Lily speaks!

For all of her personality, and she has loads, Little Lil' doesn't actually say too much. But we always know exactly what she wants and usually what she thinks too. She is an expert at the emphatic nod, the point, and the "eh, eh, eh" until you guess what she's after.

However, lately she's started to say a few cute little things like:

-"Day" for McKay (and she lights up any time she calls his name and he answers her)

-"Nanny" for Nana

-"Baba" for Papa

-"Moooooooo!!" anytime she sees a cow, horse, or other large animal

-"Mow" for Cat (trying to say "Meow")

-"Bubbles!"

-"Daddeee" 

-"Mom!" (She usually speaks with an exclamation point)

-"Duce" for Juice

-"My" for Mine

-"Ee" for Me

-"Mo" for More

Also, it should be noted that long before Lily began to talk she was singing. I've been doing a little music time with the kids in the mornings and teaching the kids solfeg. I taught them "do" first and ever since Lily has been doing the "do" hand sign while singing "do" in octaves. It's adorable and makes me so happy that I finally have a child who seems very interested in music!

Kindergarten graduation

The Details

It's been a while since I just talked a little about each of these folks. They do so many funny little things all the time. Each is so different from the others and I just adore them all. So individual and so fun in their own unique way.

This is Benson on Preschool Hat Day. Out of about seven choices he chose "Papa's Hat" because it is the one he sees his Papa wearing while he works in the yard. He wanted to look like his Papa and was so proud!

A couple mornings ago Benson was the first one up. After waking me up and summoning me to the family room he trundled out to the couch and curled up in his blankets. As usual, he asked for warm milk in a sippy (he still only likes milk if it's warm) and waited on the couch for it. While he was waiting he must have been picking his nose because when I brought over his cup he was examining a little red something stuck to the end of his finger. He held it up to me and said, "Look, Mom! There's a craisin in my nose!"

Two weeks ago we were sitting in church. BJ now conducts the music in Sacrament Meeting, so I sit alone with the 3 kids until about 30 minutes into the meeting. It's a juggling act for sure just to keep them all in the seats, busy, and quiet. At one point I was tending to Lily, trying to keep her busy. Benson was playing quietly with a train book on the floor and McKay was sitting above him coloring. McKay began to subconsciously swing his legs. He didn't realize that his legs were swinging right between Benson and Benson's book. After a few moments of leg-swinging Benson got annoyed. He looked up at McKay and said loudly, "Hey, Knock it off, you wee-wdo (weirdo)!" 

I saw several adults cover their mouths and start shaking with laughter. I was one of them.

Benson is such a happy little boy. He is so cheerful about almost everything. He loves everyone. He loves to play almost anything. He loves treats a lot. He just finds great enjoyment in life and it is so daw-gone cute! He also gets frustrated pretty easily and completely loses it at the drop of a hat. There really is no middle-ground. He's either happy or miserable. Not too much in between. Luckily he's mostly happy and I love him for it.

A Dream

I was pulled from sleep in the dark of the early morning by a cry from McKay. He had come into our room sometime during the night and was lying in a pile of blankets at the foot of the bed. First it was one cry, then another, then, to my surprise, he began weeping.

Though I was still nearly asleep, I could tell his tears were of sorrow. I foggily asked him, “McKay, what’s the matter?” To which he replied, “Oh Mom! I had a bad dream! You died and dad did too!” And then his voice broke and the tears overtook him. He just cried like his little heart was breaking. 

I’ve heard him cry often enough but hardly ever with this kind of sorrow. Even in my drowsy state tears came to my eyes as I realized-- he was weeping for me.

To see his real sorrow and understand it was born out of deep love was both heart-warming and heart-breaking.

I pulled him up into the bed and held him in my arms. I wiped the tears from his cheeks and whispered over and over again, "Mommy is here for you. Mommy will never leave you." until he quieted and fell back to sleep in my arms.

I pray that I am around to wipe his tears, hold him, and comfort him until long after he needs me.  

Lily's trip to the ER

Last week was a really rough one for Lily. Probably her hardest so far. She contracted Hand, Foot and Mouth disease--a terrible virus which causes fevers, blisters in the mouth, and a rash on the arms, legs, and feet. Poor Lily seemed to experience the worst of them all. 

She spent 4 days in seeming agony. This normally bright, cheerful, independent girl literally spent 4 days and nights in my arms. I couldn't put her down or she would sob. Even at night the only peace she could find would be laying on my chest. She didn't eat for 5 days and stopped drinking after the first day. I would pin her down and force some water down her throat but she would scream and choke. It was just awful.

On the 4th day of the illness we became seriously concerned about dehydration. Instead of improving, she seemed to be declining. She became listless and her eyes looked sort of vacant. It was scary. We consulted her pediatrician who instructed us to go to the ER for IV fluids. 

Here she is in her tiny tiger hospital gown. Even in her declining state she would still try to wave at the doctors and nurses as they came into the room. Here she is trying to wave at daddy.

The doctors and nurses did a full round of exams on her including a chest x-ray, blood-draws, and a urine test via catheter. Once all of that was completed they began the IV. These tests pretty much scared her to death. She cried through all of them. Perhaps the saddest thing of all was to see the change in her behavior. At first she would wave at the doctors but once they doctors had done a few tests, she became scared of anyone who walked in the room. Instead of waving at them, she would bury her face in my lap and try to hide. It was so sad!

Once the IV was finished we could see definite improvement in Little Lily. She seems to come back into herself a bit. After the ER trip we continued to see steady progress.

Thankfully today she was entirely back to normal. She was laughing, chasing her brothers, and playing pee-a-boo again. She even let Daddy put her to bed tonight, which made them both very happy! 

I don't know when I've been so relieved. I feel as though I've holding my breath for a week, worrying every minute about her. To see my bright-eyed baby again is such a comfort! We love you sweet Lily girl.

"The Hulk" at Christmas

This is a video from Christmas Eve. Though it's out of season, it's well worth a viewing. First, a little explanation. Every Christmas Eve we do a program with both the Robertson's and the Coxes. The kids all have the opportunity to perform so, after seeing the movie "Frozen", I thought it would be cute to teach McKay and Benson a little dance to "In Summer", the song sung by Olaf the Snowman.

We practiced and practiced and the boys both had all the words and all the moves completely memorized. They even performed it at a local rest home a few days before Christmas. They were adorable performing together!

Well, the Cox family Christmas Eve program arrived and the boys were excited to perform. There were two microphones for kids singing and I guess McKay got it into his head that he wanted to use one of them. So, we gave McKay and Benson each a microphone. However, as the song began McKay realized that his microphone wasn't working. That's the back-story leading to his running off the stage right at the beginning of the song. We encouraged Benson to keep going, not expecting McKay to return...

Important aside: during December McKay was on a bit of a "Hulk Smash" kick. Whenever he would lose his temper he would say, "Now I'm the Hulk! I'm going to smash you!"

First of all, let it be noted that he's never seen any of the Hulk movies. For a while BJ would tell the boys about the superhero movies as part of a bedtime story, so McKay had heard the stories from Daddy.

In quieter moments I would try to reason with McKay. "McKay, it's not good to lose your temper. Even "The Hulk" learned to control is temper. At first he was naughty and would smash things but then he became a good guy and learned to control his anger."

"Yes, Mom but that was in the second movie. I'm only like the Hulk in the first movie."

With that in mind, have a look at the boys charming little Christmas Eve performance:

Sunday Talks

Not exactly sure why every time I pull out my camera the boys do their best pirate faces?!? I promise they look a little more normal most of the time.

Anyway, last Sunday was an eventful one for the boys. McKay gave his first talk in this Primary and he did a great job! He helped me write it and then spoke confidently into the microphone the entire time. He even held up the pictures (with the picture sides facing himself)--but at least he tried.

This was his talk:

"Heavenly Father sent me to earth to learn and grow. He wants me to return to live with Him. But, He knew that I would make some mistakes. I try to choose the right but sometimes I forget. Sometimes I forget to be nice or to obey my mom and dad. Jesus volunteered to come to earth and suffer for me and you and everyone so that we can live with Heavenly Father again. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus."

It was a very sweet little talk. He held up a picture of himself and a picture of Jesus. The topic was on how the atonement of Christ makes it possible to live with Heavenly Father again. Deep doctrine for a five-year-old but it gave us a good chance to talk about that with him and he seemed to understand pretty well.

Benson also participated in Primary. Though more spontaneous that McKay, Benson's comments were no less memorable. 

I was told this after Primary by a few different teachers who all thought it was pretty funny. Apparently Benson was chosen to participate by finding a paper fish with a question on it. 

The question was, "When do you remember Jesus?" 

Benson proudly replied, "I remember Jesus on Sunday and Monday."

 His teacher prompted, "Yes, we can remember Jesus everyday, right?"

Benson said, matter-of-factly, "No, I just remember Jesus on Sunday and Monday." 

Guess we still have a little work to do there...