Some updates

Alex:
We have taken this last week to truly write a research paper. He chose Alligator Snapping Turtles as his subject. We have gone through the whole process... choosing a topic, research, breaking down your subjects into topics, limited topics, and topic sentences, how to build a research paper, correct grammer, and even a bit on sentence structure. We have not done anything else for a week. But honestly, it has been a great experience. At first it kind of felt like pulling teeth, but now that he is nearly done, he is very proud of his work, and his paper isn't half bad. :) I am pretty darn proud of him about it actually. Alligator Snapping Turtles are interesting critters... look them up. They are super cool.

Cyan:
She started dance last weekend. She is thrilled to be doing dance finally after 8 months of asking me for it. She has been practicing her dance moves for the last two days bouncing around the greatroom with her ballet outfit on. It is adorable and I am so glad to be able to do that with/for her.

She also finished her 20 books this last week. We had been filling out a chart that started back in mid Oct. Every time she read a book (no matter how simple) she would get a sticker on her chart. Well she made it to 20 books and her prize was her very own library card and a banana split. I am oh so proud of her! 20 books since Oct 19th. It was quite the celebration. She was bouncing around the library, making no noise, just positively vibrating with excitement. It was adorable. :)

"Oh honey, your eyes are so pretty" says the librarian as she is filling out paperwork.

"Thank you." says Cyan, "I've had them since I was a baby."

Logan:
He is talking up a storm. People don't believe me now when I say that he is 'almost' two. Cyan's dance teacher talked with him for a few minutes and then asked when he would turn three for the "itty bitty creative movements" class and I said "next Jan 22nd." She laughed. Thought I was joking. lol! He is a big guy. I am guessing he is over 30lbs now and tall as I knew he would be. (I am 6ft... I don't spawn small children. ;) ) His new language is a mix of signs, words, and sound effects.

Logan also has some interesting ideas about the world in his new found language skills. Anything that is his favorite is 'blue'. Not sure where he got that except that his favorite binkies are blue and we have called them 'blue binky' since he started talking. So now everything he loves is 'blue'. If you have three match box airplanes on the counter and try to hand him one, he will say 'No! Da blue one.'... even though they are red, grey, and black. But one of them is the 'blue' one... which is the right one to hand him. lol... It has been interesting... Luckily, he has such good comunication skills that it isn't terribly hard to talk him down if you really don't understand what he is asking. Usually I just pick him up and let him pick the 'blue' ones himself.

Overall:
All the kids are starting to get a bit stir crazy. Me too. The winter is dark and depressing. At least we have some space in this house. That has been great! Honestly... the space in this house is so nice. Cyan can do her dance moves in the greatroom without hurting anything... Alex can have space for his lego creations without Logan getting into them all the time, and there has been no time yet that Logan and I have not been able to find a quiet corner to read his 'blue' books. When I think of how it could have been in the tiny house, I am grateful for this house more than you know.