getting so big

Simeon and Glory watching a movie

I have been impressed with Simeon. He is such a polite 20 month old. He almost always says please. Even when he is mad, he will yell, "OP!! Ease". (translation: "Stop! please.") It is pretty cute. I am not sure why he picked that up, we didn't really coach him in that. It must be the wonderful example of his sisters. Oh, wait. They are usually the ones bugging him. Anyhoo--he amazes me. Yesterday, Genesis helped him say his own prayers. It was quite adorable. She tried to help him get down on his knees(he didn't really want to), and she helped him say the words. He is already proficient at folding his arms. Brooklyn was saying her personal prayers at that time and turned around to see what he was doing and he pointed at her-mid prayer-and said "prayers". I think he was telling her to mind her own business. It was all really adorable. And today, he said the lunch prayer. When he said "amen" he threw his arms to the sky. He is quite a character. And he loves his daddy!! Every time we see a big-rig, he gets so excited and starts saying "Daddy home". That happened today and I told him it was someone else, not daddy. Next thing I hear is, "Daddy, Daddy, are you?" Calling out like he was looking for him--where are you? Man he is cute!! (I think I am in love- the way I go on.) On Wednesday, Matt asked me to bring him something to the terminal. When we rounded the corner and Sim saw all the big trucks, he got so excited and kept saying, "Hi daddy, Hi daddy!" I realized I went to the wrong area to meet Matt and we turned around. Simeon was not happy. When Matt finally came, Simeon was in his arms with his head on Matt's shoulder the whole time. It makes me jealous at times, but mostly I am glad he loves his daddy so much. It melts my heart. There is just something about a boy and his daddy. Too sweet for words.

Glory is improving in her letters and numbers. She sometimes won't participate in the activities I want her to do, so I trick her into doing them. I will put on The Letter Factory for "Simeon" and she will end up watching it, even Simeon is learning letters. (except now all he ever wants to do is "otch ee" --watch a movie) And if I am playing a letter or number game, and she says she doesn't want to play then I say OK and start playing by myself. Saying stuff like, "I wonder if I can find the B in this group of letters. Hmmmm......" And she usually ends up playing. She is even practicing her writing on her own. She will get a pencil and paper and ask me how to spell stuff. She knows most of her letter sounds but is still struggling with the names. Hopefully she will be able to catch up to her class by the end of the year. In school, they read this book. It is called "The Invisible Bucket" I think. It is all about filling other people's "buckets". When we do nice things, it fills their buckets, and when we are mean or hurtful it empties their buckets. She loved the book and is constantly talking about filling or emptying buckets. She will do something and then ask, "Did that fill your bucket?" We have started this thing at dinner where I ask each of the girls what the best and worst parts of their day were and then we talk about them. Well, Glory didn't want to tell me what the worst part was. She said it would empty my bucket, so she didn't want to say. She was so sweet. I told her that I wanted to know what was going on in her life and how she was feeling, even the bad stuff. What finally convinced her, I think, was saying that my bucket was already full because she set the table for me and we could hug after she told me so my bucket would be full again. She told me the worst part of her day was not being able to play with Brooklyn at recess. I thought it was going to be when I chastised her for breaking my pan lid and she ran to her room crying because I "said it rude". But no, apparently not. The worst part was not playing with her sister. How sweet is that? Then she asked me if my bucket was full or empty and I told her it was overflowing it was so full.

OK, so Simeon just came to me and tattled on himself. Lately he has been coloring on walls and furniture and I always say, "we only color on paper." So he comes to me and is saying "paper" and waving his hand at me. I don't really understand, but then notice that is hand is splotched in red marker. He is telling me that we only color on paper and he colored on his hand. Is that a step in the right direction or not?? Hmmm