For some reason, Charlotte has advanced the following theory more than once, but this last time that she said it, I wrote it down (maybe two weeks ago).
“Ila thought I was a boy when she was in your tummy and when she was born and saw me walking, she was so happy to see I was a girl!â€
I finally got around to scanning this picture. This picture shows the break best, but you can see more here.
I was trying to take a new video of Nicole moving around with her new cast on, but she didn’t really go anywhere. She just kind of wiggled around. I did however capture her trying to read this book filled with addition and subtraction problems.
I didn’t know that she recognized numbers yet, but whether she actually saw the numbers on the page that she named or just recognized that they were numbers and started saying numbers, I don’t know. I suppose it’s a silly video to post.
Charlotte and Paul have been the best of friends. They have played together almost continuously since Paul arrived.
They shared some frosted cookie. Charlotte told Paul that if you mix the blue frosting with the yellow frosting you would get green frosting.
Their fingers and mouths were not the only thing that became that bright blue color. . .
Here are some videos that I took of Nicole learning to move with her leg splint:
Here she does some climbing:
Here is a still picture with her cast:
So far she seems much happier in the cast. I think it’s less painful for her.
We’ve been on the phone detailing injuries to families for the last few days, but I know we have some close friends and family members who get their updates here. For their benefit, as proof for compensation after a traffic injury, and for our written record, I will write the details of the injuries sustained during our car accident on Friday night. Since the pictures are a little gross, you will have to click the “Read more” link at the bottom of the page to read about them and see the pictures. If you’re dealing with similar circumstances, it might be helpful to consult a car accident attorney to ensure you get the support and compensation you deserve. If you follow us in a reader, I’m sorry because you may not have the option to skip looking at the entire post. If you or anyone you know needs legal assistance, consulting a New York personal injury lawyer could be very helpful in such situations.
Read more »I got this idea yesterday as my children were struggling to come up with good questions during a round of Star Wars Guess Who:
I’m very pleased with the final product and it didn’t actually take too long. The kids enjoyed a few rounds today after they helped me swap out the Milton Bradley cards for our own. It was nice that they knew all the people well enough to ask and answer questions about them and they weren’t confused about anyone’s gender like they are on the other Guess Who games. Charlotte has in the past insisted that one guy was both a man and a woman!
I can provide a tutorial on how I did it if anyone wants one.
I reflected back to July 4, 2004 during testimony meeting today. That year, the 4th also fell on a Sunday, it was when Zach blessed our first Child.
Our celebrating mostly took place on July 3rd this year.
Video = While throwing Snaps, Isaac shows off his missing tooth, Jackson shows off something else.
We lit sparklers during the day and then again at night. Nicole held one too, but when it started the “popcorn†phase, she dropped it in the grass and ran away. 
The kids enjoyed chasing parachute fireworks.
Poor Nicole was scared of all the fireworks. She hid under my chair or hugged me or Aunt Dee whenever she saw Zach approach the launch site. 
She was even worse in the evening. She spent the majority of time under my chair, mostly with her face buried in the grass and her feet sticking out the front of the chair. A few times she sat in my lap and hugged me. When I tried to turn her around, she gripped the back of my chair over my shoulder and wouldn’t let go. I had her facing towards the fireworks once, but she covered her eyes the whole time and refused to look.
Decorate your own fruit pizza
A movie (Shaun the Sheep) helped pass the time until it was dark enough to light more fireworks
After fireworks we drove home. A good time was had by all and luckily, bedtime was simple: 
Nicole is at that age where naps are becoming more irregular. It seems too soon, but here are the details:
This picture is from today when she fell asleep on the floor in her room, watching a movie at 4:00. She woke up as the other kids were going to bed. 
What would you do?
Nicole has been walking into the living room wearing other people’s shoes so frequently, that I thought she might enjoy playing with the dress-ups.
She put everything she could possibly put on, notice how she is trying to pick up a 3rd glove to put on.
Once she was all decked out, she didn’t smile and dance around, she just started playing blocks with everything on as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Charlotte put on her ballet slippers and picked up two purses and announced that she was “a mom with slippers on.†I was proud that she dressed up as a mom instead of a princess. 
Then she was a mom with a tail.
Isaac put on a tiger hat and tail and he was done.
Even Ila participated, although not really by choice.
The End
Isaac was excited when the dentist told him he’d start losing his teeth when he was six. On Tuesday evening while our home teacher was over, 
he discovered a wiggling tooth. A look of shock quickly turned into a look of excitement when he announced that his tooth wiggled. He was very excited and even called a few select individuals to announce the news. He showed every family member, asked if he could tell the childcare staff at the gym, and offered to let his sisters try wiggling it. He had several questions, but the only one I can remember is the question about if it would hurt when it came out.
Today it just fell out of his mouth as he was eating pretzels. He excitedly announced that his tooth fell out and that it didn’t hurt at all. He let everyone see it and encouraged everyone to touch his tooth and the hole in his mouth. We talked about the new tooth that was already peaking up through his gums and he suggested that maybe when it was all the way through he should mostly eat with that one since it would be the biggest and strongest one. Tonight he sleeps with the tooth in a Ziploc bag under his pillow.
Problem: I always have trouble getting a kid to finish a leftover sandwich, however I also don’t want to throw away a sandwich with only a bite or two out of it.
Solution: Cut the sandwich into bite-sized pieces and provide toothpicks.
Somehow this just works. The kids think it’s fun to eat with toothpicks and it no longer matters that the sandwich has been sitting in the fridge since yesterday.
Other applications: I have actually used the toothpick trick on a variety of leftovers. My kids will eat almost anything if you give them a toothpick to eat it with.
Six months old seems like the turning point for so many things. I started Ila on solids which she hated initially. 
She had the worst reaction of any of my kids. She’d scream every time I tried to give her a bite and stop screaming when I was not trying to feed her solids. I contemplated putting the pureed green beans away and trying again when she was older, but luckily I kept at it. It took about 2 weeks of offering her green beans every day before she started eating them happily. I kept her on green beans for a few days after she started liking them before introducing her second food, peas. Now she’s on her 3rd day of peas and seems to have taken to them more quickly. Now she seems to enjoy solids and eats about 2 teaspoons 3 times a day. I also put her in a booster seat a few days ago and she did just fine. Since then she has taken all her meals in it and sometimes plays with toys or bangs the tray while I make dinner.
She’s become quite good at rolling over and can surprise me with how quickly she moves from one place to another. She’s much happier playing with toys on the floor than she was even a few weeks ago.
She has started sitting and can sit without support, although it usually doesn’t take long before she topples over and she cannot get back into sitting position on her own. Here’s a little video I took yesterday:
She outgrew the baby bath. She’s a small baby and still fits in the bath, however she tries to sit up and it’s just not made for that. I switched her over to this bath support and she does great in it. She doesn’t need any additional support.
She also has an adorable closed mouth smile. Every time I try to take a picture of it, it changes into a big mouth smile or shocked camera face. This was the best I could do:
We have mostly taken away her pacifier. I keep one in the diaper bag that I often find attached to her bib when I pick her up from the childcare at the gym. I never use it at home, but I did use it on Sunday when Zach was on the stand for the first time and I was by myself with the kids. Incidentally, I tried giving her a bottle on Sunday at church and she would not drink it, she only drinks her milk right from the source.
Problem: Kids have discovered less healthy snacks and apples are no longer 
appealing. This trick can also solve the problem of finding an apple that one kid sampled and no longer wants to finish.
Solution: Cut them into sticks
Sometimes it’s just that simple. There’s something fun about eating apples in thin strips. It’s like apple fries. The other day my kids wanted cheesy crackers and rejected my counter offer of apples, until I cut them into long thin slices. I felt victorious as they consumed the apples and forgot all about the crackers.
Charlotte dubbed herself “The Trophy Giver.†She was building with blocks and built a trophy for me. I asked her what it was for and she said it was for “cleaning up.†Then she asked me to make trophies with her. 
I made a yellow one which she said was for Ila for “wiggling.†A blue and green one was for Isaac for “playing games.†A red one had to be for grandma, even though grandma says her favorite color is blue-green, Charlotte knows it’s really red. She said that Grandma’s trophy was for “doing all the things that she doesâ€. She also said that “when Grandma gets tired of doing all the things that she does then she would have to sleep.†Grandpa’s trophy was for “all the time he is with grandma.†Later she put the trophies for Grandma and Grandpa together and said that the trophy was “for both of them for all the time they spend together. Dad’s trophy was for playing more games than Isaac and she gave herself a trophy for someone who likes pink.
As we skyped she said she would give Aunt Hedi a trophy for something but I can’t remember what it was, I just remember that it was amusing. She thought Aunt Laresa should have a trophy for being good and Aunt Bethani would have a trophy for being happy and having orange hair.
I don’t know if this is a particularly unique thing or if I’ve just never noticed it in my other children, but when Ila is laying on her back and I give her a toy, she’ll play with it in her hands then transfer it to her feet and hold it with her feet. I noticed her doing that repeatedly with a variety of toys. 
THE END
“I have a frown because I have my favorite cup, but not my favorite, favorite cup.â€
“Do you know that carrots like to be food?†(the picture below is of a carrot on a toothpick, referred to by Charlotte as a “Carrot Popsicleâ€)
Last week we were at the park for a High Priest social, when Charlotte announced that she had to go. I took her to the bathroom and then decided that I should go as well. Unfortunately, I neglected to notice that there was no toilet paper in my stall until it was too late. I called to Charlotte and asked for some toilet paper. She passed the most pathetic single ply I had ever seen under the stall to me. So I asked for more. Again she sent one little single ply. So I told her that I needed 5 pieces of toilet paper. She sent back one ply ripped into 5 pieces! Thanks Charlotte!
Our first introduction to Mo Willems was his book Time to Pee!
I love this book because it’s very practical and straight forward. It included all the necessary steps and illustrated the feelings a child might have when potty training. The pictures are fun and whimsical. It quickly became our favorite potty training book. Here are some pictures of some of the pages:
He writes a similarly styled book called Time to say Please which I also like. I have to admit to not being as thrilled with his Pigeon series which is his most well known.
We have recently discovered his Elephant and Piggie first reader series which is a collection of silly books where the main Characters are “an optimistic (and sometimes reckless) pig and a cautious, pessimistic elephant.†(copied from Amazon.com Editorial Reviews). 
I really like this easy reader series because Mo Willems is able to provide an amusingly silly story with a small amount of simple vocabulary. Most beginning reader books are very dull in my opinion, so Mo Willem’s collection has been a great find!
Anyway, if you’re looking for a good easy reader, I recommend Mo Willem’s Elephant and Piggie Series.
