Tony, Beck, Ashlyn, Ebony & Zander: Finally an Update!!

First some about Zander (I can’t believe my last blog post was when he was 6m old!!)
Zander is now almost 15 months old and full of character (some may call it attitude!) Smile He is running everywhere, mostly running from me when he has quickly grabbed something he thinks he’s not allowed to have. His sisters have a hard time leaving him alone because he is so much fun to play with. He lets them know pretty quickly when he has had enough with a simple shout of “MAAAA!!” This is his favourite word to shout out and he uses it for everything and everyone (doesn’t make me feel at all individual when he calls everyone Ma!)
He has great manners and says “Deeees” (please) for almost everything, and has even started saying “deh dees” (yes please). If he doesn’t get what he’s asking for he just keeps saying please, then shouts “MAAA” if he is told no Smile
He loves to kick a ball around and has just started trying to ride the girls scooters!

Now a bit about Ebby.
This little girl has a one-of-a-kind sense of humour! This picture was taken about 10 minutes after I asked her to put her pj’s on… Another example of her character is: if she is walking around with her food and is asked to go sit down she will sit exactly where she is… Which is usually not at the table, but more like at my feet in the kitchen, laundry, passage way, pretty much anywhere.
She has the most caring sensitive nature and will always make sure someone is ok if they seem upset or hurt. On the weekend I was chopping an onion and was asking her to leave the kitchen. When I turned to see if she had listened she saw the tears running down my face and her face dropped, so I had to explain to her that I wasn’t sad, onions just do that to your eyes (I have to tell her almost every time I cut onions)
This term I will be taking her to Southern River church playgroup every Friday! She loves to play with other kids and I think she will need the social aspect, without her sister. She seems to let Ashlyn lead the play at home alot.

And last of all our big girl Ashlyn.
Ashlyn likes to remind me at least once a week that she is nearly ready for grade 1!! And really she is right (although it scares me a little)
She gets a home-reader book to read with us and only needs a tiny bit of help (and by tiny I mean maybe 3 words tops through the whole book). She is able to sound out and write small words by herself! She has also been doing dot-to-dots at home up to 100 without a single help! And loves to do math type games often.
On top of learning so much she also likes to teach her little sister things. She sits and encourages Ebby so nicely and is very patient. She helps Ebby with her counting (at the moment she gets all the numbers right up to 2! haha) and with her colours. If she is doing colouring she will show Ebby where to colour inside the lines and explains things to her so nicely.
Another thing about Ashlyn is that she loves going to church, having Bible stories and learning about God. She asks questions all the time, one recent one being “Will Opa still be in heaven when we go there?” She got pretty excited when I told her that when we go to heaven it is forever, which started a big conversation about what heaven might be like. The other day we had someone over with a girl a bit younger than Ashlyn. They were talking about their toys and when they got them. I overheard Ashlyn say “I got this for Christmas… Do you know what Christmas is? It’s about the Lord’s birthday and we remember that He was born!” Hearing that makes me so proud of her, and also reassures me that it is all sinking in.