Deep breath...

Wow, the Mom cloak of guilt is heavy today.  As I hide from three of my children (two of which are crying) to have a phone interview - all the while cussing at Verizon for making me look for a new job.  Sigh.

Now on to something more positive - tid bits that I love about each of the kids at this stage.

Austin - She is at this really great cross roads of becoming a "big kid", we give her more responsibility and expect more from her too.  She very rarely slips back into the tantrum little kid routines.  And watching her figure things in society out has been fantastic, she was reading one of the practice sentences from her homework the other night that said something like "The story sure started off boring.".  Her face crumpled up and she looked at me and said well that's not very nice to say about a story that someone else wrote.  She is at the Special Olympics event today, she was invited again this year to be someone's buddy (a different special needs student than last year).  Again I stress that even though parts of their schooling drive me crazy these pieces are worth it.

Tyler -  Tyler is not ready to be a big kid (not that we are asking her to, but her big sister growing up has paved the way).  She tries hard to fit in at school which tends to be taxing to her, and then tries to find her pecking order at home which means that she challenges Jackson more than Austin does.  Joe and I have been actively trying to take it easier on her since we can both see her working on these things.  She assumes the big sister role when Austin is at school - so all morning long I hear "No, no brother not yours" followed by a loud pitch scream that means that she took whatever it was from him.  Jackson sees Austin as the big sister and Tyler as his peer, which leads to more fighting between them.  She is so sweet though under the concerned facial expressions.

Jackson - Loves his little sister so much already, gives her kisses all day and "helps" with her pacifier.  I will bet that he knows most all of the words that we say and just can't speak many of them back to us, it is amazing to ask him to do something and watch him run off to find it.  One of my favorite things right now with him is that he gives these really great hugs complete with his chubby little baby hands griping your neck.

Hunter - Sitting on the couch at the end of the night with her fast asleep on my chest might be one of my favorite activities right now.  Listening to her breathing and feeling her warmth is pretty much the best thing ever.  And I know that unfortunately this is a such a fleeting time - and very soon she will be running behind Jackson asking for jeeww-ice (which is a drawn out version of juice).