One week later

The other night I was pretty tired so I went to bed at the same time as Mark (9:00). The next day he told me what a terrible nights sleep he had. I asked him why he thought that was and he said because he didn't get enough sleep. I am no longer allowed to go to sleep the same time as Mark on school nights! I sort of knew this would be the case as we always end up talking about so many things when we go to bed at the same time and end up staying awake longer then planned. I do miss it and now look forward to Friday and Saturday nights more than other nights. Seminary seems to be going well for Mark. He was telling me today (before he went upstairs at 8:40) how he goes over his lessons and thinks about what he will teach and is then given opportunities to teach by the spirit as students have questions and they work through them. Pretty cool. I hope it has been a good experience for the seminary kids. He mentioned to the teachers he works with at school that he was now teaching this early morning scripture class and they were shocked A) that he was doing it and B) that kids actually came. It is pretty cool. Jared has come down with a bit of a cold this week and was awake when Mark went downstairs today (at 5:15, (so early!!) Jared had just finished coughing).  He asked Mark where he was going and Mark told him seminary and told Jared he needed to go back to sleep. I think he was confused A) that it was so dark out and Mark was leaving and B) if Mark was leaving then it should be time to get up. Fortunately he did go back to sleep until a much more decent wake up time. Hopefully Jared will feel better soon.

Yesterday Jared and Lydia were playing in Jared's room so nicely together. It made me so happy. Jared is pretty possessive of "his toys/his room". Even if he is not playing in his room he will often close his door so Lydia can't go in there. It will be a sad day for him when she learns how to open doors.  We have tried to reason with him that Lydia's door is always open and she shares well so shouldn't he try but he still prefers to keep his door shut. Now when Lydia goes upstairs she goes around closing all the doors. Lydia is actually amazingly good at sharing. Anytime she does get a hold of one of Jared's toys and he acts like he wants it (even when we tell him to let Lydia have a turn) she will most often walk over and give it to him. We super appreciate her willingness to give things to Jared but hope she will let us give him opportunities to be patient and share. It's pretty amazing how giving she is for a 22 month old. One of the best examples is the Costco receipt. Both kids love holding the Costco receipts. Most often Lydia is sitting up in the basket so she gets to hand it to the checker.  This used to be Jared's job so I can see how he would feel like he should get to hold it. Well yesterday we went and I suggested to Jared and Lydia that Lydia could hand it to the checker then they could pass it back and forth (they seriously like them that much). Jared did not much care for this idea but went along with it. Lydia handed it over then Jared got a turn then back to Lydia. Then Lydia handed it right back to Jared. He was so happy and impressed he said "Lydia gave it to me and didn't fuss at all!"  Mark and I both said "we could all really learn from Lydia couldn't we?" She is a sweetheart. That or she doesn't want to hear Jared fuss or see him pout. Sometimes I feel like Jared is way more emotional than Lydia. I know she is only 22 months old and I think being a peacemaker is awesome I just want her to know how to stand her ground too. But again she's 22 months so we have some time.  It's not that Jared doesn't share its just that Lydia goes above and beyond what we expect. 

Here they are being so sweet:

It's just kind of magical when they pay so well together. The other day we had some friends over for dinner and one of them commented on how much Lydia loves Jared and looks up to him. She wants to be where he is and often do what he does. It's sweet. 

 Looking so grown up!

We went and got her bangs cut yesterday. She was so brave and didn't cry at all and even stayed relatively still. The last 2 times have been awful! She has also been quite interested in using the toilet lately.  As with Jared we started taking her stinky diapers to the toilet and having her watch us drop the poo in there so she can see where it should go and flush it away. We aren't planning on training her till January, closer to her birthday but went ahead and bought her a little toilet insert. She loves it. Now she will pat her bum and ask to go to sit on the toilet. She has gone pee once and is very pleased with her self when she toots while sitting on there. We will get her some underwear in January and see how it goes. 

 Jared still LOVES his blanket. 

Often when we leave for preschool he talks about how his friends (his blanket and alligator) will miss him when he is gone.  He has moved past his trains which is kind of nice for Lydia because she thinks they are great and doesn't have to compete with him for them. He will play with them but Lydia gets way more use out of them. I am really happy we didn't spend the money on a train table. It's fun to get to make your own tracks and not have something like that taking up space.

We are looking froward to the weekend when Mark doesn't have to go to bed so early!