Thursday, January 27, 2011

blogging strike is over at last

So, I see it's been 5 months since I've written anything on here. That's basically the way my journaling usually goes. I couldn't use my computer for a while, and then by the time I could, it had already been a while, and I lost momentum. There haven't been any major events that I can think of, but we've all been doing really well. Joel is continuing to progress in his schoolwork and still very much enjoys it. He's learning the names and locations of the states, presidents, composers (Beethoven is his favorite so far), and his reading is coming along. Mostly, I'm encouraged by his understanding of spiritual things. He asks me lots of theological questions, and I do my best to answer them. I can see God's grace in his life, and I am so thankful for that. We celebrated his 4th birthday Monday night, and all the family came. After it was over I asked him if he liked his party and he said "I had such a good time...all my people came!" This made us laugh:)
He got an electronic keyboard for Christmas (we have a nice piano, but this is cool because it is small enough for his tiny fingers). He's been humming Ode To Joy for a few weeks now, and so I finally wrote out the notes for him so he could play it (I put stickers on the keys with the note names since he is still learning where they are. I've only showed it to him a couple of times, but last night, he played the first half by himself without the paper (I'm pretty sure he was doing it by ear). He was so happy, except that he didn't want us to listen until he got it just right. This is so exciting for me, because it's the first time he has ever really wanted to play a song enough to practice it and get it right...so fun! He also found out that he could play Twinkle, Twinkle today...I pretty much almost cried I was so happy. Just because I haven't wanted to force him to play music, but I've really hoped that he would like it...I can see many happy lessons ahead of us:)
Evan finally started walking the 1st week of Nov. 2010. I was much relieved as he was almost 15 months. he's so laid back, he just doesn't have a drive to try new things (unlike his big brother). I am happy to report however, that he is doing everything he should be doing now, and I have to say...I don't mind the laid back temperament;) He definitely knows how to disobey...he just does it with a sweet face (very tricky!) He has shown a big interest in music as well. He is absolutely in love with the guitar. I think his Uncle Carey has had something to do with that:) When we were at Cracker Barrel a few weeks ago, Evan was fussing and whining about something, but I couldn't figure out what he wanted...until I looked where he was pointing and saw the guitar hanging on the wall (they would have to have a guitar on the wall!)...let's just say he wanted it...a lot. He's been singing a lot lately. I love it when they start to sing! Sometimes I'm pretty sure he's trying to sing a real tune...like when we were both singing Mary had a little Lamb the other day (except we were singing it with "ba"s).
Well, I think that about covers the hight points...until next time (which will not be 5 more months).