The Young and the Restless

All About the Kids

Here's just a little list of things about the kids that I wanted to write down before I forgot....

Kylie:

This past month Kylie has reached some milestones that she is pretty darn proud of. After much practice and more than one meltdown, she can now officially pump herself on the swing, tie her own shoe and draw a star (you know the criss cross kind...I used to make dot to dots for her so that she could do it and she finally did it on her own. She now draws stars on anything and everything--several of which have landed her in time out.) She is getting so big and I love watching her sheer excitement when all her practicing pays off and she finally accomplishes her goals.

Each night before Kylie goes to bed she has her little ritual. Everything has to be perfect and in the correct order from the time she goes potty, brushes her teeth, reads one story each, drinks one glass of milk and says her prayers up to the point where I tuck her in and she has to repeat this exact phrase to me: "good night mom, I love you. Will you please stay up here and even if you have to go downstairs will you still come back up here and even if you have to do something will you just bring it up here?" It is so funny, she never fails to say that before I leave her room and she never skips a word or misses a beat.

We finally went shopping for winter clothes for the kids. They could probably still go a couple more weeks in tank tops but since we're going to Indiana next week we thought they might just need a little more than a t-shirt. While we were out I saw the cutest little vest for Kylie, you know the puffy outdoor ones that come in all sorts of cute colors? I thought it looked adorable on her but she kept saying she didn't want to get it. In what I believe was an effort to avoid hurting my feelings, she confessed her true feelings to Jason when I was out of ear shot and told him, "I look like I'm wearing a floatie!"

Speaking of floaties, the kids were crazy and wanted to go swimming last weekend. Even though it's hot outside I'm sure the water has got to be in the 60's. Jayden was the first to jump in and even though I think she was hesitant, Kylie wasn't about to let her little brother show her up. In true Daddy fashion, Jason wasn't about to be out done by his own kids, so he jumped in too. I think I was the only smart one that didn't succomb to the peer pressure.

Jayden:

Jayden's speech is really improving, but I always get a kick out of some of his pronunciations. He kept saying that he wanted to go to Donald Duck's house and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he was talking about until he described the slide and chicken nuggets and it clicked--McDonald's! That's the only other "Donald" he knows, so why wouldn't it be his house? I was reading "Bambi" to Jayden for the first time and it made me laugh when he kept pointing to the picture of Bambi and calling him "Band-aid".

Out of the blue Jayden will say "mom, mom, mom" until I say "what". Once he gets my attention he gives me one of his sweet looks and says "hi", then goes back to his playing, it's really cute.

(this picture is from the carnival at Kylie's school. Jayden was obsessed with this chicken and would not put it down)

Jayden has always been really good about saying thank you, although sometimes the things he is thankful for make me laugh. A little while ago Jason was wrestling with the kids and gave Jayden a wedgie and he said "oh, thanks dad!" He must have thought his little undies were sagging and Jason, being the good father that he is, was just helping him out. Also, whenever he has an ice-cream cone it inevitably drips all over. I remember my dad using this as an excuse to eat half of our ice-cream cone when he was "just licking off the drips". I would get so mad, but whenever I use this trick on Jayden he says, "thank you, mommy" as I hand back his ice cream that has now shrunk to atleast half of the original size. And last but not least, you've gotta love a kid that says thank you everytime you wipe his bum after going potty!

Jayden has always been a little on the wild side during family scriptures and prayers and I still don't think that he knows the meaning of "reverent". Although I haven't lost faith in him completely when the other night Jason was gone and the kids were getting to bed late so I was rushing to get them to sleep and forgot about scriptures and prayers. Jayden kept trying to tell me something but I didn't know what he was talking about so out of frustration he grabs my hand and drags me over to the scriptures and points to them saying "forgot!" then he folds his arms, closes his eyes, bows his head and says "talk, talk, talk" then looks up and says "remember?" I guess maybe I'm not a complete failure after all, what a sweet boy.