Gentlemen and Raspberries

This evening Luke was wearing a play military hat. He stopped and watched me walk past him. As I passed he lifted his hat like a gentleman. I picked up a broom and dustpan and as I passed him again he lifted his hat and said "good luck." LOL! Where did he learn that?! He's now 4 years and five months and the cutest thing!

Tiberias
All day Ty comes up to me to give me a kiss on the lips. I got so excited because my boys don't tend to give me kisses unless forced. As soon as he would get his lips on mine he would blow a raspberry! And every time I fell for it!

Tiberias is 2 years and 3 months old.
He talks a lot and uses many words. I still can't understand a lot of what he says though. He looks so different from how he looked at 6 months and then 12 months. But I can see it's him when I watch homevideos at different ages. He has some mannerisms that have not changed. lol
And he's adorable with beautiful blue eyes still.

After church Sunday we had a little meeting in the gym and the kids were playing on the gym floor. Some older kids were sliding(scooting) on the floor and Ty did the same, following after them. It was so cute.

Tiberias is so social! He wants to play with friends every day! Last week we played with his friends (the Mangles) two days in a row and the next day he was begging to play with friends. He often begs to play with friends. I am thinking of putting him in the Aviano Parent Coop. It's a unique program where parents apply as if applying for a real job. When they ok'd they can drop their children off with other children to play a few hours a day for up to six days a week. Other parents are in charge of the kids. You get six days to leave your kids and then you do one day of watching other people's kids.
It's a program so kids get social play often and parents can go 1) to the gym 2) shopping  3) out to lunch etc.

He loves to have my attention. He says "Mom, watch this!" and then he'll come up with something (anything) silly to do. It might be a jump, a spin, or a silly sound. But he'll do it again and again coming up with different things or the same things to show off for me.
Then when he plays in the front driveway with Luke he whines if I'm not actively watching him. He'll say "Mom, look at me!" Often I stand in the house by the window and look out at him every minute to keep him happy. I'll stand there watching a tv show.  :)

I look at him and cannot believe how big he is! Sterling says if we tried to potty train him he'd probably have it within 6 months. Ty does like to sit on the potty but he's yet to actually pee in the potty. And I have NO motivation to start potty training! It took Luke 2 years to learn it! So I don't want to start again. I hate it!

Lachoneus is 4 years and 4 months old. He can read small words. I don't spend much time with him teaching him to read but if I did he would be incredibly impressive. He already is impressive. So smart!

Luke was delayed in social skills and is still working to be caught up in that area. He was delayed in learning to be speak and be really imaginative. Ty has no issues in those areas.
But Luke is so smart! He knows many shapes including cylinder and Hexagon. He know his colors, alphabet identification and can tell you what letter a word starts with.

Both boys love our puppy! Cora spends a lot of time in her kennel and in the backyard. But a few times a day we let her play in the house, supervised. They love it when she licks their faces. They like to run with her and cuddle her.

Eating

Tiberias use to eat almost anything you gave him. But just before turning 2 years old he started to get picky. And it continued until he'd eat less and less food options. It seems he now has to be in the mood for a food or he won't eat it.

Luke has been a picky eater for a long time! There are things Luke NEVER ate well. He has always hated marshmallows and bananas...possibly for their textures.

Both my boys have learned to use a spoon late because I gave them the opportunity late. And now a lot of the time I serve them finger food.
Even when I give them a spoon it doesn't mean they will try to use it. Tiberias is trying to learn to eat with a spoon now but it's slow going. He is two years and almost three months olds now.

Ty 2yrs

Tiberias turned 2 years old last month. I can't believe how big he is.
Tiberias loves learning songs, the words and tunes, and he's good at it. Both boys know the primary songs by heart because that's what they hear every night when they go to bed. I love to hear them randomly break out in Primary song during the day while they play.

Tiberias still picks on Luke. He beats him up if I'm not watching. It's sad. He'll learn some day.I think he does it because he wants more attention from Luke.

Ty loves nursery now! It's easy to drop him off each Sunday. But Luke hates primary. Sterling is ward clerk and I teach Valiants 8 and 9 so it's difficult for either of us to help our kids during church. But it seems each week Sterling ends up with Luke trying to convince him to stay in class. We've had a few times where Luke sits in Time Out while Sterling does his job instead of being in class and he prefers it that way.  :(

Ty has had an imagination from a young age. So it's fun to watch him play at this age.

Tiberias is smart. He's learned to count to 12 even though you can't always make out what he's trying to say. It's so cute! He learned to count by hearing us and helping us count during situps. And he's learned his ABC song because Luke loves for us to sing it. And shockingly, he can spell DAD! On our hike this morning I asked Luke how to spell DAD and Ty answered because Luke! I tried to teach Ty to spell Mom but only repeated me and said "dad" instead of "mom." Apparently he only wants to know how to spell dad. 

He loves practicing to speak. He loves for us to tell him a word to say.
But he isn't getting his colors yet. I worked all summer trying to teach Ty colors but he just isn't getting them. He is really young though. And such an adorable boy! Cute face!

We got a puppy 1 week and 4 days ago. Ty loved dogs! So I thought he'd love a puppy! However, he's so young it's hard for him to own a puppy. He isn't use to someone else in the house getting the most attention. He loved Cora but is getting use to her or over her even.
She's not always nice to Ty. She's a 4 month old beagle. If I let Ty and the puppy play in the backyard sometimes she will bit his pants. She will pull his pants and keep at it. The other day she scratched both sides of his face and was attacking his pants. He was clinging for dear life to the little playground we have in the backyard. Poor boy. Now I have to watch them whenever they are together.

4 yr Luke

Lachoneus turned 4 in July. He has entered a whole new level in the magical world of "make believe."
He has imaginary friends but they are always his toys. Baby Elmo was the first. And he still is, through all the other toys, Luke's friend.
Luke started with his baby Elmo stuffed animal. He had to have Elmo with him for everything and said that Elmo needed a turn when we did things like school lessons or prayers. Luke would help Elmo with these tasks. He even had to have Elmo tucked in with him at night.

He would say "this is my friend, Elmo!" He said it often.

It spread to being "This is my friend doggy"(a puppy stuffed animal his grandparents Roundy sent him for Easter this year) and "This is my friend Truck" (referring to a toddler toy truck we have). Sometimes he takes multiple friends with him around the house and even to bed.

He would use them to play things he's learned in real life. Sometimes his toys would be in time out for something specific they did bad. Sometimes they would have owies.

We totally support Luke.
Recently he was playing with stickers and I put one on my face. He put two on his face then one on each foot and one on each of my feet. He said we were aliens. He said I was the Mama Alien and this was our alien home on our alien planet. Later that day Sterling became an alien too (stickers). We've been aliens for a few days. We did take the stickers off for walks and trips to the store though.  :)

I've been focusing on teaching Luke to read. He knows all the alphabet letters and the sounds they make. He is learning to write them but has a long way to go in that area.
So I've started teaching him to read 2-3 letter words and to spell 3 letter words.
When we go on hikes I like to ask to name the beginning letter to a word. It's a game we play and he's great at him.
He's good at rhyming too.

Luke starts preschool (2nd year) tomorrow! All summer long (when I was homeschooling Luke) he kept asking if he could go back to school. He loves riding the bus, playing with his friends, learning and playing with the school toys. Now it's finally happening...he gets to go back to school!

Last week we went as a family to meet his new teacher. It's the same classroom as he was in last year and it's the same time...the 12:00 preschool.
His teacher and aide seem great. We're all excited. Ty wishes he could go back and play with the toys too.

Luke was the head of his class last year and we're pretty sure he will be again this year. We're so excited he's being allowed to go back to school. He's so smart we thought he would not qualify for the class anymore. But his main issue was social skills and going to school is what helps him to be where he should socially.

We got a puppy 1 week and 4 days ago! We got it for the boys because we knew it would bring so much joy to their lives. We did not know quite how much work it would be for us. Now we know.
Luke is a good age for having a dog. He likes to help by walking her and playing with her. He can help brush her fur.
Ty is a bit young. He gets jealous of the attention the puppy gets. He is not much bigger than her and can't hold her back when walking her.

Luke will be able to wear underwear to school this year! He still needs to be reminded to go use the restroom sometimes but does great most of the time. Somedays he has accidents more than usual.

Sterling and I can hardly believe how big he is...how old he is getting. We are very proud of him.

Tiberias now picks on Luke. Teases him and sometimes tries to hurt him.
Sometimes Luke squishes (whole body) Tiberias though and I have to tell him to let Ty up because he's whining for help.

Luke loves singing now. He sings when he's on the toilet or laying in bed trying to get sleepy at night. He knows the words to primary songs and it's so cute.
Tiberias has an interest in conducting music. At church he mimics the chorister in sacrament meeting. So cute! I have an interest in conducting myself. I plan to learn sometime soon...when I find the time.

Tiberias is showing some desire for independence. He tries to get his shirt off by himself or put on his own shoe. He cannot successfully do these things but he gets frustrated if I try to help him sometimes.

Tiberias is now obsessed with books. His absolute favorite book is "See How I Grow"by Angela Wilkes. It shows a baby new born and shows pictures every few months as she gets bigger and learns new things. I think he is fascinated with tiny babies now. But I'm not ready to have baby #3 yet.

My Boys

A few weeks ago Tiberias did not want to sit and be read to. Now he loves books! But he is very picky. He wants the same book read over and over again. And his favorite changes often.

He tries to recite the ABC's. He says "Ah, ah, ee" and stuff like that but he makes it sound like Luke and I do when reciting the alphabet. It is obvious what he is trying to do.
This morning the boys actually slept in until 7am. I got up and showered and the boys were still in bed. But I heard Tiberias doing his alphabet bit. I walked in and found Luke awake in bed and Tiberias underneath the bed. lol. He is a funny boy.

Both boys loved having Abigail visit. She was here with us for about 6 weeks! Inbetween school semesters she came to visit us and help us with the boys.
Tiberias took a few weeks to warm up to her. He still warms up quickly for men but not for women/girls.

By the time Abi left us she was part of the family. Both boys were attached to her like they would be to a live-in nanny. She played with them while I cleaned. She watched them so Sterling and I could go on dates or shopping without the boys.
And we all went on trips together and saw some amazing things.

Lachoneus was doing great with his potty training but then we went on vacation for a whole week. Most of those days we had him in a pullup most of the day because toilet use you often have to pay for and they are not always around. So now he's not going well potty training. So I found a great incentive. Stephanie gave us a Buzz Lightyear costume that fits Tiberias. Luke wore it a few times and it is ripping because of that. I won't allow Luke to put it on because I don't want it to be garbage. So I told Luke that if he can go a whole day with dry underwear I will start making him a Buzz Lightyear costume. Every day that he has no accidents I will work a little on making his costume. I am not buying a pattern or new material. I am not spending money to make it. I know he will be happy with it however it turns out.
We have this white karate outfit that was handed down and is a bit too big for him. That will be my basis for the costume.

Luke likes to sing now. Tiberias still loves music! Luke only likes to hear music for a little while.
Tiberias likes dancing...Luke still does not.
Luke would watch movies all day if I let him. Tiberias will not watch tv UNLESS it is Classical Baby dvds. He loves those...so does Luke.

Luke's favorite colors and red and green. Sometimes he says otherwise but mostly he says "red and green." The movies he watches most often are #1 "Monster's Inc", "Despicable Me", "Wallace and Gromit" (the moon episode). He also likes WallE.

Tiberias has recently become a climber. He wants to climb up on the Little Tikes car roof, counter tops, Ster's bicycle chained up in the front yard, etc.

Tiberias is still a healthy eater. He loves vegetables (especially potatoes). Does not like white bread.
Luke still is picky. Ty will often eat all the food on his plate and half of Luke's too. Luke doesn't care because he doesn't want to eat it unless it's a sandwich (Nutella, PB & J or Honey), macaroni and cheese, chocolate muffins or sugar filled anything almost.

Reading

Lately Tiberias pretends to taste the books we read. As we turn the pages he takes a finger and slides it across a page as if scooping food onto his finger. Then he puts it in his mouth and sucks. Then he does it again and again.
He doesn't enjoy being read to. He won't sit there and be happy looking at the pages while you read. He does like to get on and off my lap as I read and to try tasting all the pages. He even comes over to bop Luke on the head, trying to get his attention.

When Luke was a baby he loved being read to. He loved looking at the pages and sitting on my lap.

Now we have to get a big stack of books from the library every few weeks. Luke's teacher wants us to read to him every day and record what we read. Lachoneus loves being read too so it's not a big change for us.
Luke wants to read 10 books a day. Of course, we usually read 3 or 4 a day.

Show and Tell

Thursdays are Show and Tell in Luke's Preschool. I usually forget. They are bring something that is the color they are working on.

In an email from Luke's teacher she told me how yesterday's Show and Tell went, when I forgot to send him to school with something to show.

This is what she typed;

"During Show and Tell, Luke really wanted to present. So I got him a pink piece of construction paper and he stood in the middle of the carpet on the violin and faced his audience. He was very cute. He said, “It is pink paper.” Then everyone applauded him. Love him. Got to Love Him"

Tiberias is now at the stage where he can open doors. He opens all the doors and tries to go play outside by himself. I now keep the front door locked all the time.
He now wants to draw all over everything. He gets into our pen/marker drawer. He has drawn on the tile floor a few times and on the drawer itself many times. I'm trying to teach him not to ever even open the pen drawer. He's not allowed in there. We may have to move all the pens/marker up where he can't reach.

Tiberias now moves chairs to get up high. To play with stuff on the counter top. To reach the microwave.

He also likes to sing when Luke sings. Usually they sing simple words like "da" and "do." Luke will start singing a silly song and Ty will try and sing it too. It's so cute!

Lachoneus is becoming a big help to me. He can stop Tiberias from doing things I don't want him to. He takes Tiberias by the hand and leads him away from the problem area.

Tiberias likes to jump on or fall onto his brother for some rough housing. If the tv is on Luke will say "no, Ty. That's enough!" He doesn't want to play. But if the tv is off he usually laughs and tries to tickles Ty. They like to play together that way.

Luke is doing well with potty training. He still won't go unless I make him go. But he only has an accident about once a week.

Tiberias learns from Luke, copies him, way too much. It's always the stuff he's not suppose to do; banging a fist on the table, making angry sounds, throwing things.

Tiberias still does not sit and watch tv. I thought he would by now since Luke is always watching movies. I think Luke starting watching tv at Ty's age.

Their dad is away on a TDY work trip. He is in Spain. He has been gone one week and about 4 days now. Lachoneus knows the routine now. Sterling goes TDY at least one a year. We tell Luke a few days before Ster leaves that he is going away for a long time. We do a good farewell telling daddy we'll miss him and we love him, as we drop him off on the base.
We walk about Daddy and view pictures of him while he is gone. We talk to him on the phone. I talk to him every day. The boys talk to him most days. And when he has good enough internet we do video chat.
Tiberias always smiles when he sees his daddy on the video chat.

Luke talks about daddy flying in an airplane and being in Spain. Of course, he has no idea what Spain is like. But he can relate to the flying party because he remembers flying in many planes last summer with Ty and mommy. He talks about his own flights as well.

We played cars together the other day. Luke picked the blue airplane and said it was the one daddy took to Spain. He flew that plane from one rug to the other and left it there. So we played Sterling's homecoming scene for fun. I told Luke we'll get up at night when we're sleepy (Ster should arrive at like 10pm) and drive to the base. We drove a car and pretended it was at the military base.
We had daddy's plane from back from Spain. We pretended we all got out of the car and gave Sterling hugs and kisses saying "I love you!" and "We missed you!"
Then we all got in the car and drove home. :)

We have one week until Sterling comes home. It's a short TDY. But it seems long. The boys are doing very well though! I have to rough house with them once in a while because daddy isn't here to do it. They like me to chase them, throw them on the couch or push them onto a cushion, tickle them, play bite them, chase them. They also like to dance but we have not done that in a while.

Tiberias won't let me work out, not even dancing to Just Dance2 on the Wii. I have no idea why he hates it. He cries if I don't pick him up when I try to workout. Or, if I'm down on the ground he will just climb on me.
So my workout time is during his nap every day! lol

Lachoneus is so smart! He is speaking well. He describes what he sees and what is going on. He will do that during a movie too if I'm on the couch with him.
He likes to sing the Alphabet song but always skips the letter N.
He loves pointing out his shapes and colors and counting.

He loves doing any kind of school at home. We bought Hooked on Phonics' Leran to Read set for 3-4 year olds. Luke loves it! He already knows his letters and most of the sounds so it's more fun than work. It does help him learn rhyming and practice the sounds of each letter. We just started it last week. It also gives online games to go with each lesson and he loves that!

I am so proud of my boys!

Lachoneus has finally picked a favorite color. He has never had a favorite toy or activity or color. He has had a favorite blanky. He has had a favorite food (PB sandwich).
Less than a week ago he started saying his favorite color is green. And he still claims that.
He sees pink and says "pink is a girl color" then gives anything pink to mommy (me). He sees blue and says "that's for daddy." And now green is for Luke. Orange or Yellow he usually gives to Tiberias.

Tiberias has a little vocabulary. He says night-night, bah-bah (bye bye), nana (banana), dotdod (hot dog), yeah, no, appoh (apple), dah (dad), momom or ma, purpah (purple) he said while we were at a birthday party last week!We were making colored pasta necklaces and he would hold up the colors for me to identify them. When I got to purple he repeated me. He started to catch on which ones were the color purple. He would hold them up and say "purpah."
This morning Sterling taught him to say pepper. We have a toy green pepper. I came downstairs this morning and Sterling said "Ty, what is this" as he held out the pepper. Tiberias said "peppeh." lol. So cute! He kept saying it until I pulled out the video camera. Then all he would say was "pear." After the camera was away dad got him to say it right again.

He might say more if he didn't have a binky. We allow him to have a binky and so he has it in his mouth a lot. He don't let him have it often when we are away from home but at home we let him have it whenever he wants.

Lachoneus and Tiberias share a bed now. They have a queen sized mattress. Tiberias will sleep in his crib for naps but both boys love sharing that big mattress at night.

A New Year

Both of my boys have gotten their teeth late. Tiberias now has four teeth on top and four on bottom. Two on the top and two on bottom have not grown out much but they are there.

Tiberias has an imagination! We went on a hike last week. We stopped near the end to let the boys play. Ty picked up a stick and was holding it up and walking forward then laughing like crazy and stepping back. Then he'd do it again. I dont' know if he was fighting an imaginary creature or what. But he thought it was funny.
It was then that Sterling pointed out to me that Luke was not like that at all when he was Ty's age. When Luke was in nursery and Sterling and I were no longer the nursery leaders his teacher pointed some stuff out to us. Luke must have been atleast 6 months older than Ty is right now.
His teacher had two sons with physical disabilities. She pointed out Luke's lack of social skills and suggested we get him checked out.
We did get him into the program EDIS and they helped me tremendously! Now he is in preschool and his social skills are doing well. He is so smart too.

Luke did not act like he had an imagination back then...not like Tiberias does. Luke was our first child so we thought he was normal and perfect. It was hard to accept that maybe he was behind and needed help.

When we met with Luke's teacher a month or two ago she told us that Luke is a very smart boy.
When school started up after the holiday break I sent Luke to school with a Happy New Year card I made for his teacher. She sent an email to us and this is what it said;

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Roundy,  Thank you so much for the wonderful card you sent me
today.  I  consider myself very fortunate to have parents who appreciate me and 
the hard work and long hours I put in just to make this look like it  is so easy.
I was Blessed by your card today. I so needed to hear  those words you wrote to me.
I love Luke and I think he knows that. And I tell you again, Luke is  unusually
smart and insightful. I just love how he will reflect on  something within the
 classroom, or point out a "detail" that someone  else may have taken for granted.
 He is very, very, smart.  Thank you again,  Ms. Benton-Flores

That makes me really happy. He has come such a long way. A drastic change in only 6 months! School really helps him too.

With the beginning of a new year Lachoneus graduated from Nursery to Sun Beams at church. He loved nursery and I know this change is hard for him. A week ago I spied on him in his class. He was sitting with the other kids who are trying to learn to sit and not just play the whole time. The teacher was asking a child what makes them happy. Luke was making farting sounds with his hands. His teacher stopped to ask Luke not to spit. She handed him a tissue.

Next month Tiberias will turn 18 months old. That means he will finally be able to start in nursery! He is so ready and I am even more ready!
Ty has tried to go to nursery every Sunday for months. He knows where the toys are.
He is too squirmy and curious to behave and let me stay in class. Lately I have had Ty during Sunday School which means I sit out in the foyer during that hour. Sterling has a lot of work to do, being ward clerk, and Tiberias causes problems when Sterling tries to keep him in the office.
Sterling has been taking Ty with him during the third hour so I can go to and enjoy Relief Society but then he complains about how Ty keeps him from getting his work done. We both complain after church every week about Tiberias. Unfortunately we still have about a month before we can put him in nursery.

Yesterday Lachoneus spent half the day at work with his daddy. Luke went to school on the bus at 11:30a as usual. Around 1:30p I received a phone call from the school nurse. She said Luke was sleeping in class and had a fever. So he was waiting in the office for a parent to pick him up. Sterling had the car at work so I called him to let him know what was up. He said he could leave work to get Luke. Class usually gets out at 2:30 and it must have been close to that time when Sterling got there. Luke had woken up and was sent back to class by then.

Sterling had to get back to work and so he took Luke with him. He spent the day coloring, reading his new books, eating snacks and hanging out in daddy's office. He must not have been too sick because he was fine spending the day at daddy's work. Sterling had to work late.
It was weird to be without Luke so long. The boys got home around 5:00.

Sterling is going on a TDY soon. The boys never get enough time with their daddy. They love him so much! He is a fun daddy.
I need to make a good effort to get the boys and their daddy to spend good quality time together before Sterling leaves.