May is Here!

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is May. The last few months have flown by. Chloe is getting excited for summer, but also sad about preschool ending. She really loves her teacher and her little friends. She has developed into this lovely sister and will pick up Josh and carry him around. She has a super cute shorter hair cut for summertime. She is staying much cooler when she runs around the house and yard. The kids get so much exercise. Chloe and mommy are also preparing for homeschooling next fall. We are both adjusting to that decision and growing comfortable with spending one more year together.

Isayas is loving the time he gets to spend outdoors. The boy runs, jumps, and plays out there for hours. He has mastered the swing that seats two and you pump by moving your arms (sorry, I don't know the name), but he is horrified each time I set him on a regular swing. He plays great with little girls, but does not know what to make of the neighborhood boys. Good thing we get to see his cousins pretty regularly, and I think he will feel more comfortable when he can understand English better. Mario and I are working with him on his sentences, he prefers to talk to us in one word fragments: more, milk, no, yes, car, orange, etc. He is starting to understand 'this is' and 'that is' etc. But he does get frustrated with us when we have him repeat something till it is right. He is looking forward to preschool next fall, this is supposed to be great for his language development and social development, and hey, he will probably get to play with boys.

Maya is also loving her time outdoors, she spends quite a bit of time with her big brother outside. She is more into the shoes she gets to wear, than running around though. She is a chatter bug and getting quite girly. We have had a couple fits here, because Mommy picked shorts/pants for her instead of a dress. Pray for her as we have her hearing tested on Wednesday, Mario and I have noticed some hearing issues with her and we would hope that if there is an issue that they would be able to find it and if there is not, that they would be positive about that too. Maya's other favorite thing to do is be held, she believes that Josh and her should be twins. So I will often hold both of them together and sing a lullaby.

Joshua is growing smarter, bigger, cuter, and more opinionated by the day. He really wants to walk and will probably do so before his first birthday. He is trying new foods every couple of days and doing pretty good. He has soy and milk allergies so it will be interesting to see what they do when he turns one. Maybe he will be on the gold formula for life. I am of course kidding, if need be I can force feed spinach till he gets his calcium allotment. Maybe, I will try him on calcium fortified OJ tomorrow. He drank it every morning in Addis at the Care Center. He loves to be with the whole group and enjoys meal time and play time. If he takes a second nap, he ends up alone with mommy and daddy. Joshua thinks this is great and will perch on his knees, rocking and clapping, cooing and laughing.

Life with four kiddos is busy and fun. Thanks for your continued thoughts, prayers, and words of encouragement.

Emilee