Sunday, July 1, 2012

Highlights of the Week

JOSEPH:

  • FINISHED HIS 3RD YEAR OF MEDICAL SCHOOL ON FRIDAY
  • His ear has not fallen off despite looking like it wants to!! In fact, he has started to hear a little out of his right ear.  When he was mowing the lawn he said it sounded like static.  He hopes to get back to hearing as well as before the surgery, and much better after the next surgery.

MAREN
  • I made a big celebratory dinner after Joseph's last test on Friday.
  • I haven't gone completely crazy being stuck inside with a two year old and an infant.  

LEXI:
  • Lexi is almost crawling.  She gets up in crawling position about 50 times a day but then just plops back down to do her army crawl when she actually wants to get anywhere.
  • She got into a sitting position all by herself on Friday.
  • Lexi FINALLY started to do well at eating her rice cereal.
    She started using her binkie!!!  Yeah.  I know I will regret it when we have to take it away, but right now the binkie is a blessing!
    We have been spending lots of time at home and in our backyard.  It is getting too hard to do most outings because Lexi really needs to get two good naps during the day.  Nicholas doesn't mind the fact that we don't go that many places, but I'm super stir crazy.  The 100 degree weather hasn't helped our efforts to get out.  We have been spending lots of mornings and nights jumping on the tramp.








NICHOLAS:

  • Nicholas is at that wonderful stage where he thinks parents can do anything they want.  He really wants us to help him build an airplane.  Paper airplanes, cardboard airplanes, or model planes just won't do.  He wants a yellow airplane with a front and a backseat.  It needs lots of buttons, two wings, and the ability to fly "super fast."  Nicholas needs to wear his Spiderman goggles when he flies it.  He is willing to take people to the beach or grandma's house once he gets his airplane.  No amount of talking will convince him this isn't doable.  He says we will build it out of "missing pieces" and he has drawn us lots of maps about where to find these "missing pieces."  He has also found about 55 cents under the bed and in the couch and that money will pay for his airplane.  I told him you have to go to school for a long time to learn how to build an airplane and that Mama and Papa went to school and learned something besides how to make airplanes.  I also told him that Grandpa Wells went to school for a long time and he only learned how to make it so pilots can talk to other people from their planes.  He told me, "Don't worry Mom.  I will take my phone and you will take your phone and then we can talk to each other."  I wonder why Grandpa didn't think about that?:)  It is so sad to hear his little whines all day, "But Mom, I really need an airplane."  Despite all our discussions, Nicholas' aspirations have only gained strength and now he also wants a spaceship.
  • They are digging up our street and repaving it.  I took Nicholas out to see all the noisy machines and he got scared.  He made me hold him and then he insisted we go back inside.  When we got back in he announced in the cutest little voice, "Whoa, that was a close one."
  • I read a blog post about how to keep your kids quiet without toys and treats in sacrament.  We decided it was time for Nicholas to start learning how to behave reverently without a lot of entertainment.  I would have never thought this day would be possible.  From age 14 months to 27 months, we would bring a huge bag with tons of toys and a seven course meal and still he would have to be taken out.  A few months ago we weaned him down to a sticker book, one treat, one toy, and the iPad.  Now we are down to one small magna-doodle toy and two warnings before he gets to go have a special time out with Papa.  He has done amazingly well for the past two weeks.  I have tried to be super strict, reverent, and completely no fun.  Changing my behavior has probably helped the most with changing his behavior.  
  • Two Sundays ago in our desperate attempts to entertain Nicholas, Joseph invented a treasure hunting game.  Nicholas sleeps in my old day bed, which we put on risers so we could store a bunch of boxes underneath it.  Joseph pulled some of the boxes out and had Nicholas climb back there to retrieve all the stuff that has fallen back there over the months.  Nicholas had so much fun that Joseph started dropping extra stuff back there for him to retrieve.  It was such a popular activity that I removed most of the boxes from under the bed and made him a little fort.  He loves to find treasures in his fort.  Today to get him dressed for church I dropped all his clothes behind the bed and he went and searched for what he wanted to wear.  
  • Nicholas loves the trampoline.  It is great to wear him out, but we have to work to keep him hydrated.
  • Tonight during prayers I asked Nicholas who we are talking to when we say our prayers. Nicholas thought about it and then smiled and said, "Elvis."  We haven't stopped laughing yet, nor have we figured out where he even heard the name Elvis since we've never mentioned it that we recall.  It makes us wonder what is going on in nursery.
  • He loves to tell stories.  They always start with "once upon a time" and have a mean, big, fire-breathing dragon named after someone in our family.











2 comments:

Michael Muhlestein said...

I think that Maren's second highlight is the most impressive. Congratulations, Joseph! And Nicholas is hilarious. Don't tell him that I study airplanes AND space ships (or, at least the sound coming from them :)).

Heather said...

I love that Nicholas of yours! What a funny kid. I guess we need to enjoy the short time our kids think we can do anything!!