[These are all pictures I've taken of the kids in their church clothes, from last August through December.]
It has been months (or over a year?) since I've written anything about what the kids are up to. I have a few notes I've written down about funny things they've said.
First, I can't believe how big they are. We never use a stroller anymore. (Well, except random occasions like Sea World.) They go play by themselves in the front yards with neighborhood kids. I don't even have a pack of wipes in my car.
They often play nicely together. On a good morning, they wake up, eat breakfast, and then spend an hour (or more) playing pretend around the house. They don't play with toys very often, but they're always making up games and scenarios to act out. A favorite is turning pillows into a hot tub, or ninjas or police and bad guys. I'm glad they're all at a similar age where that kind of pretending is fun. Another activity they like to do together is Legos on the table in Tiago's room. Along with play comes plenty of fighting. Sometimes the girls really annoy Tiago and things explode. Sometimes the girls want what the other one has and things explode. Those aren't the best mornings.
So a few random things the kids have said that I wrote down:
When we went to Colombia, and Tiago was on the first airplane looking out the window at the clouds, he said, "It's like we're above blue cotton candy! This is pretty scary."
For the longest time, Tiago called Darth Vader "Dark Vader". He's never seen Star Wars, but is obsessed with it. He has checked out several library books and learned many character names.
Speaking of Star Wars, the kids were talking about Yoda and Siena started saying, "Sen-yoda" (sounding almost identical to señora) and the kids would laugh and laugh.
When Tiago was practicing reading, he started saying the "ch" sound. He said, "Is that like the word "Truck?" It caught me off guard, but sure enough, the way he said truck sounded just like "chruk".
We listen to a lot of kid music these days. One favorite is the song "We are the Dinosaurs". I don't know which kid said it (maybe Tiago?), but one of them said, "Mom, turn off this song. It makes me dance and I don't want to dance."
Mila is very agreeable and usually responds, "Of course" when you ask her to do something.
The kids call slip-on shoes "slippery shoes".
Tiago calls question marks "mystery marks", which has also rubbed off on the girls.
The bishop of our ward lives nearby. One day we saw them drive by in their car. I asked Tiago who we saw drive by and he said, "The captain of the church."
To ask for things, Mila says, "Please I have..." For example, "Please I have more candy?"
In the mornings, Mila and Siena will usually play in their room for 20-40 minutes playing together nicely. I heard them wake up one morning and Siena yelled Mila's name. Mila responded, "I'm tired. Leave me alone." Siena ignored her and started telling her about her dream, which involved cousins and a cat. Mila jumped right in and helped her tell an elaborate story. They keep a basket of stuffed animals in their room that they bring into their bed each morning to play with together. In contrast, Tiago jumps right out of bed when he wakes up and runs into our room. Fortunately, he sleeps in a little longer.
All 3 kids are in Primary now, and love it. The girls had no hesitations moving from Nursery to Primary and were excited to see some of the big kids they know (including Tiago!). I remember Tiago being so shy to be in front of the other kids, but the girls are unphased. When they were asked to say a prayer and recite a scripture, they were excited to get up in front.
Tiago is an excellent reader. He's at the point where he can open any book and try to read parts of it. He'll lay in bed at night looking at books, and he reads words along with looking at pictures. He ran into our room one night, about 20 minutes after Hyrum put him in bed, and said, "Papa, you have to look at this." One of his books talked about different aircrafts, and he found one called Columbia. I'm not sure what he'll learn in Kindergarten next year, but it's nice to see him excited about learning, and he'll even read books to his sisters sometimes.
Mila and Siena also love books, but they just sit and look at pictures. Sometimes I'll catch Siena 'reading' to herself by making up a story that matches pictures. At any given time, we have 40-70 library books checked out. The girls have about 30 minutes of "independent reading time" every afternoon while Tiago is in school.
The thing that drives me most crazy about the kids at this stage is their poor eating habits. They are picky eaters, and when they ask for something for breakfast, they often say, "Nevermind. I don't want that, I want something else." Or they'll be starving but can't think of a single thing they want. Or they'll love eating meatballs for dinner one night, and if I serve it a few weeks later they think it's the grossest food ever. Such confusing creatures. One of these days I need to get a handle on meals, but today is not that day.
As far as personalities go, Mila and Siena are getting much more distinct. Mila is extremely talkative. If she is at a playground and wants to play with kids, she marches up to them and says, "I'm Mila" then launches into a 2-minute monologue of whatever's on her mind. She tells strangers random things like who Tiago's pre-k teacher is, and what she dressed up as for Halloween. I don't know where she gets it from! Siena also has moments of being talkative, but is usually happy to stay quiet. Occasionally she'll come inside, while everyone is outside playing with friends, to just sit on the sofa and look at books. And she usually doesn't want to be bothered.
For the most part, all my kids love 'playing with friends.' If we go to an empty playground they're bored in 5 minutes. If we go to a playground with other kids they're entertained for hours.
During bedtime the girls have graduated to having their door open. We told them if they stayed in bed they could leave it open, and they've never tried to come out. They sometimes lay in bed talking for 45 minutes, but Hyrum is pretty quick to go tell them it's time to sleep.
Tiago doesn't come into our room at night as much as he used to when he was 3 and 4, but it still happens occasionally (like twice a month?) Hyrum is wrapped around Tiago's finger, and almost always gets up to bring him to the bathroom or take him to bed (or let him sleep with us.) Sometimes I wake up for it all, sometimes I don't.
All three kids are enjoying school. Tiago is thriving in Pre-K. His teacher is fantastic, and tells us how much Tiago adds to the classroom--both by advanced academics but also by just being helpful and inclusive. The girls are loving Joy School twice a week, and have really come to identify the other 3 kids as their best friends. (Even though they started the year saying one was NOT their friend and was angry at them.) They're big time chatter boxes at school and if we had any family secrets, the other moms would learn about them quickly.
Tiago continues to be such a rule follower. That sets a good tone for Mila and Siena, who watch everything he does like a hawk. Mila shares everything--even the clothes off her back--with Siena. She likes to see other people happy. And Siena is inwardly content, marching to the beat of her own drum. When she's tired at bedtime, she hurries Hyrum along in the book so he'll finish faster.
They each bring such unique traits to the family, and 99% of the time, we're enjoying this 'bigger kid' stage!
