January

It's always so sad when I have to do an entire month's worth of catching up. It also makes for a very very long blog post, but here goes!

We discovered Discovery Place at the beginning of the month. It is a wonderful children's museum. There is seriously everything a little boy could dream of...a submarine, an airplane, a race car, a boat, a fire engine, and the best part is that they all have buttons to push that make sounds or lights.

I have been wanting to get rid of the awful flat paint, that shows every single finger print and race car mark. This has been a busy month for Dave at the office, so I promised him I would do it myself and I wouldn't even get stressed out about it. Turns out I had a great helper, thanks Iron Man!

 

We have had some major improvements with Lincoln's behavior, thanks to a chore chart. Besides things like cleaning up your mess and helping with dishes, there are things like no whining and listening. He gets a star under each category everyday if he does his chores. At the end of the week, if he gets the agreed upon number of stars, then he gets a prize. His favorite prizes to get are costumes.

It took his 2 weeks to get his black Spiderman costume, so he was thrilled to finally get it. I used to make Lincoln change his clothes when we would leave the house, but then he started complaining about wanting to leave. I figured somethings just aren't worth an argument, so he pretty much lives in his costumes. The only time I do make him change is for church.

This kid is so rad: here are some things that have cracked me up. We were talking about when Jesus got baptized and he told me he was really worried about "Him." I asked why and he said, "I fink I saw him dying on a plus sign." When I told him about Herrod decree to kill all the baby boys, he got really mad and said, "If I as in dat story, I would PWN [total domination]  that bad man!" There are some scary things in the scriptures, that are hard to explain to a 4 year old.

One day when we were playing with his action figures.  I asked Spiderman for help with the bad guys and he said in a crackling voice, "I can't....I'm dead." I asked what I could do to help, and he said, "I need bandaids...5 of dem."

Out of the blue one day, Lincoln asked me why Hulk was so angry. I told him, he just was (great answer, I know) and his response was this, "Well, the Hulk in my collection listens to his mommy, he doesn't punch Thor, and he makes good decisions." This was all said with hand motions that I would do and with my tone of voice.

Lincoln gave a great talk in Primary and once he got down from the microphone he did a little hop, ninja kick and then a somersault.

Ok, I know I went overboard, but he really is a good kid. He has been writing his letters and loves to draw at the table. Lincoln is so patient with Drake. He rarely hits him back, even though Drake can be such a pest.

I guess that's a good transition to Tank, aka Drake. You guys, he was such a sweet baby, and he turned into this monster! He pulls hair, hits, bits, pushes and body slams. I really hope this is just a phase. The other day he was walking and tripped over a book. He stood up, growled and then chucked the book across the room. Drake wants to be independent, and doesn't like any "baby" things. He screams when I try to put a bib on and has fits when I try to give him plastic utensils. One morning he got so mad I wouldn't give him a heavy silver spoon, he pushed his cereal on my lap.

(They finger painted with pudding one morning.)

 

There are some moments when he can be so sweet, and I really truly appreciate those rare moments! Drake loves to dance. When we clap our hands together, he starts turning circles. He also loves to jump up and down to the popcorn song.