It is finally spring around here!! We've had multiple snow storms this month (they almost always arrived on a Tuesday, too), and just this week the weather has turned the corner and it is shorts weather!! Yaaaa! Leaves are starting to pop out on the trees, and we've been watching a pregnant robin try to find a place to build a nest (in a snowstorm no less). She tried to make a home in our garage during a snowstorm (I can't blame her) but the owner of the house had different plans...
Anyway, this winter I've been keeping a running document on the computer to keep track of the boys' sayings and doings. I thought you might enjoy some of it, so I'll paste it here. It's a lot, but - hey.
1/23/13
Garrett: “God is the boss of the whole world, and he fires
all the robbers.” I told him that actually even robbers can be forgiven and go
to heaven if they just ask Jesus to forgive them. He reiterated that he has
asked Jesus to do that, back in the old Brighton house. We talked about how
Jesus says he is building us a house in heaven and Garrett said he wants one
with 150,000 ceiling fans and wants it to be in a tree.
Garrett’s teacher did some assessment testing on him this
week and he was doing well on pretty much everything, but when it came to
reading he completely blew her socks off! She said she’s going to have to get
some other assessment books to determine exactly what reading level he’s at,
but said, “I think he’s going to absolutely blow the doors off of those. I
mean, he’s way up there!” And said they would just skip reading with him and
focus on writing for now.
1/24/13
I just came into Garrett’s room, and he was still up with
the light on, poring over his Charlie Brown Encyclopedia. He said, “I want to
go to college when I grow up, so I have to study a lot. And if I want to be a
plumber, I am going to have to study a lot.” And then proceeded to tell me all
about copper pipes verses lead pipes, and how the valves under faucets work.
And then said he actually would rather be a chemist like Daddy.
Wyatt: Over Christmas, Gma & Gpa Cox babysat Garrett and
Wyatt for Camp Grandma for 2 nights. Mom and Dad were tickled to get to know
Wyatt better, and mom said they really loved Wyatt’s sense of humor. She said,
“Wyatt is such a goofball!” and loved all of his play-on-word jokes and
switching words around or making them sound funny. Wyatt loves to use nonsense
words to answer questions, and then say that such-and-such nonsense word means
yes or no, as the case may be. Like, “Bubba light. Bubba light means no.” She also said it’s such a kick how Wyatt is
like a tape recorder when he says things…he just keeps on talking no matter
what is going on around him. So true. At home sometimes he will say something,
and I’ll say, “Oh, what was that Wyatt?” And he’ll say, “I already told you.”
And refuses to say it again!
Wyatt is enjoying having time with mommy at home while
Garrett is at Kindergarten. I love hearing more of what he is thinking about.
He’s a good thinker and notices a lot of things. Like when we drove up next to
the cart return at Sprout’s he noticed that there was no sign on it like
“Return carts here.” I asked him what would he put on a sign if he could put
one there and he said, “Dear Mommy.” Melted my heart!
When we took Garrett’s picture tonight to celebrate his
first week of Kindergarten being well-done, I told Garrett to say,
“Kindergarten!” and he did. Then I took one of Wyatt and he said, “Home!!” He’s
perfectly happy to be at home with me, and it’s a very precious time with him.
Wade:
Wade is just loving to play with my hair. He
loves strings and loves to inspect them and suck on them. He’s starting to say
“dada” and “mama” maybe at the right times. He’s getting 3 more teeth on the
top, and has his 2 bottom teeth. He loves Garrett and Wyatt. Garrett and he
have bonded for a while now, with Garrett entertaining him a lot. Now when
Garrett comes home from school he appreciates Wade (and Wyatt) even more and
loves to make Wade laugh and loves when Wade touches him. Wyatt is now really
bonding with Wade, with Garrett at Kindergarten. He is taking him on as his
brother and touching him and appreciating him even more.
2/13/13
Wyatt: Today we had a really nice time making Snickerdoodle
cookies together. He loves to cook, and enjoyed rolling the cookie balls in
cinnamon sugar with red sprinkles and
then getting to squish them flat with a fancy glass cup. He assured me that he
would be very careful with the glass cup and wouldn’t break it. J Tonight while Jim and
Garrett were at AWANA, he was so happy to get to give Wade a bath with me,
enjoying getting to rub soap on his hair and body. Afterward, he ran to get
himself dressed and when asked to get a pull-up for himself, he brought three
to me. He said that one was for tonight and the others were for Valentine’s Day
and for Wade’s birthday.
2/14/13:
Garrett: I made a heart-shaped sandwich for him to eat at
school. When he came home it was uneaten (usually the sandwich is gone). He
said that wouldn’t it be nice if he could keep it forever and ever?
Wyatt: He told me today that his love for me would never end
and to think about that all day long, and even when the new earth comes his
love for me would never end. J
2/18/13
Wyatt: Told me the next baby we have should be called Lily.
After some discussion, Garrett said he thought if it was a boy it should be
named Glowby. (This is NOT an announcement. :) )
2/21/13
Wyatt: Asked me today what “toil” and “snare” meant, and after I explained them he then piped up with, “I know! When we built the bunk beds we were toiling!”
2/26/13
Wyatt likes to find/hide pennies and other treasures under
the front room couch cushions or other places around the house.
4/18/13
We were talking about Garrett’s parent-teacher conference
today, and I said that his teacher was happy with how well he is doing after
adjusting to school. Garrett said, “Yes, getting used to a new class is kind of
like getting your training wheels taken off of your bike. It’s really miserable
at first, but then you realize that you can do it all by yourself!”
Wyatt told me something he was eating tasted like slugs, and
I said I wondered if he really had tasted slugs before, because I haven’t seen
any in Colorado myself, and anyway what DO slugs taste like? He said, “They
taste like fleas.”
Wyatt, eating cheese, said, “Look, I have a camera! It’s
just like Mama’s…say cheese!”
Wade has been saying “shoe!” very proudly at the right times.
He has been crawling around all over the house, doing great at normal crawling
since he had some massage therapy. The Physical Therapist says that he is
looking almost completely normal and has scheduled us for appointments through
June and thinks we may be done after that!
Wade also LOVES Smashburger hamburger meat! He was in
raptures the other Friday night when we piled pieces of meat in front of him.
He kept scooping huge handfuls up, stuffing them into his mouth, and saying
“UMMMMMM!!! UMMMMM!!! MOM! MOM! (More! More!)” It was so satisfying that we
wished we had a camera to take a video and send it to Smashburger as an
advertisement of the most convincing kind.
Wade loves to try to yell “I love you!” and “Bye-bye!” in
the morning to Jim and also tries to say “Ni-night” before bed to Jim and the
boys.
Garrett and Wyatt love to yell to Jim when he leaves in the morning: "Bye, Dad! I love you as much as God does! There's no end to my love!!!"
Garrett has been maturing in amazing ways lately, and it has
been such an answer to prayer. We realized that he has been having trouble
transitioning to new activities and then saying the opposite of what he feels.
Jim explained this to him, and he really got it. Now, for example, when I come
to pick him up from school, instead of saying a whole bunch of awful things to
me he looks at me and says, “It’s time to go home now.” And sometimes adds, “I
love you as much as God does.” WOW – night and day difference!! His new
behavior was highlighted to me when we were at the Rec Center playing in the
play area and Garrett was being really sweet to a little girl, asking her to
come up the ramp and encouraging her that it wasn’t too hard, and making funny
faces and sounds to make her laugh. Her grandma finally turned to me and said
something like, “Your kids are so nice! It’s sometimes iffy when we take her
here because the kids are often so rough and pushy. It’s so refreshing to see
kids like yours.” What a difference a
month or so makes! Thank you Lord for the wisdom to know how to help him have a
better attitude, for a husband who is patient and discerning, and for helping him change his heart.
Jim asked Garrett if he wanted to be a policeman when he
grew up, and Garrett said “No, I want to be an inventor and invent cars.”
Wyatt: Perhaps the skin on tangerines holds back squirts.”
4/28/13
Wade: Has been throwing things…food off his highchair, or
some blocks in the car. I was impressed by his ability to throw strong and
straight in the car. He kept throwing a block and it would bounce off of the
seat in front of him, then he would pick it up and he would throw it again and
again. He keeps snuffling his nose…so cute. He is doing better at PT! His neck
is almost back to normal – praise God – and we just have to watch his crawling
which is a little lopsided, but will have Primo come and give him massage to
help that. I’m trying to have him crawl up the stairs each day making sure he
pushes up with his left leg.
Wyatt: Has started taking swimming lessons at the Rec
Center, and loves them! He is enjoying blowing bubbles in the water, going down
the slide with Daddy, and walking across the pool! When I signed him up for the lessons, I asked him if he wanted lessons where he is with Daddy in the pool, or if he wants to be in the pool by himself with the kids and the teacher only....he immediately said "BY MYSELF!!" (This from the baby who had the worst separating anxiety from me!) He still says nonsense words
and then tells us what they mean. Like “Sneeby. Sneeby means no.” He’s doing
well at potty training and having more dry pants at the end of the day!
Garrett: It has been good to see Garrett come and ask us to
pray for him right away when he has a bad dream or a scary thought. He also has
been praying himself for things readily and more easily! (One night this week he
came into our room in the middle of the night saying he had a scary dream and
Jim tells me that I sat up and prayed a long prayer with him, which I don’t
remember! Glad that I am going to prayer right away too, even in my sleep. J) This morning he came
in and told us that he had the best dream ever – he dreamed that he was at his
Kindergarten school, and didn’t ride home with me but actually drove him and
Wyatt home on the big street in a nice little yellow convertible with headlights
on! J
