Lily graduated kindergarten, turned 6 years old, and convinced me she was resonsible enough to take care of a dog (as if we don't have enough mouths to feed around this asylum). Surprisingly, she has done a great job of taking care of Jingles, and even cleans the poop with relatively few comnplaints. For her 6th birthday we let Lily have a sleepover and our house was inundated with 10 6 year old girls who when they get together love to scream alot. And the bossiness of those girls......who knew? We are so proud of how Lily did in Kindergarten this year. It's amazing how much she learned and how well she reads. We absolutely loved her teacher, because she really emphasized discipline and somehow Lily made it through the year coming home with a green bear every day. Though now she admits had a yellow bear one day and turned her attitude around at the end of the day to earn her green bear back. The reading comes in handy and we do take advantage when Lawson or the twins want us to read them something we occassionally tell them to go ask Lily to read it. As you can see from her picture below, she is turning into a beautiful young lady. I catch myself staring at her sometimes just wondering what the future holds for her and it makes me smile. She catches me and says, "Daddy, what are you staring at?, in that tone that only a 6 year old girl going on 18 can have. Lily continue to crack me up with her sense of humor. She is at the age where I share stories with her about my child hood, or make general observations about things that I think are funny and she and I will laugh uncontrollably together. We have the same sense of humor, which typically means we end up laughing about fart stories.
Abby and Chloe are potty trained! Abby and Chloe are potty trained! Abby and Chloe are potty trained! Obviously we are excited about the potty training and only one kid left in diapers. While potty trained, they still drive us absolutley bonkers with the constant jibber jabber and never ending energy to destroy things.
Here they sleep and provide a moment of peace
Abby was a little slower with the potty training and she tends to live in them moment and that meant not stopping what she doing to take a moment and walk to the potty. The great thing about Abby is you always know what she is thinking because she wears her emotions on her sleeve. When she is excited about something, she lets you know and you can see the excitement all over her face. When she is upset her uncontrollable screaming and flapping of the arms makes it apparent. When she is sad, that pitiful face will break your heart. She is the most energetic of all the kids too. If we could figure out a weight to bottle her energy and sell it, we'd be rich. Because she is so active and never stops moving during the day, when it's time for bed, she is ready to go. A common phrase from her in the evening, "Daddy, the sun is almost down, can we go night night now?"
Chloe is my silly girl. She is pretty laid back (relatively speaking) and just doesn't take too many things that serious. I'm starting to hear her come up with ideas and then convince Abby or Lawson that it is the right thing to do, and that never turns out well. Generally speaking we have done a good job with teaching respect and manners, but Chloe has work to do in the meal time manners department. She can't hardly eat 5 bites without burping, and I'm not talking cute little girl burps. These are the type that come from your grandpa who just ate something bad and really can't help it.
We've signed the twins up for soccer and I cant' wait to see that. My anticipatoin is that Abby will love running around chasing after the ball, and Chloe will be walking around demanding they stop and just give her the ball.
And then there is Lawson Boy. It's been expressed to me that I favor Lawson Boy, and though I won't admit to favoring him because I love all my children equally, I will admit to spoiling him a bit. He is the baby of them all, and he just happened to be the only boy, so he gets away with more. Some of it is I don't have the energy to repeat myself over and over like I would have when Lily was his age. And some of it is, the kid does stuff that I know he shouldn't, but it just make me laugh. When he gets in his mischievious state, he gives a look and I feel like I'm looking at myself, and I understand that even what he is about to do may not be a good idea, it sure does look fun. I empathize with the boy. Lawson is really mastering the english language, but there are time when all we hear is mumbling. What comes out of his mouth makes sense to him and you can see the frustration on his face as he repeatedly expresses himself with more frustration each time. And then the index finger comes out, points at you, and he proceeds to utter a jibberish string of unrecognizable words, but the point is very clear. He is verbally assaulting you for not being able to understand him, and you are very close to a Lawson smackdown.
All the kids are doing pretty well with the addition of Jingles to the family. Jingles is still in his nipping stage and is becoming very energetic, and that will scare the girls at times. They love when he is calm and they can hold him and they truly adore the dog. Lawson shows his love in other ways. The child has no fear of the dog and actually encourages the rough behavior in a way only a boy can do. The dog will be standing there and Lawson will lower his shoulder like a linebacker and throw himself into Jingles, and then curl up to protect himself because he knows the dog is about to jump all over and starting nipping at him. This little game led to multiple scrapes and a nice cut on the top of Lawson's forehead. And every time when you think the boy is down there crying, he stands up with a big grin on his face laughing.
