Friday: Christmas presents

I'm reading a book about justice.  (Our church recommends a book each year, this year this is the book.)  Last night the reading was on being content with what you have.

This comes at such an interesting time, since it has been "making Christmas list" week.  As always, I feel like I already have plenty.  I can find some things for my list, but so much of that just things that would be fun.  Don't get me wrong - fun is good.  Fun items give people jobs.

Yet every year I always wonder what would happen if I only put donation items on my list.  I always feel like I would be a disappointment to people trying to buy for me, because choosing a charity wouldn't be as fun.  As I think about it though, I wonder why I should care.  As I think it through, I wonder if I would enjoy Christmas as much without tangible gifts.

So this is my possible notice to everyone.  Next year I might finally do it.  ...or I might not.  I have a year in which to think about it.

Tuesday: settlement

A while ago we got a mailing about a Lockheed 401k settlement.  We had to fill in some paperwork and send it back in.  Mine was easy; I haven't moved my 401k.  Ben's was a bit harder, involving a phone call.  Then he missed a signature so we had to send in an extra piece of paper.  At this point, our investment in Ben's side of the project is $0.90 in stamps and maybe 20 minutes.

We got a check yesterday for Ben's...$0.88.

*sigh*

At least we came out ahead on my side, by an estimated $0.43.

Monday: cameras and super speed

Joshua's favorite toys today were the cameras.  Neither has batteries.  I think he just likes pushing the buttons and the weight that they are.  Joshua was also rather cranky today.  There was a 15 minute meltdown in the morning...I want to be in your lap, no I want to be on the floor, no I want to be in your lap. Then tonight at dinner he kept saying "more" but we had no idea what he wanted.  Since the fever his appetite hasn't been great, so eventually we hand fed him some Cheerios.  It worked for a bit but wasn't really what he wanted.  He needs some more words.

Isaac and I played flags today.  It consists of chasing each other around and trying to pull off some flags that we got in a happy meal.

He's really into "super speed" the last few days.  He has his walking power (grape water), his running power (pomegranate water), and when combined with lemon water he has super speed.  (I'm running out of sippy cups.)

He also wanted me to take a picture of him going backwards on the horse.

Sunday: cleaning up, Christmas lists

Yesterday I worked on picking up the house.  This is a normal thing for me, but I feel like progress was made.  This morning Isaac came out of his bedroom and said, "Mom!  The table is so clean!  Good work!  You can have a treat." And gave me an M&M from his Halloween candy.  A little later he said that I should finish cleaning Joshua's room for a treat, and I said that maybe he should clean his room for a treat.  Well, that started a cleaning day.  Isaac did his room, finished Joshua's room, and started the basement before getting sidetracked.

Also, we started working on Christmas lists.  Isaac is so easy this year!  He thinks a lot of things look interesting, but not everything.  Many of the things he picked out look interesting to me too, so that will probably be fun.  My list, on the other hand, is currently rather boring.  Hopefully I can spice it up a bit, but even if not that's ok.

Saturday: fever

Joshua had a fever all day.  He woke up a bit late and seemed normal, but then barely ate breakfast.  Alone that wouldn't set off any alarms, but he was also content to just sit in the high chair.

The rest of the day he was just sleepy and clingy.  He had about an hour throughout the day of happiness.  But, cuddles sure are nice sometimes.

Friday: tragedy

Today's tragedy is that Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Helper is not available from Amazon and we used our last box this week.  This is pretty much the only "helper" that we eat anymore, and it is absurdly hard to find.

I finally got a picture with Joshua's face full of lovey.  He has two - elephant and bear.  They both got washed this past week because they were smelly.  Especially elephant.  Joshua likes to stick them in his mouth, and sometimes he'll walk around with his hands holding something else and it is pretty silly.  But he does love them. :)

Thursday: 46 months

Isaac turned 46 months several days ago!

Emotions/attitude: it was a pretty good month.  We've had some problems with listening the last few days, but overall pretty good.  He loves Ben and me.  He often says to me, "I love you so so so so so so so so.....so so much."  Which is fun...most of the time.  Ben usually gets "I love you ten much" or whatever number Isaac is feeling like.

Time scales: Isaac gets his time scales all messed up.  He has two: all day and tomorrow.  All day can mean often, today, or all the time.  Tomorrow can mean yesterday, tomorrow, a long time ago, or in the future.  It is often hard to figure out what he's trying to say.

Imagination: Isaac likes playing castle.  He is a puppy all the time lately...and by default the rest of us are dogs too.

Learning: They are concentrating on a letter a week at school and I can tell he's picking up on it.  He can sound out the first sound of a word and sometimes can even figure out what that sound is.  He is starting to write his name without prompting...below you can sort of see his name.  He got a little messed up around the As and crossed one out.  It also kind of wraps around.

Praying: Isaac has started to pray aloud about one time a day.  They are good prayers (see the video from a few days ago) although they sometimes lack complete sentences.  The prayer at the beginning of the month was "Dear God, [Thank you] for everything in the whole world and [help] everyone not break anything. And [thank you for] Jesus and thunder and lightning Amen."

He also wanted to take a picture of the pretty star.  I'm just excited because he's willing to sleep under my quilt again.