I am now 24 weeks pregnant which means I have 16 weeks to go. That still sounds like alot and I am not looking forward to the physical difficulties that come with late pregnancy but all that also means the baby is coming soon! I feel like this pregnancy has gone by more quickly than my others in some ways and I think that must be because I have 3 other children that keep me so busy. Homeschooling two of them and trying to occupy a two year old so the other two can hear what I am saying to them keeps my days pretty full, not to mention all the other activities we are involved in with church and the homeschool group and just every day life things like cleaning house and grocery shopping.
Dresden is working on being potty trained. She had been using the potty some but with no consistency, over the last couple months but I decided I really did not want to buy diapers for two kids if I could help it so I decided to give her a little push since she is past 2 and a half now and had shown some interest and ability. I pulled out the potty chair I used for the other two, a 20 year old Fisher Price potty (it says 1987 on the bottom!) that is much sturdier than the cheap ones you can get now. The bowl part had cracked since Liam used it so I wasn't exactly sure what to do about that but thankfully, I found a small stainless steel bowl in my cabinet that I bought a little while back at a thrift store and it fit perfectly in the bowl-hole so the 20 year old potty is back in business! Dresden has been wearing cotton training pants and pull ups over the last few days and is doing very well. She had a few accidents the first couple days but did fine yesterday even though we were out at a field trip in the morning and at our home fellowship group in the evening. She used the bathroom at the home fellowship group right before we left at around 9 pm and then she fell asleep in the car. She was wearing a pull- up so I just left that on her for bed. I expected her to wet that in the night but as I was typing this, she woke up and came to me and the first thing she said was that she had to go potty. I checked her pull-up and it was completely dry! That was probably a fluke but it gives me encouragement that she really is getting this!
I also have to "brag" on my other two kids a little...Liam is 6 years old and two nights ago it was his turn to read the Scripture in our advent reading. He read Gen 17:1-8 from the NKJ Bible. I was sitting next to him watching what he was reading and he read every word perfectly without any help! Here's a few of the words from that passage: appeared, Almighty, blameless, covenant, multiply, exceedingly, fruitful, establish, descendants, generations, and everlasting. This is not bragging on me or my teaching ability because he has been reading since he was 4 and I didn't really "teach" him to read. He listened to Alley's reading lessons and watched her read Dick and Jane books and it just"clicked"! We were all amazed at how well he read this passage!
Alley has been doing a lot of writing on her own lately. She has been writing letters to far away family members but the other day, all on her own, she started writing about Pocahontas, who we have been studying about in school lately. I was going to have her draw a picture and write a short report on Pocahontas anyway but I hadn't mentioned that to her yet and she just started doing it! I love it when they show that they are enjoying and remembering something we are learning. There are so many blessings in homeschooling and sharing in these things is one of my favorites. We have so many great discussions about so many topics (from Pocahontas to peer pressure and everything in between) because we are together all the time, sharing life experiences minute by minute. I have no doubt that they will be well prepared for life when it is all said and done because God is building a great foundation for them. They are in a safe place where they can ask questions and be exposed to the world in small doses and learn all along the way. It reminds me of the way they train people to spot counterfeit money...they DO NOT let them handle counterfeit money! They ONLY let them handle real money so that they are so familiar with it, they will easily spot the fake when it comes along. This is my prayer for all of my children, that they will be so grounded in the truth that they will not be easily swayed when they are faced with false thinking in the future.
We are looking forward to my parents coming to Kansas City in one week to spend time with us and other extended family before Christmas. We also have several church activities planned in the coming weeks for Christmas that we are all looking forward to. It is a busy time and when the new year arrives, I will be down to less than 3 months left until the baby comes!
