Things the Kids are Doing

Here is a list of the latest things that the kids are doing:

Brandon
--Back into playing trains. Everything has a cycle. Trains were out for a while, but now they're back in.
--Likes reading the "Thomas the Tank Engine" books. Weren't these written for kids around the age of 7?
--Drawing pictures of people. They have heads, facial features, arms and legs, but no real body.
--Rhyming. For example, he'll call me "mommy wommy"
--Making up words. This isn't really new. His words are so odd, though. He named his favorite stuffed animal, a little reindeer, Gugga-dok. Brandon has a bright future naming furniture lines at IKEA.
--Counting and adding. Everything! Wheels, trains, toothbrushes, etc.
--Trying to put letters together to make words. He's started to sound out a letter, and try to figure out what words start with that sound.
--Asking a lot of deep questions - like where we go when we die. If we go to heaven, how do we get there? I can answer the first part, but I'm not sure about the second.
--The naps are getting shorter. However, his face brightened up today when I told him that he could take some books to bed and read them, but he couldn't get up. He was asleep in no time!
--Loves to play with his sister. He's a little rough, but they laugh a lot!
--When he puts stars on his chore chart, he has started putting the same colored stars on for each day. I didn't prompt this. He just likes the symmetry, I guess.
--Tells me every day how much he loves me, and how much he loves his baby sister. Occasionally cries because he doesn't want anyone to take away his mommy or his baby sister. No idea where that idea came from!
--Really into "Signing Time" on PBS. Knowing some sign language is probably not a bad thing.

Caitlin
--breaking two more teeth on the top. Looked like three last week, but I can only feel two. At this rate, she might just have four teeth by her second birthday!
--talks up a storm!
--Talks in her sleep, too.
--Thinks she's so funny. She will babble something incomprehensible, and then just starts giggling.
--Throws mini tantrums when she doesn't get her way (life's so hard when your 14 months old)
--Off the bottle. Yeah!
--Loves books. She'll pull one book (or all of them) off the shelf and bring it to me. If I'm sitting on the ground, she'll turn around about a foot away from me and back up into my lap. Brandon use to do the same thing. I have to resist the urge to start beeping like a truck when she does that.
--Doesn't use any real words yet, but points and grunts at everything. I am getting to be a good interpreter of her wants.
--Has mastered the art of standing up on a stool to reach the bathroom countertop. Says "ha-HA!" when she does this. She's very pround of herself!
--Runs down the hallway at the sight of her daddy!
--Eats everything in the house. Apparently I was preparing her lunch too slow today, so she angrily walked over to the diaper bag, got out a bag of Cheerios and brought them to me. I got the point. I hope this is just a growth spurt. We are going through Cheerios and graham crackers at an amazing rate!