B had a few times that he didn't prepare the FHE lesson even with a lot of offers of help.  So now when it is his turn, I sit down with him before dinner and have him dictate his topic and lesson following a form like this one.  It's nice to develop a sense of competence in him.  He is pleased to give his lesson.  He knows it feels good to be prepared.  It's OK to need help, even if you don't like getting help, and B does not like getting help.

literally

I asked B to put this piece of granite in the hole at the bottom of the gutter.  I came out to find he had in fact put it in the hole at the bottom of the gutter.  I meant the divot in the dirt just below the spout.

B and L like to climb this tree with a ladder.  I didn't love that L was getting the ladder out and going up the tree all the time.  So we rigged up a rope so now they can scale the tree anytime they like but at least they won't fall off the ladder?

 

Drops

 The drops are going well.  B doesn't love them but he does like them better than wearing a patch in public daily.  He lays down on the floor to let the drop slowly seep into his eye.  

Improvement

We went to the eye Dr. and found that B's eye has improved from 50/20 to 30/20.  We only have 6 months before he turns 9 to get more improvement by patching.  Too bad we weren't patching for much of this year after loosing momentum and B feeling like it wasn't doing any good.  But we're also going to try some drops that make it so he doesn't have to use the patch, but it blurs the strong eye.  Yay? 

 A few weeks ago I took P, B and L on individual walks to get my steps in and keep them out of the house while G was in Seminary.  B has sweetly offered to go on night walks with me ever since.  When I put on my shoes, he put on his head light and said "I can help you with that mom."  A beautiful tradition of night walk.

L had me convinced to get a spiderman costume but I couldn't find one in his size.  I'm not the sort of mom to buy things that only one child will use either.  So we got one in B's size.  It's awesome.  I have done some extensive fixing to make it fit him better since he's a big 8 year old.  I took out the padding in the shoulders.  I replaced the velcro on the back with a zipper.  I added a few inches of red fabric to the head piece so it would allow the eye holes to be over his eyes...   So we get the best of both worlds!  Paying money for a store bought costume and then doing a lot of alterations to make it more durable.

Baptism and doing good

 

We were able to have B baptized with his friend Z.  I love having testimonies while the children are changing.  This was a beautiful day.

Our sweet friend L made these chocolate covered strawberries for him.

B gets to watch the Star Wars movies while L takes his nap.  Sometimes L is taking a nap and G is having a speech appointment so B finds a quiet place to watch.

We went to the butterfly museum with Grandma L.  B had this butterfly on his shoulder for over 10 minutes.

A neighbor introduced the boys to the idea of being the statue of liberty.

Birthday!

B designed this Roblox cake.  The inside is strawberry cake.  The bottom layer is frosted chocolate for earth.  The middle layer is frosted green for grass.  The top layer is frosted blue for sky with marshmallows on top.  He requested some sort of flat chocolate covered circles to be bombs with candle fuses.  Peppermint patties were accepted and he placed them on the sides using toothpicks.

Grandma gave him a Calvin and Hobbs book that he really loves.

He also got these sweet sunglasses that match dad's.  We sent him a picture and dad sent back a text of him wearing the same glasses.

Plan of Salvation Cookies

 

Today the missionaries discussed the plan of salvation and we decorated Plan of Salvation Cookies. 

These sisters are so fun and I'm very grateful for the time they are taking to help B feel ready for baptism.