Shamelessly Bragging about my Kids

Can I brag about my kids for a minute? I mean, that is kind of the point of this blog, isn’t it? I am just so proud of what each of them is accomplishing each day. We’ll start with Mairead… she IS the oldest, after all. And, she has SO much to overcome that I really want to focus more on everything she CAN do, and not on what she still needs to achieve. She has her preschool 'meet and greet' tomorrow at which she and I play together, and then she has her real first day of school on Thursday. I am BEYOND anxious about it since I know that it will be hard on her (and her teachers) at the beginning. I also know that once she is settled, she will love it, and and will be the best thing for her.

Mairead can:
Recite the alphabet and recognize every capital letter and most lowercase
Name at least one word that begins with each letter
Name shapes- circle, triangle, rectangle, square, oval, heart, star, diamond, and pentagon
Name all of the colors
Count to 20
Count backwards from 10
Count to five in Spanish
Say ‘hello’ in Chinese. Yep, Chinese. Katie walked into the kitchen the other morning and said, “Hi, Mairead,” so Mairead responded, “Ni hao.” Thank you, commercials for Kai-Lan on Nick Jr. She doesn’t even watch that show!

I am working on teaching her that Dave and I have names, and what those names are. She is great about Daddy’s name and is able to say mine most of the time. It is absolutely adorable to hear her call us “Maghan” and “Dave.” I am hoping that she is able to do this if she ever gets lost, which is a huge concern for us right now. She has no regard for her personal safety, and if she did get lost, would not know to find a mom, find a safe place, tell someone her name, etc. So, we are working on that, as well as using ID tags that attach to her shoes.

She was awesome with her cousin, Lily, this weekend. Before Lily arrived, I told Mairead that someone was coming to visit and asked, “do you want to see the baby?” She replied, “Baby sister.” Sorry, little girl, but that is not happening! I don’t even know where she learned that phrase since no one on Sesame Street has a baby sister. She called Lily her baby sister several times over the weekend and it was very sweet. She also learned that Lily is “too little” for McDonald’s fries, but she did try to share, so I was proud of her for that.

Now, Jack. Jack is eating more food than I can believe, and though he is still about a half inch shorter than his baby brother and about a half a pound lighter, he is growing so much! In July, they were both about 23lbs, so they are probably somewhere around 25lbs now. The other day, I found some of their preemie clothes and seriously could not fathom how they ever wore them. And, those clothes were actually too big for Jack—he was swimming in them! Jack is a talker- he knows over 50 words that I can think of and comes up with more every day. He also knows how to sign, “baby, more, all done,” and “wind.” He is starting to try to count 1, 2, 3, though it sounds more like ‘un, oo, ee.’ Very cute. His favorite thing lately is to take an adult by the hand and lead him or her to whatever it is that he wants. His other favorite thing is to press buttons on the tv, which does not please his big sister. He loves coloring, markers, cars, and trucks. He is very sweet to his brother- when Ben cries, Jack pats him on the head or hugs him. Just adorable. He is still the ‘thinker,’ always observing before doing. He is a snuggler, still, especially with my mom. Oh, and he also is a little thief who will get his little hands on a tv remote or cell phone faster than you can imagine.

And Ben. He is just the goofiest, happiest little boy. I call him ‘happy feet’ because he is always dancing. If you’ve seen that movie, you know that the penguin is always dancing and moving his feet and doing his own thing. That’s Ben! He knows just over 40 words that I can think of. Interestingly, they are not all the same words that Jack uses. A lot are the same, but each boy also has his own. Ben says, “flowers” and Jack doesn’t, and when Ben sees flowers, he points to them and says, “oooh, flowers.” He has an unnatural sense of balance- the kid can (and does) climb e.v.e.r.y.thing. I will often walk into the living room and find him sitting on the coffee table and ‘dancing.’ He points out the window and asks to go “bye-bye, car, walk (we go for lots of walks!)” from the moment he gets up in the morning until he gets to go out. Then, he starts up again as soon as naps are over. He seems to initiate the ‘games’ that he and Jack play. They toss a ball and then both run after it, play ‘tag’ and just chase each other all over the place. He still loves his trash/recycling, and will find bottles that you never even knew were there. At the playground, he is the kid at the top of the slide with no idea how to get down, not a care in the world… he just stands up there looking happy and victorious, doing his ‘happy feet’ dance until I come help him slide down.

They are so much fun- they are also SO much work! I feel like I am constantly taking away something that could be used as a weapon, swallowed, or damaged. I am also often removing children from the tops of furniture, slides, or other dangerous situations. We are so lucky to have three kids who are so happy and who bring so much happiness to us and to our friends and family.