Kid Updates

You know - I write a lot of places. I have 3 blogs and an online journal. That's a lot of places. Sometimes I realize that I haven't actually told a specific sub-sect of people things that have happened. I have updated about my job, and moving and relationships, but not about the kids!

 BigR is talking back so much lately. Apparantly, he is still his sweet normal self when it's just craftymama and him during the day for school but whenever he is around me and the other kids he is all mouthy. Glassman tells me this is normal for an 8 year old boy - and I am holding onto memories of his sweet self all the times that he talks back to me. He is heavily into knights, pirates, and saints. He loves King Arthur, and Sir Cedric - and those type of tales. He really wants a pocket knife for Christmas, but I'm leaning towards no. In my opinion only, he hasn't shown enough maturity to have something like that given to him. I'm not against the kids having pocket knives at some point - but they have to be ready for them. He seems so big lately. It's hard to believe that he was once so little, I met him before he turned 2 and now he is nearly 8.5. He goes back and forth with what he wants done with his hair - sometimes short, sometimes dreads...so who knows. He is pretty tall, and his hands are nearly as big as mine are. I figure he will be taller than me by the time he is 14.

K is still trying to live in the land of adults. She loves adult talk. Loves cleaning. Loves mothering her siblings. She just wants to be an adult through and through. She is also obsessed with her looks and clothing - calling herself fat (so craftymama and I have had to really watch what we say about our looks), and being upset when specific clothing doesn't fit right or doesn't work together as an outfit. She also loves organizing things and keeping her room orderly - which I'm sure drives LittleR crazy. She is loving school, though she is copying two of the kids in her class who are quite rambunctious and crazy - so I wish she would stop that. I wish she would just enjoy being a kid, it all passes too quickly and she will have tons of time to be an adult later.

M is still my dichotomy. He is a boys boy. Loves to get dirty, loves fire trucks, loves cars, loves tools but at the same time is quite a sensitive little kid who often needs hugs of reassurance - though never when BigR is around because he always has to be on the lookout to impress his big brother. He has grown the most in maturity over the last little while. Even like his climbing, jumping, running, all those coordination things seems leaps and bounds ahead of where there were a mere 6 months ago. He is also obsessed with pirates, and colouring - and would happily spend hours at the kitchen table colouring pictures (usually of pirates). He is also a leader at school and one of the loudest singers we are told - which is absolutely incredible to us. Last school year you could hardly get him to participate. M is a picture perfect example of why two years of kindergarten is such a great thing for kids. There is no way, like with typical schooling, that he would have been ready for grade 1 this year. This extra year has given him confidence and self assurance. Oh - and he still has those wonderful dimples - I hope they never fade.

LittleR is still the weird kid. She still has a lot of emotional overreactions to things - usually expressed in the form of some type of tears She still is a little bit off, and man some of the outfits she manages to create for herself. I wish I had a photo album of her clothing choices at times. It would be great to look back on in 15 years. Though I am sure she would be incredibly embarrassed by it. She is, like Teo, also wanting to impress her older sibling - K in this case. She often will copy K or try to do or act like she think K wants her too. LittleR has such a unique personality that I don't want her to lose it because she is afraid of what other people thing. Really, I don't want any of my kids to be afraid of expressing their true personalities - it's not a good way to live. She loves rainbows, and unicorns, and loves listening to stories (most of the books she loves are the one's I strongly dislike). Everyone says she has my eyes.

Then there is J. Sweet happy screamy J. He is so happy when he is in public with strangers and when he can crawl around. He is not happy at home unless he is up or nursing with craftymama. Even then sometimes he is not happy. He is still throwing most of his food on the floor rather than eating it. He also said his first word - 'car.' So two of our kids said that as their first word - LittleR was the other. He is obsessed with cars and vehicle. He is also already loving being able to get down and dirty in the mud - so much for all of his wool pants. He still sleeps in bed with us, but craftymama and glassman just set up a crib in our room which he will hopefully be transitioning soon too. Maybe then craftymama can get some sleep without a small being pressed up against her all night long. He actually laid on me while asleep the other night which was absolutely wonderful. For the most part I can make him laugh, and I am the fun one. Craftymama can comfort him, and glassman can entertain him. He loves glassman so very much - it's cute. His eyes are some combination of blue-brown-mostly brown maybe. It makes sense, his donor's eyes were brown, but he's the only one in the family with them.

I was going to write about Christmas, but this entry got long enough. *Phew*