an update? what’s that?

so after reading one of mary’s latest posts, i realized that i haven’t done a ‘kid update’ in goodness knows how long. probably not since we abandoned the old ‘family site’, and since we didn’t sent out christmas cards this year, it’s been at least a year since i did a ‘comprehensive’ update.

shane (10 1/2) is… hmmm… complicated. we’ll say that. in general he’s a happy kid and likes to stay active. he still hates school and pretty much anything involved in it, but we’re muddling through. he really enjoys his science class, however and is slightly less enthusiastic about drama, but doesn’t complain too much about going. this year, instead of having a major role in the play, he’s opted for a bit part along with being one of the stage managers. he loves hauling and moving and organizing grunt work stuff like that, so it should be a good fit. his reading is definitely improving, and he recently started the first harry potter book, which he’s slowly making steady progress through. he played a fabulous season of soccer in the fall, but is still resistant to any other sports. he spends most of his ‘spare’ time with our neighbor, susie, who has extensive native plant gardens and always has some MAJOR project going on. so he’s learning a lot about plants and landscaping and stuff like that. he’s kind of in that pre-teen confusion age, and bounces back and forth a lot from kid to older kid, which is fun for us. ::sigh:: he’s also become very concerned with his clothes and hair lately, an interesting development. but he’s a good kid, generally responsible and a big help around the house (with a little prodding). ;)

layla (4 1/2)is VERY sensitive right now. she’s still crazy and energetic and excessively creative, but you better not laugh at anything she says or raise your voice to her or she’ll completely dissolve into tears. she prefers to spend her time coloring, writing or drawing (especially designing clothes), singing, twirling or coming up with elaborate ideas about what she is going to do, which are usually impossible. she’s a good big sister and really enjoys playing with micah as he’s getting old enough to be a good playmate. she’s really looking forward to being old enough to play soccer in the fall. she’s still very snuggly and frequently tells us, “i want to feel you.” she also spends a lot of time pouring over books and is super-excited to have her own library card now (which i don’t let her use very often because i have a hard time keeping track of when the books are due).

micah (2) is BUSY! he has no problem asserting himself, and we frequently hear, “NO! i don’t want to!” from him. he’s doing great in the potty training department, just need to get it to transfer from external prompting, to him remembering to go himself, but i don’t anticipate any ‘issues’ with him. he’s still my pickiest eater, but is healthy and growing, so i guess he’ll survive it. he’s still snuggly and cute and tolerates lots of kisses and hugs, but he’s definitely growing out of being a baby (for real), which makes me a little sad. but he’s a lot of fun and cracks us up all the time. he also LOVES books and will frequently disappear to his room where we will find him sitting quietly in the middle of a pile of books, ‘reading’.

that’s about it for now.