Slowly Gaining Independence

My dear honey buns, 

If I were to pick a word that would describe you all right now, the one that comes to mind is: Independence. As we were heading out for our daily Teddy walks one afternoon, I just had to snap this quick picture because it captured you all at your current life stage so well.   

Nathan, you are seeking to be more independent these days. You even wanted to help with walking Teddy in the afternoon by yourself! I did let you walk up 6 houses and back and when you returned, you were so proud of yourself and I could sense this pride in your attitude as you took care of Teddy's poop and put the leash back. The next day, you waved sheepishly at a lady walking her dog. I asked you if you knew her and you told me that she stopped and talked to you the day before and you had told her about only going 6 houses away. 

Hannah, you are just living your life well. You are independent, you wear all the beautiful things (at the same time) and you are finding your voice in the world. You still tend to avoid responsibility, but you are honest about it when you "accidentally" do the wrong thing. 

Hailey, you are starting to love pretend play and want to do all the things on your own. "Me Lai" is a common phrase that you use when you want to say, "I want to do it myself." You are loving Dora the Explorer and will request it when you get to have screen time. 

The weather has been fabulous these past few weeks. Despite the Cedar allergies, we've been pumping up the nasal steroids and loading up on allergy medications to be able to enjoy the outdoors. Hannah is now severely allergic to cedar pollen, and I am pretty sure Nathan is secretly glad that Hannah now has some sort of allergy. 

Some afternoons we skate in the garage or outside by the school. 

 One day we went to the wildflower just to play Pokemon Go. Usually we will spin a stop or 2 if we are waiting for someone, but this past weekend, I just let you 2 run loose to catch them all while I hung out with Hailey at the sand pit...in her Frozen dress.

 We've officially completed an entire year of martial arts and while Nathan is still very motivated to keep going, Hannah's interest waxes and wanes constantly. One day, you want to quit, but then the next day, you want to keep doing it. You have started gymnastics once a week, and the original plan was to quit after you earn your next belt, but I guess I'm going to keep playing this one by ear.

 Nathan, you are currently obsessed with Beyblades. Since Chinese school hasn't started up, we've been spending the time we would usually spend on chinese homework, on epic Beyblade battles. For those of you who don't know of the Beyblade world, these are basically tops that you spin and battle each other in plastic arenas. Apparently there's a TV show that these games are based off of. How you make a TV show out of battling tops is beyond me!

You still enjoy playing board games and your current favorite one to play is Galaxy Trucker. You and Dad, sometimes I join in, will play a round a night right before bedtime. 

Hannah, you adore your teacher Ms. Greenwood. I think she is the perfect teacher for you. She's fun, but firm when she needs to be. I also love that she really lets you all play and imagine a lot without focusing too much on academics. We happened to see her bringing back her tortise one weekend. 

 While Nathan and I enjoy playing games together, Hannah, you and I enjoy food together. Whether it's roasted corn and turkey legs at the Austin flea market, or rolling our own sushi's at home, I am so happy to be able to get exited about and enjoy food with you.

Hailey, your imagination has just taken off lately. You love playing pretend with various stuffies, you will spend so much time pretending to cook in the play kitchen, and you are always willing to help me out with the everyday tasks that I have to do. 

In the picture below, you have comandeered Teddy's bed. I could tell that he was offended because as soon as you got up, he quickly ran in to claim his space once again. 

You love helping me change my wheels out. You are getting pretty good at loosening and tightning my hex nuts. I just have to show you with my finger which way to turn the wrench, and you start spinning away.

Nathan and Hannah have also initiated you into the shake and bake club. I shake it and you bake it! Or is it the other way around? 

 You are very proud to be able to wash your own hand. Now, you don't want any help at all through the whole process. If anyone even attempts to help you, like turn off the water, you will undo their action and redo it yourself. Very typical toddler behavior. I have been singing "Happy Birthday" while you are rinsing to limit your time at the sink. You have quickly learned this limitation and will abide by it most of the time. I stress most.

 You love wearing dresses like the big girls do and you will ask to get your picture taken when you recognize a good photo op. Like this jackrabbit. You even knew to pet it while saying "Cheese!" What a little ham!

 I also love how you come up with interesting ways to play with things. Yesterday, you pulled my skate around like you were walking Teddy.

OOOH, I have some exciting updates on the dairy sensitivity thing. So it turns out that you are probably just lactose intolerant. When I initially tested to see if you were lactose intolerant, I don't think we were doing a great job with limiting your lactose intake. Since we've been doing really good with the no dairy for the past few months, I decided to try giving you lactaid tablets before you eat anything with dairy. I started with a small amount of yogurt made with lactose free milk, and have been increasing the amount of lactose that you are exposed to each day. You were even able to eat a half a slice of cheese pizza and a bowl of ice cream with lactaid and felt just fine this afternoon! The joy that you had on your face as you devoured the pizza at lunchtime was adorable.

So, you can eat real cheese and eat real ice cream! This is huge! Now I just need to remember to carry lactaid tablets with me when we go out.

Well, I think I did a fairly good job of capturing you all right now, I'm just so glad I'm documenting these days because there have been so many things that my brain has just completely blocked out.  Daddy remembers these things happening, I vaguely remember it maybe happening, but I never remember the details. Early childhood parenting is rough, especially when your babies, ahem, don't sleep well at night. 

Right now, things are good. I'm so thankful for you 3 and I'm so glad that I get to be your mother.

Love,
Mommy