five

It's funny, each year I'm blown away that another year has passed and my boy is a year older.  Now we're heading into year SIX...boy is there a lot that is going to happen in the next year.  The past year has been eventful.  Here are the highlights.

School

The Lutheran school has been a great place for Riley.  He's made some good friends and has had an absolutely wonderful teacher.  Mrs. Blake could not have been more sweet and supportive to Riley.

He's also been going to the public preschool four days a week.  Previously he was getting therapy for a speech delay, but he is tracking with his age group now.  He's still been getting OT however, since it has been determined that he needs help with sensory integration.  This makes it hard for him to screen out sensory input (like a noisy classroom or another student brushing up against him) and can lead to overwhelm.  Overwhelm initially was causing behavior problems until he started to work with the OT and they helped to come up with some ways to deal with it, like giving him "weighted activities" like carrying things.  He seems to do best in small groups.

Socially Riley is doing better although he is still a young five.  The speech delay put him behind in this aspect.  Preschool has been good for his social development, but he still struggles in social situations at times, especially when there is a lot of commotion.  In those situations you'll frequently see him go off by himself.  I can understand how he'd need to do that if he's in sensory overload though.

This year he's learned to write his letters and he is starting to sound out words and write them down on his own.  He's writing "books" with increasingly elaborate story lines.  He's even started reading BOB books himself before we read to him at bedtime.  It's so cool to listen to him while he reads.

Riley will be starting kindergarten in August.  He'll be going to a classical school that sounds really great and has a great reputation.  If you're not familiar with classical schools go here and you can learn more. 
Overall Riley likes school.  Hopefully that will continue once the school work gets more challenging...

Brotherhood
Riley has taken to being a big brother very well.  He truly seems to love his sister and will very happily play with her.  Well, at least until she starts tearing apart whatever it is that he's making.  He's generally good to Kendall and at times is very sweet.

There has been much less of, "No Kendall!"  Actually, Riley frequently wants to copy what his sister is doing or what she has.  Last night this even meant putting on nail polish (much to my dismay.)  He will frequently want something that she has (normal) and will also play with toys he knows that she likes before she can get them (also normal, if irritating.)  It's interesting that he seems unaffected by his sister's crying and whining (which she does a lot more of than Riley ever has.)  The only thing we've heard is him commenting on how she is noisy or that she cries a lot.

I know that he pays attention to what's going on with his sister though.  For instance, the other night they were eating dinner and Riley commented that Kendall was, "going to be a girl soon."  He meant rather than a baby.  His way of observing that his sister is growing up.

Overall the kids get along very well.  I hope this continues...

Homebody
Here's something that hasn't changed at all.  To quote last year's birthday blog, "Our boy loves his home (especially when Mommy is there...)  Given a choice he would never leave."  He looks forward to coming home and playing with the new Lego Apple Tree House that he got for his birthday.  Different from last year though is that he does want to go for play dates at friend's houses.  Oh, and he still loves Chick-Fil-A.  Still, there are times where I think he would never leave the house if we didn't make him.

He is also his Mom's boy.  He loves his Daddy, but he LOVES his Mom.  I don't blame him.  'Nuf said.

But he still loves the outdoors
Riley has recently started to ride a bike with training wheels.  It's usually the first thing he does when he gets home.  He'll ride around the driveway and into the garage over and over.  He also loves to go out for a ride on the street.  We'll go out with him and let him ride around the streets in the neighborhood.  He loves the bike (that's Daddy's boy!)

We've also gone out for a few rides with him on the trail-a-bike.  This is fun for both Dad and boy.  We've been on the roads around the house as well as on the bike path that goes through downtown.  We did a family ride once this spring as well.  Riley loves it and he even PEDALS, something I wasn't quite sure that he'd do.  I caught him on video though so I know that he does.

Helpful boy
Riley is still a heplful kid.  He loves to get involved with things that we're doing and help in any way that he can.  He's wanting to do more independently which is cool, even if he at times moves at a snail's pace.  Most of the time that's not an issue though and it is really fun to have him doing things with us.  And it's nice to see him starting to take responsibility for things around the house.

Play
Playtime is very similar to last year.  Riley made the transition to regular Legos with this birthday.  He got the Apple Tree House set and a motor home.  He plays with them every day and he and I will sit down and go through the instructions to build these very elaborate structures.  The pieces can be very difficult to get apart (there is a special tool we bought which is made to do so) and it's a struggle to get Riley to keep the parts out of his mouth (teeth are an effective, if destructive, tool also.)  He LOVES his Legos though and is turning into a formidable builder.  An interesting difference from the days of speech delay is that he nearly constantly sings to himself while building with Legos.  He sometimes sings songs he knows and other times will make up silly lyrics to go with tunes he knows.  It's cool to listen to.

Other favorite things have been drawing and coloring, and frequently cutting out doors and house shapes from his pictures with scissors, spinning in a big box we got a chair in and building with blocks.  We think we may have a future architect or builder on our hands here, since Riley has loved houses in any way shape or form possible for a long time.  We'll see...

He also loves playgrounds whether outside or at the aformentioned Chick-Fil-A.  Part of  our bike ride on the path downtown was stopping at a playground that has a merry-go-round.  I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid and you couldn't get Riley off the thing.  Well, except for the one time he let go and got pitched off...lesson learned though.

During "rest" times Riley likes to watch videos.  His favorites still include Curious George, and he also loves Alvin and the Chipmunks, Beethoven and UP.

Birthday
Riley's fifth birthday was a lot different than his fourth.  This time around he had a bunch of friends since he wasn't the new kid any more and the kids were able to come to the party.  So we had a houseful.  The theme was Curious George again as George is still a fave.  Here's a slide show:

Five.  Wow.  We love our boy and it continues to be such a joy to watch him grow and develop.  This is going to be a big year with school starting.  He's going to be learning so much and growing bigger (well, at least if he eats...)  We continue to be thankful for our son and are grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be his parents.  We love our Riley-Boy!  Happy five my boy!

Jonathan

training

Training is something that is really most important when you have to do something quickly, efficiently and most importantly correctly the very first time.  Over the years I've had CPR training many times.  Fortunately I've never had to use any part of it.

Until today.

The kids ate precious little for lunch today, so when dinner time came around they were pretty hungry.  Riley actually asked for BOTH chicken nuggets and mac & cheese (we're usually lucky to get them to eat one of them.)  Both kids were happy when I said yes.

Kendall has gotten pretty good with nuggets and actually (unlike her brother) generally takes small bites.  Tonight for some reason she stuck a whole nugget in her mouth and shortly thereafter started to cough and then to choke.  I'm so thankful for all those years of CPR training because the training for a small child who is choking WORKS. 

Having seen that training so many times over the years I didn't have to think about what to do but was just able to act.  Never have I been so happy to hear my baby girl cry.
 
I didn't freak out about the whole thing until Kendall was back in her high chair eating her last nugget (chopped up VERY SMALL.)  At that point I had an entirely different perspective on the training that I've at times I've found boring and repetitive.  Boring and repetitive means you know it.  And you'll likely be able to use it.  Correctly.  First time.  Right now that's something that I'm very grateful for.

I love my baby girl.


Jonathan

a rock in the ear

Earlier today Shelby got a call from Riley's preschool teacher saying that one of his friends had put a small rock in his ear. I took my lunch hour at his school to (hopefully) get the rock out. Some pictures...

The rock was very small and easy to remove (fortunately.) The boy who put the rock in the ear was given a good talking to and Riley was told (by more than one of us) that he didn't have to (or shouldn't) let anyone put rocks in his ear (or anywhere else...) All's well that ends well. Kids are funny.

Jonathan

easter

Easter is a holiday that always seems to be a photo opportunity for the kids, if not for the family.  The kids are getting more difficult to get pictures of together, but individually we get some good shots.  Here are a few photos:

If there was ever a question these two were siblings...

 

This is the kind of photo the kids would prefer.

Happy Easter all.  He is risen indeed!

Jonathan

baby girl is two years old

I guess it takes a birthday to produce another blog entry.  But we’re so excited to celebrate our baby girl’s second birthday today. Here's a rundown on what she's up to.

Kendall is talking all the time and imitating words that we say.  There are no concerns with language development with our girl. Her current regular vocabulary is:

Hi, bye, night night

No, Yeah (said with much enthusiasm!)

Please, thank you, more

Milk, juice, tea, waffle, cracker, cookie, chicken, nana, apple, pretzel, vitamins, medicine

Baby, car, book, light, ball, George (the monkey), Pooh

Sun, dog, kitty, tickle, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, diaper, powder, bath, potty, poo-poo, pee-pee

All the major body parts (sticking her finger in eyes, nose, mouth and ears), counts one and two

Kendall remains a picky eater, but seems to get by on a base of cheesy scrambled eggs, chicken nuggets, waffles, mac and cheese, oatmeal, Cheerios, mixed fruit and veggie baby food, peanut butter, yogurt, milk and kefir.  She's easier to feed now than six months ago, but dinner time can still be a bit of a struggle.  Fortunately she no longer sticks her fingers in her mouth the whole time we're trying to feed her.  She insists on feeding herself and gets quite upset if we try to help.

She loves to play with her kitchen and serve tea and snacks.  Her big presents from us for this birthday were related to tea...  She is also fascinated with cars – the movie, her cozy coupe, big cars, small toy cars.  There is a "sculpture" made with buried cars at a restaurant near our church that she gets all excited about.  She’ll be begging for her license the day she turns 16.

Kendall has a couple of babies – her favorite being Baby Stella.  She pushes her in her stroller, feeds her and snuggles with her in bed.  She also has quite the menagerie of stuffed animals, many of which inhabit her bed.  She loves to snuggle with them and with Baby Stella at bed time.

She loves to read books (both with us and alone.) She loves to play with her ball popper, picnic basket and purse.  She dances whenever music comes on and loves music in general. 

She also loves the toys that attach by magnet to the refrigerator.  One of her favorite things in the house is the drawer full of sippy cups.  It's funny, I think she'd be OK if we got rid of the majority of her toys as long as we left that drawer alone.

Kendall is very good at playing by herself for long periods of time.  She especially enjoys being outdoors and we suspect that she will be daddy’s riding partner for years to come as Riley prefers being inside.

Kendall is also becoming more self sufficient. She always wants to walk rather than to be carried and is even wanting to tackle the stairs wherever we go.  It's a riot to watch her go down the stairs since her butt is nearly touching the stair as she's going down because her legs are still so short.  It's also nerve wracking if we aren't holding her hand.

She still naps a couple of hours in the afternoon and sleeps from 7:30pm – 6:30am, much to our delight. She's always been a good sleeper.

Kendall also gets along well with her brother Riley.  There are times when they get on each others nerves of course (especially when it comes to sharing toys), but overall they do very well together.  (By the way, this is our first picture of Kendall in pig tails.)  Here they are sharing a chair while engrossed in Curious George.

Our baby girl has been very different than our boy and most of the difference has been really fun.  She's turning into a very affectionate and fun girl.  We love her like crazy.  I'll close with a slideshow from birthday number two:

We love our two year old!

Jonathan

it's been a while...

Life has gotten away from us over the last five months or so.  We're hoping to keep up with the blog by not making it so labor intensive in the future.  Hopefully this will mean more, but shorter, posts.  First we need to catch up a bit though, so here's a slideshow that gives an idea of some of what we've been doing:

Here's to more blogging in the near future!

Jonathan

Kendall's words

I've been meaning to document the words that we hear from Kendall at 18 months:

13 words:
Mama
Dada
Rah = Riley
no
uhh (with head nod) = yes
down
pup = up
bye bye
night night
wa wa = water/waffle
coo coo = cookie
nose
ball

4 signs:
please
thank you
milk
more

2 sounds:
snort = pig
roar = lion

So, we're not seeing the language delays that Riley had, thank the Lord.  And as a teaser for my next Riley post, it looks like he's done with speech therapy.  Can I get an amen??!!

Shelby

18 months

Time sure does fly.  It seems almost inconceivable that our girl is 18 months old.  She is changing constantly, so here are some updates.

Communication

Kendall is starting to use a words more often and is pairing them at times with sign language and gestures.  Her communication skills are definitely improving, although her answer to almost any question is, "No."  She does say yes when she really wants something though.

Wednesday when I picked her up from daycare I didn't have Riley with me and she looked at me and said, "Rah?" and held her hand out palm up in a questioning gesture.  She was wondering where her brother was.

A week or so ago I was sitting in the kitchen having lunch and she came in, pulled out a container of animal crackers, brought them to me and said, "Coh Coh" while signing please.  I was overcome with her cuteness so of course she got cookies.  She has since started calling cookies, "Coo Coo."

She is also pointing at things all over the place and saying, "Dah?"  This can mean any number of things many of which are undecipherable.

 

Communication is such a blessing and it is great to start seeing two way conversations beginning with our girl.

Shoes

Kendall recently got her first pair of shoes that were made for walking.  At first all she did was cry and try to take them off, but now she loves them and gets excited when we go to put them on.  It's kind of funny, she fights me over putting pants on, but she holds her foot out for me to put her shoes on.  She's also starting to put on and take off shoes on the stairs like her big brother.  She does a little dance of excitement every time.

Kendall and her new shoes

I get a real kick out of watching her walk.  She is no longer tentative and can really move out.  She doesn't really walk like a toddler any more and she's actually starting to run.  We're having to keep an eye on her in the driveway...

Play

Kendall shows very little fear in play areas.  She's willing to go down slides if you're there beside her and is starting to climb.  She has this habit of always wanting to be in the most dangerous spot possible.  Frequently this is at the exit of a tube slide.  The bigger kids come down quickly and she loves to climb in as far as she can get.  Drives Daddy crazy!  I suppose she'll take her bumps and bruises and come out fine.  Daddy will do OK too.

Kendall is a social girl and the reports I get from daycare are that she gets along with the other kids and they all love to play together.

When she's playing alone at home she's a fairly normal toddler who loves to pull all the toys out and spread them everywhere.  Her favorite lately is a gumball machine Shelby got for the kids:

Brother

Kendall adores her brother and is frequently found by his side.  If he's playing Legos she will sit in the middle of what he's building (which does NOT make him happy.)  If he's playing with a toy she wants to play with it too.  She wants to check out and usually do everything he does.  Fortunately Riley is very good with his sister.  It's fun to hear him calling her in to his bedroom to play with him.  His room is one of her favorite places to be.  I've always hoped that my kids would be close.  So far, so good.

Development

If you look at Kendall's 16 month blog you'll see what Kendall is doing.  Eating, sleeping and napping are all the same.  Mealtime is less of a battle, but still can be challenging.  She's still a peanut; at her 18 month appointment with the peditrician she was at 45th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height.  Mom and Dad aren't tall so that's no surprise.  She's a healthy girl and is growing and developing just fine.

She is a Momma's girl.  She doesn't like it when Mom leaves her sight and will cry nearly every time, at least if she can't follow.  She is NOT like this with Daddy, for better or worse.

It's amazing to me that a year and a half have already gone by with our Kendall Girl.  Watching her grow and change is a joy.  She's a strong willed girl with a sweet side and we love her like crazy.  With her our family feels complete.

We love our Kendall Girl!


Jonathan

ambivalence

Today is my last day of unemployment. After a prolonged search to find a treasury position locally, I expanded my search to south Denver (40 miles away) and was offered a position earlier this week. I thought I'd be ready to receive more than an unemployment check and get busy paying off the moving debt. After 10 months at home however, I am going to miss the laid back schedule and time to explore, run trails and get household chores/projects done. It's going to be a rude re-awakening to the stress of balancing work and home demands.

As I deal with my trepidation, I reflect on several things that I believe to be true:

1) God in his infinite wisdom has arranged things so that I need employment in order to pay off moving debts and provide adequate health insurance coverage for our family. His hands weren't tied here, He could have eliminated this need for me to work outside of the home. He knew that my intense hatred of debt and desire to be free from its shackles would trump my desire to stay home. I have to believe that for right now, He wants me to work.

2) Because I believe God has called me to work, He is going to use this situation to mature and change me in ways that wouldn't be possible by staying home. I'm sure this is part of my hesitation -- I know this refining process is going to be tough at times. I'm thankful that God never brings us into the storm without going there with us and assuring us that He will help us through it. I pray that I'll avail myself of His provision and not seek to manage it all on my own.

3) At the appointed time -- when His work is done -- He will lead me to another job or situation that is right for our family. I only need to wait on Him and make the most of what He has called me to do right now. Oh, that perennial lesson of trust... These unchosen scenarios always point out my arrogance in assuming that I know what's best for me and mine by fretting about whether God's going to "get it right". Have mercy, O Lord.

Discerning the will of God can be tricky, but I've come to realize in recent years that His guidance is something He does as well as something He gives. Sometimes His guidance is clear -- "Do not steal". However, in the case of whether or not to work outside the home, it's not so black and white. While God is altogether sovereign over the events of the world, our choices do matter. I don't understand how it works, but Scripture says it's "both/and", not "either/or". He uses our desires and subsequent decisions to accomplish His purposes. I know that there are moms in similar situations that choose to stay home when carrying similar debt loads. Their desire to be the sole caregiver for their children trumps even the desire for eliminating debt. I would conclude that if they have peace about it, then it is God's calling for them and right for their family.

One of the reasons I have peace with this choice is that God has provided caregivers for our children with whom we feel very comfortable with. Riley attends a Lutheran preschool near our home and the bus picks him up each afternoon to take him to his SpEd speech class at the elementary school. He's made friends there, even identifying his besties, and his social skills continue to improve. Kendall is taken care of by a mom of three grown kids who absolutely adores her, the only girl among several little boys she takes care of. Kendall lights up every time I bring her to over and obviously enjoys her time there. Knowing that our kids are getting social and learning experiences that they would not get at home makes leaving them easier. And it goes without saying that I cherish my evenings and weekends with them even more, as a result.

In preparation for my big change, I've been meditating on Psalm 25:

In you, LORD my God,
I put my trust.

I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame...

Show me your ways, LORD,
teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long...

Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant...

The LORD confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever on the LORD,
for only he will release my feet from the snare...

Guard my life and rescue me;
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
because my hope, LORD, is in you.

Thank you to all who have prayed for us during this year of tremendous change for our family. These prayers have certainly been felt, and our faith has been strengthened by seeing the Lord provide all that we need month after month. I would covet any additional prayers as I start my new job, that I'd be faithful to my calling and trust in Him for all that I need.

Let the crazy-busy days begin!

Shelby

Potty Trained (officially and completely)

Last year -- June 8th to be exact -- we blogged that Riley had a renewed interest in using the toilet after he started preschool. After seeing his classmates using the toilet, he had all the motivation needed to be day-trained. After a disastrous attempt to go cold-turkey about five months before, I'm glad I took the advise of moms that say to wait until your child wants to. Most kids till bow to peer pressure -- I mean, no kid gets on the kindergarten bus in diapers, right?

At that time, I didn't even bother with the night training, since he always had a wet diaper in the morning, even after I cut off his liquids late in the afternoon and peeing before bed. He's a very heavy sleeper and so it seemed he couldn't wake up during the night. No biggie -- one nighttime diaper was fine with me.

Fast forward to May of this year -- Riley began talking about wearing his underwear to bed and as he was sometimes dry in the morning, I began letting him do so. Initially, I was getting him up at least once or twice to pee, since he still couldn't wake up on his own when the urge was there. I was still having to change both the waterproof top sheet as well as the waterproof mattress cover, not how I want to spend my early morning hours. To avoid this, I would get him up just before I went to bed around 11p and again around 5:30a when Jonathan got up for work.

Then, at the beginning of June, I only got him up once, just before I went to bed. He continued to keep his pants dry for the rest of the month, except for one night when he was up late at a friends and his schedule was off.

He was doing so well that starting in July, I stopped getting him up at 11p to see if he could stay dry. Well, I'm happy to report he has been dry every morning since and has been able to wake up in the early morning hours when he's felt the urge to pee. We were putting stickers on his calendar and giving him a reward of two chocolate chips as something to look forward to. Here's a picture of his calendar at the end of the month:
















And as a reward to reaching such a big milestone, we took him and Kendall to a splash park in Denver called the Pirates Cove. Doesn't this look fun??

























Both kids had a blast and so did we! This is a city-owned park that has something for all ages. Several zero-depth areas for young toddlers as well as shallow pools and play equipment for Riley's age and older. After five hours they were wiped, but Riley was still sad to have to leave.

The only pics we managed to get were during one of our rest periods. Here Riley's drinking the rest of my sweet tea:














Kendall prefers Riley's water bottle to her own:














Note the man in the green shirt. Kendall was waving to him all afternoon. He said it made his day. My girl already knows how to "work it" with the men...














One of her many waves to Mr. Green Shirt:














and again...














I've said it before... I love seeing my kids grow up and mature. The expense of the diapers has never been a big issue for me (I buy cheap Target ones, for starters); I get great delight in seeing them reach milestones and this is a BIG one. I'm glad that I was able to let go and allow him to reach this at his own pace, rather than pressuring him when he clearly wasn't ready and making us both frustrated. Once he decided he wanted to be like his friends, it was really rather easy.

We're both so proud of our Riley-boy!!

(one down, one to go!)

Shelby

16 months

Now that she's 1/3 of the way through her second year of life, time again to report on how our baby girl is growing up and changing...

We mentioned that at 14 months, she started walking. Now she's zipping around the house and climbing up anything she can -- stairs, couch, beds, boxes etc. She's an active one and not one to stay in one place too long. My days of snuggling with her are over, it seems.













The latest milestone is talking. She says "mama", "dada", "no", "bye bye", "night-night", "ball" and "all done". She can sign "more", "please" and "all done" as well. We're working on signing "thank-you" at the moment. She will shake her head no or yes as well as grunt and point to let her wishes be made known. It's great to be able to communicate more with her now.

My girl LOVES the water. No fear of it whatsoever. She enjoys playing in Riley's pool as well as at the splash park downtown.



























She continues to prefer pureed foods over most table food, with the exception of mac-n-cheese, waffles, scrambled eggs and pasta with grated cheese on top. With the exception of bananas and blueberries, she only eats fruits/veggies if they're pureed -- like applesauce. She still gets at least 2 servings of yogurt a day which helps to keep her weight up. Dairy is a favorite -- she loves whole milk cheese & will devour a whole milkshake. She particularly enjoys the Peach shake from Chick-fil-A that's out right now (as so we!).

She's also got a taste for my sweet tea and asks for it every time she sees me drinking it. Since it's half-caffeinated, I've started hiding my glass from her. She seems to think anything that I have is better than what she has, it seems.

She still takes two naps a day, tho she can survive on one if necessary. She sleeps 11-12 hours each night, for which we continue to be thankful for.

She has had two additional teeth come in, for a total of 10. There's at least two more that are about to erupt. She was a little cranky for a couple of weeks because of it, but seemed to take it in stride for the most part.

She's had a number of first experiences in the past month, such as joining the family bike rides (in the trailer), going kayaking and having her first ice cream cone (loved it!).




























She's taken a great interest in the telephone and now grabs the one on J's nightstand and walks around babbling into it.














She also grabs her brush and comb and attempts to primp herself with it -- so cute.

I bought her a little baby doll and bottle and it's sweet how she tried to feed it and hug it.














Like her brother, she loves to be tickled and is quick to join in the family wrestling match.













We're seeing more of her desire to play with Riley and do what he's doing. Riley for the most part enjoys engaging her though he's quick to tattle when she messes up something or grabs a toy that he wants. Ah, the first of many, many years of refereeing their disagreements. Today, he announced that Kendall was his best friend, which put a big smile on his mama's face.

We continue to be thankful for the blessing of having Kendall in our family. She brings so much joy and laughter to our home. We love our Kendall Girl!

father's day 2011

Last year I posted my thoughts about our kids. I like the idea of doing that annually, so here are my thoughts for 2011.

Riley-Boy














Riley is still the sweet, laid back kid that I said he was a year ago. There have been changes over the last year though...

He's become more willful (which proves he's normal) and if given choices is more likely to pick the one he thinks you wouldn't. Like almost every kid his age he's constantly testing the boundaries to see where they are. He also frequently crosses over them... It seemed like the day he turned three he started to push the limits. Interesting though that he almost seems relieved (and happy!) when he finds a hard boundary. As much as I hate discipline, I love my son and I like seeing this response to it.

One of the biggest challenges our boy has faced this year has been having a sister. He does have his jealous or selfish times and doesn't like when Kendall's presence nullifies his plans. This being said he seems to love his sister and is willing at worst to at least tolerate her presence. He also doesn't realize how special Kendall thinks he is. She wants to be part of everything he does. This is generally when we hear, "No Kendall!"

Riley is also far more emotional now than he has been in the past. Tears flow frequently over things like not being part of getting the mail or not being able to be the one who opens the microwave door. It would appear that he's his Daddy's boy in this respect...I've always been very emotional for a male. I'd prefer to have a son who is in touch with his emotions, but I don't know if I'll be saying that when the teen years come. The upside of this is that he's a very affectionate kid who loves to have me sit next to him, loves to come and sit in my lap and still comes up to me and says, "Will you hold me?" It scores a lot of points with his touchy-feely Daddy.

Legos and his new doll house are the most popular toys Riley has. He shows little interest in trucks or trains, but he's always wanting to build things like houses and furniture. And with his dollhouse he usually wants to move everything out of it in his "moving truck" (the car that came with it) and take it all to the "Sultan's Palace." Thanks Backyardagains for hours of playtime ideas. It is interesting to see how his mind works. He is curious about how things work and it makes us wonder if we've got an engineer on our hands.

School has almost always been something Riley has enjoyed. He had a short time after we moved here to Colorado when he didn't want to go, and to be honest we weren't very happy with the preschool that he was enrolled in. We've since switched him to a preshool at a Lutheran church nearby and he loves it. He also loved the vacation bible school they had there and is always wanting to play / sing and dance along with the CD that they gave him. It's really cool to see him loving music and I like the lyrics that he's learning as well. Cool stuff.

He isn't going to the public preschool this summer, which is a testament to how much better he's talking. It means they don't think he'll regress over the summer. It's cool to be able to communicate so much better with my son and I actually love the fact that he talks so very much. It's a blessing. Except at dinner time.

I love the fact that Riley always wants to help me with stuff. He particularly loves to come out to the garage if I'm working on stuff at the workbench. He's actually sat riveted while I rebuilt a mountain bike pedal, which took 90 minutes. He even gave the suggestion of a light to use to see better which probably cut a good 20 minutes off the project. It's fun to have him around during stuff like that and I try to find as many parts of it for him to do as I can. For instance, when putting the pedals back together he screwed the bolts in almost all the way by himself. Hopefully he'll be mechanical like his Dad. It comes in handy.

Riley still loves doing stuff outdoors, loves play and particularly playing with others and still loves reading books. He's an active boy and he loves playgrounds, both the regular kind and at Chik-Fil-A. He's a very social kid, and is learning more about what that means as he becomes better with his words.

One of the things I love most that he does right now is that he stands in his bedroom window and waves to me as I am leaving for work. It's fun seeing him up there every morning.

If I had to sum up my son in one sentence: Riley is my fun boy.

Kendall-Girl














Kendall Baby has gone through a lot of changes as well. There are things that I saw in her last year that have come out even more as the year has gone on though.

Kendall is her Mom's girl in that she is very organized (she's already putting things away where they belong) and she likes things in their place. She's very particular about her sippy cup and where it is supposed to be while she eats (in the cupholder on her tray.)

She also makes what she wants known and isn't redirected as easily as her brother has been. She is showing signs of having the same tenacious attitude her Mom has when she has decided what she wants. That strong willed attitude will likely make things more challenging when she turns three (and I don't even want to think about the teenage years...) I've seen the advantages that personality trait can bring with it as an adult though and I hope my girl will use it well.

Kendall has become a lot more fun as she's become more aware of what's going on around her. She's fun to play with and I love watching her toddle around the house. She's also become A LOT more affectionate. She will go off and play on her own for a while then come back an check in with me, sitting on my lap or laying down on my leg an looking up at me. She also gives big sloppy open mouthed tongue sticking out kisses. She's a sweet girl and although she prefers her Mom in most circumstances (I don't blame her, so do I...) she still loves her Daddy and we have fun together.

Especially fun is our new afternoon routine of coming home, going down to the basment playroom and eating blueberries (Daddy and Riley eat grapes.) Funny, she can't get enough of them nor can she get them quickly enough in the playroom, but she won't eat them anywhere else. They are a "location food."

The one challenge with our girl is eating. She's usually pretty good at breakfast, lunch is hit and miss, but dinner is what we refer to as, "The Ordeal." (This is true for Riley as well, BTW.) Kendall spends more time with her fingers in her mouth than with food in her mouth. It's a battle nearly every night. Crazy.

Kendall is proving to be good with more adventurous stuff. We've taken her out biking in the trailer and kayaking this weekend and she handled them both very well. She seemed to have a great time. This pleases us to no end of course, since being unable to do anything like that over the last year was difficult for us. We got used to how easy it was to do outdoor activities with our boy. It seems our girl likes them as well.

Kendall also has a great love of music. She plays songs over and over and dances along with them. She is riveted if you start to sing. I bet that she'll be singing as soon as she starts talking. Riley always has liked music, but Kendall is transfixed by it. It makes it really fun to sing to her.

Overall Kendall is a happy girl, she loves being tickled and is already showing a love of books. She sleeps well and isn't overly anxious when we leave her with other care providers. In fact, she LOVES Miss Marie who provides day care for her. She seems to be very social and has the boys at day care chasing after her. And interestingly, I think SHE is going to be the athlete in the family. I can't wait to get her on a bike.

If I had to sum up my daughter in one sentence: Kendall is my sweet but strong girl.

Fatherhood is one of the great joys of my life. I am continually amazed at the love that I feel for my children. I've described the initial experience as feeling like I got hit by, "The 20 ton sledgehammer of love." But it doesn't stop there. The feeling, and the actions that go with it, continue to grow. I enjoy my time with them more than almost anything that I can think of. I am so very grateful to God for the opportunity to be called Daddy by these two sweet kids. I know that the childhood years fly past in the blink of an eye. I'm doing my best to be fully engaged. It's good work if you can get it. I'm glad I did.


Jonathan

four

It's hard to believe, but it's been four years since I became Daddy. The time seems like it's flown by. At the same time it seems like I can't even remember what it was like not having Riley-Boy around. It's been such a wonderful gift to have Riley in our family.

Three was a year of big changes. Riley started school, which led to potty training and much improved talking skills. Here are some of the highlights and where Riley is right now.

School














Riley started preschool the day after his third birthday. What's more, he went by bus! Shelby and I were kind of freaked out, but Riley was very excited. He has always loved school buses.

In the public preschool Riley continued the speech therapy that he had been getting through Early Intervention. Within a month he had started his "speech explosion." Riley can now talk a blue streak and the sound couldn't be sweeter in our ears. For all the parents who think that it would be great if their kids would be quiet all the time, trust me...it wouldn't be. We love our talking boy. Even if it takes him forever to eat dinner because he can't stop talking.

There are still things that need to be worked on, things like learning letter blends, getting used to starting words with the correct consonant and correct grammar. Minor stuff compared to silence. The biggest concern right now is social development where he is a bit behind. He doesn't always know what to say in social situations and sometimes will just ask questions he already knows the answer to just so that he will have something to say. We're working on social skills a lot at home and we hope he'll learn to use what we teach him outside the home, and particularly at school.

Another thing that came out of school was potty training. Riley wasn't really all that interested in it until he started school and saw all the other kids using the potty. It was a done deal shortly after. Sometimes peer pressure is a good thing. The most recent development here is that he is now diaper free at night as well. Shelby has been getting him up a couple of times in the night to use the potty, which has helped him to stay dry at night. It's great to have one kid entirely out of diapers.

With our move to Colorado Springs Riley found himself in new schools (he's always been in an afternoon preschool as well) and he has continued to work on language. He's progressed enough that he doesn't have to be part of the public preschool during the summer, as they don't think he'll regress without the continued work. Good news. He started a new preschool this week at a Lutheran school and really likes it, which is a relief because he didn't like the KinderCare school he had been going to. Neither did we as they were very disorganized. It seems like the new school will be a good place for him.

Brotherhood














One of the biggest changes of the past year has been that Riley has been learning what it means to be a big brother. Part of that transition has meant losing a lot of attention that he had been getting before. As you can imagine it hasn't been easy for him, although overall I think he's handled it pretty well. He does seem to love Kendall, but I can already hear, "Stop looking at me! Dad, she's touching me! Stay on YOUR side of the car!" etc. (all things I remember well from childhood...) Some things won't be avoided I guess. We're also starting what will likely be long term lessons in sharing, which are not currently appreciated. These things take time. He does, however, love sharing when it means sharing something of someone else's. He enjoys asking me to share my food with him if it's something he likes.

Homebody

Our boy love his home (especially when Mommy is there...) Given a choice he would never leave. As a matter of fact, lately we have to FORCE him to leave so that we can go out to do things that are fun. Not surprising since he's got a great variety of toys and lots of space to play with them. And even more now that he's gotten the doll house he wanted for his birthday. Sometimes I think he would never leave the house if we didn't make him.

One way that you can be sure to get him out of the house though...tell him you're taking him to Chick-Fil-A. He loves the playground, chicken nuggets and sweet tea. You'd think the kid was southern.

But he still loves the outdoors


















Once we get Riley out he still loves doing stuff outside. Since we've been here we've been to Garden of the Gods, the Manitou Incline (Mom and boy), biking on the Santa Fe trail (Dad and boy) and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Mom, boy and his class.) He still loves it once you get him out there, although he's not crazy about giraffes.















Helpful Boy














Riley LOVES to help us do things. Things around the house, stuff in the yard, laundry, opening the microwave and anything that I'm going to do in the garage. I'm hoping this is more than a stage...but it certainly is fun right now.

Play













Riley fits a stove, chair, humidifier, washer and air compressor into his house

Like any other four year old, our boy loves to play. He seems to be a budding architect or builder. Legos are back on the list of favorite toys and he loves to build floor plans and fill them with furniture. For his birthday he got a doll house (which he wanted more than a tool bench.) He loves to rearrange the furniture, or knock it all down and put it in the "moving truck" so that he can take it to the "Sultan's palace" (a Backyardagains video reference.) He moves the "Arabian things" into the Sultan's palace and sets them up. Definitely not the way a girl would play with a doll house.















Riley still loves playgrounds of any sort, enjoys riding on my back like I'm a horse while looking for monsters for us to kill, he loves games, especially matching games, and also loves board games. A big hit for his birthday has been the Busytown game, which is actually fun for his parents to play with him. Sports are not really on the map yet, even biking which he really enjoys more from the trailer...

Birthday














So this past weekend we had his fourth birthday party. It was a Curious George theme with bananas holding down the balloons and even a place the butterfly in the Curious George picture game (like pin the tail on the donkey...)



















It was a small party since most everyone was at a graduation party or away, and of course the majority of our friends are 2000 miles away. A good time was had by all though, and the hardest part of the whole thing was keeping our birthday boy in the party. He kept wanting to sneak off to play with his doll house.

Happy Birthday Video

So our boy is four. I'm sure that there will be at least as many changes this year as last. Although there is a certain amount of an ache in my heart at the thought of him growing up, I do enjoy seeing the boy Riley is becoming.

Shelby and I love Riley to distraction and we are so very grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be his parents. He was worth waiting all those years for. Happy four Riley Boy!

Jonathan