Never Leave Your Droids with Reagan

Jim has been sharing bits and pieces of Star Wars with the kids recently. They LOVE it! As long as there is action going on anyway! It’s been fun to watch them pick up on the characters that Jim and I love so much and then use those characters in their own imaginative play. It has also been rather enlightening…

Yesterday, Jim was playing Star Wars with Reagan, Jonathan, and Thomas. Reagan, of course, was Princess Leia. Jim was the bad guy, presumable Darth Vader. He snatched up Princess Leia and dared anyone to try and save her. J jumped up, “I am RD2 (we’re working on the names) and I will save the princess!” and ran at Daddy. T jumped up, “And I am C3PO and I will save the princess too!” And he ran at Daddy also. Daddy Vader is overcome by the droids, allowing Princess Leia to escape. Now Daddy Vader’s arms are free, and he scoops up the droids, one under each arm. Looking at Princess Leia, he booms, “Now, who will save the droids?”

To which Princess Leia responds nonchalantly, “Well, they aren’t really my robots, so you can just throw them in the trash.”

This Is How You Stand When You’re Cool

I was in the kitchen the other day, and the kids were playing in the living room, when I heard Reagan ask Jonathan, “Why are you standing like that?” His answer:

“This is how you stand when you’re cool.”

Well, that was something I needed to see! After all, I want to be cool, so I need to know how to stand! Apparently, you need to stand like this:

I think the look on your face is just as important as the way you actually stand, as is the presence of your blankie! All the cool boys are carrying them these days. Aty least, they are at my house.

And in case this look is too difficult, the other kids were quick to offer their own equally cool stances. You’re sure to find one that works for you!

Zachary rocked his now-classic Superman pose. He doesn’t need the costume to be a super-cool superkid!

Reagan has achieved a level of coolness that is not for beginners. The foot placement is definitely only for those with advanced degrees in cool. And please note Jonathan in the background, still cool.

When I asked Thomas how he “stands cool,” he just started jumping around like a crazy person, and then wanted to see the picture. I told him he had to be still for me to take a picture, although I kind of wish I had just done a video. Here he is standing still AND cool.

And yes, he picked out his own clothes that day. He’s not just cool. He knows fashion too.

So I hope this has been of help to you. Check back often for more ideas on how to be cool the JonZReaTom way!

Have I Mentioned My Children Are Brilliant?

Heehee! Of course, I have! Okay, this is just a cute story that shows not necessarily that Zachary is brilliant, but that he has total confidence in his ability to be brilliant!

Zachary was out in the garage with Jim the other day, watching Jim work on whatever he was working on. It was a special time all to itself when things just happened to work out in such a way that the other kids went with Momma and Zachary stayed with Daddy and EVERYONE WAS OKAY WITH IT. That's really the miracle right there!

Anyway, Jim and Zachary were enjoying some together time, and somehow got to talking about the planets. Zachary casually mentioned that Saturn has rings. Jim was pleasantly surprised to discover that Zachary even knew about Saturn, even more surprised he knew about the rings! (He also knows that Mars is red, and we live on Earth. That is the full extent of my children's planetary knowledge. At least as far as I know!) He was surprised enough to wonder where Zachary had learned these things, so he asked him:

Jim: Did you learn about Saturn at preschool?

Zachary: Nooo, Dad!

Jim: Well, where DID you learn it?

Zachary: (arms spread wide) Right here!

Jim: Here at home? Did you learn that on TV?

Zachary: Noooo.

Jim: Did Mommy teach you?

Zachary: Nooo.

Jim: (desperate to get to the bottom of this mystery) Well, who DID teach you?

Zachary: I taught myself! (arms spread wide again) Right here!

If he had known to say "Duh!" he would have. That is definitely the attitude he had. He is brilliant and he taught himself all about Saturn and he did it RIGHT HERE! Anything less would be ridiculous! He is Zachary! He won't poop in the potty, but dadgummit he knows about Saturn! Duh!

When We Did Things

Okay, this post is mostly for me, so I can have a place to keep all the dates of when the kids hit their big milestones because I certainly can’t REMEMBER them! And it might entertain you readers too, especially if you have children who are younger than mine. Some milestones we hit early, some late, and some right on time. This is a post that will be updated as new milestones are hit, so I plan to put a link to it in the sidebar. Enjoy!

Slept all night: R at 2 months, J and Z at 3, and T at almost 6 months

Kicked the pacie habit: R at 4 months, the boys at 16 months

Sat up: R at 6 months, J and Z at 7 months, T at 8 months

Sat up on own: J at 9 months, the rest at 10 months

First tooth: J and R at 6 months, Z at 7, T at 8

Crawled: J and T at 9 months, Z and R at 10

Walked for real: R right after 12 months, Z at 13 months, J at 14 months, T at 15 months

Food: The kids started eating cereal at 4 months, table food at 9 months, sippy cups at 11 months, and had their very last bottles just after 12 months

Words: dada was the first word for each of them, they said the word long before they said it with purposeful meaning. I didn’t start keeping track of words with meaning until they were 16 months old, at which point they all got credit for dada as their first word with meaning. At 16 months their vocabulary was limited to 2-4 words depending on the child. They didn’t reach 50 words until they were 22 months old.

Potty trained: R was day trained by 3 years, 3 months and fully trained by 3 years, 8 months. T was day trained by 3 years, 4 months and fully trained by 3 years, 4 months. J was day trained by 3 years, 7 months.

Should I add any other milestones?

Reagan's Past Life

I was throwing a beanbag back & forth with Reagan this afternoon and told her that KayKay had made that beanbag for me when I was a little girl. She then promptly informed me that when SHE was a little girl she had played with the beanbag and thrown it to Baby KayKay.

I'm sure Baby KayKay enjoyed it!

These kids come up with the most interesting things sometimes!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhon

Talking with Threes

I can't really title these posts about cute and funny things the kids say as "Talking with Toddlers" anymore. The title just no longer fits them! Sigh.

Anyway, here's a cute conversation I had with Reagan in the car on the way to Jasper last weekend for the birthday party.

We were coming through Chattanooga when Reagan suddenly exclaimed, "Look! I see blue!"

She was excitedly pointing out the front window where you could see blue mountains in the distance. "Those are mountains, " I told her.

"I see mountains! How can I climb those mountains?"

Smile. "I don't know, honey." I was about to launch into an explanation of how maybe someday we could climb the mountains, blah, blah, blah, when I was interrupted by Reagan's proud resolution to the mountain-climbing problem.

"I will use a ladder!"

A Final Beach Memory

Okay, I know, the beach trip was a month ago, but I happened to think of this and wanted to share...

Personally, I had had no intention of telling the kids we were going to the beach until maybe the day before, maybe not even then! I didn't want to have to spend the weeks leading up to the trip saying, "No, we aren't going to the beach today. We don't leave until (add length of time here)" and then listening to the resulting whining and crying.

Alas, I forgot to share this decision with other important people, namely their Daddy and their KayKay, and the kids were informed way early that we were going to the beach. However, the adorable side effect of this news was that the kids LOVED to tell everyone we saw that we were going to the beach...and then invite them to come with us!

Reagan to nice lady being entertained by us getting haircuts at Great Clips: We're goin' to da BEACH!

Nice lady: You are? That sounds like fun!

Reagan: You wanna come?

Seriously, they invited everyone we spoke to for weeks leading up to the trip! It was very cute, and luckily no one accepted the invitations!

Good Grief!

VBS, 3rd birthday, Father's Day, potty training.

All of these things have happened in the last 2 weeks and I have blogged about NONE OF THEM! Why? Well, duh, look at all the things that have been going on the last two weeks! I didn't have TIME to blog about anything! Thank goodness for twitter so I could quickly send out little spurts of information rather than completely disappear from the computer world. Oh, and I made a slideshow for the kids' birthday. That took up a lot of my time too. I'm a glutton for punishment.

BUT NOW, all of these activities are over, and thankfully nothing big looms in the future for at least three weeks! So I look forward to lots of posts coming soon. I have a list! A very random list.

In my few spare minutes left of naptime, I'll try to relate a couple of stories from our VBS experience.

This is the first year that the kids were old enough to go to VBS. They loved it! We went to two, first at Hardin Valley Church of Christ and then at West End Church of Christ. The first day, after i picked them up (I'm not even going to begin to tell you about the horrendous trouble i had trying to find the property, mostly because it was really EASY to find if you weren't as stubborn as me and just asked someone how to get there instead of trying to find it yourself when you have nothing to guide you except incorrect Google directions) Anyway, after I picked the kids up, and we're headed home, I asked the kids what songs they sang, and they all started shouting, "The cracky song! The cracky song!" I wracked my brains trying to remember any children's church songs that sounded remotely like "cracky" to no avail. The next day when i dropped them off, the song leader starts singing an Australian-themed version of "I'm in the Lord's Army" all about jumping with kangaroos and swimming with crocodiles and at the end, instead of yelling "Yes sir!" they yelled "Crikey!" The little lightbulb went off over my head immediately. This was what the kids were talking about. "Crikey" not "cracky" and that day on the way home, Jonathan taught me almost the entire song. Seriously! I sang a snippet of what i remembered from the song, and he said, "No, momma, that's not how it goes!" and then he corrected me. Almost the entire song! I was amazed he remembered it!

I was amazed often by the things they remembered from VBS. Each night when Jim got home, I would ask them to tell Daddy what they learned about God today, and they would shout out something that they had learned that day. Always impressive!

Well, I know this is probably so much less than you wanted to hear after the long blog silence. I promise there is more to come and at least some of it will be really good!

Catching Up

As time permits, this may be a marathon post of snippets, pictures, and who knows what! I'm sitting here with no idea of what is going to end up in this post. Oh, well! Enjoy!



First, here's an update on me...I've felt basically fine for about a week now. Yea! I had the HIDA scan Tuesday morning which revealed that my gall bladder seems to be perfectly fine. So the best guess now is that I had/have an ulcer that is being healed by the Nexium, and that's why I feel better. If the pain returns, we'll schedule an endoscopy, but as long as I continue to feel okay, no more tests or dr visits.



The HIDA scan was an interesting test. You lay on your back for an hour and a half with what looks like a tire-sized bullseye pointed at your abdomen to take pictures of your insides and track the progress of radioactive dye through your gall bladder. I kept falling asleep because it was so boring, and I'm pretty sure my own snoring woke me up more than once. After the scan I was radioactive for 24 hours. That's right, radioactive! I wasn't allowed to hold the kids or use the same bathroom as them, and I glowed in the dark.



Okay, I didn't really glow in the dark.

Enough about you, Mom! Isn't this blog supposed to be about us!

Okay, okay! Enough about me! Here are a bunch of pictures of the kids and a few stories to go with them.

Jim's birthday happened to fall on a day that I was out of the house and the kids stayed home with some wonderful and very brave ladies from church. The fun activity of the day? Finger painting! The kids had never painted before, but they evidently loved it and were so proud of the beautiful piece of art they made their daddy for his birthday.

Note: Dramatic re-enactment for photographic purposes. No wet paint was used in the making of this picture.

Vader's a scruffy-looking nerf herder!

The kids are introduced to the Dark Side

Zachary's recent adorable/annoying saying: In answer to a request, such as, "Zachary, would you take your dump truck and put it back in the playroom, please?" Zachary now likes to say "No, no, no" very seriously while wagging his finger back and forth. We're not exactly sure where he got it from. It's really cute except for the not-doing-what-he's-asked part.



When I was sick, I was constantly having to tell the kids they couldn't climb on me because Mommy's tummy hurt. Thomas and Reagan started coming up to me daily to ask with looks of such high anticipation, "Now I can climb on you?" Now that I'm better, they still ask, and get so excited when I say yes!




Reagan is doing great with her potty training! We keep her little potty seat on top of the big potty, and if she's in the right mood, she can climb up and sit on the potty all by herself, pull down her own pants, get her own paper, wipe herself, pull up her pants, and flush the potty. She'd probably wash her own hands if she could reach the faucet handle! If she's not in the right mood, she's claims she's can't do those things because they are too hard, but then when you try to help her she screams that she wants to do it herself! Oh, well. We actually left the house and went to a friend's to play today without trading the undies for a Pull-up beforehand. No accidents! I'm so proud of her! She's so big! I teared up a little today thinking about how big the kids are getting! I just can't believe they'll be three next month. It won't be long before there will be no more diapers in our house. No diapers! It hardly seems possible!


Recently, we've also enjoyed a few get-togethers with our good friends Josh and Cris. It's always fun to spend time with them because their oldest is just 3 months older than JonZReaTom. On one of their visits, probably the only one when it didn't rain, the boys had a trike race...

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

And the winner is...Carter!

They were so adorable! And they had such fun! The boys are getting really good at riding their tricycles. Reagan isn't so much. She just doesn't seem interested. But I'd say this summer, there will be more times when we take them out front to let them ride in our little cul-de-sac, a much larger space than the back patio. I imagine she'll get jealous pretty quick of the boys taking off and leaving her, and that may be all the incentive she needs to figure that whole pedalling/steering thing out!

Well, it's getting late. I have more pictures to share and more stories to tell, but they'll have to wait for another post. I hope you enjoyed this one! Have a great weekend everyone!

Talking with Toddlers

Okay, first, here's the one I couldn't remember in my last "Talking with Toddlers" post:

bathing soup--what my kids, particularly the boys, call a bathing suit

Now, an entertaining conversation I had with Zachary the other night...

The kids had been in bed for at least an hour and a half, and I kept hearing this banging noise, like one of them was kicking the wall. I asked Jim if he thought it was the kids making that noise because I was surprised that any of them was still awake. He predicted it was Zachary. I quietly entered their room. It was very dark, but I could sense movement in the Zachary corner. I went over a knelt down beside his bed and could see that he was indeed awake. We had the following whispered conversation:

Me: Zachary, were you banging on the wall?

Zachary: It was Thomas!

Hmmm. So I get up and walk over to the Thomas corner where I find Thomas sound asleep. I return to Zachary.

Me: Honey, Thomas is asleep.

Zachary: Thomas is asleep and Jonathan is asleep and Reagan is asleep but my eyes are open.

Me: (already amused) Yes, but your eyes need to be closed so you can go to sleep.

Zachary looked at me for another second, then closed his eyes and started FAKE SNORING! He continued to "snore" as I hurried from the room, trying not to laugh out loud!

That child can test my patience and sanity more than any of the other three, but when he is adorable, he is really, REALLY adorable!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Talking with Toddlers

Just a few more cute things the kids are saying these days...

"That scared my ears" which means that noise was very loud (Thomas and Jonathan)

"a dozerbull" Jonathan for bulldozer

"That's the sound that comes out of my mouth!" This is what Jonathan likes to say after making his new strange air blowing through teeth sound. I don't really know how to describe it. Maybe I can get it on tape. This comment is also sometimes accompanied by this one: "That's the sound that comes out of my bottom!" I let you figure that one out for yourself!

There's another one I wanted to share, but I can't think of it right now. Sorry! I wish I had gotten on tape the kids telling Jim happy birthday today and showing off the painting masterpiece they did for him with my wonderful, ambitious helpers while I was out. Pics soon!

Have a great week everyone!

Talking with Toddlers

Like most toddlers, my kids love to be naked. Fortunately for me, they are not the stripping sort of children who take their clothes off whenever the mood strikes them throughout the day, but there are definite times of day when they deem it okay to take off their clothes. When they wake up in the morning and when they wake up after a nap, they often feel that clothes should be removed. I'm not sure why, but they do. And anytime clothes need to be changed, like time to get dressed in the morning, they are much more eager to remove the old clothes than they are to put on the new ones. But I have to say that by far their favorite naked time is nighttime when we're getting ready for bed. Almost the second their feet hit the floor after dinner each night, they begin declaring that they want to be naked. Once they have removed their clothes, they love to run about the house joyfully declaring their nakedness to all who might not have noticed.

"I'm naked!"

Well, it was during that portion of the evening yesterday when Zachary chose to amuse us with the following conversation:

He picked up Reagan's toy phone and, speaking into it, said:

Hello?

Oh, yes, you can be naked.

Yes, I am.

Okay, bye!

Yes, they love to be naked, and apparently they think everyone else should too!

Talking with Toddlers

The mind of a toddler is a fascinating thing! The way they process information and apply it to their lives never fails to amuse and amaze me! Here's an example:

Reagan is a girl. She knows that she is a girl. Therefore, she understands that the word cowboy does not exactly describe what she is if she puts on the cowboy hat. She needs another word to describe herself. Her little mind does not yet grasp the concept of substituting girl for boy to get cowgirl, so instead she came up with cowboy-girl. Isn't that clever? And adorable?

She did the same thing with handprints. Thanks to Blue's Clues, the kids are all about clues and pawprints. (They love to stick their animal slipper-clad feet up in the air and yell, "A clue! A clue!" because there are pawprints in the bottom of the shoes. But that's beside the point.) Well, they have handprints hanging up in their bedroom. Reagan understands that they are prints of hands, not paws, but can't seem to remember the word handprint, so she calls them hand-pawprints. So cute!

And just as a sidenote, she is still calling Zachary Ya-ya, although she is pronouncing it a little differently now, rhyming more with the Za in Zachary than with aw, like she used to. Interesting!

Building Trains

When is a toy car not just a car? When it is strung together with a bunch of other cars to make a train! This has become a pretty typical sight here at our house, as you can see!

Jonathan likes to string together all the smaller cars and trucks to make his trains.

Zachary prefers to use the big ones!

And in case you missed this story in a comment to an earlier post...One day my wonderful friends Kim and Jeanette from church were here at the house watching the kids while I got out for awhile. Zachary and Jonathan constructed a train similar to the above and assumed their seats. Zachary got up to go get something and while he was gone, Thomas got his seat on the train. Naturally, when Zachary returned a minute later, he was upset to find that Thomas had taken his spot on the train. He started crying/whining/screaming. Kim calmed him down and explained to him that Thomas thought Zachary was done, and if he just waited a little bit, Thomas would get up, and Zachary could have his seat back. So Zachary ran over and stood next to Thomas and stared at him for about 2 seconds, then turned to Kim and said, "It's not working!"

Talking with Toddlers

Here are a few more fun things the kids have said recently:

First, despite the fact that our Christmas decorations have been put away for nearly a month now, the kids still regularly have this conversation:

Child A: Where Kiss-miss twee? (Where's the Christmas tree?)
Child B: Is in da addic! (It's in the attic)
Child A: (sadly) Is not Kiss-miss anymore.

There for awhile we had this conversation every day, sometimes more than once. And if it isn't the Christmas tree, it's the trains. Our Christmas train is also in the attic, much to Zachary's despair.

Second, Jim found some lined Crocs on sale for the kids over Christmas too. They love these shoes because they can put them on themselves! That's why I like them too! Thomas plopped down in my lap the other day with his Crocs on, held them up for me to see and declared proudly, "It's my cwocadile feets!" Too cute!

Last, this one is a heartbreaker, for me at least. I've been teaching the kids to say their full names, and they're pretty good at it. I need to get that on tape! The other night, Jim asked Zachary what his name was, and he said very carefully, "Zac-a-ree" I thought I would cry! It was the first time ever that he has called himself Zachary instead of Za-say. We quickly turned to Reagan and asked her what Zachary's name was, so we could hear her call him Ya-ya. She did, thank goodness! Jim and I both hope she ALWAYS calls him Ya-ya. Since that night, Zachary has only called himself Za-say, but I know the end is near. Sigh.

Reflections on 2008

Well, it's a little late in the month to still be thinking about this post, but I like the idea and the continuity, since I did this last year too, so here are my thoughts on all the things we did for the first time in 2008. I have included links to posts written about these items when appropriate. Enjoy!

What We Did in 2008!!

(in no particular order)

1. Read 25 books-now, to some of you, that may seem like a LOT, and to others of you, it's nowhere close to the number of books YOU read last year, but it's a number I am proud of. I also kept a list of the books I read this year, which was also fun and the only way I could know how many I read at all. I LOVE to read, and I'm happy to be able to make time to do it! More on reading in a later post.(See link in sidebar for more on the books I read in 2008)

2. Conversed with my BABIES--and began to accept that they really aren't babies any more! 2008 really brought on a language explosion with the kids. They talk all the time. asking questions and making guesses and figuring things out. I love that we can actually TALK ABOUT things now, and I know this will only get better in 2009!

Read NO and Talking with Toddlers

3. Got DVR- I LOOOOOVE DVR! It's the most wonderful thing! I love that with just the push of a few buttons I can automatically record the kids' favorite shows every day so we can watch them when the time is right for US. So it doesn't matter when The Backyardigans are actually ON. With DVR they are always on when I WANT them to be! It's also really nice to record mom and dad's shows and watch them at our convenience, fast forward through all the commercials, and rewind live TV because we didn't quite catch what that character said.

4. Walked down the aisle-Reagan had a big first in 2008, making her wedding debut as a flower girl and doing a FABULOUS job of it too!

Read Reagan's Wedding Part 2

5. Lost a gate-2008 witnessed the demise of our beloved kitchen/playroom gate and the release into house freedom of our children. It prompted many changes in all our lives as we adjusted to this new arrangement. I won't lie, there are still times when I think back longingly to the days we had a gate to confine the children to one room and wish we still did. It sure came in handy sometimes! However, we really couldn't keep the gate forever. The kids had to learn eventually how to behave in the rest of the house, and mostly they've done pretty well!

Read Free-Range Quads and Security Measures

6. Gained a gate-attached to a fence that surrounded our whole back yard and opened the great outdoors to our children! What an incredible blessing the fence has been! The kids love to play outside, and it's so nice to have a safe place with plenty of room for them to run around and explore!

Read Outdoor Fun and More Outdoor Fun

7. Taught Ladies Bible Class-this was a big deal for me, as I am not generally comfortable speaking in front of people my age and older, but it has been a wonderful experience. It's always good to have a new challenge and get out of your comfort zone, especially when surrounded by so much love, encouragement, and praise. The ladies in my class have been wonderful and that was enough to get me back up in front of them more and more.

8. Really did it alone-last year's list included doing it alone, referring to the fact that in 2007 both Jim and I finally spent time taking care of the kids without any help for hours at a time. In 2008 we expanded our abilities and each kept the kids alone overnight or even longer! Yea for us!

9. Spent a night away-obviously, if we kept the kids by ourselves overnight, that means that we both also overnighted away from the children. Mostly this was Jim, away for both business and pleasure, but I had a little child-free vacation too. Perhaps in 2009 we'll overnight away from the kids together!

Read A Day Away

10. Moved into big beds-and what a journey THAT has been. Still, for all the drama and headache of this transition, it has been worth it.

Read Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves and Update from the War Zone


This post has gotten long enough, but there are so many other things I could talk about for 2008. If you just have tons of time on your hands and have enjoyed looking back at the other posts, here are a few more memorable moments from 2008:

Also read Thomas' Wild Hair and Double Diaper Duty and Two Year Olds and Shiver Me Timbers

Also, for a look back at 2007, check out Reflections on 2007 and 2007 Posts

Talking to Toddlers

Just a few entertaining conversations...

Scene 1: I'm in the kitchen and the kids are playing in the adjoining playroom. Thomas runs halfway across the room, then screeches to a halt, staring at the ceiling.

Thomas: Momma! I think it's missing! (pronounced mEEs-ing)

Me: (Looking towards the ceiling, wondering what he could possibly be staring at or talking about) What's missing, honey?

Thomas: I don't know, but I think it's missing!

I never did figure out what he was talking about!

Scene 2: It's "bedtime." I have just entered the kids' bedroom for the 400th time because they won't stay in their beds or be remotely quiet and go to sleep. I am OVER IT! I have Zachary in my sights this time. He was jumping on the bed, but immediately laid done when I opened the door.

Me: (leaning over his bed, angry voice) Zachary! Do you WANT to be in trouble?!? DO YOU!?!

Zachary: (tilts his head slightly, lays his index finger upon his cheek, turns his eyes toward the ceiling with a look of serious thinking) Hmmmm....

He never did actually answer my question. He just kept tilting his head and saying, "Hmmm..." I finally just had to leave before I burst out laughing and ruined my angry mood.

And this one, caught on tape! This was back in October and I've tried to post it before with no success. Actually, it took me 4 tries to get it to post today! Enjoy!

More Cute Words

Okay, I meant to post about the entertaining games my kids play, but they are currently playing the not-so-entertaining Scream at Mom through the Door of Our Room because We Are No Longer Napping Game. So I've deleted everything I had already written because I can't concentrate on it well enough and will do this instead. It's much shorter and I'm determined to post SOMETHING today!

Scream? Who? Us? Never!

Jonathan, Thomas, Zachary, and Reagan, looking deceptively innocent

Here are a few more words and phrases that the kids say and I find adorable:


Zachary: dume cuck (dump truck) and gic-cume (vacuum)


Reagan: bunnits (buttons) and geeps (grapes), especially when used in the following sentence:


Oh, I yuv geeps! (Oh, I love grapes!) It's just too cute the way she says it!


And finally, all the kids call M&M's simply M's. So adorable! I don't know why!


And while I'm talking about language, let me say that sometimes it's really hard not to repeat their mispronunciations. I want to call Zachary Ya Ya, like Regan does. I want to tell them I'm going to get the gic-cume out of the closet. I REALLY have a hard time not calling my friend Michelle by the name Chelle because that is what they ALL call her. I guess to an extent some of that is okay, as long as Reagan doesn't start junior high wanting geeps in her lunchbox!

I Love It When You Say That

As I've mentioned before, I LOVE the kids' ever-expanding vocabularies! They are always amazing me with the new words and phrases they pick up. Lately I've been particularly impressed by three things:

1. The use of adverbs (maybe that's an English teacher thing!) Like when Thomas told me that his blanket was PROBABLY on his bed. Probably? It's PROBABLY on your bed? You understand and can properly use the word PROBABLY?!? To me, that's a serious jump in cognitive development, the idea that something may or may not be in a particular place. I don't know, it really struck me.

2. Saying "please" and "thank you" without being prompted and understanding that "please" sometimes gets you things you wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't said "please." Every morning when I hand out the kids' breakfasts, they almost always say, "Tanks, Momma!" And if I don't say "You're welcome!" right away, they keep thanking me until I do!

Sometimes, when they ask for something and don't get it, they repeat the request with an added "please," which I have to admit, usually works. But not always:

Example: Reagan has eaten the fruit off her dinner plate, but nothing else.

Reagan: Mo pears?
Me: No, you can't have more pears. Eat your chicken.
Reagan: Peez? (Please)
Me: No, eat your chicken.
Reagan: Peez, mo pears? Peez? Peez!
Me: NO, eat your chicken.
Reagan: PEEEEEEEEEEZ! PEEEEEEEEZ! (with tears even)
Me: I appreciate your good use of the word please, but no, you have to eat your chicken.

3. Being specific. That is, actually telling me what they want instead of just pointing, gesturing, and making vague references and hoping I figure it out. For example, instead of handing me the bubbles and grunting eagerly, Reagan will hand me the bubbles and say, "Bow my bubbles, peez." And since she asked so nicely, I will stop what I'm doing and blow her some bubbles.

Unfortunately, this skill rarely extends to explaining why someone is crying, unless it's Thomas. He's pretty good at telling you who pushed him or that he fell down or he hurt his knee. The others are more likely to just look at you and continue crying.

There are also some special words and phrases that I LOVE to hear the kids say, either because what they are saying is so cute or HOW they say it is so cute.

I love it when I grab hold of Jonathan's leg and he says, "Weggo! Weggo, Momma!"

I love to hear Zachary say his own name "Za-say!" especially when he declares, "It's me! Za-say!"

I love to hear Reagan call Zachary "Ya-ya"

I love to hear Thomas shout after someone or something "You come back here!" He always changes up the inflections or runs words together: Youuuuuu comebakere! YOU come BACK here! You comebak heeere! It's too cute!

I've got no time for pics right now, but I'll try to get some posted really soon!