Early March

We are now eagerly anticipating our trip to the Outer Banks with Auntie Em & Uncle Jeremy and crew along with Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Doug. Jenn's been looking for swimsuits and SPF shirts for the kids, and I've been telling Lincoln about climbing up the Currituck Lighthouse and other fun beach stories.

Henry is starting to put sentences together, and watching his mind work is really, really neat. While he still does a fair bit of crying and some screaming for Jenn during the day, he is much more responsive to her telling him why, for instance, he needs his hands wiped after lunch. Just last night Jenn and I were talking about how his receptive language picked up very quickly last summer, but while he may have heard the words and known a bit what we were talking about, it's clear that he's know understanding concepts much better and emotionally responding better in many situations.

He continues to be a champ at Sunday School, and when Jenn takes the kids out. This past Wednesday she took the kids to the Stow Library for story time and to meet with a new friend from church. This new friend said, "Whenever I see Henry he's always happy!" And he usually is. She also said, after they'd been there about 30 minutes, "Is there something up with his hand?" Henry just does life.

Lydia is staying in her crib during the night and after naps. It helps that I give her an almond as her "special treat" as a reward. She's so darn cute about it, too. And her cuteness is saving her lately because she simply doesn't listen or obey. Lincoln and Henry are a lot alike in that they're obedient and responsive. Lydia is just different, and she's going to try our patience as we go along.

Just the other evening, in the midst of a crying fit, she ran to her playhouse and sat inside. I crawled in after her and sat beside her, not saying anything. Mid-cry, she belted out, "I want some money!" Yeah. That's my daughter.

On another occasion, she was crying very dramatically in the middle of the night, and when Jenn asked what she wanted, she said, as the sobs continued to flow, "Where's my....... where's my....... where's my crown?" Well, isn't that the truth?! Jenn thought.

Lincoln is tearing it up in preschool. One of their worksheets dealt with money and he had to write how many cents were represented by various combinations of coins. He got them all correct, and when he told Jenn about it, he said, "Lots of the kids had to try a couple of times, but I just got it right the first time." Similarly, they had a very simple graphing exercise, and he worked out the graph correctly the first time. He then described to me how he did it, in a very matter-of-fact way, as though he'd been doing those exercises for some time now. Preschool has been a very good thing.

He started up his swimming lessons again this Wednesday. No crying this time, even after being away from the routine for a while, and I'm sure we can chalk his comfort and confidence up to preschool and general maturing. It remains to be seen how good of a swimmer he'll be by the time we're at the pool on vacation, but he'll be comfortable playing with us, at least.

Lincoln went to Leesville Lake again last Wednesday, and Grandpa had pirate ships for him to paint, pancakes for him to mix and eat, and a sundae for him to cover with chocolate syrup. It was a good day!