Wednesday, May 29, 2019 (finished writing on June 14)
Well, I am surprisingly emotional today. I thought that I would cry on Sarah’s last day of school during her concert, and I did tear up a bit, but I got through most of it. She has another year of preschool, so I have that to look forward to before my entering-kindergarten panic. I thought I would cry during Maddie’s kindergarten graduation yesterday, but the concert was so darn cute that I smiled the whole way through. Today, though. Today I woke up and realized it was Maddie’s last day of kindergarten. Then I realized, a whole year of Sarah being in school whizzed by and she is such a big girl now! Then, I heard Peter waking for the day on the baby monitor and realized he is going to be 2 in a few short months. Where has the time gone?
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| Maddie receiving her Kindergarten Certificate |
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| Sarah in the back row of her Pre-school Spring Sing |
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| Peter being a cutie-patootie |
The past 8 months (sept-may) have been incredible in many senses; they have been incredibly joyful, hard, fun, exciting, sad, overwhelming, but overall good. We’ve celebrated birthdays and half birthdays. We’ve opened Christmas presents and hunted for eggs. We’ve ridden our bikes and went sledding down snowy hills. And we have watched our kids hit milestones and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Maddie learned to read! She loves books (always has, always will), and is doing exceptionally well sounding out words and writing little sentences in her journal about her days. It’s so sweet to get an insight into what she is thinking in this way (i.e. counting down the days to when she would finally get to go to the waterpark hotel ). Maddie can ride a two-wheeler bike, get across all he monkey bars on her own, float on her back in the pool, do cartwheel after cartwheel, and her long legs are surprisingly fast. She is kind-hearted and wants to do what’s right (almost) all the time. She befriends those who she worries are without friends and she loves boundlessly.
Maddie is BRAVE! She got her front tooth pulled a few months ago and giggled when the dentist told her it was “dancing” on its way out. She also bravely overcame her fear of getting her ears pierced. When they poked through, she held back her tears to the point I didn’t realize she was in pain. I asked if she wanted a hug and she leaned right into me for a minute before pulling back and smiling from ear to ear with excitement. We harnessed up and climbed across two story walkways and obstacles and she announced“I’m so happy to have a mommy because I can do fun things with you.” When we went up to the third level, she turned to me and said, “I don’t have to be scared because Jesus is in my heart.” And she certainly has Jesus’ word in her heart: she memorized 72 verses for her Sparks Verse-a-thon this year and raised the most money for the fundraiser. Maddie is still a cuddler, she’s still a goof, she is energetic and fun, and I am so over-the-moon in love with this sweet girl who (I can’t believe!) will be entering first-grade in the fall.
Here’s how her daddy describes her:
“Maddie at this stage in life is best described by the word "eager". She wants to do things precisely and correctly, and when she gets the hang of some new ability she is incredibly excited to dig deeper. There's probably no better examples of this than her bike riding and reading. A few months ago, she could literally not contain herself and giggled at every word she was able to read (amazed that she could actually do it). And now that summer has rolled in, she is thrilled to have a stack of library books to practice with. It's been the same story with bike riding. Now that it "clicked" with her, she wants every opportunity to hone her skills and go further distances. Here optimistic and hopeful demeanor is only tempered by her desire to do things very well. This can sometimes lead to frustration with herself, but she quickly bounces back once we encourage her.”
Then there’s Sarah: Sarah entered her first year of preschool and immediately became the life of the party. She made friends that want nothing more than to be around her and she stole her teacher’s heart, too. Mrs. Conway told me one day that she wished that there were 17 Sarah’s in her class. Sarah’s mind has been growing, too: she got the highest scores possible on her report card and excelled in every avenue. She knows almost all of her letter sounds, can recognize letters, writes and recognized her’s and Maddie’s name, counts to 40 before skipping ahead to 100 (“38, 39,…100!”), knows every color of the rainbow, and is starting to understand addition.
At the end of the year, the kids all had to answer what they wanted to be when they grow up and she responded, “A Mommy.”It doesn’t surprise me watching how she cares for her brother. She helps him get things he is reaching for, picks him up when he falls, asks him what he needs, hugs him when he’s sad, sits with him to play, and is constantly trying to teach him. They play nonstop together and have a very special bond. I just love watching them interact. One of my favorite memories recently was when Sarah was sick and laying on the couch with a blanket and pillow. Peter found a blanket and pillow of his own and curled up on the couch right next to her. Oh, my heart. She also loves to play with her babies and has about 10 of them. We went to the store and bought fabric so she could make them each their own little blanket and, in her words, “sewed” them (by cutting the bigger piece into little blankets, all misshapen and of varying sizes).
Sarah has a memory just like her big sister and knows a lot of the same verses Maddie learned this year, but she soaked up all of hers from her Cubbie’s book, as well. She can ride on her bike with training wheels, proudly climbs the jungle gym and rock walls at the park (sometimes through tears of fear, but she always overcomes with some encouragement), she is an expert summer-saulter, and her imagination is off the charts. She tells me stories all day long (she seriously….SERIOUSLY never stops talking) and likes to drink “coffee” (ie. hot cocoa) with mommy. Her daddy calls her the grounds-keeper as her heart of gold leads her to care for all living creatures even those who have lost their lives. She likes finding and playing with worms and buries and prays for the fried ones she finds on the sidewalk. She has also found dead bugs in the house and released them outside saying, “Bye little fly. I hope your family finds you.” She is tender and adventurous. My sweet, spunky Sarah.
At the end of the year, the kids all had to answer what they wanted to be when they grow up and she responded, “A Mommy.”It doesn’t surprise me watching how she cares for her brother. She helps him get things he is reaching for, picks him up when he falls, asks him what he needs, hugs him when he’s sad, sits with him to play, and is constantly trying to teach him. They play nonstop together and have a very special bond. I just love watching them interact. One of my favorite memories recently was when Sarah was sick and laying on the couch with a blanket and pillow. Peter found a blanket and pillow of his own and curled up on the couch right next to her. Oh, my heart. She also loves to play with her babies and has about 10 of them. We went to the store and bought fabric so she could make them each their own little blanket and, in her words, “sewed” them (by cutting the bigger piece into little blankets, all misshapen and of varying sizes).
Sarah has a memory just like her big sister and knows a lot of the same verses Maddie learned this year, but she soaked up all of hers from her Cubbie’s book, as well. She can ride on her bike with training wheels, proudly climbs the jungle gym and rock walls at the park (sometimes through tears of fear, but she always overcomes with some encouragement), she is an expert summer-saulter, and her imagination is off the charts. She tells me stories all day long (she seriously….SERIOUSLY never stops talking) and likes to drink “coffee” (ie. hot cocoa) with mommy. Her daddy calls her the grounds-keeper as her heart of gold leads her to care for all living creatures even those who have lost their lives. She likes finding and playing with worms and buries and prays for the fried ones she finds on the sidewalk. She has also found dead bugs in the house and released them outside saying, “Bye little fly. I hope your family finds you.” She is tender and adventurous. My sweet, spunky Sarah.
Phil say this about his sweet, second-born daughter:
“Sarah is really relishing her new role of (finally) being the teacher. She has been the "student" for so long with Maddie, but now she is enthusiastic about teaching and leading Peter around. She takes him by the hand to show him new and exciting things around the house. She even tried to teach him the concept of sharing (one that she's working on herself). She's also been good at trying to teach Peter that his rough behavior can sometimes go a bit far. She'll hold out her arms (with a few tears) for Peter to run in to get a hug and allow him to "say sorry" in his own way. She is also very persistent and will try different ways to ask for things she wants. She has an excellent memory and won't let you get away with not following through on something you promised! “
He is curious and fiddles with things to figure out how they work and he plays independently to learn about new objects, toys, and textures. He picked up several sign language words and uses them consistently but he speaks well, too. His first word was ball (he said “all done” early on with sign language and unclear verbiage) and has since branched out to dog, what’s that, tickle tickle, Mama, Dada, Where’s Sarah? (when leaving to pick her up from school), Madigo (ie. Maddie), happy, nose, eyes, push, what is this?, watch this, no, yeah, yay!, hell-o!, sorry, and bus (when referring to bus, trucks, or birds). I know I am forgetting a lot! Anyway, what I’m trying to say is he is doing great verbally! If I were to tell you who Peter’s best friend is, I’d say Cody. He loves his dog! And Cody is such a good boy with him. They play fetch together and Peter runs around with him in the backyard laughing. Cody lets Pete climb all over him and pull his tail (yes, we discourage this), and never growls or snaps. He’s a good pup and we love having him as part of our family. I am just so pleased that Peter will have him as his friend and confidant as he grows up. There’s nothing like the friendship of a dog. And speaking of climbing, Peter does more than just climb on Cody, he is a little monkey climbing up the side of his crib (we had to move the mattress all the way to the floor so he can’t get out, but now he is starting to figure out how to scale the crib bars with his bare feet). He climbs up and down chairs, ladders, the couch…if he can get his leg up high enough, he is on top of it: you name it! He is exhausting, fun, super duper cute (those eyebrows and that smile!!!), and so loving. Peter sometimes gives gentle, pucker kisses, but he mostly give aggressive Mmmmmmm-MAHs that press hard into your face and leave you with slobber, which, after kisses, peter wipes off his own face. I like to call it “rubbing in.”
He is tough and on the go. He doesn’t let a boo-boo slow him down. He will fall and pop right back up. If he does get hurt, he runs to mom or dad for a quick kiss before then pushing himself out of our arms so he can get right back to it. And after a shot recently, he simply winced and grimaced, but did not shed a single tear. He will tell us, “ow! a boo-boo,” and then be on his merry way. What a character!
Daddy describes him this way:
“Peter is all about testing the limits. He recently learned the thrill of jumping off the couch, for example. We really have no categories for this type of behavior and are really being caught off guard by it! Peter wants to live every single ounce of life to the fullest. He's always on the move, and is really interested in figuring out how things work. He has firmly established himself in our family as such a unique little guy. I can't imagine how we all lived without him!”
Anyway, we just wanted to give a snap-shot in time of what these days looks like and capture the innocence, excitement, love of exploration, and wonder of these kids while they are still little. Before we know it, another year will pass, then another, but this moment, right here, is special, beautiful, precious, but also really hard at times. Phil and I are blessed beyond measure by our sweet family and I just want to express my gratitude for these gifts that God has entrusted to us.
“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”
Psalm 127:3-5a
