March. Let's see.
Phineas - Yeah. Oh, the smile! It's heart melting. He's getting into everything. And as I type this he has already figured out how to pull up onto his knees. Everything goes in his mouth and we are very quickly learning to keep the big kids' toys off of the floors and within 1.5 feet in height from the floors. It's a learning process. And pretty sure he is the happiest baby ever. I think I lucked out with some kids that have some of the most amazing smiles in the world. And Phinny's awesome baby legs? Yes! And he is just eager to play with his big siblings. He has no interest in baby toys, he just wants to play with whatever his big siblings are playing with. And his interest in books is finally taking hold where he will sit on my lap and look through books that I read to him. Such precious time. Speaking of time - he sure progresses so quickly in that time. I am always so amazed at how quickly children work on and acquire new skills. So incredible.
Milayla - She is so serious about art, letters (prereading) and dancing. And so eager to take on more learning and responsibility. I had been pretty lax with her "school work" seeing that she is only 3 but she is so insistent that she learn more and who am I to deny her that? So she has started learning phonetics and is beginning copy work. Her determination and ability to tackle new challenges is so fun. She also makes some awesome fruit kebabs (that she made for our preEaster brunch). And brilliantly enough, as she has heard me teaching fractions to Atticus she has also learned them. The kids will tell each other fractions when we are eating dinner together or driving in the car (eg., 4/5 are wearing brown shoes!). Her personality gets more vibrant every day and it is so beautiful.
Atticus - If anyone has a chapter book to recommend for this kid that is at a 3-4th grade reading level but doesn't deal with stuff too mature for a 5 year old I would love to hear them (eg., no major tragic death experiences, language, romantic relationships etc). He reads veraciously. Seriously. Last week he read The Story of The World by himself in one week. The learning curve he is on right now is reading comprehension. He can read a lot of things beyond where his comprehension is at so I am having to reign in his enthusiasm a bit to help him grasp understanding better. He's reading the Book of Mormon on his own which has been a big help with that. And he just finished reading A Christmas Carol (wrong season, but he doesn't mind). Looking for some suggestions for the next school year! And I love the journal entries he comes up with. So sweet and thoughtful. He has so much love.
Both the big kids did back to back swim class sessions. They have made great progress as they have moved into the class where they need to swim 100% solo. They have the skills for it but seem to have a few concerns holding them back. They'll be there soon enough - on their own time frame. And I have been reading poetry and The Little Prince to the kids aloud. Milayla is entranced by the poetry; she thinks its the greatest thing ever and always asks for it. And they both love The Little Prince. It's sooooo deep. I did not know what to expect when reading it and - wow. I know most of it went over the kids' heads and the fairly sad and odd ending I think was a bit too much for them but - wow. If nothing else they adored the voices I made for each of the characters and would spill their excitement to Jason about all the great voices when he came home. It was fun. And I definitely got some wisdom from that book myself.
Me - Running and I have been reunited and it feels so good. The snow is melting. I have hopes of snowdrops and forget-me-nots. Phinny is my running partner and Milayla is anxiously awaiting me to work my strength back up to take out her and Phinny in the double stroller. I am in full Easter/Birthday planning mode and making some things for that. I discovered that Baobabs (a tree from the Little Prince) are a real thing when I stumbled upon some baobab powder and I wowed the kids with the fun fact that I found out. I had a crazy reaction to some peanuts that I ate (swollen everything, my lips have never looked so full. Ha!) which was strange because I am not allergic. Oh and then there was the cough I got where I was hacking up some serious junk. In a more positive light, I have begun planning curriculum for homeschool next year. It's going to be a great year. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach these kids of mine. It's incredible to see their eyes light up when they learn new things. And not sure if I ever mentioned this but I am conducting music (music leader) for the children at church. So much fun. Kids are so forgiving so I don't feel so ridiculous as I take two measures of music to figure out the timing of the song (I never think to look at the time signature before hand and I never have the music up front with me (all memorization) so that I can look at the kids). It's been fun. I hope they feel the love I have for them and for the music that I am teaching them. One positive is seeing how excited my own children get to have me as their music teaching at church. They are pretty proud.
Jason - Really seems to be enjoying his work load and is a pretty good sport with things around here (which is great because it gets a bit crazy as I try to finish off some of the lessons I want to do with the kids before end of school year). Some days it feels like his work is so top secret (only employees allowed inside the building) and the kids have not ceased asking about when they will get to go inside and see all the airplanes being built. Maybe it will happen one day. In the mean time, we've had fun trying to piece together what the office and Jason's coworkers are like via Jason's sharing of his days.
And that is some of March in a nutshell. So grateful to have my days filled with this family of mine. It fills me with so much joy. I read something on Motherhood from a book that I have that suggests treating difficulties with motherhood/children with the adage of "just love them more". And while that adage may look a little differently when applied to different children at different times I have seen the power of how loving more can be a powerful step forward in my motherhood and relationship with my children. I do love them more every single day and I hope to find ways to help them feel that love and the power that comes from it.
