On and On and On and On

Yes, that's right, I'm finally catching up on my blog! Here's a rundown of recent memories:

• Hailey follows me all over the apartment. She doesn't let me go anywhere alone for long. Typically if I'm going somewhere and I tell her (i.e. "Hailey, I'm going to get Miles a snack"), she jumps on lap, wraps her little arms around my neck and says "I come!". I ask if she wants to come with me and she says "Yes!" I heart her.
  
• Last week, out of the blue, Miles decided he wanted to take a shower instead of a bath. I was all for it! Ahmad taught him how and he loved it so much, he wanted to take one the next morning and the next night. He has taken several since and seems to like it. I think baths might be behind us....he's getting so big!
• Miles brings up my dad more often than I thought he would. I'd say he mentions him in some way at least once a week and sometimes, lately, he's been really asking some questions or talking deeply about him. He's asked a few times before how Grampie got so sick and I tell him he had a lot of owies. He took that at first, but then started asking more. Finally, I told him it was originally from smoking, but that he had stopped. We briefly talked about that (could only reference 1 person he might know who smoked, thankfully!). A few nights later, he was up at 10pm talking about being scared and sad. Then he started talking about Grampie and how he missed him. He said that every time he saw Grampie and went to leave, Grampie would give him candy. And we talked about playing on the pool table with him. It was nice. I told him it was important to remember the good times just the same as it was ok to be sad. He asked me if we could get some more pictures of Grampie because he didn't want to forget him. Wow. Yes, of course. He also was talking about how if smoke got on his skin, it wouldn't hurt him, but fire in his blood would. He's working on understanding that part! Then, he was asking about why I didn't marry him. I explained that I had married daddy and then we had him. He was disappointed, but ok. Then he went on to ask me what his second name was. What? We've never talked about marriage or about another name. I told him he didn't have another name, but that if he was a girl, he would've been Makayla, just like if Hailey had been a boy, she would've been Mason. He accepted that, but thought that Olivia might be a good name too. Lol. I wished we could've gone with this conversation longer, but it was so late, I had to cut it off.
• Hailey loves loves loves her baby dolls. She plays with them all the time. She loves feeding them, giving them drinks, putting them down for night-night, holding them, and pushing them in the stroller or shopping cart. It's too cute.
• Miles is caught up on being "almost 5!" He just cannot wait to turn 5 years old. I cannot believe he is almost 5.
• For the past 6 weeks or so, Hailey has been waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to her bed. It's been tough since she and Miles share a room. I would've liked to try to get her down in her room, let her fuss, and hopefully fall asleep. But, I don't want her to wake Miles, so I had been bringing her out and into our bed. She will lay down right beside me with an arm under my neck and around the other side and rub my ear, cheek to cheek. She insists that we are cheek to cheek. She will usually get comfy and just go right to sleep. I have to admit, I loved it. She was so snuggly! But, it was hard for me to sleep well and I knew it wasn't a good idea for the long run. But, I was always so tired (not used to getting up at night anymore!), I usually gave in. Sometimes we ended up on the couch, sometimes the bed. The last few nights, she's made it until 5:30 or 6am, which is much better!
• On that note as well, Hailey has really been in to skin-to-skin contact lately. She loves my belly and will just lift up my shirt and press her face into my belly. She will put her little hand up my sleeve or down my back or press her cheeks to mine. It's pretty cute.
• Miles, Hailey and I have been going to church quite regularly here. Unfortunately, Ahmad works Sundays, so he's only been once. We go every week unless something comes up and the kids have really taken to it, which I love. We actually missed one week when I was just too tired to go and later that morning, they both asked if we were going and Miles was quite upset we weren't going. He's begun participating in the Children's Liturgy of the Word, which is where all the kids leave before the Gospel and come back after the Homily. They do their own thing, pray, read, sing songs and I think it's great for him. Recently, they have started the nursery up again and now we are going to be doing that too. It will just be for Hailey, but in order for her to go, I have to volunteer as well. I did my first rotation last week and it went pretty well, except that makes for a long morning (church first and then the nursery for the next mass). Anyway, hopefully Hailey will do well in it, but I haven't been able to leave her yet. However, I also am not sure I will take her every time because I do want her to be exposed to church. For instance, not long after we moved here, Miles told me that Hailey always says "cory cory" at night in bed. He had all these ideas about what that meant and it was a few months before I figured out she was saying "Glory Glory" after the song in church! I was right and when we pull into church, she says "Glory Glory!" and she dances during that song. When we are leaving church, she says "All done Glory Glory!". Also, she is too cute in that when she is playing at home, she loves to pretend to be leaving and going somewhere, telling us all goodbye, giving kisses, taking her baby, etc. When I ask her where she's going, she says "church!"
• Miles has a little girlfriend at school. Shortly after pre-k started, he told me one day in the car that he had a friend and it was a girl. :) Then several weeks later, he told me that he wasn't going to play with her anymore. I asked why and he said that she called him "Miles Kyles" and he didn't like it. Too funny! I asked him more about it and he said he told her to stop, but she didn't, so he's going to play with another friend now. I told him ok! The next day I asked if he played with his old friend, and he said yes. He said that he decided it would hurt her feelings if he didn't want to be her friend. Oh preschool love!
• Hailey is such a diva in so many ways. She has to pick out her shoes and sometimes will refuse to wear what I pick out for her. She also loves pretty things, anything girly looking. We have 2 princess plates for dinner and there are many nights she will insist on eating off one of those. I'll get down another plate and she will see me and state "no! pretty princess!" We need more plates...!
• Hailey is learning her colors, numbers and ABC's. She gets her colors right sometimes, which I'm impressed with. She has been reciting numbers and letters without any other associations, but then tonight, she actually counted 5 olives as she put them in the jar. I was super impressed!
• Miles has been saying he's scared a lot lately. I'm never really sure whether to believe him or not, but I usually try to empathize and smooth it over without making it into a big deal. He even had me check under his bed one night, which was a first.
• Hailey has begun patting the ground next to her and saying "by you!", which means sit by her (or "can I sit by you?")
• Yesterday was a rainy day and she came home from school exclaiming "it's a rainy day!" It was so funny to hear her say a real thought and sentence. Then this morning, I woke up to her exclaiming in bed "It's a rainy day!" over the monitor. It was too cute. It was down pouring and had woken me up as well!
• Hailey hates brushing her teeth
• Miles exclaimed this morning "Mommy, I don't want to go to school. I already know everything in the whole world!". Oh my!
• Miles continues to be such a good big brother. Yes, there are times when he's not, but 2 seconds later, he will be again. He will even tell her sometimes that he's not her friend, he won't share with her then, or that he won't play with her, but it never lasts long. He helps her with anything he can and tries to teach her. He gives her hugs and kisses and is amazing with her. She's a very lucky girl and we are very lucky parents!