Update on the older two...

Well its about time I brief you all in on what my older two have been up to.  With both of them it has been such a fun season these past three months.  I will first start with Hosanna.

Hosanna is extremely verbal for her age.  So verbal that sometimes it creeps me out.  She has such a little toddler body yet sometimes full sentences come out of her mouth. Other people may not fully understand what she is saying, but we are used to her little "Hosanna dialect."  She loves asking what we are doing, and if she can come with us wherever we go.  She repeats everything Henry says.  She is IN LOVE with Henry.  When she wakes up she immediately asks where Henry is.  She loves playing with him and can keep up with him pretty well.
 

Hosanna is also extremely passionate.  She struggles a little with aggression; she can hit or throw tantrums if she is really upset.  However if she is happy or excited she shows the same amount of passion.  Hosanna is known for saying impromptu "I love you's" to people.  Almost every night I hear her in the room saying over and over "I love you" to Henry, to which he responds "Hosanna, stop talking, I am trying to SLEEP!" Cracks me up every night.
 
Hosanna loves doing everything herself.  She feeds herself everything, likes to try to put on her own clothes, etc... She also enjoys cleaning up and is really helpful if I ask her to throw something away or grab something for me.  She listens to directions extremely well.

Her favorite thing to play right now is "tea cup."  She loves getting a bucket of water outside and filling up her tea cups and dumping them on her head.
 

She is sweet to Gus but isn't over interested in him.  He sleeps so much that the kids forget about him most of the time.
 

Now onto Henry.  Henry is getting so "big boy"-like, that it makes my heart hurt.  His new "thing" is to say "Hey mom, watch me do big boy stuff."  This usually entails him jumping off the fireplace onto a bean bag.  He is in the typical kid stage where I have to watch him do everything.  He is getting really good at his glider bike.  He can glide down our entire driveway without using his feet.  

Henry is extremely sweet and patient with his sister.  He truly enjoys playing with her.  He talks so her and listens when she is talking to him.  Seeing how well they play together makes me so happy with the decision we made to keep home instead of sending him to three year old preschool.  Establishing a solid friendship between my kids is a high priority in our family.  

Although they get along extremely well, the kids have their quarrels too.  Henry tends to tattle and scream when Hosanna grabs something from him.  We are working with him on how to work things out with his sister without the blood curling screeches.  

Henry also has really embraced the idea that our family is a team. He knows his job on our team is to teach his younger brother and sister things. Also to be patient with them and show them love. On Saturday mornings Jordan takes Henry and Hosanna out on Daddy adventures.  Most weeks this means a bike ride to Starbucks but sometimes they do fun "adventures" too.  The Saturday before Gus came, Jordan took the big kids across town to an old Catholic church.  This church is known for its long long flight of stairs.  It is on a hill and there are many flights of stairs before you reach the church.  Jordan packed up a bag full of snacks and water and told the kids they were going to go up a ton of stairs then got a special treat if they reached the top.  The goal of this little adventure was to teach the kids to not give up, even when something is difficult. And to teach Henry that we are only as strong as our weakest team member/  Translation: Learn to help your sister. Henry was so sweet with Hosanna the entire time and held her hand and helped her climb all the stairs.  He encouraged her even though she wanted to stop for snacks every few steps.  Afterwards Jordan took them to get an ice cream cone.  The kids shared and Henry fed his sister the entire time.  It hasn't always come naturally for Henry to have a servant heart.  But I really think he sees the joy that comes from loving others well.  

Something surprising about Henry as well is that he has a really good singing voice.  Many people have commented on how good his pitch is.  I would write more about that but I have no clue what that means.  I am not musical at all, and I can bet that my pitch is atrocious.  I am terrible at singing! 

Having a baby really makes me appreciate my other two.  Reading books with Henry on my lap is such a sweet time for me now, where as before it was just another part of my ordinary day.  I can remember when he was a newborn and now he is almost four.  Time goes by so fast and my prayer is that I can capture these days in my heart and never forget them.