January 2022

January felt a lot less frantic than December did.  I still have busy days but the second half of the month I finally felt like I was able to breathe.  All of our callings were filled in Primary and homeschool started feeling like it had back in September and October.  Thank goodness!

I even got to hang out with some dear friends from the old ward.  It was so fun.  We'll try to make it happen again soon.

Lucy is saying more and more each day.  She makes us laugh with her fancy dress and accouterments. She wants to wear ALL the necklaces, she asks for a bow and wants the fancy shoes- don't bother her with sneakers or moccasins!  She steals the boys' watches and dog tags to wear them.  She enjoys wearing hats (what toddler lets you leave a hat on them?!) and wants to wear swim goggles whenever she goes in the backyard.  She even turned two plastic hair ties of mine into bracelets!

I love watching her mimic me and others, especially with chores.  She is putting clothes in the washer and dryer (and she also loves to "sort" clothes- we're finding all sorts of things in the boys' laundry basket and in their drawers!)  She tries to throw things away (we have to be really vigilant about this!)  She is trying to sweep with our brooms and just yesterday she opened up the dishwasher, grabbed the correct dish soap and tried to fill it with soap- in just the right spot.  She loves to grab books and come and sit down on my lap... and then get up three seconds later and grab another book.  Still, we can tell she loves "buhs" already, which makes me happy.

She has been running all month.  It is the cutest little toddler run and she gets a little faster and steadier each day.  It's almost impossible to resist chasing someone so cute, especially because she loves being chased and lets out her little, high pitched squirrel laugh when we do.

She also has started using a fork this month and she is a pro.  I'm not joking- I can't believe how steady and accurate she is already.  

She started going to nursery a couple months early at the nursery leaders' insistence.  We are so grateful to them because it has been tricky to fulfill our callings.  It's been a mixed bag so far for her in there.  She was just fine the first two weeks but had some meltdowns the second two weeks.  The last week she seemed to do just fine, again.  She seems to be going through some stranger anxiety again.  Hopefully it doesn't last too long.  

Listen to Lucy:

• "Hot!" (Usually whispered but it's the first word she's said completely and correctly as of Jan. 3.)
• "Boo" (Boot/s)
• "Bah" (Ball)
• "Buh" (Book)
• "Shoe" (Whispered her first time while looking at her beloved fancy shoes on her feet.)
• "Bow" 
• "Bop-boor" (Popcorn- oh boy, does she ever love Popcorn!)
• "MMMM!" (Yelled when she sees something she wants or while she's eating something yummy.)
• "Yum-yum-yum-yum" (Said with her tongue touching her top lip so it sounds a little like "Yummy-yummy-yummy.")

Oh, our sweet Hinckley.  This has been a better month for him and our relationship.

The things that have stood out have been the heartbreaking times he has expressed loneliness or a dislike for himself.     One day he was acting out and obsessed with the idea of asking a 13-year-old neighbor to come and play with him.  No amount of explanation sufficed so I got him ready for bed extra early.  As I was at his bedside and he brought up this neighbor again, I asked him if he was lonely.  He began to cry as he told me what was on his heart, "No one wants to be my friend."  

While it boggles my mind that someone so adorable and beloved by everyone could think that about himself, I began thinking about his behavior of late and it is starting to make more sense.  He almost always tries to find something special to take outside with him- a costume or toy.  He is trying to get attention.  His favorite friend moved to Japan back in December and since then I think he just doesn't feel special.  At least, not on our street.  Church and Joy School is a different story.  We haven't figured out a solution yet but at Joy School the next day my dear friend Kate was inspired and had a lesson that included positive affirmations, which is just what the doctor ordered.   

Hinckley Speaks:

• "Dad, do you know what six times six times six times is?"  ("No, I don't.") "You don't know numbers!"
• "Can I poop here?"  ("Yes, you can poop here.") "No I can't!  It's da house of da Lord!" 
• "Can you call Michael Jowadan and ask him to come play basketball at our house?"
• "I'm sending this to Michael Jowadan.  I think when he gets it he'll send me another one and write my name on it..."
• "I made pee mud!" (While climbing at Red Rock Canyon)
• "Can you throw this ball to heaven?  And Jesus will catch it and throw it back down."
• "What about Donald Twumpet?"
• "I'm Hinckley Howatio Hornblower Maes!"
• "I'm a teenager!" or "I'm the boss!" 
• "When I'm a teenager..." (Talks about this all the time.)
• "When I'm a teenager I'm going to pway basketball and when I'm a gwonup I'm going to live by myself and make popcorn." ("I thought you were going to live with Atticus!") "No!  Atticus is going in the army and he's gonna die.  I don't want to die.  But then he'll go to heaven."
• "Don't break my watch." (Said as I knelt by his bed to kiss him goodnight.)
• "Why does she say, 'Thanks for your feed bag?'" (About Alexa)
• "Is he dead?" (When I told the boys about Daddy's accident)
• "Dad, you should wear my helmet!" 

  

This month Atticus has been practicing basketball as part of his homeschooling and it as definitely been a love-hate relationship.  He enjoys himself at practice but gets very frustrated when he misses (just as he used to do all the time in soccer- now it's just occasional.)  He has improved so much but his perfectionism makes it difficult to appreciate his improvement.  His first game is this Saturday, Feb. 5.  We hope he's able to relax a little more and enjoy himself.

He has also gotten more into climbing!  It's a love of mine so this makes me very happy.

The main development we have to report this month is that Atticus now admits that he likes girls.  If you had told me a month or two ago that this would happen I would have been very skeptical.  He was adamant that he would never get married "because it involves 'kissy-kissy'" and so he and Hinckley were going to live off on their own together (I should mention that their bachelor pad sounded like a lot of fun- they said they were going to eat popcorn and watch movies all day, every day but that somehow they would be rich...)

How this change came about, I'm not totally certain.  I guess I did see it coming because in December both boys told me they wanted me to wear my hair down (Atticus said, "I like hair flat and smooth" which is, of course, the opposite of my hair) and on the same day Atticus had told me separately that I should wear makeup more, "I'll watch the kids so you can have time!" he had told me when I had made excuses.

He has the sweetest little friend who had been living at her grandma's house (right behind us, so they could talk over the fence) up until a couple weeks ago.  I could tell that she was special to him because Atticus was far more attentive to her needs and wants than other friends (let's be honest, the kid can be a bit oblivious to people around him- it's a work in progress!)  

Earlier in the month, as Dane was talking to the boys about Valentine's Day he asked them if they wanted to do anything for their friends.  Atticus shyly told him he wanted to get something for this friend.  Then, unexpectedly, he told Dane, "I don't like her, I love her.  And I don't just love her, I love-love her, Dad."  Wow!  Then he told me and had us both promise to say nothing.  Which we did... but then he told her little brother... and then, after attending her birthday party he told her!- In his words he told her that she was his "true girlfriend."  He was disappointed by her response which was just what it should be, "I'm not old enough to have a boyfriend!" but he still maintains that when he's old enough he's going to marry her when they're older.  

I didn't expect him to get his heart broken so soon in life.  Nor did I expect him to bounce back so quickly.  You can't help but admire his resilience. 

Atticusisms:

"Let's play Airbnb." ("Do you mean Top Gun?") "Yup!"

"If Satan had a body would you let me punch him?"

"Why do little boys not like girls?...Well, I'm a big kid."

Oh man, these boys.  When asked to share their testimonies they were so quick and confident in their replies.  I hope they can look back on some of these memories and remember their feelings and convictions.  It's a crazy, confusing world out there.

Speaking of crazy, at the end of the month Dane gave us a bit of a scare.  After hot tubbing one evening he jumped into the icy cold pool and it made him so light-headed that when he got out he passed out... and fell.  It could have been much worse but the poor guy had a headache all weekend.  And I definitely got some suspicious looks when we went to the temple the next evening and at church.  

Thankfully, it has healed up very quickly.  We like to joke that he is a bit like Wolverine from the X-men.

Homeschool-

I began this month by asking Atticus a few questions about home school.  His replies surprised me:

• What is working well?  "My attitude is getting better."
• What has been your favorite part?  "That I get to stay with you."
• What isn't working well?  "When we do school."
• How can we improve that? "Wake up earlier so it's done before the other kids (his siblings) wake up." 
• Later that evening he added that he wanted to work out as a part of school.

While we haven't been perfect at implementing these new ideas, we are trying and home school is often very enjoyable. 

We learned about George Washington the first week of the month and studied the Revolutionary War for the rest of the month with a book I highly recommend: Unlikely Heroes by Ron Carter.  

We watched numerous episodes of Liberty's Kids, and made cannons with toilet paper rolls that shot cotton balls as cannon balls.

We read The Secret Garden and watched the movie, drew our dream gardens and then got started planting some tomato seeds, with plans to plant cilantro and some honeysuckle as soon as it warms up.

We studied France and listened to some of my very favorite musicals: Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and The Scarlet Pimpernel.  We even watched The Scarlet Pimpernel with Jane Seymour.  We also watched Horatio Hornblower with Gregory Peck and Heidi with Shirley Temple.  The boys loved it all.

We loved all of the French food we tried.  We made crepes, ratatouille, cassoulet and bought croissants and  baguettes.  It was all tres deliciuex.

We also studied Switzerland.  While we LOVED the story of William Tell so much that we decided to retell it (see the Youtube video below) we did not love the muesli that we tried.  Hinckley, whose favorite breakfast is still oatmeal, almost shouted, "This oitmul is bad!" while Atticus spat his out in the sink.  I don't blame them.  It wasn't my favorite, either.

That's all for now, folks!