Life Lately

I do not get on here enough, so this is my way of trying to remember a few of the things that have happened lately. We are at a stage in our lives where we feel incredibly blessed as a family. We don't have a lot of money, but our home is full of love and laughter and I am overwhelmed sometimes by the life I have. We have been able to go on some amazing trips thanks to the generosity of others and I am so thankful for these opportunities. 

Last week we traveled to San Diego for a family vacation with my family. It was an amazing trip and I did not want to come home. The weather was perfect, the boys loved the beach and we saw some amazing things. I wish we could have spent the rest of the summer there. We went to Sea World, rode bikes, went on a hike, built sand castles and tunnels at the beach, boogie boarded, flew kites, explored La Jolla Cove and watched the sea lions and seals there, visited the San Diego Temple grounds, and enjoyed visiting with family. I was not ready to come home. I had been looking forward to Sea World for a long time because the boys really enjoy learning about ocean animals. The polar bear, walrus and beluga whale exhibit was my favorite. Landon really liked the dolphins and Elliot liked the sharks and the lobster. Elliot's favorite part of the trip was the Atlantis ride at Sea World and flying kites on the beach. Elliot let go of his Spiderman kite and it blew away rather quickly. The kite ended up attaching itself to the edge of a tall building and flying itself from there for the rest of our time at the beach. Elliot was very upset about losing the kite, but he was okay when he realized he could fly a different kite. Landon's favorite was playing in the sand. He asked to buried multiple times and he could usually find someone willing to bury him. The beach is pure happiness for five year old boys! 

For the past couple years I've had some concerns about Landon related to some sensory sensitivities and his social skills. He has grown by leaps and bounds the past years and has grown out of a lot of it. One thing he still struggles with sometimes is getting really worked up emotionally when something really upsets him or bothers him. it doesn't happen much anymore, but when he gets upset he has trouble calming down and expressing what is bothering him. Yesterday, he had a break through and I was so proud of the progress he has made. It started with him deliberately disobeying me, but it ended well. He was standing on top of his dresser looking like he was about to jump. I told him I din't want him jumping off the dresser and I wanted him to get down. He looked right at me and did it anyway. I got upset, raised my voice and sent him to take a break away from the fun of his cousins being there to play. After a couple minutes I told him he could come back and play. He was crying a little and said, "Mom, I need to talk to you." I went in my room with him and sat him on the bed to talk. He looked up and said, "Mom, you hurt my feelings when you yelled at me." I try not to yell and I'm a bit of a softy, so this melted my heart a bit and made me feel guilty. We talked for a minute. I apologized and told him how much I loved him and I also told him that it hurts my feelings when he doesn't listen to what I asked him to do. It was a good conversation and I was really proud of him for being able to express what was bothering him instead of just freaking out. Being a mom is hard, but it is so rewarding.

I was told by everyone how fun it is to have four year old kids and they were right. It was more fun than I could have imagined. Five so far has been interesting. I have been blessed to not experience a lot of fighting between these two as of yet, but the last few weeks it has started to become a problem. It is really hard not to laugh when they come out of their bedroom at night, peek their head around the corner and say in a whiny voice, "Landon/Elliot is bugging me." We have hit the stage of worrying about someone being on their side of the bed, or a blanket touching them when they don't want it touching them or someone putting their foot/arm on the wrong side of "the line" in the car. It is a little bit annoying, but it is also humorous to me because I remember having the exact same arguments with my siblings. We talk a lot about being being kind and a lot about talking to the person that is bothering them and figuring it out with them. I'm hoping to teach them how to communicate well because it is such an important life skill. When they fight, they have to go sit on the window seat and figure it out together. Sometimes I moderate, but I like it better when they figure it out on their own. They are getting better at it every time. 

I love spending time together as a family. Growing up, we always played a game during family home evening called "Mystery Bag." It was a family favorite and now I am passing on the tradition to my kid. One person puts any item in a bag and the family asks yes or no questions to figure out what the item is. Landon and Elliot almost always pick toys. Landon giggles through his whole turn. I love it! This week it was Elliot's turn. After narrowing it down to the fact that the item was a toy and an animal without legs that lives in the ocean, Landon asked  "Does it live in the midnight zone?" Elliot responded, 'Well...it either lives in the midnight zone or the darkest abyss." Landon shouted out, "Is it the vampire squid?" Elliot, grinning ear to ear, then pulled the vampire squid out of the bag. I love the relationship these two have and I love listening to them together. I love that they know what the midnight zone is.

Landon lost his first tooth this week. Literally he lost it. We have no idea where it is. The tooth fairy still managed to find him. He was very excited about it. I, on the other hand, don't know what to think. It is a sign that he is getting older everyday. In the five years they have been alive, they have been beside my side almost every day. Now that is about to change. I feel this need to protect my children and I am so nervous about sending them off to school in just 41 short days. They are ready, but I'm not. Him losing his tooth is just one more sign to me that things are changing and I better get ready. 

Brooks an I are at a stage now where we are trying to decide what we want for our family now. It took us so long to get the boys to join our family and now we are still waiting to see if there are any more children coming to join our family. I've started to see another doctor, but it is hard to be optimistic when we haven't had much success in the past. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, but I'm okay if this is my family and we aren't blessed with any more children. I'll be happy if it does happen, but I am at peace with where we are in life and the family we have. Life is good.

5

Time has zipped by the last year. Landon and Elliot celebrated their 5th birthday and I'm going to miss my four year old boys. Four was a great age! They were young enough to still need me yet old enough to have some independence too. They also said some pretty funny things this year. It has definitely been an entertaining year. In just a couple of months they will be off to kindergarten which I don't feel quite ready for. Their friendship has grown and I am overwhelmed by the joy I feel when I watch them together. They are so different, but each of their strengths and weaknesses is so good for the other. One of my favorite moments recently was watching Elliot stick up for Landon when someone said something unkind. It wasn't harsh, but he got his point across and made everyone feel included. I only hope they can continue to support each other in the same way throughout the years. Brooks and I waited for so long to have sweet little spirits join our family and now the time is going by way too fast. I tell them almost everyday lately to stop growing and to stay five forever. Landon told me he would try, but he didn't think it would work. 

Landon has grown so much the past year. He still loves cars and anything else that moves. He makes great sound effects while playing with cars. When him and Elliot discuss what they should play, he almost always suggests cars first. He is willing to compromise, but that is almost always at the top of his list. A year ago, I was concerned about a variety of things with him from social skills to sensory sensitivities to potty training. We figured out he has some sensory things going on and knowing made it better for all of us. He has improved greatly over the past year in all of these areas. We had him tested for a couple things and he exceeded expectations in almost all the areas. Preschool this year was so good for him. He loved it and I loved watching his growth throughout the year.  His social skills improved greatly as well as his understanding of letters, numbers, sounds, and general school skills. Some of his favorite things are the color green, the show Oscar's Oasis, Life Cereal, swimming, riding bikes and scooters, books, being outside, cars, cookie dough and Elliot (which he still says more like "Ewiot.") He played soccer this year and Brooks was his coach. At home and at practice he was competitive and aggressive, but the games were a whole different story. He is insanely fast on his scooter. His potty training took time and effort from both of us, but we made it through that this year as well.  Landon loves life and he loves who he is. He likes to be funny and loves to laugh. He still loves books and reading and is at the beginning stages of learning to read. It is so fun to watch him sound out words and enjoy learning. He keeps to himself a lot when playing, but he is making progress at branching out and interacting with other on a more regular basis. He interacts especially well with kids just a bit younger than him. I love that he loves Elliot so much and that they play so well together. Landon is still a few pounds heavier than Elliot, but they are really close on height. I love so many things about Landon, but I especially love his enthusiasm for life. I hope he hangs on to that for a long time.

Elliot had a great four year old year as well. He asked me more questions in one day than I knew was possible. I rarely knew the answer to the questions so we spent a decent amount of time looking things up, especially information about animals. He went through stages of loving cheetahs, peregrine falcons, all ocean animals and poisonous animals. Almost every day for a month, Landon and I were asked to list our top few favorite poisonous animals. The last few weeks the questions have died down just a bit and I am missing it a bit. He loves Avengers (because his cousins have Avengers stuff) and all things superhero related. Elliot is very aware of what is going on around him and picks up on little details I don't even notice. He notices other people emotions and is a helper. This trait helps him make friends quickly and everyone loves to be around him. He also has a great memory and will often remind me of little details about animals he remembers from videos or books. His favorite show for a long time was Octonauts (all about ocean animals) and now his favorite show is Wild Kratts (all about a variety of animals). I can not even count the number of books Landon, Elliot and I have read or video clips we have watched together about animals. Our latest thing we learned about is electron microscopes. I love all the learning going on around here, but it is a little humbling to be corrected by five year old kids. Landon is always begging Elliot to go outside and play. He often will, but he prefers to be inside playing. I am glad they have each other for balance. Elliot is also at the beginning stages of reading. We check out early readers from the library and he enjoys reading those together. He loved preschool and he was the one I could get the most details about the day from. He is a rule follower and I can appreciate that since he probably got a bit of that from me. Some of his favorite things are the colors red, brown and blue, ice cream, Avengers, pizza, learning about animals, books, swimming and Landon. His competitive nature at his soccer games surprised me a bit and he even scored a goal at one of the games.