Get In My boat!

This month for Family Home Evening we're learning the versus to Follow the Prophet, so we learning about two different prophets/versus each week. Last week James and Matthias each taught one part of the lesson. James did Abraham and Matthias had Noah. We asked him at dinner if he was ready for his lesson and he started in on the story doing a great job. We told him to remember it for FHE.

After dinner the boys got some things together...Matthias got Little People Noah's Ark and Noah along with some random animals and tools. During his portion of the lesson he held up Noah pictures from the Gospel Art Kit and began...

"Noah taught all the amimals. He told them to be good and to be righteous. But the scary amimals did not listen. The not scary amimals were righteous. Then the not scary amimals got on the boat.....(at this point the telling got a little jarbled).....left scary amimals and then they drove home."

Meanwhile I'm trying to sit and listen politely to what Matthias has to share as Taylor is in complete hysterics, laughing so hard he is wiping tears away. Matthias kept a completely straight face the entire time totally ignoring Taylor.

Later while playing the ark and animals for activity Matthias (as Noah)said to the animals "You will sink. Get in my boat!"

Self Entertainment

People are always amazed at my children's ability to entertain themselves. It seems few children are capable of playing independently or together for more than 10 minutes at a time from what I hear.

The other day I read in a book that children are not born into the world able to entertain themselves, they need to be entertained and expect to be. Until we teach them to entertain themselves. This is really something they need to learn and work at, it doesn't come naturally.

That's exactly it. James didn't just pop out and want to look at a map for 45 minutes at a time. As soon as Matthias was born James didn't haul him off to sit on a blanket for 2 hours and play camping. These skills have been growing over the years because of all the free, unstructured time I force upon them. They really started getting good at it when James was just over 3 and Matthias was 15 months or so.

I've been thinking about this recently as Hannah has been whining any time someone isn't looking at, holding, or talking to her. Her training has begun. And just last week I was able to fold laundry for 30 minutes while she cooked in her kitchen (which she LOVES). It was an amazing feat. Soon she'll be toddling after the boys and ruining all their games.

Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic

James currently wants to be a research doctor when he grows up and a helicopter fire fighter. The other day he realized he had pretty much booked his adult life so he announced to me, "I'm going to be a scientist right now and explore things. I'm not going to play at all, just be a scientist when I'm a kid."

James is really into numbers right now. He loves adding things up and coming up with large numbers. He has started into subtraction even, but adding is his forte right now. The other day he counted to 90 with only about 5 prompts.

He's also learning to read and write. He is currently taking a Robotics class at the Y (I love the Y and don't know why we didn't join years ago) and really enjoys learning about and controlling the robots. I think he even does some really basic programming.

Both the boys are learning to swim from me and James is picking it up fairly well. Hopefully he'll be swimming by the summer time so he can go down all the slides!

His favorite pass times right now are looking at maps, playing Army Kitchen, digging in the back yard, playing with Ryan, and learning about dragons.

Welcome Home James

If you haven't noticed this week is in tribute to James (apart from the aside of the appalling Army Kitchen)...things I want to remember about him that haven't yet made it to the family journal (aka blog).

Not wanting to give all my feelings on James' birth I am focusing only on bringing him home. Vastly opposite from the experiences with my other children, the days at the hospital passed much too quickly. All of a sudden the nurses were telling me I had to leave and take this itty bitty life with me. I was very overwhelmed and completely freaked out. I had no idea what to do with him, how to take care of him, what to expect. I didn't know what he would do or how I would deal with him.

I was totally terrified of what I had gotten myself into. Babies were so cute and fun, but then I was expected to know how to care for one 24/7. It was extremely daunting.

James was lucky enough to be blessed with 4 baby showers prior to his birth. We had SO many blankets, we would just laugh each time we opened another. When we got home from the hospital that first day it was 5pm and we were nervous and worried. We were counting down the seconds until Taylor's mom walked in the door at 8 that night. Those first 3 hours were crazy. But what I remember most is that James managed to spit or poop on 5 of those blankets. In 3 hours. It was hilarious. So that is why you need so many baby blankets...

The first night Grandma Harvey (Kathy) slept in James' room and listened to every last peep, woke me every three hours or so to feed him, then put him back to bed for me. I can't imagine surviving those first few days without her. Luckily after the first one you don't have to listen to every sound and you certainly NEVER wake them up.

While it's amusing to think back on in some respects it still overwhelms me to think of those first few months as a mother. Such a challenging time. But each day we get more comfortable and figure each other out a little better. Motherhood is still daunting, but not terrifying.

James in Sunbeams

Last year.

I've had an email to myself in my inbox for the past year stating "Journal James Sunbeams"

James started Sunbeams a year ago and it was so cute. He was in nursery forever (being born in January) so he was older than most of the kids and really ready to be there. We actually moved into the ward he started Sunbeams at (Park Meadows) the summer he was 3.5 years old so still in nursery. That first Sunday at least 3 people asked us if we were sure he was in nursery and not Sunbeams. As if we would have not realized or forgotten?

I was really excited for him to learn the songs and also to be with him there* which worked out great since I did get called to Primary Pianist in our next ward/branch (Alameda) when he was still in Sunbeams.

James loved his teachers, Brother and Sister Boshaump, in his first Sunbeams and really learned a lot from them. Every week they told us how smart and amazing he was. It was so exciting to finally have a kid in Primary! I'm sure if I had done this a year ago when I should have I would have many more things to tell.

Two weeks ago was actually his first time to participate in Closing Exercises though where he was able to give the prayer. He did a great job!



*I've been in Primary almost my entire married life. Other than a small stint teaching Marriage & Family Sunday School (8 months) and as Relief Society Pianist (6 months)

All My Hopes and Dreams

of playing tea party, kitchen, cooking, baking, gentle, feminine interaction with the acquisition of our first girl toy have been dashed by the invention of:

Army Kitchen

Shower Time

When James was little I hated showering during nap time because it seemed like such a waste of precious time. When he was very small I would lay him on the bathroom rug, once he started moving at 5 months he would sit at the end of the tub shower. In Provo I would have him watch Little Einsteins when it was on Disney at 9 am (back in the time of free cable from BYU).

The best though was when we moved to Houston we had our amazing master bath that was of course attached to our bedroom so I would sit him on the bed where I could see him and give him a special basket of toys reserved just for "shower time". He would sit and play for up to 15 minutes while I showered and got ready.

This worked for two reasons: 1) our bed was (and is) over 3 feet off the ground so it's not easy to get on and off for a 16 month old, and 2) he was not Matthias.

I thought about this today as I grabbed a quick shower while all three kids played kitchen in Hannah's room. The one room I feel safe leaving her in for a few minutes while I shower. Generally I do wait until nap time, but occasionally I leave the kids in her room for 5 minutes while I shower.

I'm sure I never showered with Matthias awake at all. I'm actually surprised I showered at all when Matthias was small. But I can only recall 4-5 times I haven't showered in my life as a mother.