I was talking to my friend Bri at the 3rd grade program Thursday evening about how I never get bored because my mind has a constant dialogue running at all times. so then we started talking about how that's not the case for everyone and I never knew that til a few years ago when I asked Christopher a question and his response led to a conversation about how he's actually capable of being able to think of nothing. I've never thought of nothing before so that's just such a foreign concept for me. so I was telling Bri how I used to blog and it really was just me sitting down and typing the dialogue for 20 or 30 minutes just letting my fingers type whatever happened to be running through my mind. something made me think of that a few minutes ago so I thought maybe I'd start doing that sometimes again. probably safe to do since no one reads my blog anymore and I can truly type into the void!
anyway, life is good. today is the first snow of the season. it's October 28th. I checked my journal and apparently the first snow of the season last year was on October 27th. some years its crazy late or crazy early so it's nice to be consistent two years in a row.
last night, honey was putting Elizabeth to bed (he's been her bedtime person for a number of months now) and they were watching a music video of some church song (part of their bedtime routine). everything was fine until Elizabeth ran into Tyler's room SCREAMING bloody murder. Tyler and I were half a sentence away from finishing llama llama nighty night (his favorite book right now) and I could NOT figure out what was going on. a few seconds later, honey came in the room and explained that the video had pictured a woman that had fallen on hard times and became homeless. this was enough to send Elizabeth into a tail spin panic attack about fearing growing up and being homeless as an adult. I put Tyler in his bed and had honey put Andrew to bed so I could be with Elizabeth. I mostly just listened while she talked my ear off for 2 straight hours. I already knew she had a lot of anxiety, but I think I definitely underestimated just how much. so many fears and concerns. it was just me listening and then talking only enough to assure her that she will never be poor, I will always be her mom, she will have family to take care of her if Chris and I both die and that I will also be there to counsel her on finding a good husband so she can be a stay at home mom. anyway, I would never wish that anxiety on my kid, but I will say that it ended up being a very tender experience for us and we were able to have a number of really good gospel conversations sprinkled throughout the two hours.
Tyler is such a fun kid. he loves walks but will whine if you don't take him on busy roads with a lot of cars for him to watch. cars are his main interest right now and he loves anyone that will play cars with him. he's also super into toilets and has been for quite a long time. after I change his poopy diaper, he runs to the potty to watch me plop his poop in. then he flushes the potty and waves bye bye to the poop. we went through a phase for a while where he was just constantly flushing toilets around the house and Chris and I were yelling at him to not waste water. in the llama llama book, he sits and listens so nicely to the whole thing expect on the page where it says "pjs on, then potty time" which is when he points and exclaims "potty!" and I love it every single time. which is every single time we read that book.
Tyler is also talking a lot more now. after our fall break trip to Florida to spend time with Chris's parents, he's picked up grandma and grandpa which both just sound like "pa" and he says the kids' names when we show him pictures of them. he says Andrew's name the best, then Brady. the girls' names are still tricky for him but he does try. he's also insanely good at communicating with such limited vocabulary and comprehending instruction and ideas. he is so helpful and good at following directions like getting a diaper and wipes or throwing away a dirty diaper or putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket.
Brady is doing ice hockey again but is playing center this year instead of defense like he did last season. he scored the first goal of the season but hasn't scored since. he doesn't play in any of the Sunday games so he's there for less than half of them. thankfully, he's a really good sport about it. he's also traded his rubiks cube obsession for yo-yo-ing. he is doing choir again this year and is also on the student lighthouse committee again (student leadership of the school... they help organize things going on at the school, lead assemblies, give tours around the school to prospective families, and everything else in that realm) doing video announcements.
Abigail is doing really well. she decided not to do theater this semester (is considering doing the spring musical) but has gotten involved in our local library instead. she's on the teen leadership council that organizes and executes extra activities around the library. their most recent activity was a stuffed animal sleepover and Abigail's favorite part was helping to pose and photograph the stuffed animals all around the empty library. they played a slideshow of the stuffed animal shenanigans during the craft the kids did the following morning when they came to pick up their stuffed animals. she also applied and got accepted to be a "big reading buddy" at the library and was super excited to be old enough for that now (you have to be a teenager to apply). so one hour a week, she does reading and learning/creative activities with her little reading buddy and she loves it. she was a little reading buddy when she was in first grade and has such fond memories of it and wants to be able to do that same thing for another little girl.
Andrew is a little reading buddy (so is Elizabeth actually... it's open for 1st - 3rd graders) but has only been once so far. he's also already gotten strep this year so that's exciting. he's still the most happy and energetic boy you've ever met and he's everyone's favorite kid. I always have friends or people I know stopping me to tell me how happy he is and how special he makes them feel. Andrew's biggest personality con is that he doesn't really love movies or tv and he hates how it captivates the rest of the family. so when I'd like to just put on a movie for the kids, it frequently turn into Andrew crying or complaining that now he has no one to play with anymore and can I please play a game with him.
I love volunteering at the kids' school and taking Brady to his hockey practices. my other favorite things is going on walks with Tyler and listening to an audiobook or talking to Christopher when he's available to come with us. Christopher has been helping so much around the house and with the kids. it is such a huge help that he takes Abigail to school in the mornings (that part isn't new though... he's always been Abigail's morning person since she started middle school) and just being present in the evenings so I'm not spread so thin during the busiest time of day.
we all went to Florida for fall break and it was really great. instead of focusing a lot on getting as much beach time as possible, we just let it go slow and did whatever we felt like. I enjoyed puzzles a lot. Brady, Andrew, Christopher, and his dad went on a fishing trip one day. we went mini golfing one night and out to eat two nights. we had several movie nights and lots of yummy treats.
so, there we go... my second post of 2023! I'm off to get ready for our trunk or treat.
happy halloween!