My Girls

I am still surprised some days that I am raising brothers and sisters.  I grew up my whole life with an amazing brother, who I miss everyday.  But I never knew what it was like to have a sister and Alex did not have a brother.  My kids are blessed to have brothers and sisters and I love watching their bonds grow.  Of course they fight A LOT!!!!  But they also love each other.  On any given day you could hear Anders say, "Shane, we are best buddies!"  Then once Shane leaves for school and Myann and Anders start playing Anders will say, "Myann you are my best buddy too."  It goes without saying around here that Laila loves Shane, and he is beyond in love with her, but we are also starting to see how much Laila adores Myann and Anders too.

My beautiful girls!

Anders: 3 year old version of digestion

Anders told Daddy tonight at dinner, "Food goes through your neck, to your belly, to your butt dad.  Water goes to your belly too, then your pee pee."  Perfect description of digestion to me - who needs 4 years of medical school - Anders figured it out by 3. 

Now if he could only figure out how to poop on the potty!!!

Teacher Appreciation Day - a lesson

Today was Teacher Appreciation Day and I hope all of you teachers felt well appreciated.  We tried to spoil the teachers at my kids' schools.  One, because they deserve it.  Two, because I am trying to teach my kids the joy of giving, and what better way than by example.  This was explained in the car ride to Myann today.  She asked why we were taking cupcakes to the teachers because kids love cupcakes too. I said that today was a day to tell your teachers that you appreciate them and they deserve to be spoiled too. I said I want her to feel how good it feels to do nice things for others.  Myann responded, "I would rather feel how good it is to eat cupcakes."  And this is why we will continue to teach by example.  Oh my girl, so sweet, but still so egocentric. Once we got to school, she was pretty excited to give them the pretty cupcakes and her thank you card.  Anders was excited to tell me once he got home that his teacher ate the cupcake and said it was good.  Even he is learning the joy of doing for others.

Last week at lunch, the kids received fortune cookies for dessert.  Shane's fortune said, "You are a thoughtful man."  That fortune could not have been more perfect. Shane is one of the sweetest and most thoughtful people I know.  We have tried our best to teach him, but I think he is just innately thoughtful. He leaves me love notes all over the house.  Hoping to photograph and post soon. Story below to make any mom happy.  However, today he was all about his teacher.  He was sad that I only had his teacher pick out one cupcake.  For the record, I told her to help herself, but I wanted to take cupcakes for all the teachers in his school, because they all deserve a special treat.  Shane wrote her a long, very kind note about what a wonderful teacher she was, citing specifics like how she teaches math, and he loves her reading, and how she picks great science themes. Then I had a picture of all the kids hands from the class and needed all the kids to sign.  I was just going to do it in front of her, but Shane insisted it needed to be a surprise and that I had to have the kids do it in secret in the hallway.   Again, very thoughtful. Lastly, his teacher recently moved and Shane wanted to buy her furniture for her new place.  Big spender he is, rather big spender of his daddy's money.  We comprised and got her a gift card to buy things for her new place.

The story:  On the way home from karate tonight, Shane said he wanted to live with us forever.  I told him that we were raising our children to be responsible, independent adults who lived on their own, so he could not live with us.  He decided that he would buy a house next door to us because he never wanted to live far from me.  I told him that one day his wife might not want to live next door to his parents.  Shane's response, "The girl I marry will have to understand that you are very special to me and the most important lady in the world, well you and Laila. So if she will not live by you, then I will not marry her and will find a girl who will live next door to you."  Glad to see my boy has his priorities in order!!!  That said, he wants Laila to live on the other side of him.  God help his future wife and hopefully one day I can find a way to cut the umbilical cord.