Mom Remembers

Yesterday, Sven was having tummy time in the living room area while I made breakfast for the kids in the kitchen.  He usually does well on his stomach for about 5 minutes before he gets tired of holding up his head and gets cranky.  So I was really surprised to hear him happily babbling to himself through the whole meal. When I went around the couch after breakfast to go play with him, I found out why he had remained so cheerful for so long: he had flipped himself over!  He was happily cooing at the ceiling rather than angrily drooling into his quilt.  Hooray! It's so fun to watch him grow stronger and gain control of his body (although I bet it will be a while before he manages to remember how  he rolled over).  Babies start out so helpless and they develop so slowly!  I'm glad for that, though.  Every little bit is exciting and I certainly wouldn't want it to go by any faster. Look at him holding up his head:

A few months ago, Scott introduced a new dinnertime ritual that has been working really well for us.  We were trying to make the dinner time a more pleasant time, rather than an ongoing lecture on manners for our kids or a never-ending lecture on Pokemon for us.  We tried a few things but the one that stuck was this new ritual for turn-based conversation. Here's how it works:  After the dinner prayer, while Scott and I dish up food, we go around the table and everyone picks topics to discuss.  Topics the kids have picked recently:  "my day", "salt crystals dissolving in water", "the publication of A Memory of Light ", "names", "Atensity", and "Yugiyo XG".  Scott and I get to pick a topic too like "tweets", "the Oregon Medicaid study", "kindergarten", "the economy", or "what I love about Carl".  The idea is to give everyone a chance to speak briefly, knowing that they wil

Most of the time, Soren and Carl don't really interact with their new baby brother.  They do their own things, neither commenting nor complaining about our new addition, and he does his own things (eating and sleeping).  But when they do interact, Soren and Carl are really loving to Sven.  Those moments are very sweet to me. Like last night, when Soren asked me if Sven could sit in his lap.  He actually makes that request pretty frequently.  And then he sits there, with Sven cuddled in his lap, looking very proud and happy. Often, one of the boys will tell me very earnestly, "I want Sven to be a part of our family forever."   What mother wouldn't melt at that? In the evenings, after scripture study, Soren likes to make Sven "talk", sharing his thoughts on the day.  Soren uses the same gravelly voice that Scott does to put words in the baby's mouth. "My favorite part of the day was eating," he'll say, while holding up Sven's