This morning, as I heard Peter upstairs calling out to let us know that he was awake, I called to him "Peter!!" And then he first two sentences out of his mouth to me were "MOM! Just stop talking to me!" I didn't reply. It was followed by "Mom, you're my best friend." That kinda sums up Peter's mood these days. Another exchange between us at lunch. P - "Mom, you're mean" Me - "I probably am sometimes..." P - "I love you!" followed by pause and then "Just be quiet!" Wesley jokes that Peter is bipolar. I think Peter is just exploring the power of words. He will tell Wes "Wes! I don't like you!" and Wes will pretend to cry, and then Peter says "I like you!" and goes to give him a hug. Peter also has been waking up in a confused rage a lot during the middle of the night. Last night he woke up crying and mad and told me to stop changing his diaper, and any reply I gave was just met with screaming and "Stop talking to me!" so I opted to stay quiet. It's a lose lose situation. He eventually agreed to come into our bed, which is our last resort for peace and quiet. I lay down next to him, he asked for water a few times, kicked off his blanket over and over again, and I guess eventually fell asleep. I'm having flash backs to Lily's nightly sleep walking episodes.
Let me see what other kid updates I have...
Peter's also been climbing the walls! Corey helped the kids film these two shorts today - one with Sophi playing the supporting role, and two with Owen being amazed at his little brother's abilities.
Daniel is a little intense, which occurred to me yesterday when he was gone for several hours skiing with Corey. Daniel went skiing with Corey, Father David, and Sophi. I checked her out of school and they went up to Brighton for a few hours. After our dinner with Father D on Saturday, Corey invited him to come ski, and they planned that for Wednesday. So with Daniel gone, I noticed I wasn't fielding constant requests and demands. He's doing better at requesting instead of demanding, as that is something we've been working on. He'll say "Mom, get me water/oatmeal/some other food item" and I'll remind him "Remember you need to ask me, you don't command..." "Mom, can you get me water?" Better.
Owen has been the VIP this week at school, which is very exciting for him. He got a paper crown that he got to wear. Pretty cool! He also made a poster, which he was so anxious to take back that he did so before I got a photo of it. He has been the "line leader" this week which I guess is also a big deal. He had his first trial trumpet lesson last Wednesday and will probably start regularly, which he's excited about. We got him a pocket trumpet and he's very good at practicing.
Natalie has made a little secret reading spot for herself up high on the top of the closet. She is able to climb up there by herself, which I only mind a little bit since I'm worried she might break the banister that goes up the stairs, which she uses to hoist herself up. I also don't love it cause Daniel and Peter want to get up there too. Corey put them up tonight.
It has been warmer the past week and I got bikes down for the kids a few days ago. They've been riding outside a lot. Sophi has a good friend Kelsy, and on Tuesday they decided to ride bikes to school. Which I wouldn't have minded EXCEPT then Natalie and Owen wanted to go too and that makes me more nervous to have them cross the busy street without adult eyes watching. So more hassle for us, yay. We scrambled around trying to find summer stuff to get a bike lock for them to use. Corey found it and then followed them to school. I set an alarm to go follow them home after school. I didn't get a picture of this cause Lily was using my phone for her clarinet lesson. Abi was in the car with me, cause right after making sure they crossed the street safely, I was going to take her to my mom's house to work. So we get to school, they are already on their bikes and on their way on the sidewalk around the school. I call out and tell them that we will follow them. Natalie sees me and is about to ride into carpool traffic toward me to follow me. "NO! Stay there - go on the sidewalk! I'll follow you guys!" I pull over while they cross the cross walk so that they are riding in the same direction of traffic, and there are cars waiting for them to walk their bikes across. and right after they cross the crosswalk, Natalie gets on her bikes and goes right in the road and back across the street that they had just used the crosswalk to cross over. I kinda yell at her, I don't know if she heard, but I think she realized her mistake of going in the street in front of the cars, so then she rides her bike in front of the cars AGAIN to come back to where Sophi, Kelsy, and Owen were. The safety patrol and one of the school office workers were there at the cross walk and saw it, plus all the parents in their cars behind them and in front of me. I wait for the cars to slowly drive past these crazy kids, and then we go past Natalie "NATALIE! You can't do that! You can't drive in the road in front of the cars!" "Sorry!" and we go to the church at the corner, Abi jumps out, helps them stop and get off their bikes and make sure it's safe to cross the busy street, they cross safely and phew, no one died, yay. Then I took Abi to my mom's house. To Sophi - we don't mean to be party poopers so much of the time, it's just that when you want to do something fun, it often involves work for me, which is ok, but sometimes I also resent it. But we're glad they made it home safe. They rode their bikes around a bit more, and then we put bikes up on the rack cause there was snow in the forecast.
Lily - as with Sophi and her bike ride to school, Lily is also enjoying the nice "fool's spring" we've been having -
This past weekend a boy from her grade at school died in a skiing accident at Alta. When Corey and I were in 8th grade, one of our classmates died in a skiing accident too. We got an email from the principal on Sunday night, but Abi had already heard about it from her friends over text. Kids at her school wore yellow today in his honor because it was his favorite color. I found his obituary yesterday and Abi cried as she read it. She doesn't feel like she knew him well enough to go but she'll probably watch it over zoom. She said that his parents were gone in California when it happened. I can only imagine that long trip home after receiving such surprising and heartbreaking news. It's been an experience that has helped make the principle of trusting God like Abraham (from the Come Follow Me lesson this week) even more real as we see real life examples of it.
And last but not least, atleast for the 8 kids living at home - Wes. He's liking BYU online, he works a lot at the Rec Center, and he loves Peter. He has some pictures of all the ice skates that they have to put away each Wednesday night, and it's insane. That seems to be the big youth activity night, so when ice skating closes at 9, and everyone turns in their ice skates at the same time, there are a LOT of skates to put away.
Things are good. The house is still clean and today it's been 4 weeks, GO ME. I'm not as surprised and amazed about it as I was the first two weeks, cause I guess it's normal now! I have figured out how to keep a clean house! And I trust it will last until life maybe turns on it's head after the baby comes in 3+ months. But Mel and Abi might be able to take over the role when/if I'm not doing as much as I do now. Things are good.
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