Victory!

We have been trying to get Reed interested in learning to tie his shoes for quite a while, with no success. Granted, the great majority of the shoes he's had in his 6 years have had velcro straps or otherwise didn't require tying, so there hasn't been much opportunity.

But when his report card came home last Monday, Reed was motivated to learn to tie his shoes as that was the first time he's been graded on shoe tying (he got an "I" for "inconsistently demonstrates"). So, we took him over the weekend to buy a new pair of tie shoes - he picked some cool black skater-style shoes, and as of yesterday, he is officially tying his shoes on his own! YAHOO!

Reed gets more self-sufficient every day. This past Sunday we took the kids ice skating (well I say 'we' - I watched from the sidelines, camera in hand, and Tod and Jennifer skated with the kids). Reed was like a new man out there, he was so much more resilient than he's been in the past. He'd fall down, but he'd jump right back up. Not a whine, not a complaint. Just got back up and kept on skating. I was so very proud of his effort, it was amazing to see.

This was Amy's first time ever on skates. Despite the fact that the only open skate of the day fell smack in the middle of when Amy should've been napping, she did great! She tried so hard, and really really didn't like falling down a lot, but she was a trooper. We'll see what happens the next time we try to get her on skates!