Learning

I am so happy to be at home with the kids. I get to witness them learn so many new things. It's awesome. Although, it may be coming to an end. With K1 out of work, I've had to look for another job.

Today, I told the kids that dinner was ready and that they needed to head to their highchairs. So, they both sat in their highchairs and buckled themselves in. :)

Last night, K1 read How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night to the kids. As they flipped through the pages, they copied my facial expressions, arm movements, and sounds that I started a few months ago as we read. I wasn't even in the room, so they had memorized everything that I had done with them. "Does a dinosaur swing his neck from side to side?" They turned their heads in unison. "Does a dinosaur throw his teddy bear all about?" They both swing their arms...in unison. When we get to the page that says, "No, a dinosaur doesn't", B started shaking his head no and said, "NO!" What a funny kid.

They are learning so much! It is incredible to watch.

Words

I mentioned before that K2 is picking up so many words! I can hardly keep up.

Today, she took off her diaper and said, "Bryce! Trash!" She the proceeded to point to the trashcan. He was in between her and the trash can.

More words for K2:

baby (she points to a baby in a book and says "baby")
bow-wow-wow when we read the dinosaur book
book
nanna (banana)
get down
can sing "A-B-C-D" from the alphabet song
can say and point to a ball
bubble
water
Bryce
egg
chair
spoon
plate

B is more concerned about carrying on a long conversation that he doesn't focus on individual words much. He does say:

book
bow-wow-wow when we read the dinosaur book
hisses when he sees the picture of a cat
says "ruff ruff" when he sees a dog
says "atchoo" when he grabs the dinosaurs get well soon book
when I pointed out the dinosaur's momma in the book, he slapped my chest and said, "my mama"

B can recognize Dr. Seuss books. I asked him tonight to get Cat in the Hat and he flipped through the books until he found it. A couple of weeks ago, I asked him to bring me a Dr. Seuss book and after flipping through a pile of books, he brought me about five of them.

Success! Potty Training

We've been trying for a while to potty train the kids. B knows what he's supposed to do with the potty and he goes as soon as we put him on there. He still wears diapers most of the time, but we keep putting him on the potty periodically throughout the day. He was easy. K has taken a little longer. We let them go with us to the bathroom so they know what to do and we used their curiosity to our advantage. Last night, K peed in the potty! Hooray!

K has been saying "water", "wipes", and "all done" lately. She'll also yell out "woohoo" after I do. They are getting very good at taking their own socks and shoes off. Many times, we'll get out of the car, only to find that one or both have taken their socks and shoes off. They love playing at the park. B prefers the big kid slide. They absolutely love to read. In fact, we usually read 10 or so books to them per day. This is aside from them reading by themselves. I am thrilled that they enjoy it so much.

Favorite Books: How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night, Dr. Seuss, and Golden Books (actually, pretty much anything...pictures or not.)

Favorite Shows/Movies: Big Bang Theory, Mythbusters, Good Eats with Alton Brown, Lion King, Avatar, Mega Mind

Favorite Music: anything they can dance to

Favorite Activities: sitting in their high chairs and trying to buckle themselves in, eating, drinking out of mommy's water bottles, playing with the dogs, giving the dogs treats, playing in their cars, taking a bath, getting swung around by daddy, swirling around in a chair, helping mommy cook, cleaning (sweeping, vacuuming, and throwing things away), being tickled, and reading

Favorite Foods: mashed potatoes, apples, sweet potatoes, chicken, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ice cream, yogurt, strawberries, oatmeal, muffins, energy balls (with peanut butter, honey, and oats), bell peppers, maraschino cherries, pasta with pesto sauce, dried fruit, pizza, and Pirate's Booty

Favorite Places: the park, the gym (tot time), Stonefire Pizza (they have kid toys)

Kids' Development (20 months)

Actually, the kids are almost 21 months, but I'm updating now because we are bombarded with development by these two.

We got the kids some underwear. B is pretty much potty trained but K still doesn't even try. I went into the bathroom earlier and B followed me. Then, I hear, "Ohhhhhhhh....SHUT!" Okay, so it was funny as he said it but then I realized that he was trying to say something inappropriate. I have no idea where he heard this because my husband and I don't talk like that. Oh dear.

As we were watching a movie tonight, I yelled out, "Woohoo!" Of course, K's tiny voice repeated me. It was so cute.

They both sign for "more". They understand most of what we say. They can open and close drawers/doors or anything else if we tell them to. They can put things back. They can put things in the trashcan with direction. They can bring diapers and wipes to us when we ask. We gave them their own kitchen cabinet with snacks and they grab their own when they're hungry.

Kayla is more verbal nowadays. These are some of her favorite words/phrases:
-water
-bread pudding
-woohoo!
-more
-up
-hold me
-Grandma
-no
-no, no, no (while shaking her finger)
-down
-cat
-book
-ball
-bowl
-apple
-mama
-dada
-light
-bubble
-shhhhhh
-duck
-rocket
-poop
-pee
-juice
-A, B, C (from the alphabet song)


Bryce's favorite words:
-light
-bubble

-mama
-dada
-no
-ball
-bowl
-apple
-duck
-more
-pee
-poop
-juice
-(he grunts when he's frustrated)

I'll update as I remember other things they've said.

Lake Michigan

We decided that we are going to suck it up and look at the good in the troubles we've encountered. I realize that things can always be worse, but I am the type of person that I need to express my feelings right then so that I can move on.

Since K and I are both out of work, we are using this time to apply for jobs and spend more time together as a family. Today, we went to the beach (Lake Michigan) where the kids experienced their first time with their toes in the sand. It was beautiful. K2 and B would run up to where the water almost touched their feet and then they would run back to our blanket. B particularly liked picking up shells. It was a lot of fun.