The Boys

Russell has been struggling lately with hmm. . . a lot of things. Mostly concerning his attitude and his ability to understand that he is 5 years older than Zeke and as such will always have more expected of him and will always be disciplined differently. So, as a consequence he has been spending a lot of quiet time in his room "reflecting". Although Russell is an extremely smart child, I can't seem to find his "motivator". He will almost always take the easy way when given a choice, or will do the least he thinks he can get away with on any subject/project. He is having a hard time grasping the concept of long term goals. Long term being anything past today. It is kind of odd that this should be a difficulty for a child who started out obsessive about everything. For example, he saved every penny he got from age 4 til age 8 (@$600) so he could buy himself a sailboat ( which he now has -- we helped a little ). I'm hoping it is a phase -- maybe an 8-12 year old phase -- and he will grow out of it by the time he is a teenager (LOL). Somehow I doubt it -- we could only be so lucky. I would really like for him to decide that something is important without me making it important to him. Oh well.

Ezekiel, on the other hand, has really been doing well lately. Not only does he seem to have gotten a handle on his tendency to be so whiny -- what a blessing, but he is also developing into a really good big brother. He and Caden play so well together. It is really cute to hear Caden run through the house calling for ZEKE. In addition to his personal development his school work continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Not only in his ability to do it but in his attitude towards doing it. Before this year Zeke dreaded school and seemed barely able to keep up. It has been so exciting to see him finally catch up to where he is supposed to be, and at the same time, to watch his enthusiasm for school increase.

While his brothers have there own things going on Caden is learning to use the potty. He has actually had one or two days where he has only been wet when he wakes up, and then tells me he needs to pee the rest of the time. However, it is still hugely hit or miss, and although he does pee on the potty several times a day he is no where near potty trained. Especially since so far peeing is the only thing we can get him to do in the potty. It's a start. In addition to learning the potty he is also learning to go to sleep in a toddler bed all by himself. He has been sleeping in a toddler bed since June, but I have been rocking him to sleep and then putting him in the bed. For the longest time if I just laid him down, like I used to in his crib, he would just get up and play or want out. Now, he is actually beginning to be resistant to rocking and wanting to lay in his bed. I still sit next to him so that he will stay in the bed, but soon I hope to be able to leave him in the bed and leave the room without needing to put him to sleep at all. That will be a real blessing when the new baby comes. Sure would be nice if he were potty trained and sleeping on his own -- LOL.

Chris and I worked hard on the house this weekend. We were able to get half of the office cleaned up, but there is still quiet a bit left to do. We were also able to finish putting together the bonus room. I am so excited about being able to use that room now. All we need in there now is something to sit on and something to hold all the board games. It looks really nice, and now I don't have to feel depressed every time I look at the horrible mess in that room. At this rate hopefully Chris and I can get the house done in time for the baby in Mar -- LOL.

Last night was a very eventful night as Chris and I were startled awake by the smoke detector in our room (0130). After searching the house it seemed like the smell from a heater only really bad with smoke, so we turned the heat off and after a little the smell went away. Apparently, there is something wrong with the furnace up in the attic. We left the heat off because we were afraid that it might actually start a fire, and decided Chris would go up in the attic to check it after work today. It was about 73 in the house at the time, and it had been really warm for the past couple days so I didn't think it would be a problem. Chris went into the babies room and threw another blanket on him and we went to sleep. At 0430 I woke up FREEZING to death. Holy Cow was it cold. This morning we found out that maybe we should have watched the weather last night. There was a freeze warning in our county last night, frost on the ground this morning, and here we were with the heat off all night. Hopefully Chris will be able to figure out and fix the cause of the problem tonight. It is nice to know the smoke detectors work, but at the same time it makes you feel a little nervous.