The Daily Hailey

Its important for me to intentionally note how my kids are adjusting to things once in a while. With all of these moves, I’ve expected some regression in them. This isn’t meant to give them less credit, or like I think they are less capable, but I haven’t expected them to thrive as much as they would if we were more rooted. I have been pleasantly surprised along the way, seeing very little regression in any of them! Yes, we’ve had some behavioural stuff come up, which I expected with their routines being so out of whack for so long. But I’m very pleased to report that they are continuing to thrive and grow even better in our current place. Brady and I agreed yesterday that we actually feel more at home in this rental than we did in our last few months in the house we had owned for the last seven years. We are finally comfortable, which I’m sure helps the kids as well.

I am finally seeing Dekker picking up on some of things we have desperately been trying to teach him over the last few months. These things include sharing lovingly with his siblings, helping with things without always being asked, and not panicking the second someone else breaks a rule. He still doesn’t prefer to share, but once in a while, he’ll offer Laela his toy when he’s done with it, if he knows she had wanted it before. He shares easier with Rowan, but Ro is still easier to overthrow 😉 That will come, I’m sure. He often sets the kids spots at the table before a meal, and he’s caught on really well to what things Rowan actually needs and what I just use of mine to share with him. This evening, he went to grab the kids milk out of the fridge, but it was a brand new jug, and he was struggling to get it out of the door. I told him as soon as I saw that it was totally fine, and I’d come get it in just a minute, but he insisted on helping more, and carried my skim milk to the table instead. Lastly, rather than immediately ratting Laela out every time she does something he thinks she shouldn’t, or yelling at her, he’s started to explain to her why she’s not supposed to do whatever it is. Then, if she doesn’t listen to him, he comes running to tell on her, of course. But he’s getting there, and I’m thrilled to see it!!

Laela is just talking a mile a minute these days! I know, she’s 2.5, and it makes sense for her to be chatty, but I’ve realized recently why I’m so blown away by this! At 2.5, Dekker was just starting to really form words. While lots of kids have different sounds that mean different things, or they’ll use made up words, Dekker never did. He didn’t want to say a word until he had it pretty close to perfect. So his words came slower. Laela, on the other hand, tries EVERY word. And because of this, she communicates beautifully! My mom finally got to come see our place today, and I was in awe as I watched her go from room to room and point out everything we owned by name! It was pretty crazy, as I really had no concept of just how many words she knew that I wasn’t even aware of. She understands everything. I constantly mix her up for an older child. But she is just growing and changing and helping. If Dekker has a question, she often knows the answer.

Rowan is also changing like crazy. He’s been crawling for a while now, and I figured he’d start walking while we were staying at my parents. He started standing on his own a bit there, but he didn’t walk. I felt a bit bummed that he hadn’t progressed as I had thought, and I assumed that yet another move would only set that back a bit further. (For the record, I’m not worried about him being “late” to walk, I just thought it was going to happen at my parents place.) However, being here and feeling how we feel, I’m very confident it will come soon enough. It is warm and comfortable here. We don’t have to worry about him breaking something that isn’t ours, or being rough with someone elses furniture, or knocking things over. Its just our stuff. He can do whatever he wants, as our life is pretty kid friendly. He has mastered the stairs completely. While we ALWAYS still walk right close to him, he is able to go up and down tall flights of stairs now, confidently. He communicates pretty well, pointing and grabbing for things. He says “ya” and “no” and “wow” and a few other words. Its not every single time, but we can tell its intentional. Sometimes he shakes his head “no” also. We can usually figure out what he wants. I couldn’t quite understand him not too long ago, but I can tell we’re getting better at that with each other. He is constantly changing and I’m so very smitten with him. He’s definitely my “boy band” kid.

So there you have it. Another update about the kidlets and how they’re doing life all together. We sure love them a lot, and they show us lots of love in return.

Feeling very thankful for my crew.