Gracie loves to climb onto the boys' beds to give them kisses and pretend to sleep on their beds. She loves to tackle her brothers and to "hold" baby Ryan. She tells him, "quiet" when he cries. She loves to climb on things at the playground but isn't able to keep up with James. She will sometimes just be hanging on a bar at the playground until I can get over in time to help her down. Gracie is our first child that appears to be able to carry a tune. Tonight she sang the word "Mommy" over and over to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star perfectly.
Ryan smiles and coos. It appears that I'm his favorite person in the world, at least for now. I can already tell he will be tall and have pretty eyes. He is starting to lose some of his hair. Today and another Sunday, our bishop's wife, Sister Stearns, held him for the second half of Sacrament meeting so I could hold Gracie. She offered to hold him every Sunday for us. I hope I am a nice lady like that when I'm out of the baby stage. Gracie is quite posessive of her spot on my lap at church. This is good in that she doesn't want to give it up to anyone so she just sits there for the entire meeting.
I taught the 12- and 13 year-olds at church for a lady I Visit Teach. It was fun. I enjoy teaching Relief Society but this felt a little less offical. The lesson was on Dealing with Anger. I thought it was good for me. It reminded me of an experience that happened a few weeks ago. I ran into Wal-Mart with the four kids to get a few items we needed. James wanted an ice-cream as we were leaving and I told him, "no". So, he ran away in Wal-Mart. I left Jonathan with the baby (in his carseat) and the shopping cart at the checkout and went back in the store holding Gracie and calling out for James. Of course I was scared that he'd be kidnapped and I was worried sick. It ended up he was hiding behind an aisle. I don't think I had ever been so angry at him. I suppose that is how Heavenly Father is with us. We put ourselves in dangerous situations (i.e. jeopardize our salvation) when we sin.
Mike is busy as Ward Clerk, with work and school. Mike took James with him to do ward clerk stuff after church for an hour because James is right at the age where he fights with both Jonathan and Gracie. However, Gracie and Joanthan are too far apart in age to fight and Ryan is too little. So, it was actually relatively easy to watch the other 3.
Mike's mom and Duane were gone but Michael still used their house to do schoolwork all day yesterday. He took Jonathan so there would be one less kid for me to watch. Jonathan just read books for at least 3 hours until Grandpa got home and he could be his little sidekick running errands for the evening.
Jonathan finally was able to keep a beat with the metronome today. Both Michael and I were very proud when he caught on after several attempts.
