Update

Here's what we've been up to!

Oliver:

He's not really into Star Wars anymore. When he gets to watch TV, lately he's been choosing a show called Man vs. Wild, which is basically a documentary about a man who gets to live out every little boy's dream in each episode -- exploring exotic and dangerous places, diving off of cliffs, swimming through rapids, wearing your underwear like a hat, eating bugs . . . fun stuff. So a lot of his pretend play is centered around that sort of thing. He's also been drawing a lot, making up and occasionally writing his own stories, and sometimes he still builds with Legos. :-) He is reading pretty well these days! He likes the Elephant and Piggie books and easy to read books by Syd Hoff, but he doesn't quite have enough reading stamina to get through one in a sitting. He's working hard though, and we are very proud of him! He's still in swim lessons and he likes them, but the only problem is that his lessons are only taught on Saturday mornings -- and that time just doesn't quite work out for any of us. We'll figure it out though. Another big thing going on with Oliver is that he was selected in the lottery for our first-choice charter school! God is so good. And wow, I can't believe that my first baby is going to be in kindergarten in a few (very) short months. I'm going to need tranquilizers.

Buttercup:

Surprisingly (or not?) she is into Star Wars. When she gets to pick a TV show, she almost always chooses The Empire Strikes Back. (And who can blame her? Hello?!) Her favorite clothes are still boy clothes but lately she's been alternating Oliver's old shirts with girl shirts. And she's also been occasionally playing dress-up in princess dresses! It's strange to see her in a frilly princess dress, but it was bound to happen sometime. :-) We've been to the doctor many, many times in the past month, so Buttercup likes to play doctor and give Big Baby a checkup almost every day. Somehow, I always end up getting a checkup, too, ha ha. She still really likes doing crafts, and one of her absolute favorite things to do is cut paper. Give her a sheet of construction paper, a pair of scissors, and she will go to town cutting that paper into pieces so small that I can't even see them! (Theodore always finds them though.) And my sweet girl is such a big helper. I can't say enough about what a wonderful helper she is. Oliver is motivated to help if he gets something in return, but Buttercup's heart's desire is to help for the sole purpose of helping others. I can see that about her already, and I love that God has given that gift to her! I have a very special job of fostering that gift in her. :-)

Theodore:

He is such a cute, little round boy. He cracks us up all day because he is so adorable! Almost everything he does is cute. If any of us are having an off day, not feeling like ourselves, being a little grumpy, etc. all we need is to have Theodore around and we're smiling again! One of my favorite things is when he makes a motorboat sound, it's so cute! Of course it's not quite as cute when he does it at the table, because he ends up spitting his food out . . . but we're working on that. He is so sweet though. He's been having some trouble settling down at bedtime for the past 2 or 3 weeks. We're not sure if it's because it's still so light in his room at bedtime, or if it's from teething, but either Dennis or I (usually Dennis, thank you Hubby!!) end up going back in his room a few times every night to pat his bottom or rock him until he settles down. Poor little guy, I wish he could tell us what is wrong! He's such a happy guy though, and I can't wait to learn more about his personality and see what gifts and talents God has given him!