Big Kid Update

It's been a while since I just wrote about each of the kids. So we'll see if I can remember all the things I've been wanting to mention.

LAKEN

Laken with his legos

- Laken enjoys kindergarten. His favorite thing are his specials (art, music, P.E).
- We used to have him pray that he would make friends at school. Then a couple weeks ago, he asked if he could pray for the friends he already has at school. His friends are Abbi (the one he likes the most), Macy, and Grady. (Side story: One day we went to the RWC and he saw Grady there. Usually when he sees someone from school, he shies away and doesn't say anything to them. But this time he actually said 'hi' to Grady.)
- Laken's favorite things to do at home are play with his legos and draw.
- He started trying to read and spell at the end of preschool last year and has gotten much better this year. When he had his first parent-teacher conference for Kindergarten, Mrs. Miller mentioned how they do an alphabetical scale for reading/writing. Most Kindergarten students start at an 'A'. But Laken was at a 'D' (which is a beginning 1st grade level).
- He is getting better at not crying over little things and getting hurt. It depends on his mood, but we have more good days than bad.

CARTER

Carter was playing with my hair.

- Carter is such a good brother. He plays well with Kaliya and then turns around and can play well with Laken. He also is a good helper at giving Makai his binky when he's crying.
- He is very forgiving. If Kaliya takes something of his or makes him mad somehow, he'll growl about it for a minute but soon after will invite Kaliya to go do something with him.
- He started the year in Primary at church. He had a rough start but is getting better at sitting in his seat during sharing time and not crying whenever I leave the room. He still has troubles going into his class with his teacher.
- He is an early riser, but if it's before 7, he's usually pretty good about being put back into bed or snuggling in mom and dad's bed for a bit.
- He doesn't nap (and hasn't for a while) but he will usually fall asleep in the car when we go to pick Laken up from school.
- He likes to have dad play chase with him and likes to 'BOOM' us.
- He likes to guess what letter starts certain words ('does M&M start with m?' or 'does lego start with c?'). He also likes to try to figure out what words rhyme ('do truck and frog rhyme?'). Sometimes he gets things right but other times we try to help him figure it out.
- He likes to fill up the bathroom sink with water and play in it. He also finds containers laying around to fill up with water and dump into other things.
- He is a trinket holder. He'll find random things and that's what he'll carry around for a few days until it gets lost or he finds something else to carry around. (Flashlight, M&M container, lego pieces, small cooler, marble, paintbrush)
- He is an animated talker and opens his mouth really wide and pronunciates really well when he talks about something exciting.

KALIYA

Typical Kaliya: thumb in mouth, blanket, and a stuffed animal

- Kaliya is such a little sister. She loves to annoy her brothers by taking their things.
- She is a good big sister to Makai. She loves to feed him a bottle if he needs one, hold him, and talk to him.
- She LOVES to swim. Whenever she sees her swimsuit, she asks if we're going swimming.
- She likes to pick out our own outfits. (Somedays she's all pink.)
- She likes to do whatever Carter does.
- She likes to do things herself: get dressed, go potty, put her shoes on, cut her hotdogs, etc.
- She has been trying to figure out how to do buttons on her shirts and successfully did 2 the other day. She was so proud of herself.
- Her favorite movie is 101 dalmations.
- She likes to cut and glue. She's still trying to figure out how to use scissors but is getting better.
- She likes to play with her baby dolls. (Funny story from December: she found a baby Jesus from one of our nativities, stuck it up her shirt and said she was feeding Jesus.)
- Another funny story from December: She found a sticker from an orange and decided to put it in her nose and it got stuck. She had her finger in her nose (probably trying to get the sticker out) and I told her to get her finger out. She started whining and saying her nose hurt. So I checked in it and saw the sticker. I had her try to blow her nose to get it out but it didn't work. So then I had to keep her from trying to stick her finger in her nose until I got her to the bathroom where I could see better and use tweezers to pull the sticker out.