Art, a Performer, a Biker, and a Candy-a-holic

So I took a 2 hour nap on the couch after the kids went to sleep tonight. And now I can't sleep. I would like to be sewing, unfortunately the machine is set up where Doug is sleeping....bummer. So here are a few things going on around here...

The kids were required to draw pictures of them helping in their family for primary on sunday. This is what they came up with...."Helping Luke find Elmo" by Max

"Me doing the dishes by Mer

"Helping Mer put her clothes away" by Jack

Jack can ride a two wheeler. This kid is a natural. On Friday he decided he wanted to try riding without training wheels. I took them off for him in the morning and since I didn't have time at that moment to practice with him I told him to just push himself around on the back porch and practice keeping the bike up. Later that afternoon Doug went out in the front with him and ran behind him a couple of times. He said after the first go at it he didn't even need him to hold on any longer. He could just do it. I saw for myself on Saturday when he took a couple of laps around the culdesac with me running behind him just in case. Then tonight again he rode back and forth in front of our house and practiced his stops and starts. I'm thinking in total he has logged maybe 1 hour on his bike now and he is practically independent. This is amazing to me after having taught Mer and Max by endlessly holding onto their seats or shirts so they could do it....killing my back in the process. Good job Jack... that's one big step on the path to being a big kid. I'll post a picture tomorrow.
Max was in his 2nd grade play on Monday night. It was called "The Big Cheese" he didn't have a part but he did an excellent job in the chorus. He has been singing the songs around the house for weeks now. It was fun to watch him perform them.I am just so grateful that my little Luke is a good sleeper. He is a champ at going to sleep. He holds his Elmo in one hand and his sippy cup in the other. I can lay him down wide awake and he just goes to sleep. His sippy spilled out all over him tonight and he cried out. I went in and changed his clothes and laid him by Doug as I changed his sheets. He just calmly tolerated it all and went back to sleep with no protest.Luke does demand and protest for other things, however. Since Halloween, we can't say the word candy or he'll beg and cry for it, and when you tell him no he throws a serious fit. If any one mentions the word candy or ice cream at the dinner table (to question whether we are having any) he pushes his food away, begs for it and won't eat another bite. So mentioning dessert at the dinner table is forbidden until Luke has eaten his food. Oh, and he'll always go for a lollipop.