A New Month

It's a new month and here are some of the things that are going on.

We finally have new neighbors in the apartment next to us. The family that lived there had two kids (age 4 and 2) and went back to Papua New Guinea. We were all very excited when a new family moved in last month with a girl who is Orin's age and a boy who is Micaiah's. They've already become good friends. We've enjoyed babysitting each others kids so we can go out on dates. Every day Orin and Caiah beg to go out and play with Jack and Tessa. Unfortunately they will be moving back to Tanzania in June.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Orin was a little apprehensive about moving up to the 4 year old class. I'm happy to report that he is loving it. He's made a few friends and he loves his teacher. We totally lucked out with Orin's first two teachers being so incredible. He seems to be doing really well.

I'm so sick of the yucky weather here. My moods are really affected by it. It's hard on the kids to because we have to be inside so much.

We've been doing less crafting lately. Since September we've been doing at least 2 or 3 per weeks. They've loved it and would ask for it almost every day. They haven't been asking as much lately. Maybe once per week, I think that we've sort starting to repeat ourselves. It's different crafts but sort of the same ideas. We've been replacing the time with other things. Still art type, but not necessarily crafts.

We started potty training Caiah about a week ago. I think it's funny that called potty "training" because I don't see that how we're doing much actual training. We just stick underwear on the kid and go from there. We're pretty low key when it comes to these types of things. We don't read lots books (for parents or to the kids) or talk it up for weeks before. We did it this way with taking away pacifiers, going from the crib to a real bed, potty training Orin, etc.. These big changes have always seem to go off without any drama. We talk about it some for a day or two before, and just dive right in. It seems to work for us. Orin potty trained with no trouble. Micaiah's first day in underwear he had two or three accidents. We just stuck underwear on him and told him to tell us when he needed to go. We didn't set a timer or anything although I asked every once in a while if he needed to go. The first time he wet his underwear, of course, but by the end of the day he had gone twice in the potty. We consider that success! Now, a week later he's doing great with the pee. We see him holding himself, but he likes to wait until he's ready. He cuts it close but he tells us when he needs to go. The pooping is more of a problem. It's funny because it was the hardest thing for Orin to get. Caiah still hasn't gone in the potty. The hardest part is that he only goes every other day. It's hard to catch him going and plop him on the toilet when it's so seldom. I have a feeling it will just take him going once on the potty and we'll be golden.

Orin in still sleeping in our room. The green monster is all but a distant memory and he's not having much fear at all about anything. At this point I think sleeping in our room is very comfortable for him. It's his routine. But he really doesn't want to move out. We're thinking about getting bunk-beds for their room. Since we live in a furnished place we can just ask and they'll put one in for us. He seems excited by the idea so maybe it will work.

I've started a new routine that the kids really like. At one point during the day I sit with the kids while they eat (usually breakfast or their snack) and just read the Bible for 15-20. They are already quiet because they are eating so it works perfectly. At night we read them Bible stories written for kids, but it's not the actual Bible, word for word. At first I was reading my NKJV Bible. Of course, most of it was WAY over their heads, but they still really enjoyed it. Now I got an International Children's Version. I got it used on Amazon. I've never bought anything used from Amazon before, but it worked out really well. It's on a third grade level so I think they can get more out of it. I like it because it keeps me at the table with them instead of doing dishes or checking my email. And they are now asking for it every day. Maybe they will learn something. Maybe I'll learn something. Maybe it will teach them an appreciation for reading God's word. So for now, we'll keep doing it.

Movie night is still going strong. Every day when Orin wakes up he asks what day it is. If you want your child to know the days of the week, just find something special you do every week on a certain day, and he will know it in no time. If it's Monday Orin will say, "Then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday, then Friday!!! And Friday is movie night! When Orin found out we have a pool here on the center a few months ago he started asking me every day when it will open. We started telling him, "At the end of Spring." So now he's pretty much got the season's down. Now if we can just find a way to learn the months!

We have WAY too many toys. Seriously, way too many. The crazy thing about it is that we've actually purchased very few of them. Between, Christmas, Birthday's, grandparents, and the boutique, we're overflowing. I've gotten rid of a few but I need to sit down with the kids and figure out which ones we can "give to kids who don't have many toys."

Orin is still listening to CDs during rest time and before bed. Our previous one was "The Velveteen Rabbit" and now we're listening to "The tales of Peter Rabbit." I think next we'll move on to a real book and get "James and the Giant Peach."

Last month we had a great trip to NOLA. And for about 24 hours, my entire family was together. Well, minus one. My 5 other siblings were there but we were missing one spouse. It happens so seldom that it's so nice when it does. We had a busy week visiting family. We went strawberry picking, had a crawfish boil for Joel who came back from Iraq, had a baby shower for Christina, treated to a wonderful massage by my sister, went to a pep rally for the Hornets (which obviously didn't work too well since they were out of the playoffs very soon after) and lots of other stuff. It such a fun time being there with family.

Orin's new favorite topics for play are space and robots. Fischer Price put out toys called "Planet Heroes". Orin totally loves it. All of the characters are based off of planets. So now, Orin knows all of the planets. Backwards, forwards and all. Yes, it's totally trivial knowledge, but it's funny to see a barely four year old reciting all of the planets.

Orin has been sick all week. It got really bad last night with the fever and coughing. Woke up a few times crying, coughed up some blood, etc.. We took him to the Doctor. Caiah decided to chat with her. He showed her a cut he has and said, "I have a cut on my finger. But Jesus will heal it." Too cute. As for Orin, the Doctors seemed concerned. They said his lungs sound bad and wanted us to go get him checked out at Children's hospital. I thought they were being a little over concerned. With all of the "swine flu" stuff, everyone is freaking out. So we went anyway. They made us all wear masks. They were making everyone. The kids hated it. They made him take a Flu test since his symptoms were Flu like. Seriously? I could have told the he didn't have the swine flu. They stuck a swab up his nose which he didn't like. It made it bleed. Poor guy. I think they were making anyone who was there with flu like symptoms do it. I wonder how much that cost? They checked his O2 stats and said he was doing ok. It was long, frustrating morning and Orin was miserable with us driving all over the place. He hasn't been this sick in a long time and I hope he gets better soon.