Almost Spring

This winter has been very mild.  Now it already feels like spring weather.  Larisa and I are loving the idea, but the kids are a little bit sad that they didn't get to play in snow as much as they would have liked.  It snowed a few times, but a couple of those times they were either sick or the snow melted to fast to get a chance to play in it.  At least we did go sledding one Saturday and the kids made a snow pumpkin with Mom on another snowfall.

Tyler's smitten

Tyler started talking about one of the girls in his preschool class one day. He was so excited that she wanted to play his Mario games with him. His motivation to get to school on time skyrocketed. When I dropped him off one day, I watched him scan the room, looking for his little friend. When the two of them found each other, they grabbed hands and skipped away to some corner to play their games. So cute!

One day he came home and announced that today they played Care Bears because she wanted to play it.  That's got to say something. Usually, Tyler is just too focused on his interests (like Mario, Bowzer and such) to spend time playing other games.  Boy, Tyler is smitten!

The Private Boat

In the book "Where the Wild Things Are," there's a part where the boy gets on his private boat.  This became an English lesson when Tyler couldn't help himself but try to point out which parts of the boat looked like a private. :)  Maybe it's best to call things what they are.

Tyler loves Mario and Legos

Tyler has totally fallen in love with video games.  Thank goodness Larisa limits their playing time.  During our Christmas vacation Tyler played a lot of Super Mario Brothers on the old-school Nintendo (I have controller and an emulator on my computer).  He also watched the old Mario TV shows, so everything is about Bowser and Yoshi these days (he already like Mario Kart before this vacation).

Another thing Tyler likes is Legos.  He got some kits for Christmas, and today he made one with Mom.  He was so excited to show me the helicopter they made and wanted to show me every little detail of it.  Apparently he played with it for over an hour today.

Lydia Speaks in Testimony Meeting

Today only Lydia and I went to church because Nyle and Tyler were sick.  Lydia and I sat in front in fast and testimony meeting, and I explained to her the difference between the meeting, that anyone could go speak about what they believe.  Then Lydia said she wanted to go.  I asked if she had something to say, and she said something about loving God because of what she learns in primary.  So we went up and she said,

"I know the church is true because I love Heavenly Father."

Confidence

Today was incredibly warm for the first official day of winter.  I jumped on the trampoline with the kids at about 8:15pm with only a t-shirt on.  It was above 65 degrees.

Today, as I was driving home from Sam's Club with the kids, Tyler noticed some blinking yellow lights and asked about them.  "What are they for."  I explained that we don't have to stop but they mean to be careful because something might come into the road.  Lydia then frankly corrected me, "no, that's not what it means---yellow light means slow down."  I had a real good laugh at her confidence.  Her voice wasn't arguing, and it wasn't directed only at Tyler either.  She was very deliberately correcting a mistake in my understanding.  What a reflection of her personality.

SuperKids

Tyler the Perfectionist

I wouldn’t have guessed it, but Tyler has become a bit of a perfectionist lately.  He now creates color-coordinated symmetric “towers” or “forts” on a daily basis.  Here he is showing Mom where the guys can stand and why (the yellow and red structures are hiding behind them, and the green one is next to me).

He usually then calls us over to have a battle, using his army men, Buzz Lightyears, and Transformer.  The bad guys, which are usually Mom and Lydia, get only a few army men.
Tyler started to do a lot of building with legos and blocks over the last year.  He’s able to spend a lot of time playing with these things.  He also loves video games, especially Mario Kart, which he’s gotten quite good at.  Fortunately, Mom has them budgeting their technology usage with her penny system.

Lydia's Best Day Ever

Lydia has picked up a habit of expressing approval and disapproval by exclaiming that this is the best day ever or the worst day ever (in a very different voice for the two cases).

For example, yesterday they played in jumpy houses, got balloons, and Lydia got her face painted in the morning as we watched Larisa run a 5K.  Then we went to a sports clinic and football game at Princeton (they surprised me and actually took interest in the football game and didn't want to leave, after first complaining that they had to go).  At the football game Lydia told me that it was the best day ever.

One the other hand, when we showed up to church today and Lydia discovered that it was fast Sunday (which means they don't eat snacks in Sacrament meeting) she pouted that this was the worst day ever.