Spencer is FOUR!!!

Birthdays stress me out. My kids are at the age where they want birthday parties and I can't just give them anything without them caring. I worry about the party and what I'm going to do, who I'm going to invite, having a plan and making sure I have everything. And for presents I stress about getting them something just right. I hate spending money on items that are played with for a day and thrown to the side in less than a month or worse a week.

I wasn't keen on inviting all of Spencer's class but who should I invite from the class. There are only four other boys (of whom I don't talk much with their mom's) so I didn't want to just do boys. So the whole class it was! But I learned my lesson with Jared's party last year. Presents are welcome! I really don't like having kids bring presents but honestly if I would've said no presents we'd have 15 kids +parents in our home. (I have not yet been able to justify $200-500 parties held at a "cool" facility).

I wanted to have the party on his birthday but back in September he got an invite to a birthday party on his birthday. Seriously! Some people are on top of things. Three weeks early! So we had his party on Friday. I bought pirate invitations and after paying $15 I decided I could do better and cheaper too:) Here was the outcome:

I also made his pirate cake:

And a pirate pinata:

The decor for the party:

Action shots at the party:

Take note of the girl in brown with polka dots at the head of the table. I will refer to her later in the post:)

His actual birthday was packed! I slept in til 7:15 when the boys woke up, made waffles, opened presents:
Went to a party from a girl, Abbey, in Spencer's class. They had a magician there and it was entertaining and the kids loved it.
When leaving the party Abbey ran up to Spencer and gave him a hug good-bye, ran away, and then ran back and gave him a kiss on the cheek to which Spencer wiped his cheek off with his sleeve.

Then we were on our way to a boy's birthday party, Sean, from Jared's class at Lil' Kickers. Traffic was bad and we were already running late. It took us about 30 mins to get to our next location to which Jared was relentless in talking about the kiss Spencer received. "Why did she kiss him?" "Spencer do you want to kiss her back? On the lips?" "Do you want to marry her?" "I think I may have been kissed before." etc...

We finally arrived 30 mins late. Jared played soccer with friends while Spencer, Miles and I watched. While eating pizza they got the inflatables out. Spencer and Miles joined in on the action this time. They had a blast! Below is Jared, Tadgh, and Spencer on a giant slide (the favorite).

Then we came home, played with presents (legos, Dagedars, Phineas and Ferb figurines, balls, and walkie talkies). I only made one cake and Chris picked up four gourmet cupcakes that we ate on his birthday.
We all went to bed exhausted and happy. Happy birthday little Man!

And real quick I wanted to post a little more about Spencer... This man has turned a corner this past four to six months and he is so much enjoyable! Not that I didn't enjoy Spencer before, he just whined all the time. And I don't know why, but nothing gets to my nerves more than whining. He still whines but it's more normal and not excessive. He talks so much more. I love his conversations, I love his expressions, I love his giggles, I LOVE being his mom.

Somethings I want to remember about Spencer:

"Mom, I like you"

"Will you play with me? Say yes"

"Can I have some candy, say yes"

He loves school. Never has he complained or not wanted to go.

He likes to tell you what to say when playing with him.

Gets along wonderfully with girls, seriously!

Loves lasagna and lasagna bread (french bread)

Loves his primary teacher at church Sister Monson and therefore so do I!

Loves candy, always asking for it and is he my child that will sneak it and hide and eat it

Loves Wild Kratts

Everyday he asks for a frozen strawberry

Can't wait to pick up Jared from school

One of his favorite books is the chapter book of Peter Pan

He's a cuddle bug. He loves me to hold him and just snuggle.

Very sensitive, sweet hearted, tender little man:)

I love you Spencer James!

Visiting Aunt Terri At Work

On Monday we headed downtown to visit Aunt Terri for a late lunch and tour of where she works (she's a disc jockey at xrt). Chris was able to meet us for at Wildberry for lunch (we found this place in the burbs one trip out to Ikea and he's been craving it since and it just opened up downtown, yum!) Terri loves these boys and was excited to show them off to all who were there. They got cool flashlights and headbands. Then we went into the studio where she records her shows and the boys got to record their voices and listen.It was a fun little trip. Aunt Terri is the best!

We've Gone From This:

To this:

So Monday I took Jared back to the clinic I initially took him to. His vision seemed to be getting better but he had Monday off so I decided to take him for a quick check instead of waiting til the 28th.

A student stared going over things with Jared and everything seemed fine, which I thought it would. She had him read some things far and close. He took his glasses off and said, "I can read it without my glasses too." The doctor came and looked at his eyes and we were sent on our way. I took Jared over to a different room to have his glasses adjusted better. While there, the doctor came to me and took me out in the hall to talk while the student entertained all three boys. She proceeded to tell me that Jared had the right prescription but it was so insignificant that she wouldn't have prescribed him at his age.

She said his eyes were strong and focused well, his depth perception was fine, and his eyes didn't wander or anything else that would be of concern to her at this age and at his prescription numbers. So I asked her what she would do if it were her child. She said if he wanted to wear them she'd let him because they'll only help. But if he didn't want to wear them she wouldn't make him and he wouldn't be hurt by not wearing them either.

I then asked her about the potential of growing out of it and she said there's a good possibility he could, which the other doctor said he wouldn't because of his astigmatism in one eye. I asked her about that and she said everyone has a slight astigmatism more or less and his isn't in the "sweet spot" where it affects the amount of light entering the eye so he could still grow out of it.

We talked a little bit more, I got her information for future reference and we left. I felt so much more confident with this doctor than the first doctor we had. She explained everything well and answered all my questions thoroughly and I was impressed that she sought me out to tell me all this when Jared would've been fine other wise. She wanted me to be aware of all my options and I really appreciate the time she took to talk with me (a good 10 mins). I wish we would have seen her the first time.

You know the funny thing though? I've already grown to love the way Jared looks in his glasses. They had become part of him and something was missing whenever he didn't wear them.

So far he's opted not to wear them to school, Tuesday and Wednesday, but wore them at the end of the day yesterday. I've been deliberating if I should keep my appointment on the 28th or not and I'm leaning towards canceling it. I want to get a third opinion since the first two were opposite, the first doctor initially said he needed to wear the glasses just for reading, homework and things of that nature and then changed it to all the time.

I think I'm going to hold off on it though because Jared is sick of eye doctors at the moment and I think it's psychologically hard for him to be told you have to wear them to you don't have to but you can if you want. I trust the second doctor more, even though she did less tests with him, and I feel good with what she said. We'll definitely be testing him in a year from now and in the meantime he's not going to be hurt by wearing or not wearing them. Oh and the school does eye testing at the end of the month so he'll be checked again then.

The first and last picture is of Jared with his first library book. When he first showed Cherie (Chris' mom) and me we had to try hard not to laugh. We read about 20 pages of it. I told him to get a smaller one next time. He got a Goosebumps book and we have about 20 pages of that one left to read; much better.

Grandma and Grandpa M Visit:)

I l.o.v.e when we have visitors, especially grandparents! Chris' mom came out last Monday and his dad on Thursday. Right away I took advantage of having grandma here and cut the boys hair while she helped distract them:) We went to the Science and Industry with Grandma and the Field Museum with grandma and grandpa later in the week. Chris had a one-on-one lunch with both parents. We ate a good variety of food (thai, american, seafood, chinese, pizza, and Ann Sathers (love the cinnamon rolls!)

I didn't take lots of pictures but here's some:

Playing in the rain

Doing worksheets

The week before Cherie and Jim came Spencer had told me he wished his grandma could pick him up from school. Lucky for him his grandma was coming in a week and she picked him up every day she was here along with Grandpa on Friday and he loved it!

Jared's pick up.

We finished off the week at Jared's school fall festival, Fallapalooza. It would have been perfect if it was warmer but it was still fun with lots of mini activities, soccer, pumpkin decorating, and a really fun DJ.

We miss you guys! Wish we weren't so far away.

Jared's Glasses Debut

He looks good, don't you think?

Jared has complained a little about his vision for distance. I'm getting a second opinion the end of the month and taking him back this Friday do check his prescription. I don't know how long it takes for eyes to adjust but it's been a couple weeks and he still says the oven clock is blurry from the table so I'll be taking him in...
Nice water mark from the drinking fountain.
His first day at school his teacher said he wore them the whole time except for lunch and recess but immediately upon returning he asked to go to his locker to get them. She said they also made an announcement to the class about his glasses because Jared was getting sick of everyone asking about them. He's adjusting pretty good. I thought he was going to break them a couple times, because he was so frustrated with them by the end of the day and didn't want them, but I'd say overall he's done well.

Miles is Two!

When he was around 18 months old he was insistent on a couple things: eating at the table like everyone else and wearing pajamas that covered his feet. He loved them:) He's always had a determination about him and as hard as it is sometimes, I hope that doesn't change. I love seeing him work towards something.

He's constantly working to keep up with his brothers. I'm amazed at how well these boys can play together. Miles is so intrigued at watching and holding a figurine, car, or train ect, that he rarely inhibits the other two's play or becomes part of it without being too destructive for the most part. He loves his older brothers and they likewise love him.

Below is a clip of him using scissors. Almost every day the older boys do "worksheets". Some of them require cutting. Well Miles wanted to cut too. So I worked with him for a while. He didn't get it that day but continued trying until the older boys were done. The next day he wanted to try again. We kept at it and pretty soon he could do it. This boy is a determined little one and I loved seeing his perseverance.

This kid loves trains and airplanes. He has an ear for airplanes and trains constantly pointing them out to us. He has a blue helicopter he's taken a liking to these past few weeks and there have been moments when we can't find it. He keeps saying airplane, airplane. I try other planes to see if they suffice but no, they do not. So far we've been able to find his beloved helicopter but I worry the time it goes missing.

His favorite books are Dr. Suess's ABC's, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. He loves the alphabet and is obsessed with Oo and Ss. He constantly points them out. Q and C's are O's to him and 5's are S's. He doesn't know a lot of letters (O, S, T, A, R, J, E) maybe more but those are the ones he's accurate on. For J he doesn't call it J but says Jared's name, I don't know how to spell the Jared's name the way he pronounces it because it sounds nothing like it but all know that's Jared to him. For Spencer he calls him Spence. My favorite thing about Miles and his talking is his Yes. It's drawn out and dips in the middle. I l.o.v.e it! I also love how he says thank-you mommy at such considerate times. Love this boy!

A new thing I've noticed about Miles is he predominantly walks on his toes. I've noticed this before but always attributed it to him reaching up to something or trying to be at his older brothers' levels. But one day I noticed he didn't come down on his heals until he was at a standstill. I'm perplexed I didn't realize this before. He sometimes walks with a heal strike but I would say 90% or more of the time he's on his toes running or walking. I don't know if I should be concerned at all, Chris' brother Ty walks on his toes and he's fine but he's mentioned his quads aren't as flexible or something so I don't know if I should work with him to walk on his heals or what. I'll ask the doctor when we go next week. I'm not concerned but would like to see what she says...

Below is a video of his "tip toe" walk. Password: tip toe

Tip Toe from Marjorie Meservy on Vimeo.

Potty training continues. Just yesterday morning I was stoked. He woke up from the night with a dry diaper, hadn't had any accidents the prior day, and I'd just told someone recently that he's only pooped his pants once! Well... I don't know how many accidents he had that day but one of them included his second poop accident. When he forgets to tell me I look at him and furrow my eyebrows and tell him, "No, keep them dry!" He just looks at me brings his hands to his face and smiles or will pat my face and say, "Hi mommy!" I haven't gotten too upset with him yet mainly because he's too cute and innocent. I've been tempted to go back to diapers just because I desperately hate cleaning up after accidents but when I've tried he's refused or lets me put a diaper on just to take it off a minute later and throw it at me. He's really pretty good at it I just wish he was older. It seems the older they are the less accidents occur. But for now, we haven't thrown in the towel yet. We'll see how the new school schedule affects it all.

All the above was written over a month ago. Miles still does not wear a diaper, other than at night, and has done remarkably well. I change underwear a lot. He usually goes a little, says potty, we run to the bathroom and he finishes his job. But this last week we had my mother and father-in-law in town for the week and it was horrible. The night before they arrived he had two big accidents, wetting underwear and pants, and then throughout the week it was uncommon for him to tell me he needed to go. I would look at him and say, "Miles". He'd put his hands on my face and whisper, "Sorry mommy," and then give me kisses and look at me like "am I forgiven?" Very cute, but still annoying. I'm hoping for a better week where I'll be giving him more attention.

And since beginning this post we have also gone to the doctor. Miles is in the 90% for head, 25% for height (33 1/2 in), and 50% for weight (28 lbs). I asked the doctor if they could give me an approximate height for him when older and she said it's not very accurate, but if you wanted something, they say to double a kids' height at two and that'll be their adult height. So 5' 7'' is Miles approximate... we'll see. I also talked to her about his tip toe walking. She said if a child does it 50% of the time or more they like them to start therapy. I told her I thought he did it more than 50% of the time. She asked if he did it while wearing shoes. I couldn't remember (for the past month we'd predominantly been inside because of potty training hence shoeless, maybe he wasn't doing it very much before?) Chris and I decided to try shoes for a month and see if that did the trick and it has. He has a pair of old school Air Jordans that he doesn't toe walk in so we've been wearing those a lot and it seems to do the trick. He occasionally walks on his toes with no shoes but not often enough to be of concern.

Now for some pictures of his actual birthday:

Bedtime Conversations

A couple nights ago when I was laying down by the boys we had the following conversation (it's not really funny or anything but it was fun because both boys were really interested in what the other had to say.) I've forgotten bits and pieces but here's what I remember:

S: My name didn't go on the yellow space today

Me: Oh good, has it ever been on yellow?

S: No (I totally believe this, he'd be so distraught if he was ever moved to yellow)Me

Me: Jared what happens when your name goes to red?

J: Then you don't get a sticker

Me: Have you ever had your name on red?

J: No... I don't think so.

(I know he's been sent to the thinking chair before so I'm guessing he has.)

S: I was the line leader today and a boy cut in line

J: Did you cut back in front of him?

S: No

Me: What could you have done?

S: I could have said, "Excuse me" (which he said with the cutest, sweetest voice)

It's great when we talk about pre-school together. Jared totally gets into it with Spencer and it's like he's trying to give Spencer advice. Spencer has turned a corner where he is talking and singing all the time. He used to be a lot more quiet or I'd have to pry to get information from him. Now he's eager to share his preschool experiences with me even more than Jared was at his age which I never thought possible.

Another bedtime conversation:

Tonight when I put the boys down I asked them if I could lay by each of them for a few minutes. When I layed by Jared he started talking about the time this summer when Chris and I left to go look for a lost cousin. He told me that whenever he thinks about that he wants to cry (when we came back from looking he was sobing and scared about us being gone.) I told him I used to be scared when I was little about being away from my mom. I didn't tell him how scared though (whenever I heard an ambulance at school I'd race home to make sure my mom was ok and it took years for me to spend the night at a friends house because I didn't like leaving her.) Part way through Jared and my conversation Spencer poked his head over us and asked, "When's it my turn to talk to you?" My intention of laying by them was to soothe them, not stimulate them, but I didn't mind tonight. When I layed by Spencer he spoke up right away:

S: Why do people smoke?

Me: Because they think it's cool, they like the way it makes them feel, maybe their parents smoke, or because a friend asks them to smoke

S: If they asked me to smoke I'd say no and give it back

Me: Yes, say no thank you and give it back

J: I'd take it from them and throw it on the ground and stomp on it.

Me: You should be polite Jared.

S: The only thing we should borrow should be toys... (from here he goes on a long tangent of toys and breaking them and not being nice and buying new ones and more; I zoned out for a bit)

Tonight Jared told me he wanted to smoke really bad; not what a parent wants to hear. We talked about it for a little bit. I wanted to scare him out of it by saying something like, "Don't you EVER think about that again, " or "If I ever hear of you smoking..." But I knew this wasn't the answer. But I did want to talk about it briefly and move on. And then the thought, prompting, came to me, "Talk to him now! Take the time." I turned to look at him and his eyes were searching mine. I wasn't sure where we were going to go from here but I felt like I needed to drop everything I was doing and be at his complete disposal. I started by talking about the word of wisdom our Church believes in which got us talking about alcohol.

During that conversation he asked what it felt like to drink alcohol. I started to try and explain and decided to do a quick google since I really don't know. But because of our prior conversation I was thinking smoking and googled that instead. I found this site that I really liked and we listened to all of it. He was totally into and asking questions. We then went to the section on alcohol and listened to half of it before he lost interest. I felt like these links were very informative and can be used for a variety of ages (This site is made for teens.) During the alcohol section it says 80% of highschoolers experiment with alcohol. Right when they said that Jared said, "Except dad!" I thought that was cute.

It's crazy that he's only five, almost six, and already these topics are emmerging. Early in the week he really wanted to know how babies came out of the mother. I was starting to try to explain it when Spencer distracted him with something else and I didn't remind him of it later. Kids learn things so early. In my mind I want to say he's years away from some of this stuff but he's not. He said he still wants to smoke. He thinks it looks cool but he's gaining an understanding of why we shouldn't. I didn't like the fact he wanted to smoke still after our nice discussion but at least he was honest with me and didn't tell me what I wanted to hear. Stay young my little man, stay young...