so many fun things to go out and do. We have free bowling, free splash pad, playgrounds, Reptile Garden passes, libraries, the mall to walk around and play at, we will plan playdates every week, the Relief Society will have a playgroup that meets weekly, tennis and more.
Today, Monday Memorial Day, as a family we went to Storybook Island playgrounds. It just opened over the weekend so we are way excited. We went and played despite the threat of rain. It only sprinkled for a minute and left us dry the rest of the time.
From there we went straight to McDonald's for lunch and playplace.
Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing at home. This evening for Family Home Evening I read some articles from The Friend magazine. We also played a pillow fight and then our version of basketball (using big fuzzy face balls and mom holding a small round laundry hamper).
Life in our family is always fun. Although, Tiberias doesn't think so. Lately he complains about having to give up his free/play time for anything (church, FHE, etc). He thinks life should be about doing whatever he wants all the time. Teaching him how life really is is not easy. He really needs to understand because he will start Kindergarten in the Fall and will be required to follow their schedule, not his own, for all day Kindergarten hours.
Tiberias turns 5 in August but he is still very clingy to his mom. When we leave the house he freaks out if I am more than two feet from him! I am hoping that Kindergarten will help him be away from mommy. It will likely be a difficult school year for both of us. I am excited to have him attend school however I know it will not be easy for him to adjust. It will take a couple years atleast. Luke is more in control of himself and he took a year to get his behavior in check during school.
Lachoneus ended this school year with a fabulous behavior chart (whereas a few months prior he was getting in trouble a lot) and wonderful grades. We are so proud of him.
We love all our children equally but Sterling and I both agree that the older they are the easier they are and we thoroughly enjoy and appreciate that.
Hooray for this Summer! Hopefully it's all I imagine it will be.
