Us again

Joshua is a third child that thinks he's a first. He's horrified if I ever have to put him down, so sad that I finally weaned him and refuses to sleep long stretches without constant human touch. That said, he makes up for his confusion in birth order with coy smiles and long snuggles. Realizing his life is in constant danger from whirling, lifting, hugging, smothering brothers he has been cautious in his walking. He can now walk long stretches 30 feet or so, but has found crawling/scooting gets him from point "A" to point "B" without having gasp for air. That said, if any baby has ever innately loved his brothers, it is this kid. He gets so excited when he hears their footsteps outside his door when he's suppose to be napping. He pops his head up to greet them and watches them with excitement as they duke it out.

Simeon has joined Christian in the world of imagination. I'm pretty sure we spend half the day deciding who we're going to be and what we're going to play. He is three this week and couldn't be more excited for his cake. We're tempted to tell him that his birthday isn't till Wednesday as it'd be so much easier with Stephen's schedule, but I'm pretty sure he'll have enough things to discuss with his therapist when he's an adult without us messing with his head about when his birthday is.

Overheard Christian in primary today saying that the other kid was following Satan when he was interrupting him. Yikes. We really need to iron out some of our parenting/teaching skills . Christian is mister legal and law abiding. That's not to say he won't try to find a loophole,but he's definitely our oldest child. The other day he wanted to pretend he was the "President, General, and the King." Wow. And to think I was ambitious for wanting to clean my kitchen tonight.  I took the pedals off his bike and he is getting the balancing thing down pretty good and we're hoping to teach him to ride by the time snow comes.

Stephen is busy sending in applications to jobs and post-docs, and attending Rugby. Yup, Stephen has found his sport. Unfortunately he's 27, not 7 years old, but hey, he'll take what he can get.  I, needing to be super hot because I'm now married to a college athlete, joined the local YMCA.  Be prepared to see me tearing phonebooks by the end of the year. Just kidding.  Actually the whole family joined thanks to a hefty discount for starving student types, and we're enjoying access to a year round pool. Swim lessons have even begun. Nope, not for the kids, but me.  Yes, once Christian realized that I wasn't a lifeguard in a past life, he has decided he only trusts his dad to take him swimming.  I figure I better stop this favoritism somehow and at least try to pass off something a little more difficult than the old-lady-pretending-to-exercise stroke.

                             

Cranney Family Dynamics Evolution

First words. They're often unclear or confused with babbling, but anticipated by every parent eager to catch a glimpse into the mind and soul of their little one and perhaps their own parenting. It's almost seen as a rite into personhood, or at least personality. Christian's first word? "Jesus". Simeon's "Uh-oh". Joshua's? "No, no, no!" accompanied by hand motions waving back and forth. Yup, looks like our parenting has only gotten worse with each child, sorry any future children; you're probably doomed to curse words for your speaking debut.

Pictures for Grandparents!

pot.com/-eEbM38kiZvo/VA58ajbiVbI/AAAAAAAAHRs/XoIUKY9lCzU/s400/IMG_1184.JPG" />

Reverence is quietly sitting . . . and thinking about ice cream

So Stephen and I have made leaps and bounds in our parenting and have finally figured it out. Once opposed to bribery, we have now embraced our once called foe and given him a place of honor in our household. Honestly, I like my kids a little on the wild side, as long as they are still kind. There is something about church and the whole it's hard-to-feel-the-spirit-when-wrestling thing that has humbled us. After finding that even visits to the chapel during the week to practice real reverence haven't work, we went for the no-brainer and have started bribing our kids with ice cream. Yup, good bye internal motivation you took to long to come. Granted Simeon hasn't quite caught on and perhaps one day Christian will realize that blended frozen bananas and berries with a touch of vanilla shouldn't really count as ice cream, but until then be prepared to watch Christian sit through an entire sacrament meeting. Other news. I cleaned my house, well the front room. Weaning Joshua. Purposely ignored the boys today and just looked on my phone so that they'd remember how to play without me. It took a while of me refusing to be a pirate, but pretty soon they were imagining by themselves. I was pretty impressed with their hand holding on the way to school, and finally when they started to play house. Christian was the dad, Simeon was the big brother and Joshua was the baby. I was suppose to be the sister and of course "The grandpa, uncle and mom are dead." How did they die you ask? "The Grandfather died in war, and the mother and uncle died of allergies." Laughed today when I remembered Christian at age three asking "Hymn books? Why don't we have her-books?".