I always like to write down random things that I want to remember about specific times in our daily life. These are phases that I will probably forget if I don't write them down. But someday I will read back on these and the memories will come back to me as small, yet defining moments in our day to day.
I want to remember:
1. How Staley snaps her fingers every time she is walking from one place to another. I never have to wonder where she is in the house or where she is heading, because as she's walking, she is also snapping her fingers...CONSTANTLY.
2. How the girls now always have to sleep with a sleep mask on. Yellow Bear (Teddy), Fuzzington, and Bear Bear are all still the constant sleep companions for my kids, but sleep masks have been added to the mix for the girls.
3. How Briggs still often wakes once in the night to use the restroom, but now he will sometimes (not always) take himself to the bathroom and then put himself back to bed without coming in to wake us up. If I wake up in the morning and his bedroom door is open instead of closed, I know he chose not to wake us...and I appreciate that!
4. How Staley LOVES the public library. She volunteers there once a week after school, but will often ask to walk to the library on other free afternoons, "just to hang out." If my pre-teen daughter wants to go hang out somewhere after school, I love that it's the library.
5. How Adelie was SO pleased by her teacher's high praise at her parent teacher conference. Her teacher went on and on about Adelie's high reading test scores (in the 99th percentile), and Adelie couldn't wait to share that with us.
6. How Briggs is such a creature of habit that we had to bribe him with jelly bellies, just like potty training, to encourage him to stand for peeing instead of sitting. Each time he stood up to pee, he'd get a jelly belly and so would his sisters...so he had lots of encouragement. Habits are hard to break, but jelly bellies definitely help.
7. How each of the kids has a book series they are reading (or re-reading). Staley is re-reading the Land of Stories series, Adelie is re-reading the Wide Awake Princess series, and Briggs has started reading the Dinosaur Cove series. He is very proud of himself for reading these chapter books.
8. How Staley, and Adelie to a lesser extent, are always reading multiple books at the same time. Currently Staley is reading Land of Stories, Treasure Island, and the Fellowship of the Ring (along with other random books she picks up around the house or at the library) while Adelie is reading the Wide Awake Princess books and Holes.
9. How family movie night remains a challenge because Briggs is still pretty averse to any movie that he hasn't seen before or that might have a bad guy or a scary part. If Briggs had his way, movie night would always just be watching episodes of TV shows like Paw Patrol or Bluey. Generally Zach and I have to just choose the movie, and typically Briggs will stick it out once it has started.
10. How Adelie has improved so much with her response to homework. She has a math worksheet almost every night, and she rarely complains about doing it. She has also gotten way better about practicing her piano without complaint...and her piano playing skills continue to improve.
11. How all the kids are getting so much more helpful and independent around the house. I still need to ask them to help out, but they'll clean the bathrooms, unload the dishwasher, pick up the house, put away their laundry, help out their siblings with things...all with minimal complaints. It's so nice to move into this next phase of increased helpfulness with decreased complaints. I'm not complaining about that!
12. How the girls and I are working through devotional books each night before bed. After reading to Briggs and putting him to bed, I get 10 minutes of one-on-one time with each girl to do a devotional time together. I love this special one-on-one time that I get with my kids.
Each moment in time brings a new set of things to remember as my kids continue to grow and change and mature. Each phase of life brings new challenges, new worries, and new decisions to make, but it also brings about new freedoms, new experiences, and a broader picture of who my kids are growing up to be. And I, for one, love seeing them grow into this life God has planned for them.
They keep growing and changing...and I love being along for the ride.
