Look Whose Talking (and walking, and reading)

 I feel privileged to be able to watch my children grow, develop, and blossom on a daily basis. I remember when we had a garden in Texas and I would get that giddy Christmas morning feeling everyday before I would go out to see if there was any knew growth. Maybe some seedlings have come up, or a flower bud on the summer squash vine, or a watermelon that is ready to pick and eat. It was my happy place. 

I think I am candid enough about my imperfect life that I don't even need to go into how challenging motherhood can be, but right now I wake up with a Christmas morning feeling and it's not because of the Holiday season. It's because my children are on the verge of something new and I am anxious to see the growth. 

Ezie is walking and talking more and more. I finally got some of it on video. Excuse the mess. It's like an obstacle course for the poor little fella. 

SJ is at a really fascinating place right now. I will do another post with more details, but the winds have changed for her recently and she is starting to really take off with oral communication. Since her vocabulary is so limited she will be very broad in how she uses the words she does know, and for me it is cute and exciting because I can literally see her learning to talk! For example she called a lobster a spider (lots of legs and exoskeleton),  a donkey is a horse (similar), a lollipop is ice cream (they are both sweet things that you lick). She says mommy or mama now! Be still my beating heart, I have waited so long for this. Like I said, I have a lot more to share about SJ, but for now the short story is that we have had some major breakthrough. 

Z is really excelling with his reading and writing skills, but he claims that math is his favorite. I met  with his teacher for a conference a couple weeks ago and it turns out that it is not my imagination, Z is a really bright kid that is testing above his age level (we are still keeping him in kindergarten though, for those wondering). She said he started out having some typical discipline issues at the beginning of the year, but now that he knows the expectations he is fine and he hasn't given her any problems. I wish it were that simple at home! He's doing well though. I love that he is at a place now that he can dress himself completely, including picking out his clothes. He can help load and unload certain parts of the dishwasher, and bring in light loads of groceries which is like Hallelujah Thank you Jesus! It's so cool to have a big kid on my team!  

So that's the latest with my 3 little bears. There are times you don't even notice your children changing until you look back at a photo or something because it's so subtle. Then there are times that you are watching them embark upon the next milestone right before your very eyes. I LOVE that! I can't wait to see what they start to do next.