We had another cold and rainy week. It's a bummer that we couldn't get outside to play. That is one thing I really miss about Houston...being outside playing in sunshine and warmth 11.5 month out of the year. Despite this, there are some members of the family that don't seem to be affected the same way as the rest of the us...case and point.
It had been raining, so the umbrella was outside drying. I think he remembered the last time he ate lunch under the umbrella (in the summer) and decided that it was time to do it again. It was in the high 40s, but he ate his lunch outside and was happy as a lark.
Tim had a good week working with patients. It wasn't very busy and most days he was done shortly after lunch. He still needed to stay until the end of the shift most days, but he was home for dinner. He will be moving to an infectious disease service this coming week, so that should be interesting. Hopefully, he doesn't bring any infections home.
The kids and I stayed busy this week with music class, errands, and playing. Both kids wanted to be doctors this week, so it was fun to play along with them.
I'll end with a funny Hyrum quote. I went to pick him up from primary and his teachers told me the Hyrum quote of the week. They were talking about Nephi praying and receiving an answer. They asked the kids about whether they have prayed like Nephi and Hyrum responded, "Surprisingly yes, and I felt the love of God." Surprisingly! I'm not sure where this kid gets it, but he's a hoot!
It had been raining, so the umbrella was outside drying. I think he remembered the last time he ate lunch under the umbrella (in the summer) and decided that it was time to do it again. It was in the high 40s, but he ate his lunch outside and was happy as a lark.
Tim had a good week working with patients. It wasn't very busy and most days he was done shortly after lunch. He still needed to stay until the end of the shift most days, but he was home for dinner. He will be moving to an infectious disease service this coming week, so that should be interesting. Hopefully, he doesn't bring any infections home.
The kids and I stayed busy this week with music class, errands, and playing. Both kids wanted to be doctors this week, so it was fun to play along with them.
The kids continue to love their music class. Lila really enjoys it and is picking up the routine. It was funny to see her run in and sit on her color circle. Both kids love the singing and instruments. We worked on following the beat, which Hyrum struggles with; he just likes to make his own. I noticed at the music class that Lila was doing some of the actions to the goodbye song. I was surprised that she was able to understand and knew what to do. As a result me started singing more action songs at home and she loves it. Her favorite is Book of Mormon stories and Popcorn Popping is a close second with Five Little Monkeys in third.
Lila's personality is really beginning to shine. She is turning into a very good helper. She knows where things go like shoes and jackets and will hand me things to put away. She also loves unloading grocery bags, which can be less helpful if she is just dumping things out. If I can get her in the right location it's great, like putting cans on the shelf. She has been helping with the silverware for a while, and still loves it. Probably the biggest thing for her (or me depending on how you look at it) is that she sat on my lap and looked at books for more than 3 seconds. One evening it just seemed to click that she needed to sit for a little longer. She has sat with me at least once every day since.
One of the other things that she loves to do is imitate. She loves to do what everyone else is doing washing hands, cooking, putting on makeup, spitting in the sink, and lots of other things. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but we have had trouble with her pulling out the mouthwash. I think I have mentioned it before, but there isn't anything really childproof for Lila. She manages to get things open that she isn't supposed to be able to get open. I've already stopped her several times over the past couple of months from opening the mouthwash, but she got past me the this week. I was in a hurry trying to help Hyrum get his bath and failed to shut our bedroom door, which is how we keep her out of trouble. I came out after about two minutes to find her sitting in the family room trying to take a swig from the mouthwash. No worries...she didn't actually drink anything, because she already emptied the contents of an almost brand new bottle on the carpet. She was super duper in the dog house, because she dumped it out right next to a library book that was damaged beyond repair. Not only were we down one bottle of mouthwash and a huge mess, but we had to pay for a library book. NOT. COOL. She's cute, but don't let the dimpled smile fool you!
Hyrum had a fun week of pretend and learning. This week began a leap in his verbal storytelling. He has always had an active imagination, that coupled with him being a chatterbox has led to some serious stories. I have learned with Hyrum that I have to pick my battles, and I have decided this isn't one I am going to fight. After breakfast the routine is for him to go get dressed and ready for the day. This week he decided that he want to get warm with a blanket and started telling a story to his stuffed animals. I was taking care of Lila and told him to go get dressed. Fifteen minutes later, I told him to go get dressed, and his response was that he would after he was done with his story. I said okay (bad move mom). About thirty minutes after my initial warning, I told him again, to which he responded that he wasn't done with his story. To make a long story short (literally) his story ended about 1.5 hours after it began. I figured he was happy storytelling, Lila was happy not having to share or be picked on, and I was happy because I was able to get ready, clean up, read scriptures, and do a morning chore without fighting kids or meltdowns. This happened several times this week with him actively talking to himself with plenty of animation and sound effects for extended periods of time.
He is doing really well in preschool. He is so close to reading. He has all of his uppercase letters, most of the lower and about half of his sounds. I decided to just target the trouble letters and sounds for a couple of week and then see where he is and if he has made progress, I will start teaching him words. We have talked about him reading and he has taken more of an interest in pointing out letters and asking what the words say.
Family home evening was fun this week. We talked about Nephi being commanded to build a boat and that he needed God's help to build it. We acted it out and he was able to "find" what he needed to build his boat. Tim (Lehi) and I (Sariah) got to be his helpers. It was really fun to watch him go off and pray because he didn't know what he needed to do next.
Along with the errands, messes, and battle retreats I had a couple of cooking adventures. I found a peanut butter brownie recipe that looked really good. It didn't turn out like normal brownies, more like molten lava cake. It was still tasty, but a little disappointing. Tim's critique was as follows, "Yeah, it a little running in the middle, but it's a win, win for me. I get a tasty peanut butter treat and because you're unhappy with the results, I'm going to get to try it again." I also made a Mexican meal. I have to be really careful, because Hyrum doesn't do any spice and he is still a little hesitant around beans. I made Meximelts, which are basically tacos and Mexican rice. Everybody ate without complaint, not that Tim would ever complain about Mexican food, except that I don't cook it enough. I was even more happy because I made the rice on the stove. I was very grateful many Christmases ago when I received a rice cooker. Until then, I had been eating either burnt or crunchy rice. I don't know what my deal is, but I can't seem to cook rice on the stove. Well, this rice was neither burnt or crunchy.
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