Max's Parent Teacher Conference

This past Tuesday was Max's parent-teacher conference, and we entered it with some real reservations. He was doing so well socially at the beginning of the year, but the past month he's been in Max-meltdown mode, mostly over social problems at recess. He's been telling us that no one will play with him and that he's intimated by some of the other boys. It's weird because he's such a cute kid, but he seems like he's having problems making friends. So, we went and shared our concerns with his teacher, and she just stared at us. Apparently, in the classroom, Max is well liked and a natural leader. He has plenty of friends and doesn't seem hesitant to speak up for himself. Go figure. The boy has no idea that he's actually one of the popular kids.

Granted, I'm not entirely surprised. He's so hyper aware of social pecking order, and he's always been concerned about whether or not he's well liked. I just wish he could see his amazing little self the way others see him. Of course, we want him to be happy at school, and that means he needs to figure out how to make and keep good friends. I trust he will in time, but it's hard for me that he has this whole other life seven hours of the day. It's weird to think about how much time he spends without us, with people we barely know. Guess we can officially say that our little boy is growing up.

The rest of the conference went great. He's doing great academically, and he's been reading up a storm lately. I'm really proud of the gains he's made this year, and we're all really grateful for the loving, supportive staff at his school. Max is surrounded by some great people each day.

The March report

Every single winter I say I'm going to do better about the family blog, and every single winter I fail. Miserably. In case you missed it, we live in Montana. We go into our houses around November and don't reemerge until April. It's just too dang cold to do anything, and since we're not out doing anything exciting, I think I don't have anything to write about, which is silly. Something small and amazing happens almost everyday. Each day living in a house with four boys is an adventure.

Today we went to church. Nothing newsworthy happened, but it's still worth mentioning that church is a huge wrestling match right now. Luke is at that magical age where church becomes a nightmare, and Jack just hit the age where I can no longer sit him down, come back, and find him in the same place. He's doing a very impressive army crawl all around the house. None of that is conducive to a spiritual church experience, but luckily for us, Darreck and I are both without callings right now. Not sure how that happened at the same time, but Darreck was defacto released from scouts when they reorganized the troop, and I was just released from the primary presidency because the president is about to have twin girls. So, here we are, for the first time in our adult lives, with absolutely nothing to do. It's both luxurious and destabilizing at the same time.

As for this week, we have nothing planned other than Max's parent teacher conference, and I'm loving it. We went through a few weeks where we had classes, parties, and church obligations every night of the week. I'm here to proclaim: there is beauty in simplicity. There is divinity in having nothing to do. Sometimes, being a little bored is much, much better than the alternative. So here I sit, waiting for spring to fully bloom. There may not be much to blog about, but life is good.

Jack at Eight Months

Today is our Jackaroo's eight month birthday! He's got to be the cutest kid of all time (along with Max and Luke), and I can't get enough of his hair! However, we're only going to show pictures of the front because he has a big bald spot on the back where he rubs while sleeping. He's all cute up front and all crazy looking in the back, poor kid!

In other Jack news, he's army crawling all over the place now, but he throws a little hissy fit when put up on all fours. Real crawling may still take awhile. He's also sitting on his own and standing up against the furniture. He's eating everything in sight, and he pretty much loves all foods. We're trying to give him as wide a variety as possible in the hopes that it might deter allergies. I'm not sure that anything really helps much, but we're going with the latest research. The only thing he doesn't do so well is sleep. He's still up 2-3 times each night wanting fed, although I'm at the point where I'm willing to let him cry a little. Overall, it seems likes he's getting much too big much too fast. It's only a matter of a few months until he's walking and talking. The fun continues!

Jack's First Big Boy Bath

Jack hit another milestone today as he took his first bath in the big bath tub, sitting up and all. He'll be eight months in one more week, and he's certainly growing by leaps and bounds. He has two teeth now, and he's sitting up great on his own. It's just a matter of time before he's crawling properly, as opposed to rolling everywhere. It always astounds me how much babies change over the course of one short year.

We also packed up and resold many of our baby items this week, so I'm feeling even more nostalgic than usual. We said goodbye to the rocking bassinet, the bouncy chair, the baby bath tub, and many clothes. I'm not sure why getting rid of stuff hits me so hard, but I've been extra clingy to all three boys this week.

Some days I wish I could bottle up babyhood and keep it in a jar, ready and waiting for when I needed a dose of "little" for the day.