Matthew and Kayla are 6.5!

 

Matthew:

At 6.5, Matthew weighs 43.4 lb and is 46.5" tall.

He is a bright kid who is full of energy.  He loves to learn, and is fantastic at reading.  It's such a pleasure to sit with him and listen to him read.  It has also made me think twice before spelling something aloud to Jon because Matthew can now figure out what we are trying to keep secret.



Matthew can be in an extremely good mood or an extremely bad mood.  When he is happy, everyone knows it because he has a huge smile and talks so excitedly.  When he is unhappy, everyone knows it because he is crying and screaming and pumping his fists down.  He likes to sulk.  Luckily for us, so long as he is getting enough rest at night his tantrums can be kept to a minimum.



Matthew started soccer this past week and loves it.  The whole time he was on the field he was beaming, running as fast as he could (with his poke-shoes on) to keep up with the play.  I hope his enthusiasm continues since he'll be on the field twice a week, rain or shine.



He has recently found great joy in using our screwdrivers to open up our battery-dead toys and figure out which batteries they need.

He is the only one that ever laughs at Kayla.  He's always rolling on the floor with tears streaming down his face over some comment she has made or action she has done.  Funny thing is though that it's not even funny!  She just has some effect on him.  It's pretty funny to see.

Matthew is great with younger kids.

He is still our messiest eater.  I'm constantly washing his chair or vacuuming under his spot.  He is generally a much better eater than he used to be.  He's very expressive when it comes to letting us know when he does or does not like a meal.  His favourite meals are: soup, green mashed potatoes (boerekool), anything with broccoli.  He does not like anything that is a little bit on the spicy side.

Kayla:


At 6.5, Kayla is 51.6 lb and is 48 1/8" tall.



Kayla is still our easiest child.  She is very consistent with her moods; seldom is she overly happy or overly upset.  It's easy to tell when she is tired, because then she is quick to get emotional over something that usually does not bug her.  A good night's rest always brings her back to her usual self.
She is the second set of hands that I wish I had myself.  If I ask her to help me with anything, she typically listens right away and does it, no questions asked.



Her reading has really come along, thanks do to the summer reading program at our public library.  Being "forced" to read every day really helped.  She is my most willing to write stories or notes, but is also very hesitant when she does it because she absolutely hates to make spelling mistakes.  I often refuse to tell her what letters are next because I want her to just try her best.  I feel like she will make great strides with her writing in grade one because of the confidence she will gain.



I was worried for Kayla starting grade one that she would struggle socially, but within the first week of school she made a good friend and has already initiated us going there for a play date.  She is confident at recess and will run around by herself or will play with a variety of different kids at different times.



Since school began in September, she has really started to be silly.  She gets in these really annoying moods where she acts silly...and Matthew loves it.  I don't know if it's her way of adjusting to having to be on her best behaviour six hours every day (as opposed to only going to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays) or if it's a developmental stage she's in, but it's annoying!



Kayla started soccer this past week and claims that she hates it.  She never complains while there and she is expressionless while playing.  I don't think she hates it as much as she claims, she's just not comfortable and confident enough playing because it's so new to her and she does not like change.

She still continues to love crafting, and is always the first to pull out the colouring materials.

Kayla eats really well.  She's fast, neat/clean, and has a good appetite.  She loves chicken cordon blues.

Olivia is 2!

Olivia is two!  My baby is definitely not a baby anymore and we are diving into toddler-hood and the "terrible twos."  She is stubborn!!!  She can be so extremely frustrating, and then so extremely cute the next minute.

At two years old, Olivia weighs 27.4 lb and is 35.5" tall.  She is taller than Kayla was at this age, and just a tad bit shorter than Nathan was.  It makes sense now, why she is starting to wear 3T clothes, whereas Kayla didn't wear them until she was almost three.  Speaking of clothes, Olivia still refuses to wear flip flops, so she has been wearing crocs all summer long.  Or boots.  If she sees her boots at the bottom of her shoe bin she'll choose those.

She is quickly becoming quite the chatterbox, so long as she is in a comfortable environment.  I understand roughly 50% of what she says.  When she is in an unfamiliar environment with people she doesn't know, she clams right up and won't even make eye contact or crack a smile.

She always talks about "Memma" (Emma) and "Ry-yee" (Riley).  She loves to play with Emma, and loves to boss Riley around.  "Ry-eee, NO!"

Kayla is called "See-da", Matthew is "Sa-hew", Nathan is "Mmm-hmm."  All flies are called "bees."

She loves playing with lego or duplo, trains, and her baby.  She also loves doing puzzles.  Olivia loves swimming.

Her favourite thing to eat is chips (what a Struik!).  Or candy.  Or fruit.  Thank goodness she likes fruit.  She absolutely loves juice and chocolate milk.

She has enjoyed the luxury of being able to climb into my bed while camping a little too much, because when we are home, that's the only place she wants to sleep.  She puts up a fight going to bed, and then wakes up during the night only wanting my bed.  She also likes to sleep at the foot of Nathan's bed.  It will be nice when summer is over and we can figure out where we want her to sleep and do some sleep-training.

{She couldn't sleep so I took her out of bed and let her snack and watch t.v. with me}

{She couldn't sleep so I let her sleep on my bedroom floor like the big kids do.  I was quite surprised that she didn't fight to sleep in my bed.}

 Birthday Celebrations:

{Jon and I gave her her birthday gift (the doll bike seat) early, so that she could get maximum enjoyment from it while camping.  She LOVES biking her baby around.}

{Celebrating her birthday with my parents and Candice two days early.}

{Birthday "cake" (an ice cream sandwich) #1}

{Birthday cake #2 to celebrate with cousins on Aug 8}

{Too many people are paying attention to me...must act shy!}

{We spent Olivia's birthday driving 10 hours to Vanderhoof.  We actually had forgotten that it was her birthday until we had been driving for a few hours.}

{We celebrated Olivia's birthday again when we reached Vanderhoof, with birthday cake #3}

Poor Nathan

Nathan walked into the toy room this evening while I was cleaning it up and said, out of the blue, "Mom, I think I'm going to be an adult when you die."

I replied (jokingly), "You better not cry when I die!"  And then he started to cry just thinking about it.  So very cute!  I assured him that I wasn't going to die anytime soon and we had a big hug and then he was fine again.

Poor kid.  I wonder what is going through his head all the time.

Nathan is 3 3/4 Years Old!

Almost a month late, but better now then never, right?

Nathan continues to grow up at a rapid pace: physically, spiritually, and academically.  He is quickly catching up to Matthew...he is only an inch or two shorter, and one pound less.  We've been having quite a few discussions as of late with both him and Matthew about how God makes people of all different sizes.  For now, Matthew is very proud that Nathan is catching up.

Nathan loves to talk about God/Jesus/Satan.  He often talks about Jesus dying on the cross and about Heaven.  He likes discussing who gets to go to Heaven and what it will be like.  ("Mom, guess who put Jesus on a cross?  God did.  That means when we die we go to Heaven and not with Satan").  He asked Jon to read him the second last story in the Bible and then he came to tell me that it was about the new world.  It will be interesting to see where his love for Jesus takes him.

Nathan is still a sponge.  He absorbs whatever he hears, mostly from Matthew and Kayla.  He recognizes and names all of his letters and he knows how to spell each of their names.  He can print a lot of his upper case letters, and the others he can do with a little verbal direction (ex. R is "straight line, little loop, leg).

He loves playing with Barbies.  He still enjoys dressing up as a princess, but since we acquired a few more superhero ones the princess costumes have not been worn as frequently.  He loves doing puzzles and has really gotten good at drawing and colouring in the lines.

Nathan enjoyed the free soccer sessions he participated in this summer, so we have him signed up to play soccer in the fall/spring.

He is not shy!  He doesn't care if you are an adult or a kid older than him, he'll still talk to you or ask you a question.  We had walked past a construction site a few months ago and Nathan asked me what they were doing.  I didn't know, so I told him to ask the workers.  A few seconds later he put his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Hey guys!  What are you doing?"  He'll also be the first of my kids to talk to kids at the playground.

Olivia is 23 Months Old!

Almost two years old!  AHHH!

Olivia seems to have grown up so much lately.  She is really starting to talk a lot.  She can string together three words easily, and is saying new words daily.  She learned how to say 'Matthew' this month, but still only says "hmm hmm" for Nathan.  She often can be heard saying, "Where Daddy go?"

Olivia loves to bike and always asks to where her "hem".  She has learned how to lift her feet off of the ground to coast, which is quite exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.  I videotaped her one of the first days after she had learned and she majorly bailed.  She cried, but was not hurt, and then I made her get back on her bike and go down the hill again.

Olivia is PETRIFIED of bugs.  If she sees a bug on her, she SCREAMS.  She also does not like to have grass cuttings or sand stuck to her legs or feet.

When we are camping, she just sleeps on the collapsed table (no play pen to pack anymore!) and naps just on a bed at my parents' house.  She naps in her crib at home most times; if she fights being in the crib for her nap then she sleeps on Nathan's bed.

She loves to sleep on her back, with her baby laying face-up on her chest, with the blanket on top of both of them.  We have started praying with her at night, and it's the cutest thing ever.  She folds her hands nicely and stares up at you with a huge smile on her face while her prayer is being recited, and then when it's time to say, "Amen," say says, "Umm."  Just before I leave the room she always asks me, "Mommy sleep too?"  And I always say, "no," and then she says, "Mommy clean up?" and I say, "Yes."  It started during camping when I told her I would lay down beside her after I cleaned up all the toys and towels outside, and has just carried over to at home now.

She has no fear at playgrounds, successfully climbing many walls/obstacles designed for older children.  She definitely prevents me from sitting around too much when we are at a playground.

Olivia still loves to eat fruit.  Her favourites are strawberries, blueberries, grapes, oranges, and bananas.  If I give her watermelon, she likes to chew on the rind rather than eat the fruit itself.  She loves juice.

She LOVES swimming.  That girl is a fish!  She has no problem jumping in and going under.  She loves wearing her puddle jumper, and even likes to do back floats when wearing it.  Sometimes her legs are straight out of the water, which is cute.