The Substitute

Last week at church Rachel had a substitute teaching her Sunday School class. When I asked her who the substitute was, she told me "Sister Ugly." I seriously doubted her, but she insisted. "No mom, that is what she said!" Finally I let it go, but I asked someone about it the next week and they said it was Sister Dudly. I can surely see the confusion.

Speaking of Rachel, I have been taking the kids swimming quite a bit lately. They love it! We have done swimming lessons, and I really do not want them to lose what they have learned, so even though it completely wipes me out I take them as much as I can. Lilly is hesitant, and prefers to stay by the stairs where she can hold onto the edge. Rachel on the other hand is a fish. It took her a couple of times going to the pool but she is quite brave. We went with the cousins the other day, and she really kept up with the big boys. I was very proud of her.

Carson has started to use real words to try and communicate with us. This is a huge milestone, however some of his words sound exactly the same. For example "outside," "ice," and "eye" all sound like "I". "Truck" and "shoe" both sound like "chu". So it is hard to tell if he wants his "shoes" so he can go "outside", or if ran over his foot with his "truck" and needs some "ice". My very favorite thing he says is "tada!" He says it anytime he accomplishes any small task from clearing his bowl to throwing away a diaper.

One of my favorite things about Lilly is how funny she thinks everything is. She got the idea to hide under her covers when I come tuck her in. She thinks it is hilarious that I can never figure out where she is. Of course it doesn't take me long to "find" her. As soon as I say "where is Lilly?" she bursts out laughing. This has been going on every night for weeks, and she still thinks it is just hilarious. She amuses herself as well. One of her favorite things to say is "Silly me!"

Rachel can be the tiniest bit manipulative and Lilly can be a little too eager to please. This is a bad combination at times. It has come to my attention that when I send the two of them down to clean their room, Lilly cleans while Rachel tells her what to do. Rachel has convinced Lilly that this is a fair trade. I think Rachel may have even convinced herself. Yesterday I made Rachel clean the room alone and it just about killed them both. Rachel was beside herself because she did not want to do all the work, and Lilly was beside herself because she hated seeing Rachel beside herself. Lilly is generous to a fault at times. I love her for it.






.