Update on our Boys

Liam: Liam is almost 5 months old now. At his 4 month appt he was 13 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches. I already miss the new born phase. Gone are the days when he would just sit in your lap, or when I could hold him and sit at the computer and type. He is reaching and grabbing everything....papers, the mouse, the keyboard, pens etc. Why are these things always more fun than their toys, although he likes those too.

He has been rolling over for some time now but he can only roll over onto his stomach. A couple of times he has rolled back onto his back but mostly he'll just cry while laying on his stomach and holding his head up until I come to roll him back over. I really give him every opportunity to figure it out (which is code for I'm busy with the other boys and I can't get to him right away). Maybe however, he doesn't want to figure it out because he doesn't like to be on his back. He never did get that bald spot on the back of his head and he's just about sitting up on his own. I bet he skips that step completely.

He is generally happy and easy going and so far my easiest baby. Sometimes I'll put him in his crib and he'll fall asleep on his own. Other times he wants to be rocked a little which I don't mind at all! He's a pretty good sleeper. For a month or so he would have a 5-6 hour stretch every night but for the last couple weeks he's waking up every 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I'm thinking he's entering a new phase...teething, a growth spurt or something. Still, when he wakes up, he never fusses. I just feed him and put him right back in his bed and he's back to sleep. What can I say, I LOVE MY LITTLE LIAM.

Eli: This boy cracks me up. I don't even know what to say about him. He's just too funny, too smart, too stubborn and too cute! He has always been a good communicator and was an early talker. He understands concepts and has conversations that I think are above his age level. Which is great for some reasons but not so great for others. Take potty training for instance. Because he's had his alphabet memorized, and has been able to count to 13 since he was about two, and can pretty much copy almost any word you say accurately, I think he's older than he really is and should be doing things, like going potty on the big boy potty. I forget that he's not even three yet and that the average boy doesn't potty train until he's a few months older than three. This is where Eli's stubbornness comes in. A few months back, all on his own, he said he had to go poop on the potty. Great I said. We got his little seat out and put it on the potty. He pulled off his diaper and whoa-la. Success the first time. He even did it a couple more times. And then, he just decided he didn't want to any more. Now our conversations go like this, "Mom, I have to go poop." "Great" I say, "Do you want to go poop on the big boy potty and I'll give you a sucker?" "No thank you" he says and then goes to one of his places, the closet, behind the chair, or yes, he'll even like to go in the bath room, close the door and stand in the bathtub. A few days ago he was wearing his spider man costume and said, "Mom, I have to go poop." "Well, you better go poop on the big boy potty because spider man doesn't poop in his diaper." "Yes he does mom. He's going poop right now." Need I say more. Eli can, all by himself, put his little seat on the potty, pull down his pants, take off his diaper, climb on the stool and sit down. So pretty much I'm just going to let him potty train himself. He may be 4 by the time he decides he wants to but I don't think I'm going to try again until he's ready to start kindergarten:)

Eli still loves Lightning McQueen and all the" Cars" cars. Finn McMissel and Francisco Bernoulli are his new favorites. His favorite movies to watch right now are Panyo and Maters Adventures. He especially likes the episode when Mater is a monster truck. He still loves pasta and can out eat me when it comes to spinach ravioli, lemon fettuccine or spaghetti. His favorite color is red. Everything has to be red..... his choice of candy, his toothbrush, his stickers, etc. It's always, "I want the red one."

Eli is growing up so fast. He's not much shorter than Miles. In some clothes he's wearing a 4t and his shoe size is 10, depending on the shoe. I don't know what the average is but that seems big to me. Miles starts preschool on Monday and I think this guy is going to be pretty lonely when his big brother is gone in the afternoons. They do everything together:)

Speaking of Miles ....... he is growing up so fast but in a different way. Our conversations are becoming more in depth and not just about toys and stuff like that. Lately we've been talking a lot about the children in Somalia who are dying because they don't have enough food. He first asked me about it in the car a week or so ago when I was listening to NPR. His prayers are sometimes really thoughtful too. Just tonight he prayed, more or less in these words, that other people who took the bar wouldn't pass so that daddy's chances of passing were better. I think John should pass the bar based on that prayer alone:) He also has been asking me to teach him how to read so I just checked out a book at the library, How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons, or something like that, so we'll see how that goes.

Miles can be, when he wants to, a really good helper. When Liam is in his chair and he's starting to get fussy but I'm cooking dinner and can't entertain him, Miles will put his crayons down, or stop playing with his toys and go over and talk to him with out me having to ask him. And Liam loves some of the funny faces Miles does. He's also a really good helper when I ask him to get me things....a pacifier, a burp cloth etc.

Miles is really excited for preschool and I'm excited too. We went to his preschool open house and I was really impressed. I'm hoping we stay in Naples for that reason alone. They sent him home with a big poster for him to color and fill out that tells all about him...favorite color, food, family members etc. He gets to bring it back and they spot light each child. We came home and he wanted to color it right away. Miles is really social and for the past few months we haven't done much playing with other kids for two reasons: We were all adjusting to the new baby and most of his friends moved away when their dads graduated law school with John. I think this has effected Miles behavior a little bit (or a lot bit) the last couple months so I'm hoping he can make some good friends in his class, and hoping we don't have to move in a couple months.

I feel so blessed to have my three boys. They are so wonderful and so wonderfully different from each other. Each of them brings something special to our family. My prayers usually go something like this, "Heavenly Father, I am so grateful for my wonderful, strong, healthy boys. Please let them thrive even though their mom is far less than perfect. Please don't let my lack of parenting skills screw them up forever:)"