Life as we know it

What a great way to spend the afternoon. On memorial day, Livi was feeling ambitious and decided to give the park a try. Aaron, of course, is always willing and waiting. So, we bundled Liv up (loss of all fat = cold all the time) and headed to the soccer park. I like this park the best because it has a shade canopy over the play equipment. Aaron ran around and had a blast while us girls sat on a blanket and read stories. Watching Aaron, Livi gave into her desires and attempted a slide. She did well although she exuded more energy getting up the stairs then she has in over 2 weeks. (It nearly wiped her out.) But she smiled on the way down. It was great to see some life get back into her calico eyes!

It's been fun to see the kids start to play together again. Livi will ask me, "Mom, what can I do with Aaron?" or "Can Aaron and I go outside to play ball?" One morning I was getting ready and

found them both in my bed each with a copy of the Book of Mormon in hand. Aaron had found the books and passed them out before getting all comfy himself. What a sweetheart. He's always so concerned with Olivia and her well being.

The steroids that Olivia has been on, as part of her treatment, have been taking affect. She has her fits of rage, which is "normal", so we're told (I just love that I have a legitimate excuse for totally "normal" 4 yr old behavior. "My kid's tantrums are medically induced...what's your excuse?" ) The funniest thing about it though is the way we've decided to discipline. And when I say "we" I don't mean Bill and I. When she starts raging I put her in her room and tell her when she stops screaming I'll open the door. Well, the door can't be locked from the outside, and she'll just come out screaming, so while I'm putting her in her room, Aaron gets my exercise tubing so I can more or less tie her door to an adjacent one to keep it shut. It cracks me up. Sometimes Livi will be getting worked up and before I'm even considering her bedroom, Aaron will go to the exercise closet and start dragging out the bands!!!

The other side of the steroids are uncontrollable appetites. Unfortunately that has not been a battle we've had to deal with. We're on quite the opposite end of the spectrum. She is consistently losing weight and is so thin all her clothes hang loosely. This annoys her, and she complains that her clothes are "too big". I tried going back to her 2T and 3T clothes, but that works even less. They're still too baggy AND they're too short! I feel that I've shot myself in the foot on this issue...let me explain. I've always tried my best at teaching my kids to be healthy eaters. The other day I was trying to entice Olivia to eat something so I was offering, cookies, brownies, ice cream, pudding, grilled cheese sandwich, anything! My eyes bugged when she said, "No mom. I need to eat something healthy. If I want to be healthy, I need to eat healthy."!!!!! AHHHH! (I know my siblings are laughing at this!) Later on, that same day, she said, "Mom, I want to go to the gym. I need to exercise my body." Is that my little girl or what!!! She makes me PROUD.