For the record

A few cute new things the kids are doing right now that I keep forgetting to write down... (this is really for me / the blog book.)

Ellie

- she digs through the diaper bag until she finds something to eat, then pulls out her treasure, raises it in the air, and exclaims "Oooooh, SNACK!" and digs in.

- we realized last weekend that she could count to 6, and we have not been intentional about teaching her! After working more on it this week, she gets to 7 about 50% of the time, always fumbles over 8, and picks back up with 9 and 10. I catch her staring at her fingers, putting them out in front of her and counting by herself occasionally.

- when I tell the kids it's time to get ready to leave or go outside, Ellie runs to the stairs and sits down, putting her feet out towards me so that I can put her shoes on. Then she pops up and opens the closet door saying "Jacket!".

- she loves to climb up next to me on the couch or chair, squeeze in next to me, then point to my belly and say "Baby inside?!". When I answer with "Yes, there's a baby inside my belly!" she looks down at it and says "Awww", then plants a kiss on it.

- she is my cuddler, and often comes up to me and says "Snuggle Mommy?!" and then lays her head down on my shoulder or lap and sucks her thumb.

- she picked up all the words to "Happy Birthday" since Robbie's birthday celebration, and sings it to him several times a day. He loves it.

Robbie

- likes hearing the song or watching the video "Baby" by Justin Bieber, and requests it often. Tonight we found it on On Demand, and he knew most of the words and even took a stab at a few of the dance moves. Hilarious.

- one of the lines in Bieber's song is "Shake me till you wake me from this bad dream", which prompted Robbie to shoot me a concerned look and ask "Mommy, what's a bad dream?". I told him it was like when you fall asleep hoping to have a dream about trains, but instead your dream is about trucks... Bummer! :) I love his innocence. Kind of like how he calls blood "red juice".

- today we ran errands and Robbie walked through our first store for about an hour and was as well behaved as he has ever been. Never ran off, didn't touch anything, just meandered next to me and the cart (which was restraining my Ellie-monster). Then we went to the library, as I was feeling brave and Robbie seemed to be on his best behavior. He picked out books and - get this - sat on a chair and read them for a while, then when we kept walking to find more books, relocated himself to a couch in another area nearby and continued to stare at his books! It was at least 1/2 hour to 45 minutes of time that he quietly entertained himself - planet Robbie, population 1. Unless you have (or have had) a 2 or 3 year old boy, you cannot understand how awesome this moment was for me. I sang his praises the whole way home!

- he is always willing to hold Ellie's hand when we walk through parking lots or across the street (of course I hold on to her other hand). He is eager to help teach her new things, from the proper pronunciation of words to how to play with his trains.