Spelling Game

On the way home from boot camp last week Lilly and I were playing the spelling game. I would give her a word and she would tell me what it starts with. Some letters she has down pat, but others are a little tougher for her. When we got to the word "Dad" she was unsure. Finally she wrapped her arms around herself and said "Dad starts with LOVE!" I spent the rest of the morning thinking about how sweet and precious my Lilly is. When I shared the story with aunt Merry however, she said "It sounds like you got played. She didn't know the answer so she got out of it by saying something cute."

On the subject of Lilly, I think we have the world's youngest vegetarian by choice. She will now officially not eat meat of any kind, not even a McDonald's hamburger. Mostly I am proud of her for making a moral decision and sticking with it. Most adults struggle with that. But the other part of me finds this to be incredibly inconvenient. To ensure she is getting enough protein, I have to be really thoughtful about our meals. We keep plenty of peanut butter, eggs, and cheese on hand. What really gets me is her insistence that I don't eat meat either. I want to support her, and meat is not my favorite anyway. But you know how it is when someone tells you that you cannot have something, and then all you want is that thing? Sometimes I sneak meat when she is not looking, but I am trying to decide how moral that is on my part.

Carson loves Shawn the Sheep. It is a claymation show that he watches on Netflix. My favorite is when he sings along with the song at the beginning. Or at least  tries to sing along. Since he does not talk very well or very fast, he mostly just gets basic sounds out. It is so cute, and sometimes I turn it on just to watch him sing along and pump his fists in the air. But as soon as I start giggling he turns to me and says "Out, Mom!" He is starting to say some cute things. He insists that I call him "Carson" or "boy". The other day he wanted me to do something and I said "sorry Charlie." He gave me an offended look and said "Nooo! Carson!" as he pointed to himself. He has also made it clear that I am neither a boy or a girl, but a mom.

Kindergarten has been a little on the rough side for Rachel and I. They have a system in her class where if you are on your best behavior a popsicle stick with your name on it stays in the green pocket, but if you misbehave your stick moves to the yellow or red pockets. At the end of the day you get a green card to take home if you stay on green. Rachel has never been moved from green, which is great for her teacher but less great for us. I think she uses up all of her best behavior in class, and when she comes home she just falls apart. This past week has been a total turnaround though. She has been fantastic at home. I asked her this morning why she has been so great and she told me she said a prayer about it. I asked her what she said in her prayer and she said she asked Heavenly Father to help her be nice for me. Kudos to Rachel's primary teacher!

Of all my babies, Emilia has been the least concerned about eating. She could take it or leave it, and getting her to nurse for what seems like long enough to me is a stressful chore...that is until now. It used to be I had to works to get her to eat every two to four hours. Lately, it is two hours on the nose, and she eats until I cut her off, either because I am out of food for her, or I have other things to get done. I am sore, I don't have enough milk, and I am spending all of my time nursing... I love it!

A quick note about Halloween. Rachel chose to be a witch, I don't know why. She made a good one though. I think the most appealing thing to her about it was painting her face and hair green. Lilly chose a wolf costume. I can only assume this was to help her get over her fear of wolves. So far it has not worked, as she still will not go downstairs by herself. Carson was a fireman because that was the costume we found at Goodwill that fit him the best. He sure was cute. Trick-or-treating for Carson was about a 20-minute ordeal. At that point he was content to go home and eat his take of candy. Rachel could have gone all night, and she was fast! We kept having to reign her in. Lilly would have liked to go all night if it were not for the dogs. No matter the size or temperament, she is terrified of them. She quickly ran up to the first "dog house" unaware, but as soon as she saw it, she turned around and ran back just as quickly. After a few houses with dogs, she began announcing loudly to the houses before knocking "No dogs allowed outside!" If she knocked, and no dog came, just to be sure she would ask the home owners "do you have a dog?"

Pictures to come!