Do siblings have to be Rivals?

I wanted to throw a little spot light here about sibling rivalry and cooperations. I had a thought today as I was watching little Abraham being tickled by Jarom. First I have to explain, Abraham has been the most unusual about laughing, its not that he doesn't laugh but it is like he has a limited reservoir of laughter. It is not easy to reach that little reservoir but when you do he will laugh whole heartedly. The kids are always trying to find it and often they do. Here Jarom was holding the little turtle upside-down and had found that special spot by giving him the biggest 'bizerbert' Jarom could muster. Abe would curl his little body around Jarom's head and laugh.
So, as I was watching this I thought of all the times I had been mean to my own siblings when I was shorter. I also remembered all the present times when my own children are unkind to one another. I regret those times when I was not nice, especially when I knew what I was doing was hurting their feelings. I see the kids hurting each other both with hits and with words. This picture is a time, that does happen every so often, when a couple of my kids are having a great time. It is wonderful, I cherish these moments.

Thanks Grandma!

What a lifesaver, I wanted to thank Grandma for passing on this little foam couch-hide-a-way-bed. We used this to train Sariah to want to sleep in her own room first and thus enable us to not only not sleep in my bed but in her own room so both Erin and I could sleep better with out a small person kicking us all night. Now once again we are employing the usefulness of this small piece of children's furniture. Little Abraham has been snuggling with Erin since birth and so he has not been keen on the idea of sleeping in the bed we have set up for him in the toy room. These past few days I have taken the time to help him get to sleep and then tried to ever so gently place him in the bed I use to be able to put him in just a month ago. Both nights he would stay asleep just till I would make contact with the bed. I would take him back into our bed and he would not have any problem sleeping. The thought came that he likes the softer bed so I put him in the bat-man bed and he has slept the past two days until 5 am, all by himself in the little bed. Thank you Grandma for the two nights of sleep for both Erin and I. We are forever grateful for your generous and caring nature.

A Proud Father!

I just wanted to slip in a small moment of excitement that gave me a small glimpse of the eternal joy that a father has in watching a child demonstrate abilities that will give that child success in the future. Tank is working on his first Boy Scout merit badge. The troop he belongs to has taken on the task of working on the Rifle Merit badge as a group. They meet at a ward members house and take turns in rounds shooting five rounds. Knowing that Tank has shot both long rifles and pistols before I have high expectations of his performance. When we show up together I try to take somewhat of a back seat to be able to watch him interact and work with those who are his leaders and the other boys. He seems to be ready to work with the unusual nature of his name as one leader asked him how he pronounces his name, he quickly responded, "You can call me 'Tank'." During the remainder of the three hour activity, Teancum demonstrated the usual performance of an emerging deacon by taking the opportunity, after eating a sandwich on the way to the meeting, to eat another three hot dogs. What really made me excited was his eagerness and steadfastness to work with the leaders and a little bit from me to work on his ability to shoot well. After an initial round of shooting, he was all over the target. I gave him a basic military class on marksmanship, trying to use words and pictures that he would understand. Then we watched a leader together and I pointed out the fundamentals that were visible. From this point I sat back and let Teancum do what he wanted to observe what he would do. Teancum was the first scout each and every round to take his turn to shoot; as the other boys would find other distractions either dealing with the activity or ones that were brought from home. Tank would follow all instructions from the range safety's and after each time he shot he would look for a leader to discuss his performance. I was afraid he would do too much talking but he was respectful and would listen well to each coaching. He stayed focused on the task at hand, taking the given breaks between rounds of shooting to grab a hot dog, drink some of the beverage we brought or talk to me about his shooting. In the end he was able to place two out of five three round groups with in the required quarter size grouping needed to pass off the merit badge. He is excited about continuing to practice, apply the coaching that was given and finish earning the badge. His ability to stay focused, respect his leaders and take control of his own actions make me a happy and pleased father and make me excited for all the success he will have in the future!

Hungry, why wait?

Our little guy thinks he needs solid food. We are trying to slowly introduce the better foods that will help teach him the benefits of healthy foods. Now this dream of a pure healthy diet does not always come true, with our own diets not perfect and with other siblings that love to share some of the sweeter things in life, he gets his hands on less than healthy foods. Now this picture here depicts the sweet child as he was sitting on his mothers lap and at first he grabbed at the plate and moved it around. Before the meal was half over he had moved the plate close enough to grab one of the bread sticks. Once he had his hands on the bread stick it was all over. At first attempt to eat the Bread stick he jabbed it into his right eye. This did not deter him in the least, next he seemed to want to ensure that his mother would not take it back. He placed the bread stick at its half way point next to his hands and licked the full length of the bread making it unappealing to anyone else. From this point he made an operation of the bread. I have seen Grandpa clean a fish and I have seen the fillet process, my youngest son first filleted the bread stick before shoving the bread into his mouth, losing only a few small pieces of bread. He thinks he's getting big!

The next Mower man!

Tank is such a great little worker. There is a trick to get him started at times and once in a while he gets a little distracted but as a general rule, he is one of the little people that I know I can count on to help when I have to leave on a field problem or have to stay overnight for a CQ shift. He has been working on his lawn mowing skills and I can share with gladness in my heart that he is learning and getting better.

Our man vs. food adventure!

We had a wonderful adventure going to Round Rock, Texas to visit the same donut shop the Man vs Food guy visited on his trip to Austin, Texas. When we pulled up to the shop crazy Tank, with his eyes wide open, he all but screams, "I am at the same place Adam Richmand ate at!" We all got a laugh, we took pictures of the 'Texas' size donut that was the same size of Abraham who enjoyed his fair share of the donut as he is eating solid foods now himself! So after the huge donut we made our way over to the 'Salt Lick' an above average bbq joint that, although it is a little expensive, we all ate our fill and enjoyed some of the fun of Texas.