Keeping up with the Ealrywine's

The last couple of weeks has really been a challenge for our family. Aaron John has grown leaps and bounds in his comprehension of the English language and Abigail is finding her voice in world dominated by her loud brothers and sisters. Karley has learned to write her name, and she will on just about anything, Alex has taken basketball to a whole new level and is becoming quite the manual young man. Of course, Cedar still rules the roost and wants everyone to know who the real princess is. . . this week it’s Belle.

Aaron John now considers himself to be a full fledge adult. At only 2 years and a couple of months, he talks in complete sentences and expects you to understand. Most of us in the Earlywine clan have learned to pick out key words in an attempt to understand AJ, but to the over hearing ear, there is not much there to understand. The craziest thing has been his comprehension of Heidi and myself. No matter the directive, he follows through perfectly, so you have to watch what you say to him, seriously.

Abigail has began pitching her ten cents into all conversations too. You can hear her clearly across the room, demanding the attention of one of her closest siblings. Cooing and mumbling she is still the awe of all of her brothers and sisters. We wonder if sometimes we should have given her the middle name Joy because that is what she has contributed to our family.

Karley has really taken to writing her name whenever possible. I can’t remember the days I learned to write but I always get a kick out her. She has no problems with lower case “e’s” but it takes everything in her to make a “y”. It seems to me the “e” is a lot more difficult, requiring finer motor skills, a “y” has only two lines right? She has also had a difficult time at the dentist. Both Alex and Karley have had numerous cavities filled this past year. In fact Alex finished his last fillings appointment in December and he is proud to say no more appointments until May, for his yearly checkup. Karley still has a few more fillings and she will be home free as well, but she hates every moment there, who can blame her?

Alex has really had a good time playing basketball this year. His coach is a great guy and has taught Alex a lot about shooting and rebounding. He made his first basket in a game last week and he attributes it all to his lucky wrist bands. His team has won all of their games by HUGE deficits and he if finally excited to be on the winning team. He is also continuing to excel in school and is developing a great reputation with his teachers. In fact the other day he left his homework on the kitchen table. When he arrived at school he told his teacher that he did his homework and just forgot it. Her reply, “It’s okay Alex I know you did it, you haven’t missed any homework all year.” What a great lesson for him to learn in trust, truth and reputation. Makes you kind of wonder if you would have that same reputation among people.

So, we are finally planning our vacation for Idaho this winter. We will be heading that direction February 20-26 and we hope we have a chance to catch up with all of our family and friends. So, until next time, we’ll try to keep on blogging.