Reality Check

We had been lacking for warm weather in our area. Winter had made a mockery of Spring so one day when the air was relatively warm I jumped at the opportunity to go to the store - sans kids. I rolled down the windows, looked at the stereo. I realized I could actually listen to it, as loud as I wanted, sing along without my kids harassing me about my singing voice. I turned it up and started dancing and singing along as I drove.

Then I had to stop at the traffic signal. A little sports car with a couple of teenage boys in it pulled up next to me. They looked over and then looked back ahead, obviously unimpressed. I instinctively reached for the mirror on the back of my visor, checking to see what was so unattractive about me. As the mirror folded down I saw reflections of the empty car-seats...in the back of my minivan...no wonder I couldn't hold the interest of the younger generation: I'm no longer one of them.

All I could do was laugh at myself out loud, turn down the too-loud 80's music that was, in all truthfulness, giving me a headache, roll up the windows and finish driving to Wal-Mart where all my purchases reflected both my age and my role as a mother. Which was okay, I was getting a little cold anyway.

Little Smarty-Pants

Kindergarten, I've decided, is going to be a formality for Isaac. He's taught himself how to read and do math. I'd love to say that I've sat down with him over the course of the last few months and imparted bits of my knowledge. But the fact is, he is just smart.

I will take a little bit of credit though for encouraging him and giving him learning opportunities. We've bought some work books for him and he has games on his V-smile that have helped him learn. And I try to make games for him like making patterns with M&Ms during snack time.

I do hope that Kindergarten will help him learn how to sit still and develop some social skills. He likes to play with other kids but they generally initiate the friendship and he just goes along with it. He'd be just as happy playing computer or watching TV as he is playing with friends.

I also hope he gets a little dose of humility. Yesterday we played 'school'. He was working out of one of his workbooks. He reads the instructions to himself, completes the page and then says, "Teacher, time to 100% me!"

My sympathy already reaches out to his Kindergarten teacher.

A Moment Worth Remembering

This morning Kenley woke up while Jeremiah was getting ready for work. I was still snoozing so he got her a drink in her sippy cup and laid her in bed with me. When I woke up and rolled over I saw a grinning, adorable face that announced, "Mom, I'm so happy!"

The Graduated Darling

Kenley seems to really be maturing, for a 2-and-a-half-year-old, anyway. Her vocabulary has exploded and she is stringing together her own thoughts, forming complete sentences and communicating quite well. I love to hear her display her knowledge and yet I'm a little sad that I no longer hear some of those words that made sense only to me.

Here are a few of the things I miss.
Noise = chocolate milk (Not sure how she drew this connection)
Igik = Isaac
And...others that I can't think of right this moment...

And while she's maturing there are a few things that still escape her grasp, like knock-knock jokes. She loves to tell knock-knock jokes. Here is an example of her comedy.

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Orange*.
Orange who?
Orange eat your face or don't.

*Any word may be substituted here, the rest of the joke always ends the same.

She also has a cute pronunciation of Cinderella: Snirwehuh.

And our favorite is to have her say her name. We have this exchange quite often.

What's your name?
Tenny.
Tenny?
(Adamantly) No, not Tenny. TENNY.
Tenny?
(Even more sternly and highly exagerated) NOT TENNY. TENNY.
Kenley?
Yeah, Tenny.

That old cliche about kids growing up too fast has stuck around for a reason.

April Was a Blur

So much happened last month. I had every intention of blogging each event individually, but it all happened so fast! We had Jeremiah's, Isaac's and Jack's birthday parties, Kenley took a trip to the emergency room, Jeremiah's aunt, uncle and cousin visited from Cali, Jeremiah helped his brother move, and Jeremiah and I had our 7th anniversary. All in less than 30 days!

May seems to be zipping by just as quickly. I went to Women's Conference and was gone from Wednesday until Sunday. Jeremiah and the kids joined me in Utah on Saturday where we stayed with Jeremiah's brother in his new (beautiful) home and then we had a baby blessing for our sweet niece on Sunday. We were also pleased with a "surprise" visit from another of Jeremiah's brothers and his fiance from Arizona. Monday I did nothing so that I could be well rested and wake up with the flu on Tuesday, along with Isaac, Kenley and Jack. Poor Jeremiah stayed home and cleaned up after all of us. I think we all got sick just so we'd slow it down.

I'm hoping things do slow down. I'm pretty sure April was this busy last year, and it probably always will be. But at least we had lots to celebrate, and celebrate we did!