My kids: March 2011

Leila, 5 years 11 months. Leila has become such a reader over the last few months. I chuckle now when I think back to a year ago when I was very concerned about whether I would be able to teach her to read (as she has shown resistance to being "taught" things by me), and worried about this whole homeschooling thing. A friend in a homeschooling list wisely and kindly told me to back off and watch her bloom, that she would in her own time. I took the advice to heart, and how right my friend was! I take my girl to the library and she checks out books, and devours them - often going through four or more simple chapter books, and she also will tackle more complex chapter books. Her favorite books this month have been Nate the Great books, though I think we've gone through them all the ones our library has, so we will be on to something else soon. I suspect she's reading at about a 2nd grade reading level. I am so very pleased and proud to be raising a daughter who loves reading, as I did and do. I recall my mother telling me to go play outside in the summer and I, thinking myself a genius, taking my book outside with me. I imagine Leila will be the same way at times. Leila is a such a wonderful helper to me, helping out with household jobs and taking care of Jude, too. She is very trustworthy and honest, and I can see loyalty budding in her as well - a signal to me that she is really and truly growing up if she can empathize with others so well as to feel loyal to her siblings and friends. She has been playing a lot of imaginary games with figures (usually Star Wars), making up elaborate plots and talking softly to herself. Leila has never been much of a play-on-her-own sort of child, so this is a new development. Leila has also learned to ride a bike this month. When Leila sets her mind to something, she makes it happen. I know this will serve her in life, as it has for me. Some may call her stubborn, but I know this tenacity will help her do great things in her life. She is an achiever, that is for sure. Sometimes Leila and I butt heads, though less often these days as she is getting older and more easily reasoned with (and able to verbalize her intentions/rationalizations), and I often think it is because she is like me in many ways. I hope she does not have to make the mistakes I did, but I know mistakes are a part of life and Leila will learn from hers.

Elyas, 4 years. Elyas had his birthday this month. I think back over the past year and realize he's gone through many changes, and he is not so much my little baby any more, as a big boy now. It is hard to think of his "babyhood" ending, only a few little bits hanging on still - he nurses at bed time a few nights a week now, but is letting Ali put him to bed more frequently, with less tantruming. Part of me is happy at this turn of events, but another part is sad that this last baby thing of his is dwindling, and I know it's only a matter of time now before he's completely weaned. Bittersweet, this growing up thing. He's given up his nighttime diaper now. One of his front teeth are just starting to wiggle... how does this happen so fast? Was it really four years ago that I met my son, my tiny little gorilla-haired baby? It's so amazing to me, how his babyhood passed in a blur of colic and post-partum depression, a difficult year when we had family strife and Ali's adventure on the job market. My poor little boy who had so many belly problems as a baby, but has grown in to such a handsome little boy. Troublesome, fiendish, but handsome and sweet, too. He is a stinker, that is for sure. When you tell Elyas not to do something he MUST do this thing you have told him not to do (this is the sort of child positive discipline was formed for), he will look at you with a twinkle in his eye and do it. But he is so sweet, cuddling up with me for movies, and stories, holding my hand, sitting on my lap. There was a very long stretch (about 2 years!) when I would never eat an entire dinner without him on my lap for at least some portion of it. It was so cute, when he was 18 months or so, halfway through the meal he would push his plate over to my side of the table, and come finish eating from his perch on my lap. He has always been his mama's boy (I blame all those, mainly my mother, who assured me that little boys love their mama's while he was still in the womb. He heard you and took it to heart!), even last spring, when we came back from Hawaii, not having seen Ali for 6 weeks, he'd grown accustomed to me as his primary parent and was resistant again to being with Ali - and he'd JUST outgrown in early in the winter! When we visit my mom, or she visits us, Leila always wants to sleep in her bed. Elyas sometimes thinks he does, but after a story with Mom, he's ready to come to me for sleep. Perhaps this will change now, and that makes me sad, too. I know my mother thinks I coddle him, but he is my little boy, and I love him so much. Anyway, we have made some discoveries about Elyas this month. He is very close to reading - sounding out words correctly and using context to guess what the words are saying. I think in a few months it will click for him and he will be a reader, too. He's always been language oriented, so I am not surprised that he will be an early reader. Oddly, while teaching Leila to ride her bike, Elyas wanted to learn, too. Always wanting to do what his cool big sister does. So we took his pedals off his bike and he actually showed much caution! I find this so hard to believe, from the little boy who has broken his nose at least twice, put a tooth through his lip, has unending bruises, is constantly hitting his head (including a skull fracture through no fault of his own as a baby)... yet he is afraid to ride a bike. Who knew??

Jude: 9 months. This is one sweet baby. I know I say that over and over again, I just constantly marvel at how lucky I am to have him. He is so loving. Today in a store he was in the cart, and he kept grabbing my shirt and saying, "Mama" and then "muwah muwah" wanting kisses from me. When I pick him up, he just snuggles in to me (and not just me, like Elyas, but Ali too, and Leila, and he loves to land a sloppy kiss on his brother, too). This baby wakes with a smile. I am thankful for each day I have with him, even though it is going far too fast and time seems to be slipping through my hands like sand. This month has brought so many changes for Jude. She started crawling at the end of February. Now he is fast, and pulling up on everything. He can stand alone on his own for a couple of seconds if he doesn't notice he's doing it. He's started saying things with intention - Mama, Baba, Day-day or Day-da (Leila), muwah (kissing sound), mum (means "more food" or "tasty food"... this boy LOVES him some food). He makes car noises and growls and sound effects when he plays. He loves music and loves playing the piano and often sings to accompany himself. He is a great food eater - will eat pretty much anything he can find (when I told the doc at his 9 month appointment that we feed him table food Elyas piped up that he also likes "floor food"). But my poor baby gets eczema. It's not terrible, but it's the worst of any of my kids and I know it bothers him - the other two never really scratched their eczema, but poor Jude is always itching his ears and other patches. I hope he grows out of it, but in the mean time I try hard to keep it under control. It seems to mostly be weather related, definitely worst in dry air, and winter was hard on him. Now that spring is getting going I'm hoping it will be better.