Good stuff!

So, it's been over six months since I reported on the development of my kids.  So much has happened since then.  I'm sure I will miss stuff but here we go:

In July, we potty trained Lila.  It went pretty smoothly.  She definitely had her share of accidents, but with the 3 day potty training approach, it was done pretty quickly (not in 3 days  mind you, but quickly).  She is rising up to the role of terrible two, but in the cutest way possible.  She wears the title of "Jill Jr" with pride.  "No" is one of her favorite words right now, along with "I do it myself".  She presses us on a regular basis, almost asking us to discipline her.  And she responds very well to discipline in most cases.  If she's melting down for no particular reason or at least not one that warrants the level of melt down she has, I tell her to go to her room until she's finished.  A few minutes later, you'll hear her yelling from her room "Mom, I'm done crying."  Then she comes out and begins to play.  Time outs tend to work for her better than spankings, although she get's her fair share of those as well for "felonies".  But Lila commits far more "misdemeanors".  Although she did bite a chunk out of dad's shoulder about a month ago.  It was funny to see Yaya, who doesn't believe in spanking his grandkids, handle that one!

We talk regularly about joy.  I want her default to be joy, and it tends to be frustration.  She hears me say "This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it" on a pretty regular basis, along with me singing "I'm happy today".  She still loves to sing... especially in the car.  She typically sings from the time we drive off til the time we pull up to wherever we are going.  Her newest love is chewing gum.  Mom introduced her to that, and now she's obsessed.  She does very well with it, and it's a great leveraging tool!  She has also become a great little gymnast.  She climbs all over everything and flips off of whatever she can.  She'll do the splits between two dining room chairs and do a handstand against any wall around her.  We really want to put her in gymnastics in January.  We'll see if any place will take a 2 1/2 year old.  The kids are getting a trampoline for Christmas and she is going to be in heaven.  She has so many cute facial expressions and sayings.  The nose squench is my favorite look right now, and "Oh my goodness" said with a squeal is my favorite saying.  Lila does great in school.  She still cries a lot when I leave her, but does fine once I'm gone.  She still loves baby dolls, and her favorite thing to do is to play "Mommy and Daddy" with Gray Cambron.  Hector's not sure how he feels about that!  Her favorite shows right now are Barney and Daniel Tiger.  Hector and I love Daniel Tiger.  It teaches Ben and Lila both some great social lessons, like how to share, and how to handle their anger.  The kids will sing the songs from the show when they are dealing with those situations.  It's great.

Benjamin is growing up so fast.  He is doing great in Mrs. Hudgens Pre-K class.  Ellie decided to hold Noah back this year, so now he and Ben are in the same class.  They are really enjoying being together. The teacher says he's right on track, and sometimes gets frustrated when the other kids aren't getting it.  I don't know where he gets his impatience from!  I'm beginning to panic a little bit because we are having to make decisions about kindergarten.  I can't believe that!  The school we're zoned to is not acceptable, so we plan to transfer to either Hill or Duff.  We're also considering keeping him at Park Row, although we really can't afford it.  We ultimately want him in public school, I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet!

We have totally changed our approach to the tv he's allowed to watch.  No more super hero stuff.  His favorite show is Wild Kratts, and he loves Sophia the first, strangely enough.  He's into spy stuff right now, and we've let him watch Spy Kids, but that's about it.  I think it's really made a difference in his nightmares.  He still have some but not near as many as he used to.  He's sleeping in his own bed 90% of the time.  Speaking of his bed, last month, we bought ben a used bunk bed for $30.  How can you pass that up?  He loves it!  And so does Lila.  We bought Lila a full size bed to have in her room because she kept asking us to lay down by her, and that wasn't happening in her toddler bed.  She loved it at first!  Until she started hanging out in Bubba's room.  Now, Ben has a new roommate.  Lila wants to sleep on the top bunk every night, which works well, because Ben likes to sleep on the bottom so that I'll lay next to him.  Ben still prays most nights that Sugar will come back.  We've told him we'll get another dog when he's big enough to help.  The other night I was talking about how cool it is that Jesus is our brother.  And Ben immediately said, "my other brother died... sugar" .  That broke my heart!  He is such a deep thinker.  I often times say, "that's a great question.  Let's ask daddy".  Because the last time I answered a question about heaven, Ben stressed out about it for months.  Heaven's cool and all, but he wants to stay in his home!  Because of that, I was really worried about how he would handle Granny's funeral, but he did great.  We really prayed about how to handle it with him, and God marked our steps out for us.  He saw her body and everything, and said she looked like a statue.  He was a little upset when Meredith was upset during the funeral, but that's it.  And I'm very thankful that we were able to address the topic with him at a young age.  I've heard that the older they are, the harder they take it.

I know that doesn't even scrape the tip of the ice berg, but it's better than nothing.  I will do my best to be more frequent in my posts.  I'm sure I'll have plenty to report after Christmas.  There are so many sweet things they say and do on a daily basis, that a blog every six months can't come close to capturing it all!  As always, God is so good, and I am so thankful!

Sad/Glad Day in the Santiago House

So lately, it seems to take a death to spur me to write a blog entry.  It’s been 6 months since my last entry, and that’s when Sugar died. I’ve been meaning to update the blog for all of those 6 months.  There is so much to tell… about Lila and Ben, about great things that have been going on in the Santiago house, but I haven’t gotten around to doing it.  Then…

This weekend was crazy.  We were iced in like I’ve never experienced before.  Our street was basically an ice skating rink.  Fortunately, my husband is brave and helped us venture out a couple of times or I would have gone insane.  We had an extra child this weekend.  Kaylee stayed with us, which Ben and Lila loved.  And Haley and Will stayed with us for a couple of nights because their heat was out.  So, needless to say, we had a full house.  Sunday morning, Hector was nice enough to stay home with Will and the kids while Haley, Ellie and I went to Ted and Deanna’s for a time of worship (church had been canceled due to ice).  It was nice to get out of the house and enjoy a few kid free moments.  Not long after Ted started the conversation, his phone rang.  He stepped out.  A few seconds later, he pulled Craig out.  I assumed it was someone in the congregation needing something.  Then a few seconds later, he pulled me out.  And that’s when Ted told me that Granny died. It was Dad on the phone.  Craig didn’t have his phone with him, so that’s why he called Ted. 

It was a very surreal moment.  I knew we had already lost Granny a long time ago, and I knew that we needed to celebrate her promotion to heaven!  So, at first, I wasn’t very emotional at all.  It was a good thing.  I was thankful the suffering was over for her and for her boys.  But the more I thought about it, the more it sunk in that she was really gone.  And the more that sunk in, the more I began to realize just what a significant presence she was in my life.  It’s like over the past few days a flood of flashbacks have occurred.  I’ll picture myself sitting at the dining room table with her playing wahoo.  Or sitting at the bar while she made me the breakfast of my choosing.  Or watching All in the Family and eating ice cream with chocolate syrup before we went to bed.  Or her defending us to Granddaddy when he was yelling at us for something.  Or her turning on the heating blanket before we went to bed, so that we would slip into a warm bed.  Or the late night talks we would have about my role as middle child and the particular challenges I faced with all Angela and the family had gone through in her teen years.  Strangely enough, during that whole time, Granny was probably the one that I talked most.  She sincerely wanted to hear from me and I remember being anxious for bedtime so we could have one of our talks. 

In the midst of all of those flashbacks, I also realize how much I underappreciated the extended family dynamic she created for me.  Tiffany put a post up on facebook a couple of days ago of all the cousins together around Granny.  And it really hit me that she created the connections we had as cousins.  She fostered those relationships.  She made sure the brothers came together.  She passed on a legacy of family fun.  I have such sweet memories with my cousins at Granny’s house.  And I have her to thank for those memories.

In her last several years, I probably saw her more than most of the cousins just because of proximity.  Her retirement home was right down the street from me.  I didn’t see her as much as I should have, but I’m thankful that my kids got to spend a little time with her and that I have pictures to pass onto them when they can no longer remember their time with Granny. 

The different faces she made, the funny saying she had like "Great honk, Good night nurse, and Good hobble hooble, and the priceless songs that she taught us will stay emblazed in my memory. ... or at least I pray that they do. 

Granny taught me you’re never too old to play games, that family is precious and should be actively pursued, and that songs are one of the sweetest gifts you can give your kids.  She always told us and showed us how much she loved us and just how special we were, and we totally believed her!  I am so incredibly blessed to call her my Granny, and I plan to carry on the legacy of Bum Bum Bumble Bee and Here we go Singing in the Kitchen,, along with Donut Shop, Little Blue Man, and 3 Little Mice (voice and all)!  My kids will know what it means to love somebody more than the whole wide world and China!  And I'll make sure they know I'll love them more than they love me, just like she always did to me! 

Countless precious memories.  It hurts to remember, but I don’t ever want to forget!

Post soon to come about good stuff, I promise!