Pals

These two are tight. It is fun to see their relationship grow into new dimensions.

They have their own games that they play together . . . David will find a hiding spot in the house, and call out, "Alina, come find me." He is very tenacious with this game, and sometimes calls that phrase for a long time before his sister engages in the game with him. 

David is such a strong personality that sometimes I worry that Alina will be overrun by it. However, she is holding her own quite well. She scolds her brother better than anyone else in these parts by saying, "No no Day-day." And she repeats it several times with slight changes in her tone for emphasis.

They love having each other as playmates, especially when they get to play outside. There's something extra fun about playing in the snow or mud together. 

The age difference quickly disappears in their outdoor play, and I think they get along better when they are outside.

David is thrilled to have help unloading the dishwasher, and Alina likes to feel big enough to help. Sorting silverware is the best chore for a beginner. She's not always interested in doing it, but when she wants to, we are happy to accept her help.

Sometimes Alina can convince David to read a story to her, and it's fun to listen to him put on different voices for the characters. They also have a fun time on the swing in our basement, and Alina really goes soaring when David is the one to push her. Because the swing hangs from an eye bolt, it goes in all directions. Apparently our girl has a strong stomach and can go high and fast in all directions--including circular--without any problems.

The other day David walked to our neighbor's house (with permission) to say hi to his friend playing in her front yard. It is a short enough walk that we can see their driveway from our house. But it's long enough that I stand at the window and make sure he makes it there without any problem. I think it's about 4-5 houses from ours. So I watched him make the walk, and then just as he was about there, I noticed that he had a little shadow following him. Alina had followed him outside (I thought she was still playing in the basement)--and she didn't have any coat. It was warm enough that the short walk wasn't dangerous to her, but I quickly ran outside and snatched my girl from being her brother's shadow. David had spotted his sister before I reached her, and he quickly turned around and held her hand to keep her from running into the street. I have a feeling that this is just the first time of many that Alina wants to do the things that her big brother is allowed to do and she's not quite big enough.

So far this year . . . David

 David David David. What a boy! He is so filled with curiosity and wonder that I feel worn out with his questions . . . or more often, his explanations--of how he perceives that things work in his big wide world. He can talk a mile a minute when he's excited to explain how a machine works. Or he can read at 10 miles per minute for hours on end if left to his own devices. He also enjoys building things with Legos, Snap Circuits, and Magformers. It looks like I'll have to get some photos of his creations. Really, a photo will never do this boy justice. He is constantly in motion and a video is really the only way to capture his essence.

The curriculum we are doing this year is based in classical education. Which means we are learning geography, as well as lots of memorization of historical facts. Both of us are enjoying the process of learning these things together. I can show you where the Senegal River is in Africa. So can David. He has a wonderful memory, so I'm happy to see that he's filling it with good things.

Sometimes when I feel like he has cabin fever from being in the house too long, I have to send him outside for a prescribed amount of time. At first he usually protests because he doesn't have anyone to play with outside . . . but it doesn't take long for him to be pulled into the great outdoors. He likes building things in the creek which has oddly gone through multiple freeze/thaw cycles this winter. He'll find a log to bang, or on this particular day he climbed on top of our permanently disabled vehicle and cleared it of all the snow. In David's wildest dreams, he would have an entire vehicle to dismantle. Now that we know that the junk yard won't take this vehicle because of the low price of steel right now, maybe he'll get his wish this summer.

The end of January brings this boy another year older and wiser too. This year he chose to go swimming for his Birthday family activity. We tried the local indoor water park, but it was unexplicably closed the night we had set aside. So instead we headed over to Dimond High Swimming pool. He has since started swimming lessons at that pool, and I am happy that he is growing more confident in the water.

I can hardly believe that this boy is 7 years old. Wow. Time flies.

Apparently I am short on photos with my boy--but not for lack of effort on his part. Just today I deleted 214 selfies David took with the exact same pose in a matter of just a few minutes. Dear iPhone, next time can you please make a way for the camera feature to be placed behind the security code? It would save me a lot of hassle in deleting photos and videos of my kids. Thanks!

David is currently reading the Book of Mormon on his own. He reads it aloud to me each day, and has some very thought provoking questions about the details of what he is reading--which tells me that his comprehension is there. This is my favorite time that we share together each day.

David loves a good cuddle with his Mom. I remind myself that this won't always be the case, so I try to hold him close when I can. While Alina naps in the afternoon, we work on school work together. If he is writing at the table, then I try to be there with him. I have been learning calligraphy from online tutorials, so it's kind of fun to sit at the kitchen table while both of us work on our handwriting exercises.

I love this boy. He stretches me to be the Mother that God wants me to become. David is articulate in expressing his view, and I appreciate when he reminds me of what is most important. We constantly work on appropriate delivery when it comes to emotions, but David is really improving in his awareness of his feelings. I am happy to see this progress.

So far this year . . . Alina's world

My nice camera is out of commission until I locate the charger, so I had to rely on my phone for bringing me up to date on what we've been up to. I'll have to say that I need to get back to picture taking. These kids of mine are growing so fast, and sometimes I want time to stand still just long enough to soak their childhood in a little more. 

Alina has moved from words to phrases, and yesterday I realized that she is now talking in full sentences. However, it is still baby talk so no one outside of her family can really understand more than a word here and there. She is all vowels, often replacing consonants with "y". There are a few very stark exceptions, though. Spoon is still her chosen baby word of "gnnn." No vowels at all in that one. Her sweetest phrase is "Yuh you." Which is Alina speak for "I love you."

This week Alina has started asking, "Why" alot. In a most dramatic tone, she began saying, "Why, Mama? Why?" The first time she asked it, I stopped myself from giving any kind of a logical answer and just said, "Because I love you." This answer has become most satisfying to our sweet little girl. Sometime she will cock her head and put up her little hands and just say, "Oh, Thank you!!" And we all move on a little happier than before she thought to ask "why."

Alina and Daddy have some fun little games they play together. Sometimes Sam will grab her feet and hold her upside down to swing her side to side. They call this game "tick tock" and Alina will ask for it as often as she can. Daddy will also ask her, "Who does Daddy love!?!" Alina will begin her answer before the question is fully asked by dragging it out . . . "mmmmmeeeee!"

One of Alina's favorite things right now is a "buttawhy." She has her "buttawhy" wings on while Daddy gives her a ride.

I absolutely love the innocence of Alina's emotions. Of course a 2 year old is nothing but pure emotion, completely unfiltered. I love this age because I can see right into her heart without any pretenses. In my mind, there is nothing terrible about my 2 year old. It is just a challenge to figure out how to help her make sense of the emotions that beat so strongly in that sweet heart of hers. Distraction. Lots and lots of distraction to try and move past the harder moments

Her 2-year old independence is out in force right now. She wants to dress herself, and she would not like any help at all, thank you very much. So sometimes we go places with her pants on inside out and backwards, or every piece of her clothing on inside out and backwards. When people question it, I just shrug and smile. She is proud to be able to dress herself, and it's not really my style to challenge her on it unless it's important enough to me. Sorry store clerk at the grocery store, my errands are not important enough to pick a fight with my daughters' independent spirit. I'll save it for church and other such occasions.

Alina loves books. In fact, if there is one thing that drives me crazy at every turn is the number of books that are left around the house in every nook and cranny. 'Tis impossible to keep up with them as they move from room to room with the help of my book loving kids. I just have to pause and remember that having avid readers in my children is a blessing. But the number of books constantly displaced under foot sometimes feels like a curse.  

All of her clothes are on properly, but she chose the pajama pants over any other pair in her drawer. So be it.

Alina is clever. She is a tease. Sometimes she can really make us laugh, but mostly she is so innocent in her antics that she is funny without even knowing it. On this particular evening, she lost her fork during dinner time. We found it afterwards in her newly discovered "pocket." 

Another funny thing about Alina at dinner time is that she likes to use her napkin, and she prefers it to be clean. So once she soils her napkin by wiping her face, she will begin asking around the table to please use the napkins of her eating companions. We are hoping to break her of this before she goes on her first date, but for right now it's kind of cute. We put an extra stack of napkins on the table with each meal so Alina can wipe her face with a clean napkin to her heart's content.

Alina has been potty training for 6 months and we still only have about 50 percent success rate. It takes a lot of patience to potty train for such a long time, but it's a necessary skill so there's no way out except moving forward. She was taking off her own diaper last summer, so we began the potty training at that point even though she wasn't 2 yet. I thought she was ready with all of her signals, but she is taking her sweet little time with reading her body's cues. Sometimes she'll go 2-3 days without an accident, then we'll have a whole week without a single success. So I know she can do it, I'm just waiting for her to decide that she wants it done. I noticed this week that we rarely have an accident when we are out of the house. I think we are getting closer, but some days it is hard to see any progress when the cleaning up messes comes in rapid fire.

We love this sweet little girl. She is such a gift to our family, and I am so aware of it in my interactions with her. I love the closeness she seeks from me, and I feel blessed to have such a sweet little girl as my daughter.