Ch-ch-ch-changes

My kids are changing everyday, and while it can be fun to watch, it is also scary to see time flying so quickly.

Leif asked me to measure him the other day. So we went over to the wall with tick marks and names and dates, he backed up against it and my jaw dropped open. I have trouble carrying him now. He normally wears one size an entire year - he shouldn't be growing out of his size 4's yet. I shouldn't be buying size 5/6 pajamas yet? Then I looked at where his new tick mark was - a good five inches above the one from July 6th. He is a few inches shy of four feet tall.

Leif has an extensive vocabulary (tonight he used the word "interactive"), he is learning new games (we played both Charades and I Spy last night - now really... shouldn't an "eagle" fall into the same category as a "bird" when playing Charades?) and he has started learning to read at school now that he has mastered his letter sounds.

Since moving to his new room Leif has settled down, become friendlier with kids, is keeper and enforcer of "the rules", and has hit a stride academically. The teachers have identified what he likes for rewards - afternoon visits to Rainbow Room to see his good friend, N. He was particularly proud of himself the other day when he told me that he had his third straight day of visiting Rainbow Room for good behavior. And I know his room well enough to know that this has to be STELLAR behavior from him to warrant the reward.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Leif still has "issues" with listening - though his very observant head teacher is pretty sure that it isn't willful defiance or him simply ignoring or deciding it isn't what he wants to do. Instead she has pointed out a few cues that are indicative that he is a visual learner and that to help him to learn we just need to modify the way we teach him a little. She explained to me that Leif is more than willing to do what she shows him and will master things very quickly, however has a lot of trouble processing being told what to do. She went on to classify him as "extremely intelligent" and expects him to be fully reading in a few months.

I keep thinking back to when Leif was Skadi's age (20 months) and AB and I found out we were expecting another baby. Yeah, so not going down that road right now. Our life is busy enough as is!

And I am enjoying my sleep.

Did you read that? Sleep!!

*Knocking on wood.*

The last two nights Skadi has slept through the night (well until 5am) in her crib. And total that is 3 of the 4 last nights she has slept through the night. We are on a good track here... just in time to totally mess her up by flying and staying in a new house on an air mattress. Wouldn't it figure?

I will be optimistic though. Here's hoping that she decides she LIKES sleeping through the night and does at my mom's house and then gets up and hangs out with grandma and Bompa giving mommy and daddy some extra snooze time!!

Skadi is such a different creature than Leif. I say that and then think of all the things that are very similar with the two of them.

One thing that warms my heart is seeing my kids interact. Skadi loves copying Leif and doing what he does. Last night while he was watching a movie, she crawled up on the couch and layed on him, wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a big wet kiss on his lips. Seeing Leif wrap his arms around her without saying a word and kiss her back on her cheek warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I hope that they will always have a close friendship.

Skadi is mastering more words and has this week learned a very important words, "cupcake". And she prefers chocolate.

Skadi asks for pancakes, she calls Winny, she requests particular "jammies" and will ask for Mahna Mahna whenever she sees me on the computer. She plays lightsabers and swords with Leif or will sit by herself playing Little People. She loves to go outside and really enjoys our evening walks. She has a distinct opinion on what should be on TV (Elmo) though she can't seem to make the time to actually sit and watch on Elmo DVD all the way through, which thrills Leif to pieces.