On to the topic at hand... the battle of wills. I know I've mentioned before that I have the most stubborn children ever. Those of you that know my kids can probably guess exactly who I'm talking about. And there's more than one of them.
Matthew has always refused to try anything new unless it is his choice. Riding a bike without training wheels? He could have done it years before he did (at age 6) but refused to do it. Reading? He could do it, but wouldn't, until I left him alone and he decided it was time. Swimming? He wouldn't even try it, although I knew he was perfectly capable.
While we were in Florida I told Matthew that it was time to learn to swim. After all, the girls can swim and they're only three! Matthew stubbornly refused and was downright resistant to any of my help. We had a small pool in the back of our rental house so the time was definitely right. And so the battle of wills began!
I took Matthew out into the middle of the pool and we had a nice discussion about how he was turning 7 and he should know how to swim. He was mad (ok, furious might be a better word) but I was persistent. He started by swimming to me from the pool steps and at first was just jumping out to grab me. I moved farther and farther away and finally he was starting to doggy paddle. By the next day he was swimming across the pool by himself. By the time we left Florida he was doing front flips without holding his nose. And he was so proud!!! 
Now that I've convinced Matthew to swim, should I start making Nathan and Ryan walk? Nah, my life is easier with them on hands and knees for now.
But yes, that means they are still not walking. They'll be 15 months old in 3 days and they do not walk. Nathan has taken up to 5 or 6 steps on his own but he still doesn't walk. Ryan has taken 1 step. That's it! If these were my first babies I'd probably be alarmed, or even disappointed, but I'm cool with it. Heck, Ryan doesn't even stand on his own yet. He can climb the stairs and scale the side of the couch with ease, but no standing. Stubborn child? Maybe.
These guys may not walk yet, but boy, do they talk! Nathan says "Ryan" now but Ryan just says "Joshua." They both say "Mama" and now Jason is "Daddy" instead of "Dada." Every word that they speak is just such a blessing. I was so worried that we'd have the same speech problems that Matthew and Joshua had, that I'm just relieved. Speaking of Joshua (no pun intended), he'll be starting speech therapy again as soon as we can locate a good therapist in this area. That poor boy still has such difficulty speaking.
The babies are quickly growing before my eyes. They're eating solid foods regularly now but still get about 75% of their nutrition from nursing. I am so glad that we still share that bond, especially now that the girls have (mostly) weaned. Sarah tried to nurse recently and had forgotten how to do it. Leila... well, let's not talk about that. 
Tomorrow we have an emergency dental appointment because of a tooth injury. More about that later... Drama, just regular drama.
