Shoe Cake

 

L loves to build words with the moveable alphabet.

L is not big enough for the astronaut suit yet, but that never stops him.

L is copying P's "meh" smile.

L was in charge of treat for FHE and he requested a shoe cake.  Here they are with the masterpiece.

L woke up from a nap and got to have cocoa.  He wanted me to take a picture of his mustache. 

Reading and Martial Arts

We went to a party with tang.  L really liked it.

L is a lot like Olaf, or Forkey.  He gives lots of hugs.

 I've been working regularly with L.  He is finally ready for the Good and Beautiful kindergarten book.  He can read 2-3 letter words now.  It's going well.  We're considering having him go to school sometime in the future so he can benefit from the structure and access to specialists. 

In the mean time I signed him up for a martial arts program so he has that structure and listening practice.  It's super cute.

charming boy

L is still napping strong.  My desire to keep him napping makes me get us out and active to wear him out.  It also has us reading every day and having more regular schedules to accommodate this chunk of time required to get him to sleep.  He puts his toys on the window sill, chooses books, lays down and snuggles up.  I realize that all my children could have been champion nappers if they had had no little siblings needing attention for a solid hour every day.  They never had that.  I'm glad I can give that to L since I can't give him the baby he wishes he had. 

Sometimes he marvels at his own tummy and tells me that he will have a baby and will name the baby Bernard.  He plans to have children and I will come visit them.  He also plans to always live with me and never leave me.  L has plans.

L is B's best friend and tormentor.  They have so much fun together.  B is competitive and wants to win.  L is constantly demanding that B go easy on him.  They have good times.
 

all the naps

 L takes daily naps, 2-3 hour naps.  Daily.  It's a wonderful time to cuddle and read a few books, then take a nap in the middle of the day.  You know he's tired because he cries out "I'm not sleepy!"

Birthday!

 L had a birthday at home for the first time in forever.  He probably was home last year too since we were home from Utah by his birthday, and not taking any other trips.  But for the first several years, he was never home for his actual birthday and we always measured him when we got home.

Going to the library in person for the first time in forever!

Checking out the seed library, so cool.

Mini golf!

We split the kids into groups so we didn't have to wait so long for each other playing every hole with 7 people.  We also didn't have to hear the teens fighting, much.

Levi designed his birthday "cake":  Brownies with whipped topping and lego jello.

We got L the 2nd Biggie set of books.  We love Elephant and Piggie.  B was so pleased to pose with his copy of the first book.

The boys like to go on bike rides and packed water bottles.  They saw some woodpeckers and so that was fun to stop and see.

Mom and L love their cuddle time on Grandma Buffy, the giant bean bag.

2 wheels!

 L has been asking to have the training wheels removed.  I took them off today and he wobbled his way into 2 wheel history.  Tonight we rode around Crazy Horse and he only crashed into B once!

Levi loves pets and was so delighted to hold my friend J's bunnies.

Reading to L

 

B and L play candy land a lot recently.  I love it.  They aren't competitive, they just play.  L loves to get the cards with candy even if it means going back.

L gets read to a lot recently.  I'm glad we're making space for this.  He's the only person in the family who can't read.  Each of the siblings has a sound box book they are supposed to read with L.  I read to him before nap time.  He also asks for books at various times in the day.

When grandpa visits, L gets him to read to him.  He also gets chased around the house and screams a lot.  I'm glad he's the only one doing it.

L loves B and it's sweet to watch them learn and play together.

L continues to call things with  unique descriptive terms.  He called this the blow up ball with a silly face.

He has these awesome folders and loves to match the numbers.

He can do the monkey bars.

work and naps

 L started taking naps a few weeks ago.  We go in and read a few books then fall asleep from 3-4, sometimes 5.  This routine has led to better routines of other work for him.  I started him in the kindergarten Good and Beautiful language arts.  He also does math, cutting and phonics work.  We have been riding bikes and scooters around the neighborhood and his stamina is getting good.

Apples and a haircut

 

On Monday L took a 3 lb bag of apples into his room and bit around the center of each apple (7).  He also stole 2 bags of cheezits and an ice pop and ate them in his room.  The TV is now gone from the room and the bean bag.  I was so exhausted from his behavior that I took a nap after dinner.  When I woke up he had cut off his bangs.  I calmly said it was time for a haircut.  I laid him down on the carpet and shaved it all off.  I gave him the last lolipop, which is the standard reward for haircuts.  I know it will be a long time before he needs another one.

The upside is that I woke up to his need for more attention.  We started doing daily school again.  I also painted the Avatar symbol on his head for a photo.  He agreed because I told him he could wash it off as soon as he wanted.  He wanted it off as soon as the picture was taken.  His siblings protested but I reminded them of the deal.  It's important to keep our word and to let children know they can hold us to it.

Salad Boy

 L loves salad.  He has strong feelings about a lot of things including new foods.  I don't know how he accepted salad but he's always down for a salad, especially tomatoes.

Walking with Mom

 L likes to take mom on walks.  He asks to go on these walks in the middle of the day when the sun is warming everything nicely.

We got out the table slide and it stayed up for almost a week before the kids were too loud and crazy with it. 

Grandma and Grandpa came out and we flew kites at the beach.  It was such a wonderful outing.  Grandpa has a big collection of kites and L ran up and down the beach with this little rainbow bubble kite. 

At one point I couldn't see him but saw the kite, then saw him laying on the sand.  He was running so much!