Happy 5th Birthday Elijah

Elijah is five years old!  This year he seems to have grown up so much.  Really making a transition into the kid years.

Personality: Creative, analytical, silly, somewhat reserved

Likes: Science, discovering how things work, drawing, creating things with paper (such as a paper airplane attached to balloons so that when the air in the balloon is released the plane flies), helping mom and dad with home tasks and cooking, watching shows like Word World, homeschool, reading books (will listen to book after book...as many as we are willing to read), resting int he hammock that hangs in his room, playing games - especially Monopoly Jr, learning about money and earning money for little tasks,  and adding to his "collection" (a container full of really random interesting items he finds - everything form bottle caps to seed pods to interesting rocks to odd pieces of metal)

New: Going to Awana, officially homeschooling (also goes to Brazilian school 2 days a week), learning to read and write, memorizing verses, developing friendships (especially with a Brazilian/American boy named Noah), independence in getting himself dressed, into the car, getting this own water and snacks), got a watch as a birthday gift and is trying to understand time, took swimming classes for two months and got over his fear of swimming and began swimming about 8-10 feet independently.  He is also beginning to be independent in his activities - like getting a bowl and picking acerola fits out in the yard (leading Audrey in doing it too) and then coming in to ask me to help him make juice.  Also he has lots of creative ideas of things to try out.  Like connecting a long flexible measuring take to a can full of coins and brining the end of the measuring tape up to his bed.  He jiggles the rope of the measuring tape, which in turn shakes the can which makes noise...why?  This was an invention of an "alarm clock" for him to wake up from a nap.  Super fun to see the creative wheels turning in his head. 

Routine: Up usually around 6:30 but stays playing in room until 7:30 when clock is green, breakfast, playing, homeschool around 9:30-11:00, play, lunch, play nap (plays or naps in room for about 2 hours), reading lesson with mom, show, snack, wait for daddy to get home, light dinner, shower, books from 7-7:30, bed at 7:30

Struggles: Learning to play to play together with Audrey (rather than bothering her)

School: Elijah is finishing up the PreK 4/5 year old Sonlight year and has found it all quite easy.  We're getting ready for Sonlight Kindergarten (Core A) next.  We also do a reading program - he can already read about 30 sight words and can read at nearly level C, and make any CVC word I ask of him!  Doing great!!

When he grows up: Elijah wants to make robots (we really do see some engineering skills in him!).  He also wants to be a sailor, build a next to ours with a tunnel in between to connect them, and he plans to marry Audrey.

Audrey is 2!

Happy Second Birthday Audrey!  It's hard to believe how big you have gotten this year!  In the past six months we have really seen you make that transition from baby to an independent kid with her own thoughts and personality.  It has been so fun to see and so fun to get to know you!!

Likes: playing with Elijah, taking her of her dolls and even feeding them in her own high chair, playing with her play kitchen, drawing with markers or on a whiteboard, reading books in the rocking chair, putting on dress up clothes, fruit (she will eat an endless amount unless we cut her off because it seems like too much), swimming in our kid pool, sneaking to Elijah'a room to play when he's at school (even tucking dolls into his bed so her babies can "sleep", repeating us, trying to be part of the conversation and family action, shoes (even dress up high heeled ones which she walks around the house in!  And she also wants us to wear shoes all the time...bringing our shoes to us if we're not wearing them :)

Personality: Audrey is a very happy and easy going girl, and extremely independent!  She knows what she is in the mood for (be it a snack, putting on shoes, or helping me cook) and she works really hard on her own to figure out a way to make it happen.  She pulls up a chair next to me and climbs up when she wants to help me cook, goes to the kitchen cabinet to bring me a bowl and raisins if she wants a snack, goes into Elijah's homeschool material to find his whiteboard and marker if she wants to color, finds a book and me and guides me to the rocking chair to read, etc.  This girl knows how to make things happen!  Although she's independent, she still lives a good snuggle when she's sleepy and enjoys sitting on our laps to read countless books.  

New: Nonstop talking!  Audrey can say a ton of words, even putting 2-3 words together to form an idea (elmo cup water = asking for water in her elmo cup), and repeats absolutely anything we ask her to.  Elijah especially loves to ask her to repeat him...very funny to hear the interaction!  She also answers questions well, such as when we ask "Who wants ice cream?" she enthusiastically raises her hand all the way up and says "me!!!"  She can also help clean up now, get out something she wants to play with and play by herself, she can help cook by putting in measuring cups of ingredients I give to her, interacting well with other kids, noticing friends like her friend Deborah (who she even calls by name), she also is very kind of say hi and bye (oi and tsau) to strangers who want to interact with her.  The other big new is seems very ready and interested in learning to use the potty.  Training starts tomorrow!  She loves to put on undies i bought her, even if just over her diaper, and today she got sad that I made her put on her diaper.  I'm excited for this next step that will really move her to the "big girl" stage.

Routine: Wake 8 (but sometimes she randomly sleeps as late as 10am!), nap 1-3:30 approximately, sleep for the night at 7:30

Struggles: Some struggles with bad attitudes when I say no to something, begins pouting and insisting.  I usually put her in her bed when i gets our of hand and she happily lays down to rest during that time.  A few minutes later she usually calls out "happy" all on her own to let me know she is ready to be happy, and she really is!  A fresh reset in attitude.  

I can't wait to see what this next year holds as our sweetheart grows and develops!

Audrey is 1 1/2

Audrey is 1 1/2 years old.  I had a fun time before writing this update catching up on what Elijah was doing at this same age.  So much in common, but clear differences too.

Personality:  Audrey has a sweet, kind, people-person personality.  She is eager to spend time together, connect, and laugh, but at the same time I can see a clear independent side.  This girl is very comfortable wandering around the house, finding her own fun.  She comes up with her own ideas and  independently works to make them happen.  For example, she often gets in her mind that she wants a snack, so will go to one of our low cabinets, pick out the snack she wants, go to another cabinet get out a plastic bowl and bring them to us signing "please".  When she is thirsty, she gets a plastic cup out, walks to the fridge and tries to get it from the water dispenser (she's too short).  She also loves to use letter magnets of Elijah's whiteboard.  She goes to his homeschool stuff, picks out the whiteboard and magnets, and lays them all out on the coffee table.  Then she brings me over to where Elijah's little chair is and signals for me to bring the chair over to the coffee table for her to do the activity, just like Elijah does in homeschool!  When she wants to go out on the porch, she brings me over to where her shoes are, gestures for me to get them, and sits down for me to put them on.  It's common to find her sitting down for an independent little break on a step stool around the house drinking her water from a sippy cup on her own.  She also greatly prefers feeding herself.  People often comment on her independence in group settings.  She is quite comfortable diving into activities, like a ball pit, and hopping in and out and playing like the big kids.  On the other hand, Audrey loves to be held at places like the church nursery when she first arrives, and loves sitting on our laps to read books or just have sweet moments together.  

Loves: Eating!  A huge fan of all things food and especially feeding herself with a fork.  The other day I gave her some food and forgot a fork.  She started eating it and when I realized i forgot the fork, I gave it to her and she promptly spat out what was in her mouth and fed picked it up again with her fork to do it right :)  She also loves touch and feel books, holding something while shopping in the grocery store, markers (tries to get a hold of them every chance she can and she can open and snap them closed very well!!), electronics like cell phones and the a/c remote control, noodles, crackers, raisins, baths, when we pat over her mouth when she sings (indian noise), and watching baby Einstein. 

New: Saying a few words: Elijah (li-ja), bye or tchau in Portuguese (mixed together =  tchye or bau!),  quack, bark, meow.  She is also starting to enjoy art, get the hang of puzzle or shape toys, sleeps with a small pillow, walks great, has all except her 2 year old molars in, waves when she senses everyone is getting ready to leave, understands helping to clean up, playing with Elijah (she always goes in his room looking for him when he is at preschool), understanding concepts like "diaper" (the other day at the grocery store I told her we need to buy diapers and she picked up her dress and showed me her diaper each time I said the word).  She also loves to say "no", but in a cute kind of sad/dramatic way and sometimes she wants to say no to everything.  We all love to kind of tease her by asking her things knowing she will respond "no".  So we ask her, "Audrey, do you want to go to the moon?" No. "Do you want to go in the Mickey Mouse Club House."  No.  "Do you want to ride in a kangaroo's pouch?"  No.  When we ask her if she wants to go night night, she also says no, but when she's really tired she just starts waving when we ask her about night night.  Really cute.  Often we tuck her in her crib and she waves as we turn off the light.  

Struggles: Some small temper tantrums when I take away something she can't have, always seems to find markers (no matter how well we try to keep them away from her height!), allergic reaction around mouth that comes and goes. Recently we are suspecting it may be a delayed reaction from milk, but we're not sure.  Trying to test it out.  

Routine: Wake around 8 am (sometimes if we let her she will sleep till 10 am!), if she's cranky a morning nap if she got up at 8 - nap around 10am.  Lunch at noon.  Afternoon nap 2-4/5.  Sleep at 7-7:30.

Elijah is 4

In the midst of our traveling, I realized I forgot to post a 4 year old update on Elijah!  So, bit late but here goes...

Personality:  Elijah is an analytical, inquisitive, silly, somewhat reserved, kind boy.  

Likes: Reading, Legos, imaginative play, and asking 1,001 questions (a lot of them good deep ones even about life and death, or about how things work...such as Does Jesus drive in the sun??)  If you allow him, he will literally ask question after question after question with no end and he really is soaking in the answers and trying to put the pieces of life together.  He loves helping with everything from washing the car to helping to cook and he's very responsive when we give him a directed task to do and takes lot of pride in having done it.  This year he was really into the show Octanauts and Dinosaur Train and lately he's been loving reading nonfiction books about tractors and trucks and also  science books (especially the magic school bus) and he wants to understand every last detail about how things work.  He like to play with friends and cousins, play on playgrounds, ride his bike or scooter, color and draw (but so far he will only draw sticks, rocks, maps, and the sun since he claims that he is too insecure about doing other things "wrong").  He likes homeschool so far, especially because it's basically all reading and workbooks, both of which he loves.  He can spend countless hours playing with building toys (legos, marble run, etc).  His favorite foods are noodles and he really likes them "clean"  aka with no sauce.  He also likes fish, hot dogs, and muffins.  He happily eats almost all veggies, but is not a fan of lettuce yet.

New: Really interacting on a deeper level, room play time instead of nap time, drawing, playing board games, really make a transition from preschooler to kid.

Routine: Up at 7:30, homeschool about 1 hour in the morning or preschool for morning time, lunch at 12, play time from 1:30-3:15, clean up room all on his own, watch a show, dinner, then bed at 7:30.  We cut the afternoon nap just around 4 years old because it was getting too hard for him to sleep at 7:30pm...it was obvious he just wasn't tired.  It took about 2 weeks to transition it out and he has been doing great ever since!

Struggles:  Moments of temper tantrums when he doesn't get his preferences, he has forgotten most of his Portuguese so is struggling to feel connected to friends and Brazil since getting back.  He has resisted wanted to go to the kids programs at church since he doesn't understand what is being said.  This week he will begin preschool and we're hoping it will help him relearn the language quickly.

Lastly, for his birthday Elijah really wanted to have an Octanauts themed party.  We got a blue cake and put an Octanaut toy on top.  We played pin the Octanaut to the Octapod and had hot dogs, sea shell mac n' cheese and decorated the table with Swedish fish and goldfish crackers and a whole bunch of Octant toys.  Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Jamie, Noah, and Hannah joined us at Popi and G-ma's house for the simple party.  I keep laughing when I remember that Elijah wanted to pray for the dinner  and after thanking God for a bunch of things, he very seriously added "And thank you for the Octanauts all over the table".  

We just love this kid who makes us smile and enjoy life every day.  It is a joy being his parents and watching him grow!

Audrey is 1 1/4

I'm stunned at how much Audrey has grown and changed in just 3 months!  She is really making that change from baby to toddler, developing personality, finding her sense of humor, having a will of her own, and making us fall even more in love with her.  

We returned back home to Brazil this month we can say with confidence, that Audrey is a furlough All-Star!  She was flexible every step of the way, through late nights, traveling, being held by so many new people.  She even managed to time her teething perfectly to wait until our visitation time was over and have her 6 teeth break through in just 4 weeks while back in a routine at G-ma and Popi's house.  

Audrey learning to walk was unending Christmas fun and entertainment.  Everyone wanted to see her begin walking before we left the US, especially G-ma, but Audrey seemed to seriously lack motivation and confidence.  Countless times we all cheered her on as she stood, poised to take her first step and slowly sank down and smiled.  She loved to talk walks around the house holding Popi's finger (he was her favorite to walk with and would let go of anyone else's finger and go to him when he came in the room).  Finally she took her first steps walking from mom to G-ma - about 7 steps one day after Aunt Jamie had worked on her walking using occupational therapy techniques and attempts to lure her with a chocolate doughnut.  After that a few weeks passed with a few steps here and there, and finally in the last 48 hours before leaving the US she took more steps.  Now, back in Brazil she's finally getting the hang of it at 15 1/2 months.

Personality: Continues to be sweet, flexible, and generally a happy girl.

Likes: Dogs (even big ones), cell phones and remotes, jumping in her jumper still, being tickled, feeding herself, sitting in her high chair and eating, sleeping with her bunny blanket, noodles

New: Imitating a dog barking when we ask "What does a doggie say?", saying "Li-ja" for Elijah, calls out "Daaaaaadeeeee" for daddy, (nothing for mommy), signs "more" by clapping, knows what she wants and if she can't make is clear or doesn't get it can be a "bucking bronco" at times, eats absolutely anything and everything we offer, took her first steps at 14 1/2 months and now at 15 1/2 months is beginning to actually try walking out as transportation, curly hair (went from stick straight to curly as soon as we arrived in humid Brazil, playing intentionally with little people and other toys (such as stacking or putting people inside a house or making sounds)

Routine: Wakes at 8 (though sometimes keeps sleeping as late as 10 am or later if we let her!! Once she slept 16 hours straight!!)  This girl LOVES to sleep!  If she wakes at 8 she still takes a morning nap at around 10:30 and I wake her at 11:30 or so, just so the afternoon nap still happens.  If she sleeps in late we skill the morning nap.  Then afternoon nap approx 2pm-4:30.  Bed at 7:30.  

Struggles: The red rash from last update has continued until now, though she's doing a month long treatment for fungus/yeast which looks promising.  She also has heat rash on her neck since coming back.  I think the biggest struggle is the phase she's in in which she doesn't yet play very involved with toys.  She doesn't get into anything for very long so she wanders around bored at times, even though there are options.  So finding ways to keep her engaged even when I'm busy with household tasks is a challenge.  She also often hates baths and will scream.

Audrey Sophia - 1 Year Old!

I can't believe our Audrey is a year old!!!  What a wonderful, wonderful year it has been with this girl in our lives and part of our family.  I can't even imagine how we had a family without her!!

 We had a fun family cake smash to celebrate this girl's birthday.  Christa make a cute pink cake for her and we all watched her dig in.  At first she was kind of shy and just picked at the frosting, especially going for the pink candy balls on top, eventually she dug and just kept going, having a fabulous time.  It was such  fun, no-stress, all fun way to celebrate this girl who means more to us than words can say.  And since she is such a sweetie, nothing other than a sweet dessert celebration would have been appropriate.  :)  

After the cake smash it was direct to baths, followed by a pizza dinner.  Fun, fun, fun!!!

Personality:  Sweetie pie, go with the flow

Likes: Dancing and singing with music, making loud noises of celebration at totally unexpected moments, eating all on her own, Cheerios, swings, slides, eating rice cakes as she sits in a shopping cart, cell phones, Elijah, feeding us bits of food, being tickled and flipped upside down, getting a hold of my earrings and pulling (ouch!) 

New: Being able to hold unassisted if we prop her up, but when she realizes what's going on she shrinks down to sitting and refuses to let us do it again (goes all floppy), climbing up stairs, starting to do some things intentionally like move blocks into a container

Routine: Nothing new

Struggles: Red bumps around mouth that seem to be an allergic reaction.  We are trying to figure out what's going on and think it may have to do with milk so we're trying cutting out milk

Audrey is 11 Months

This month Audrey has been such a sweet, flexible girl even as we've traveled around and had many stretching situations with little routine while on furlough.  She has been nothing but a joy to have around.

Personality: Sweet, happy, easy going

Likes: Playing in a walker (sit in kind, not the walk behind kind), cruising, trying to get a hold of phones and remotes, dancing and singing with music

New: Trying to climb up stairs, causing, 6 teeth, saying "night night" or waving very occasionally, having fun with cousins and Elijah,

Routine: Trying a new routine of waking at 7:30, napping 9:30-11:30, napping again from 1:30-4, sleep at 7:30.  She has done amazing bouncing back to a routine even after weeks of instability and has been completely flexibly and sweet (never, ever cranky) even when we miss or delay a nap due to our furlough schedule.  This sweet girl was made for missionary life :)

Struggles: Dealing with bumps around her mouth that we can't seem to identify the cause of, but at least don't seem to bother her

I can't believe these are the last few weeks until Audrey is 1 year old.  We love you, Sweet Audrey!