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.