My Sweet Boys

This is how we started the morning out. I woke to #5 coughing at 5am. After scriptures at 7:00, he just laid there. Took his temperature, and it was 100.5. Figures. It's my week to teach preschool. Last time I taught was when we had every illness known to man. Each person in the family but me had their own thing and didn't share from fever to ear infection to pink eye. It was the strangest thing. I put #5 in a bathtub, and he came out all chipper and stayed that way until 4:30pm.

At 4:30, he complained that his head was hurting "again." I went down to the family room a half hour later, and there he was asleep on the floor. No fever, but he was definitely not himself.

I really don't think any of the other preschool moms would believe me if I told them. They'd just think I was trying to get out of teaching, which is so not the case. We have a great little group of boys, and we only teach every twelve weeks or something like that. This photo was taken probably 15 minutes before #5 complained about his head. As you can see, he was just being his usual self.

#6 took an amazing nap today. I put him down at 10:30am. I went up to check on him at 2:00 thinking maybe he was just up playing quietly in his crib, but he was still out. He finally woke at 2:30. I got so much done while he napped! My bedroom closet looks great.

One thing about #6 lately is that he's always hungry. He must be going through a growth spurt. I walked into the kitchen and found him with the box of Frosted Mini Wheats on the floor and the contents in his hand. He had opened the cupboard, pulled the box out and helped himself. We're talking independence here again. I figured he was being resourceful.

#4 has been a big worry of mine lately. Seems I always choose one to worry about more than the others. Frequently, it's #4 that I choose.


We are pretty open about the fact that #4 has ADHD. He was diagnosed in Kindergarten, but we had a good hunch about him before that. I don't think he's as bad a case as some I've experienced, but he has a very difficult time focusing and is very easily distracted. He's a sweet boy and very bright, but I honestly think that had he not been diagnosed when he was, he would never have learned how to read.

A couple things I have noticed about #4 is that he thrives best with clean, organized surroundings and if he has a checklist. Today, we set to work getting his room clean--again. It is an on-going pursuit. He can get it clean but can't seem to keep it clean. Tonight he has his clothes laid out for the morning on his very nicely newly vacuumed floor. I have little doubt that he will bound out of bed and be dressed before he even comes to scriptures. Mornings are so blissful when life is organized for him.

This is a photo of one of the many things #4 considered a treasure and wanted to keep as we cleaned his room. We compromised by taking a photo of it "for the blog."

#2's such a cute kid. I was once warned not to expect my other boys to turn out to be like #2 because he has such a tender heart, but I think all of our boys are somewhat like that.

Here's an action shot of #6 in the backyard. Today he would sing, "Wee o wee o wee o," over and over again.

Two of our boys, if asked to do something they don't agree will will react with "WHAT?" The Warden and I decided that if they say that they must not be understanding the English language, so to help them in this venture, we decided that if they use that word, they need to sit down and find five new English words, write their definitions and write them in a sentence. #4 was the first to try this out today. One of the words he found was "shrewd." Will this stop him from questioning us? Time will tell, but for now all I can say is that his future wording will be a little more shrewd.