Still doing catch-up. Mmmmm . . . ketchup (it's Fast Sunday)

 . . . So I need to continue on right where I left off, and I left off with updating you about Keller.  I just had one thing to add about him that made me chuckle.  His feet have always been a little turned in--enough to cause occasional discussions with the pediatrician, but not enough to take any corrective steps.  Occasionally he trips while walking, and our concern was that it might impede him doing active things, like running.  Well, Keller recently told us that they do some sort of game at baseball practice called base running, I think.  And he is so fast that he has won this game every time!  I guess I'm going to have to find something new to worry about.

Next up is Meriel.  Meriel is creative and uninhibited.  She has a fleece tie-blanket that she made for herself with her Grandma, who let her choose the fabric.  One side is bright, rainbow tie-dye, and the other side is neon green and pink leopard print.  And that is her.  It's often hard to keep her focused, but she does well at school.  Actually, if she's really interested in something, she won't be distracted or deterred.  One thing that really gets her attention is food.  She's constantly asking to help out in the kitchen, and if I can get myself to sacrifice that quiet time, then I let her.

We learned at the beginning of this school year that she has a little hearing loss in both ears.  Our best guess is that it's congenital (it existed at birth).  It doesn't cause issues, for the most part, but she does ask us to repeat ourselves often.  We haven't been able to figure out what to do about hearing aids yet (they're thousands of dollars and not covered by insurance), so we've just been living with it until we can look into any charitable organizations that might help out with this sort of thing.  I've had it on the back burner of my mind, but Meriel asked about it recently so . . .

Mitchell is in kindergarten.  Tim pointed out to me that you can't pick up Mitchell from school without several children and teachers yelling "Bye, Mitchell!" to him.  He's fun to pick up from school.  He sees me walking with the stroller from a long way off and comes running to meet me, his big backpack bouncing up and down behind him.  Then he'll turn a few times and wave at friends or teachers, giggling at something they say to him, and come galloping up to me, always with a huge grin on his face and a sentence just about exploding out of his mouth.  The first day it was, "Kindergarten is SO FUN!  My teacher really IS the best teacher!" (His older siblings had informed him of this fact before the first day of school, and he was thrilled to find out they weren't lying).  A few months later, after he had received some awards for knowing his alphabet, numbers, etc., it was "I am SO GOOD at kindergarten!"  Lately, he has been meeting me with a "Wow, Mom!  You're not LATE today!"

Always moving (I just had to tell him to stop jumping on the couch while watching a movie), I know that I'll never need to worry about him getting pudgy from playing video games which is his current obsession, because he doesn't ever sit down while playing.  All the games involve his whole body, and he rocks back and forth from one foot to the other while he's waiting for the game to load.  But luckily his energy has not made him mischievous or destructive (see Declan below).

Declan is an energetic, mischievous, and destructive Sunbeam.  But he has been proving very helpful lately, so I'm trying to show him the right things that he can do with his boundless energy to turn it for good.  And he really does want to be good, but he does not seem to have a good inner sense of what that is.  You have to keep on your toes with him.  He doesn't do well without supervision.  But he has the cutest grin.  And he has a little bit of a lisp and all the words that he says that end with an "ks" sound he will add an extra "k" onto it.  So "socks" come out "socks-k."  Funny kid.  His current interests include helping mommy, no matter how unhelpful, and playing with his siblings by torturing them with taunts and hitting and grabbing their toys, then running away laughing.

Which brings us to Cassidi.  My last post (well  . . . last, last post, actually) was about her birth, and now she is almost a year and a half.  She looks like Rheanna, but has been behaving a lot like Keller.  She is an avid thumb-sucker and will sit happily on a lap, content to just watch what is going on.  Then occasionally, she will show what she's picking up from all of her observation.  She has learned what it means to say prayers before we eat by folding her hands, bowing her head and closing her eyes during prayers, unprompted.  She'll even whisper her own nonsensical prayer sometimes.  She has even observed how to chew someone out, complete with finger wag.  I don't know where she gets it from.  But I DO know where she gets her interest in the piano from.  She loves to properly perch herself on the bench, raise her arms gracefully, and then passionately pound away.  She even puts her back into it, arcing and deflating her spine to give emotion and depth to her solos.  She has been more expressive and talkative lately, and she makes some hilarious faces, but mostly she's a snugglebug and a sweetheart.

So that's where everyone is at right now.  Aaaand . . . end scene!