Family Update. Wordy, yet informational.

I suppose it's only informational if you care about what our family is up to. The majority of the world does not.

Andrew: 

Andrew is now in a new position with his company and is liking that a lot. I mean, it's only been a week and he spent most of that at a "conference," so he's still in the honeymoon phase, I think. He's starting to tackle actual things and seems to be doing well. It's a transition back to what he really excels at and enjoys, so I think we'll all enjoy a more satisfied husband around here.

What else has he been doing? Building firepits, moving furniture, changing lightbulbs, cutting the grass...really living the life. He also saw Avengers a couple of days ago, so that should keep him going in the excitement department until...August. Seriously. I think I may also have finally trained him on where dirty clothes go. A breakthrough.

Me: 

Like you're not aware of the tumult and strife happening there.

Lucy: 

Lucy is pretty awesome. When I tell her that I'm not feeling good, she says, "I'll be right there to rub your back!" Sweet. She is enjoying kindergarten and the whole homeschooling thing seems to have really clicked for her. She now understands the difference between homeschooling and "other school" and seems more willing to buckle down and get things done. She says she really, really hates learning to read from a book. I know. What does that even mean?? Today we got the big dry erase board out and I thought we'd try another angle. I started throwing words at her to test her spelling, and sure enough, she was jotting them down like an old pro, once I met her on her turf. So, I think we're going to use the dry erase board for awhile and see if the excitement of writing and erasing more easily helps the work to stick a little better.

Lucy's birthday was awesome, and I plan to post about that very soon. Or maybe I already did?? I have no idea. I need to check that out.

Let's see. Big sister is a fantastic helper around the house, and she just moves around like my little shadow, taking care of the loose ends and keeping me on track. She naps a few times a week, but we like to spend naptime doing "big kid" things and lying to Mo about taking boring naps. Lucy's a star where fibbing to her sister in concerned. She makes a huge show about not wanting to nap, and huffs and puffs and crawls into bed and really puts up a fuss for her sister's sake. And as soon as Mo's asleep, she's out the door and having fun with Mama. What a sucker that Mo is.

Molly:

Molly is awesome. Molly is 3. Three-year-olds are so crazy. The one thing I know about three-year-olds is that they need very little to be happy. The unhappiest three-year-olds I've met are the ones whose parents try to provide too much variety for them. Molly has very few tantrums, because we put her in very few situations where she needs to step up and act like a big kid. I think that this is by far the most important thing I've learned about raising toddlers. We do the same things everyday. Our variety comes in the form of an exciting lunch or an out-of-the-ordinary playdate at one of two other houses. Molly really thrives on routine, and she has very few tantrums when she knows what to expect. It makes those several "new and different" events throughout the week much easier for her to handle. Molly prefers to sleep in the same thing every night, to exchange the same words every morning, to have a cup of orange juice in her Muppets sippy cup, to watch the same movie after breakfast, to play the exact same game she played the day before, you get the picture. So we do just that. We're pretty low-key anyway, so toddlers are happy here.

Molly is full of funny stuff. Her speech is just ridiculously cute. She said "aldigators" and "geebras" and "panna bears" are her favorite animals and that "peenbuddadewwy" is her favorite food. So. Darn. Cute.

The one thing I LOVE about Molly is how much she appreciates the world around her. We went for a walk tonight and these are the things she observed: "That puppy is SO CUTE!" "The sky is SO BLUE!" "That grass looks so fun!" "I found chalk in my seat and it's blue and magic and it turns into fairies!" "That's the popsicle house and they are SO NICE!" "Mama I love the stroller SO MUCH!" "Mama, I am just SO TIRED!" "Mama, I am going to take a BIG NAP!" Everything is SO and HUGEST and MOST and SUPER. Molly finds everyday to be the BEST day, and I love that. She just assumes that everything around her is something better than it really is, and that the entire world is just sitting here and waiting for her to enjoy it. We should all live like that. I can honestly say that I am reliving childhood through Molly. Every single day is SO GREAT.

Claire: 

Claire is...the boss. Claire actually screamed and punched Lucy so hard that she fell over in church the other day. Thank goodness we were at Saint Sunday Party. Half the adults there were doing that.
Claire is...enthusiastic.
Claire is...joyful.
Claire is...loud.
Claire is...calculating.
Claire is...thoughtful.
Claire is...the first genuine redhead we've met around this house.
Claire is...exhausting.
Claire is...like a tiny primate.
Claire is...strong.
Claire is...chubby.
Claire is...soft.
Claire is...the cutest person in the world.
Claire is...the proud owner of FOUR teeth.
Claire is...a new walker.
Claire is...always smiling.
Claire is...a joker.
Claire is...in a family that adores her.