Growin' Up

(I left out one MAJOR part dealing with Kylie. She is reading everything she gets her hands on. I love to hear her sound out the words she doesn't know and get so excited about the ones she has learned in Sunshine School. I really hope she develops Alan's great love for reading books and not mine for fashion magazines! :))

Well, enough about me, now it’s time to brag on/give updates on my two sweet little children who are growing up right in front of my eyes. This post is dedicated to Keith, Nancy, Essie and all of Alan’s family who don’t get to see the kids all the time or hear all the stories that I bombard my family with daily. I know that Alan tries to keep them updated, but let’s face it; he’s not great with all the small details! That’s part of why I love him, though.

RILES

• He is getting great at answering, “What’s this?” or “Who’s that?” He can tell you all of his 20 stuffed animals on his bed, random things like hammer and key, when asked and also knows Mommy, Kylie, and most recently, Daddy!
• He calls Kylie, “KyKee” and we love it!!
• We went to the park (he’s afraid of heights) but by the end of the trip was racing Kylie up the stairs and they were sliding together in side by side slides. At one point, he beat Kylie, he was using the stairs and she was climbing the ladder, and he called, “Kykee!”
• He loves my friends, Amber and Stephanie who pick him up from school and keep him for a few hours each week. Last week when Amber came to pick him up, he said, “Ammm-buh”. She was so proud because she has been working with him on that.
• He has been singing a song at home that he learned at school and his teachers are so excited because he knew most of the flashcards from Old McDonald at school today
• One day I taught him to zip and now he looks for things to zip and unzip
• His therapist is convinced that he is ready to start reading. She will give him three words on flashcards and he will pick the right word 95% of the time.
• He loves to play on the computer. He will say, "play" and "starfall" which is the website. He is over the abc portion, now he is exploring the book portion where he learns words and listens to stories. (I use the word "listen" loosely)

Although we are still working on listening and attending, Riley is doing pretty great and makes us more proud each day.

KYLIE

• Kylie is getting to be quite the spunky one in the group. She loves to boss Riley around and the other day when he copied her on something she said, "You don't have to do everything I do, Riley!" Just imagine if she had a bossy brother who was into everything and required her to share!
• She is constantly doing therapy with Riles and makes flashcards for him whenever she can.
• She talks about her classmates all the time and really looks forward to going to school now. She has an excellent teacher that knows her strengths and her weaknessess and doesn't allow her to second guess herself. She has learned so much this year and I feel confident in sending her to Kindergarten in 6 months, 6 days.
• She loves all girl parties and is looking so forward to going to one in a couple of weeks. Watch out, she is a screamer!
• She loves doing chores and then checking off her chorechart. She also loves to help cook and bake in the kitchen. Also, I better have an art project for her on Wednesdays or she will bug me for hours!
• The girl loves her family! She wants to hear stories about when everyone was little or what happened before she was born. Then she will draw a picture of it.
• She is loving alone time with me or anyone that will take her.
• Sometimes she gets jealous of how much time we spend with Riley which is understandable. I try to spend Friday mornings while Riley is in school with her just doing something for her. This is, after all, her last year to just hang out with me. Sniff.

Well, that's all that I can think of at the moment but Spring Break is coming up and we are certainly looking forward to seeing everyone that we haven't seen in a while. I will try to post more on what the kids say and do when it actually happens.