Silas

As Dad Moody noted when he and Mom visited a few weeks ago, Silas seems to have forgotten about superheroes the moment we set foot in this house. While superheroes are fun for little boys to be into, and while I do miss seeing him in costume, I’m happy that the outdoors and nature have captured Silas’s imagination so much that he doesn’t look to superheroes for that outlet anymore.

The first few days in our new home, Silas played with his Lego bricks quite a bit. Now, he occasionally plays with them, but mostly he’s outside climbing trees, hammering rocks, having imaginary adventures with neighborhood friends, and getting scrapes and bruises all over his little 5 year old body.

Silas has also managed to teach himself how to ride a two-wheeler. One day he wanted to show me how he could ride the bike without the training wheels touching the ground. I was amazed that he was actually doing it! We hadn’t worked with him at all, so we were impressed. We’re thinking that his razor scooter helped in the process since he had to practice his balance on the scooter. Grampy rewarded Silas with a brand new two-wheeler!

Cooper

Cooper’s big news is that now–for the first time–he can correctly pronounce his name! I’m so very proud. Cooper has had trouble pronouncing consonants in the back of his throat. At first, his name came out a little like “Pepper,” but then switched to “Tooper.” His ‘c’ sounded like a ‘t’, his ‘g’ is a ‘d’ sound, and his ‘y’ is an ‘l’. So, he was “Tooper” who ate “doldfish” and liked the color “lellow.”

Monday of last week, he came into the back yard and told me that now he could say, “Cooper.” I couldn’t believe that he was saying it correctly! He explained that our neighbor helped him learn. Our neighbor is a speech pathologist for disabled children, and she taught Cooper one little trick that enabled him to pronounce the ‘c’ sound. I still have to remind him to say it correctly sometimes, but he’s even said the ‘g’ sound when asked. That first night I went to bed with tears in my eyes, thankful that my little dude could finally say his name.

We bought Cooper a new yellow bike that fits his height better. He still uses training wheels, but is balancing very well on Silas’s two-wheeled scooter. 

We’re seeing his imagination develop as he writes letters to friends and narrates his playtime. And surprisingly, he may just be a bit more fantastical in his imagination than Silas is!

Cooper’s been growing in courage in new situations. Just this past Sunday, he walked up to a teacher at a new church we were visiting and told her he was looking for his class. I had to catch up with him! This is a big development from him bursting into tears when I’ve dropped him off.

Brynn

Baby Girl has been uncharacteristically fussy these past two weeks. She’s been through a lot of transition with our move, Mommy and Daddy’s trip, and a week with Grammy and Grampy. On top of that, she has 4 molars coming in right now which contributed to a fever last week. I’m sure her mouth is incredibly sore. When Mom was here, she got Brynn to babble and use baby talk to ask for things. I’ve been working with Brynn to use words or baby sign language when she wants or needs something, but for now, crying seems to be her preferred mode of communication. I’m also cutting out her morning nap, so Brynn has several reasons to cry of late. We’ll get her evened out eventually. I guess I can’t blame her for being Moody. (sorry, just had to throw that in there!)

Brynn is skilled at going up and down stairs. She took a few tumbles down the stairs at first, but now has gotten good at managing them. She’s also climbing up on the couch and stepping down the sidewalk curbs pretty well. Forks are one of Brynn’s favorites, and she’ll eat almost anything as long as it’s on a fork. Grampy taught her to love the park swings while he was here.

Stuffed animals are finally finding a place in our home now that Brynn has arrived. She loves to cuddle with her stuffed penguin at bedtime, and loves to hug the bears and animals we have around the house.

These little kids are keeping us on our toes!