The Kids

Just a few things to make note of while they are on my mind...

Zivah has been smashing her face quite a bit. Sometimes, she just doesn't get her hand down in time when she's crawling and does a face plant into the floor. Sometimes she just leans forward into objects like the step stool or table. She has been sporting regular facial bruises.

Today, Zivah and I were sitting on the glider on the front porch. The glider's metal is stamped with little round holes, so Finley and Joe like to pick flowers and stick them in the holes, where they dry out and stay there until I pick them out and throw them away. Zivah seems partial to the dried daisies. I took a flower and started rolling the stem between my fingers, causing the flower to spin. Z saw me doing that and promptly started spinning her flower. I am amazed at her fine motor skills. She is also very good with the toy that has the buttons to manipulate to cause little characters to pop up. I remember it took Joe a long time to figure out the twisting one. Z has it down. Girls do tend to develop their fine motor skills earlier than boys...

She also puts small objects in her mouth, like most babies do. I am thankful that she is smart enough to not swallow if she can't gum it to mush. I frequently am pulling rocks, paper, and other small toys out of her mouth.

Lately, when you tell Joe something, he will frequently respond with a loud, high-pitched, "Whaaaaaat?!?!" I'm not sure where he got that from. It is rather funny.

Today, after finishing up an early lunch, Finley decided to do the dishes. Joe wanted to wash them as well, so I got them organized. Finley scrubbed while Joe rinsed. It worked well, I think, although I haven't actually looked to see how clean they are.

Finley is still obsessed with horses. She is also wanting a rabbit. When we pulled some carrots the other day, she kept trying to get me to promise to save them for her bunny. When I told her I didn't know when we'd be getting one, she said, 'Victor can catch one for me. He's fast!' (Victor is her 7 year old cousin.)

Finley has started reading a little. With the 4 year old kindergarten material I bought last year came some little basic reading books with sentences like: 'Jill is a pig. Jill has a wig.' She can read most of them fairly well.

Finley is really excited about school. We got some of her new workbooks the other day, and she keeps asking to do them. I've got her signed up for a science class that will meet once a week, and she is excited about that as well. When Joe said he wanted to go to school with her: "No Joe! It's not your class! You're not old enough!"