Memories

Josh came home 5 months ago. Peter was born two days later. And life has been nonstop ever since!
Although, it was nonstop before that too, caring for 2 small children while super-pregnant with a deployed husband...
That's just our life. :-)

These are some things I want to remember about my kids.

Kristen and James both have active imaginations and love to play pretend. We went through a spell of 'Mary Poppins' - their favorite movie for a while. They would pretend to be Jane and Michael, so naturally Josh and I were Bert and Mary Poppins. (Marin Poppins if you asked James).
Now they love the movie 'Cars.' So we all pretend that Kristen is Lightning McQueen, "But you can just call me Lightning." James is Mater, "I'm a tow truck!" I'm Sally the sports car, and Josh is Mack. Peter, we decided is Guido. We all call him Guido now. Just because he's cute.


Something else I love about my kids... They both love to sing. Kristen always has, and now James does too. Is there anything sweeter than hearing a 2-year-old sing praise songs quietly to himself in the car?


Kristen has started reading! Mostly just short words with short-vowel sounds. We've worked through the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Kindergarten Level 1, which ended with a 24-page book Tim and Sam. And that has given her more confidence, I think. She has now read it to both sets of grandparents on Skype! She also knows a couple other sounds like oo and ee, and some consonant blends like "th" "ch" and "sh." When we're reading books together, Josh or I will occasionally point to a word on the page, or a chapter title, and have her sound it out. She's doing great. I'm so proud of her! Kristen is also a memorizer. She can read her own books aloud word for word.

Both Kristen and James will sit and 'read' books quietly all the time.
Kristen naps, though not every day, still quite a few days each week. On the days she doesn't, she has to rest in bed for 30 minutes, then read books quietly in her room for 30 more minutes. She may also play with her doll house or her new doll clothes quietly in her room instead.

James naps every day, for 1 1/2 hours up to 3 hours. If he takes a long nap though, he won't fall asleep that night until up to 8:30pm! His normal bedtime is 7-7:30. Kristen's bedtime is 7:30, and she's usually asleep right away. They both wake up around 6am-maybe 6:30.