What's New With Us?

Feels like time just slips away and so many changes have happened without us realizing it. I look up and all of a sudden Bear is really talking! Today Super Reader Wyatt asked what the super letters were and Bear said, "O I." it was a little mangled but I look up and lo and behold there's a big fat O and I on the screen. We've been working on the ABC's with Coop and he's just there absorbing it all.
If you ask Coop to tell you the ABC's or to count he won't do it. But today on our walk he was trying to jump rope and every time he would do it he would count quite nicely. He just abhors me asking him to do it. Forget him telling you his name. He will tell you in his own way but if you ask forget about it! When we practice the ABC's (Which persists of me trying to get him to sing the song with me and him being very bored with it.) I have had to get more creative and visual. We write it out and he will find the letters but he won't sing the song. Coop's favorite game is to say, "Momma where's the R?" He's pointing to it. So I point to it too and he says, "Good job Momma that's an R!" And on and on he goes. I have to get much more creative I think.
Did I mention Coop is a stickler for manners? If he does something I ask him to he reminds me to say thank you. He knows how to close the doors and he knows how to lock the sliding door and front door. That's a little scary for me but he's so helpful always keeping the screen door closed for us to keep out the bugs. Bear's manners are getting there. He says please a lot. Unfortunately he doesn't quite get that just because he says please doesn't mean that he is going to get it. So most of the time he says, "Pweeese.........Yeaaaahhhh!" and he throws his arms up in the air in triumph.
I have to admit though Bear has come a very long way in the last few weeks. He's not been happy with the boundaries we are putting in place but he's pulling through like a champ. Coop is also big on coloring with markers right now. He likes to draw shapes and he makes lots of shapes that he calls leaves. He's very orderly, each page gets its own color. When he's done with that color (code for he's jammed the marker tip and it won't color anymore) then he asks for a new page and gets a new marker. Heaven forbid Bear try to take a marker. Coop will not allow that to happen! So Bear gets all the crayons. (Thankfully Bear's not eating the crayons anymore!)
As for our moving and career plans we are still in our holding pattern for the summer. Jim won't find out anything until June so until then we just keep going as is and I'm working to get some clients to help supplement our income. (We want to send Coop to pre-school in the fall so we need to get ready for that. I had no idea how pricey that got!) We sold our townhouse so that was wonderful!!! The market just wasn't what it was 3 months before we left and we got way way less than we had been anticipating so it's not the windfall we had been hoping but that's a $500 loss a month we don't incur anymore it gets our line of credit and credit card bill paid off so it helps keep the panic at bay for the next few months. I've just started my level two training for my Wellness Consultant Certification and I've also just started a course where I can analyze blood and tell you what's happening in your body. I'm over the moon excited about it. (Now I'm just visualizing the money coming in to pay for the microscope and materials because that will really help my practice take off.) Jim's been very busy with his job. They have him working a lot of weekends and staying out in the rain to learn tactics and other things I know nothing about. He gets excited about it though. He's going to start going to his CrossFit gym twice a day during the summer and he's uber determined to do these road marches with up to 85 pounds. (More power to you baby!) I did lift his last backpack up and get it in the house but I give major kudos to Jim I probably went 15 steps and I was done. He went over 6 miles!!!

A few days ago we were going to the grocery stores and I forgot our bags. I left the boys in their car seats and ran to get them. When I got back Cooper said, "Momma?" A little winded I said, "Yes Coop?" He paused, smiled and said, "Gigi's better." Talk about taking the wind out of you. "Gigi's better?" I repeated to make sure I heard him right. "Yeah Gigi is better," he annunciated then he went back to picking through the toy bucket. (Bebba just reminded me that the day he told me that was the one year anniversary of her Virginia service.)

So that's our update!!