Well... grand title, but only a short little entry.
Two significant milestones have been reached in our family: first, our eldest son, Justice, has graduated from Grade 8 and second, our youngest daughter, Ocean, has been weened.
Justice is just about to turn 14. He likes girls, he's grown a couple inches in the past two months, he has a dark shadow starting on his upper lip, and his voice has deepened. He went to public school this year, at his own behest instead of homeschooling, in order to make some friends. This was partially catalyzed by the departure of his best friend Joseph from the house beside us. He did well in school this year and I am very proud of him... particularly how he handled various challenges in the adjustment from home schooling to public school (including the adjustment of his loving parents). Congratulations Justice!!!
Ocean is just a smidge under 30 months. She has nursed the longest of any of our children. She is cute and definitely enjoying the benefits of being the youngest of four and (at least as far as we plan) our last baby. Over the past three days Melanie and I have done the final stages of weening her. Melanie has been progressively reducing the amount of nursing over months... but she was still nursing several times at night and usually needed to nurse in order to fall asleep. After one very hard night (where she ended up nursing a bit during the night anyway), a less hard night, last night an easy night, and tonight (Jun. 26th) a surprisingly easy night, we have confirmed that she is no longer nursing.
Wow. It's hard to believe that Melanie and I are coming up to our 15th wedding anniversary in just a couple days!
Milestones!