Big and little

Stairsteps

A few recent pictures of all four boys:

Waiting room

We spend some time each week at speech therapy.  Here were the boys a few weeks ago watching the movie in the lobby while we waited for our turn. But while Joseph and/or Malcolm are good at sitting quietly while their brother's in class, and other parents get to sit quietly in the room too, I gte the job of trying to keep Oscar from toppling headfirst into the Lego table, or tossing the train pieces on the ground, or making an escape down the hallway.  Fortunately they always stock grapes and cheddar bunnies for the kids to snack on.  As long as we have uvas, we're pretty much all good!

Teaching moments

The YMCA karate program only lets kids start at age 5, so Joseph can't do it yet but he is very interested to watch his brothers do it.  Recently he asked Michael if he would show him how to do some karate moves, especially kicks.  It was very sweet :)

Episode IV

"You want to know what it's like to have a fourth...just imagine you're drowning and someone hands you a baby." ~ Jim Gaffigan

Déjà vu x3

I can tell them apart, but some days it's uncanny...

North Pole Visitors

...or Minnesota visitors, anyway.  Same difference, right?  We were happy to host our good friends the Lus this weekend on their way down to south Texas for their annual vacation.  They were only able to stop for a few hours this time, but between their three boys and ours, everyone had a wonderful time playing and visiting.  We each got married in 2007 and it's been fun to see how our families have grown since then :) Here are me and Rachel and the boys from last year (Michael and Charles had their superhero hoodies last year):

And here were Rachel and I with our new baby Benedicts (Edmund and Joseph, respectively):

And here we are this year:

The babies are now proficient climbers and scavengers, the middle boys are our natural athletes who enjoyed playing football with Mathew, the older boys had fun playing trains and Legos, and as for us?  Rachel said that her middle son noticed that I am the same person as he sees in a picture they have at home, from when we were in college, "but she looks different now."  We agreed it's better not to go into all the ways we may look a little different than at 21 :)  We are very thankful for this friendship. 

Joseph pictures

He actually said "cheese" for this picture, silly goose

Joseph loves bath time - always happy to run to the bathtub and very serious about the business of playing and pouring water

I've been trying to go to confession on more of a consistent basis and usually take Joseph with me, but we were too early a few weeks ago so he hung out with me in the community lounge

Grocery shopping with a sweet little companion

Hanging out with Dad at the zoo

Holding his brother's hand at the playground.  Melting mom :)

Signs and words

Joseph's communication is really taking off this month and we are loving it.  This month has seen the arrival of a lot of two-word phrases and one sort-of four-word one: "All done appa joo!")  Some of them include, "Bye-bye playground" (comes out like puh-goun), "Mama up," "Dada car," "Pooh stuck" (looking at the picture in his room of Pooh stuck in Rabbit's front door).  But by far the most common combination of words is anything involving the word MY, which is now crystal clear.  My agua, my appa joo, my appa, my nana, my car, my cup, my shoe, my Elmo, my playground, my cracker.  MINE!!!  Hahah.  This child must be a third child or something.  It's hilarious.  He is actively defending his turf.

Joseph also says "truck" whenever he hears a fire engine, "buh" when he sees the school buses go by, "spoon" and "plate" when he helps unload the dishwasher, and "duck" and "quack quack" when we walk by the creek.  He vigorously signs and says baby, girl, boy, rain, wind, cracker, plane, help, and go.  I have so much delight in this age as he learns to communicate something new almost every day.

Help, help

Go!!

Trying to sign "bug"

Starting school

Michael recently "graduated" from Primary at his Montessori school where he's been with his sweet teacher Ms. Tricia for the past two years.  She was a little teary-eyed at saying goodbye to him but was so proud of how far he's come since he started.  Michael made her a nice card on his last day.  I really love the Montessori method and think it's been great for him, so we're really going to miss it.

Michael also spent one year in speech therapy classes to help improve his conversation, emotional, and social skills to get ready for kindergarten.  We got ready by making a new feeling board, reviewing all his "good friends" rules and discussing how to be "superflexible" when it comes to school.  We are thankful to his teachers for helping give him the tools and skills he would need to be ready.  After his last class, he and I (and Snoopy) got to go out for a special lunch at Chick-fil-A to celebrate.

Dad helped Michael pick out a new Star Wars lunch box and some new shoes for school.  We all enjoyed meeting the new teacher at "Popsicles in the Park" night and seeing where Michael's desk would be and how the classroom was set up a few days before class started.  The first day Malcolm was so excited for Michael, he jumped right into the first-day-of-school picture outside :)

Michael was ready to go from Day 1.  He seemed comfortable with the classroom and his teacher, waved goodbye and starting focusing on setting up at his seat.  Among so many other things, I was really nervous that kids have to walk into school by themselves starting on the second day - parents can't come in.  We talked about it and on the second day, Michael just jumped out and walked right in without looking back.  I didn't get too emotional on the first day, but seeing my little boy run right into school with that much confidence definitely made me weepy the first week.  We're so proud of him.  We've also been enjoying hearing stories about the kids and teachers he is meeting at school.

Malcolm is really concerned about taking care of his big brother.  Every morning he wants to help pack Michael's lunch, and he asks him lots of questions about school.  When we drop Michael off from the carpool line, he'll say, "Make sure you tell your friends about your new shoes, Michael!" or "Have a great day, Michael!"  After school he says, "Did you get to do circle time today?" and "Did you like your lunch today, Michael?"  It's so sweet.  I'm still very cautious about several issues at school overall, but so far things are going really well, Michael's teacher is very nice, and we are very thankful.

Playground pictures

These expressions pretty much sum them up :)

Love the slide!

Independence Day 2014

The Lawler Family celebrated Independence Day this year in fine fashion. We started off with mass as St. Thomas Aquinas in the morning, followed by a neighborhood BBQ. Michael and Malcolm's fashion was provided by Wal-mart this year. After a lazy afternoon, Kim entertained the boys with songs from her patriotic songbook (the boys especially loved "You're a Grand Old Flag). Joseph did his customary crash around 7pm, so it was up to me to take Michael and Malcolm on their first fireworks extravaganza. They toughed out the heat and the long walk to the park, and enjoyed a great view of the fireworks put on by the City of Richardson. We also got a great surprise this weekend when we discovered a blue jay family had nested in our backyard. This is the first time that has happened since we lived here. Below are photos and video.

Fifteen months

Joseph makes us smile every day.  He is a very active little guy who is always busy trying to figure things out - getting on and off little riding toys, opening cabinets, carefully turning board book pages ... and studying how to open the refrigerator.  As soon as he can figure that one out, I think he thinks he's got it made.  In the meantime, his communication skills keep on growing.  His favorite sign and word is "Da!" while touching his forehead with his thumb (sign for Dad).  He always wants to know where Dad is and coming running to the door whenever Mike gets home from work.  Joseph can also sign "grapes," (says "vas" for "uvas"), "please," "girl," "milk," "book," and "water" (says "awa" for "agua" while putting fingers up to his chin).  He's working on the signs for "outside," "cracker," "baby," and "car."  I LOVE how he tries to imitate everything now even if he can't quite get it.  For a little board book called "Where is the Green Sheep?" that title question is the refrain.  Every time I ask it I shrug my shoulders a little bit and hold my hands up.  At the end when we find the green sheep fast asleep, I close my eyes and put my hands next to my face like I'm sleeping on a pillow.  These are not, of course, ASL signs, but Joseph has been imitating them every time we read :)  If I show him how to pour water into a cup at the water table, he will pay close attention and then practice doing the same thing.  He's making progress with a fork already, which seems early to me.  He's a fast learner!  He can also now shake his head (which he does very clearly if he doesn't want someone to hold him or he's rejecting your food offer) and wave bye-bye on cue.

The most effective communication method, however, especially when it comes to his brothers, is a loud screech.  It's the only way he can keep Malcolm from smooching him to death when he's in his car seat or sitting next to him on the couch.  In a possible sign of things to come, though, we have noted a few times where Joseph has screeched in protest ... while Malcolm is innocently sitting off to the side.  Are we being played already?  It's a reminder that you can't jump to conclusions and sometimes even babies appear to want to get their siblings in trouble.  Ha.  Joseph does play animals and hide-and-seek with Michael, and likes to play ball with Malcolm.

Joseph is the master of his little domain around here.  I rearranged some of the toys on one of our shelves so he can reach things more easily, and now he has no trouble selecting exactly what he wants: rubber animal toys (he likes to growl for the tiger and lion), a pop-up toy with five animals (he can push the button for the panda in the middle, and uses the handle to bring this one right to you so you will help him open the others), some race cars (he thinks it's fun to see them go down the slides), books and balls.  Current favorite books are "God Made Wonderful Me," for which he can now point to his hair, nose, eyes, ears and mouth, "Where is the Green Sheep?" and a big book of numbers.

Most days now Joseph skips his morning nursing session, but he still asks for milk when we get home every afternoon and before bedtime, and then once or twice at night.  His molars are starting to come in (one and a half out of four so far) and he's been whimpering at bedtime the last week or so in particular.  One day he'll sleep all the way through the night!  It's hard to resist the little guy doing a happy little laugh and saying "Mama" when I come into the room though :)

On the name front, we all mostly call him Joseph or Joe.  Malcolm is the only one who stretches this in multiple ways.  "Joey-Joe," "Joey-Joey," and "Joey B" are his main favorites.  I continue to find it adorable how his older brothers are so solicitous and sweet to him.  Every afternoon when we get in the car, Malcolm says sweetly, "You want MILK, Joey?  And GRAPES?  You want some UVAS??"  Smooch.