Aaand we're back!

After a long break, finally, a blog update! I can't cover two months of activities in one post. You'll have to settle for anecdotes that get remembered out of order (of chronology or importance).

But first, a little nomenclature update is required...

"Little E" will now be known as Little Mommy.
"Little I" will henceforth become Two Forks.
And number three will be assigned the placeholder of...
Cranky Pants.

Ok, ok, just joking.

He's not THAT cranky.

Only when he gets cold while having a diaper change. ;)

Until his personality quirks are more evident, we'll temporarily refer to him as, Youngest Brother.

Stay tuned for further updates... same bat time, same bat channel...

Little E update

So the other day, Little E is sitting at the dining room table, perched up high in her chair. She says she wants to color, so she has out her crayons/pencils and some small 3x5 inch notebook papers. Have you ever seen a three year-old "make a list"? Imagine the wavy "words" that you sometimes see in comic strips, to illustrate the idea of a row of words on a paper. That's almost exactly what it looks like. A whole page, filled with wavy lines in neat rows. We ask what she is writing, and she tells us that she is making notes for church. Why church? "So I can put it in my Bible and so you can have the words for the hymns and singing and stuff." Coincidentally, one of her new favorites is to sing the Doxology for prayer before meals. (She needs help on the tune, but she knows all the words when she chooses to sing them!)

Little I's favorite is "Lord Prayer! Lord Prayer!" How does it begin? "Our Fadda." His other good word is, "Ahh-mayn!" (It was one of his first 'prayer' words... probably because he thinks it to be synonymous with, "Let's eat!")

Books!

On our most recent trip to the library, we brought home The Enormous Crocodile, by Roald Dahl. Little E has thoroughly enjoyed having it read to her. It takes me a good 15-20 minutes to read it out loud, but she will sit quietly and laugh out loud at the funny parts. It's probably the longest book we've yet read together, and definitely one with more words-per-page than what she has previously seen.

Number Two still enjoys his picture books, especially the board books. Today he listened to most of Go Dog Go, by P.D. Eastman. That's one of his longest, which I credit to his enjoyment of dogs. (And his enjoyment of pointing out the 'big ones!')

Stay tuned for future updates from the little readers... :)

Say, "Please!"

Have you ever seen someone struggle to communicate with a hearing impaired person? Ever seen the person talk LOUDER, as though it will somehow help the deaf ears to hear better? Well, Little I seems to be taking a page from that book. He has become quite good at the three-word-sentence. "Mommy make coffee?" "Daddy have drink?" And his personal favorite, "Have milk back!" (Usually the removal is due to abusing the straw as a bubble-blower.) So we've been trying to help him add the word, "Please," at the end of his three-word ultimatums. He knows the sign. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite understand the phrase, "Ask nicely." He simply rephrases his request as, "MOMMY! HAVE MILK BACK!" Hey, at least he's easy to understand.... =/

Everything is "broke"!

Apparently, Little I's new favorite word is, "Broke!" If his shoe strap slides off his foot, he points and says, "Broke!" If the clothes come off of the stuffed Elmo, then Elmo is, "Broke!" And my personal favorite -- when reading Gossie (the small, yellow gosling who loves to wear bright red boots), when she loses her boots and cannot find them, Little I points to her boot-less feet and says, "Broke!"

Three-year olds can spell, too!

Sometimes we find it necessary to spell certain words (like C-A-K-E, or P-O-O-L, or Z-O-O) so that Little E doesn't pick up the whole conversation. This works well in limited circumstances. Unfortunately, the secret code might soon be coming to an end. Today I asked about our plan for "D-I-N-N-E-R." It was decided that we might have some "B-A-C-O-N" along with "E-G-G-S." Little E turns around and says, "Mommy, what's S-P-H-Q-E-R-T?" Ahh, if only I could find my secret decoder ring...

Saga of the Baby Chicken

So the other night, at dinner, Little E and Little I are eating green beans (which they love). Little E takes one of the seeds out of the bean and holds it in her cupped hands. She says, "Look, a baby chicken!" This continues for a minute. "Mommy, do you want a baby chicken?" "Daddy, do you want a baby chicken?" After her generous offer is politely declined, she turns to Little I: "Do you want a baby chicken?"

Little I took one look at that "baby chicken" and imitated the title character in of his favorite stories, The Very Hungry Caterpillar -- and he was still hungry.