Little Learner

Luca was my greatest concern when it came to going to school.  All of my previous attempts to help him learn letters, read and prepare for school seemed like a total failure.  I seriously was concerned, but over the past 9 months first as he started out in a US Kindergarten and then made the mid-year transition to Italian first grade, I have been so encouraged by his growth and development.  He has become a sponge for learning.  His speech has always been a challenge for him, but with his mouth expansion in the fall  it seems like he has had to relearn how to use his tongue to form sounds.  Add the unique sounds needed to speak Italian, like rolling his r's, and it is quite the challenge (for anyone!)  I wanted to capture him reading in Italian for you to hear, since he never speaks or performs on demand apart from saying nonsense words when asked to say something in Italian.  You can see some slowness in being able to form the words with his mouth even though I'm sure he can hear it in his head.  He has increasingly shown some frustration with English and how things are spelled, asking why they use a certain letter when it sounds like another.  Ah, yes...welcome to the complex world of English!

Luca is a little genius when it comes to math and does quite complex problems in his head.  He baffles us in this area.  He has successfully and beautifully learned how to write all his letters in cursive (even with the refusal to hold his pen correctly).  I am so proud of him and how much he has grown and matured this year.  Keep up the great work, buddy!

In addition to being a little learner, he is our little runner.  He does not know the definition of walking and is always leading the pack wherever we go.  Track and field would be right up his alley.

Little Muscician

As I highlight our kids and their unique God given gifts, Samuel would definitely earn the title of "little musician."  He has always loved music and is the only child who consistently sings with gusto each night during our family worship time.  He really enjoys playing the piano and is excelling in that area as well.  For the past couple of months, Jonathan has been song writing and now is in the production phase with a new album.  Samuel has been fascinated with the recording process and many days you can find him just sitting alongside his dad watching and learning.  This boy, turning young man looks up to his dad so much and wants to be just like him (which is dually noted that the apple did not fall far from the tree with our firstborn).

Samuel had a rough patch of about 2 months where he was having a lot of anxiety about going to school in the mornings.  He would have difficulty in eating breakfast, sometimes even getting sick and would have tears many of days before heading out the door.  As we have encouraged him and directed him towards casting his cares upon the Lord and given him promises to cling to from God's word, we have seen how this trial has strengthened him.  For two weeks now, he has joyfully gone to school without talk or demonstration of anxiety.  It was about two weeks ago that he came home from school and said, "I am going to write a song to help me stop worrying"  About a half hour later he presented us with his first song.  Samuel and his dad are going to work together to compose the music, but for now you can hear Samuel sing his song entitled "Stop Worrying".

Little Artist

One of the great blessings of being a parent is watching how the Lord has uniquely gifted your children.  Each are unique in character, strengths and talents.  Emma, being the middle child and only girl has always gravitated to what her brothers do.  She does not like dolls, never has.  On the other hand, give her a stuffed animal and she is golden.  We lost track long ago of the number of animals that compete for her bed each night.  She loves animals and wants to be a veterinarian one day.  

When Emma is not holding Mac, she is usually coloring or drawing.  Together we will find a picture on the internet that she wants to copy and then she insists that I draw it for her.  The occasions where I have done that I wonder what the point is because she will erase nearly my whole picture and make it all her own.  Clearly mamma's drawings are no longer the best.  Yesterday she used a "How to" drawing book to draw these two dogs.  Needless to say, I was quite impressed.

I really wish there was some drawing class she could take, but so far I have found none.  For now, I suppose she is doing just fine being self-taught.  Stuffed animal creating is another area of design she loves.  These little sock characters were designed and created by her using felt and a glue gun.  (*Note to Gramma that she needs more peach felt when you come)  We love seeing her expression of creativity and it is our joy to encourage her in her development of this God given gift of artistry.