Nov 30

It's been a fun week.  Both kids had a great time at Thanksgiving having cousins to play with!  Joshua played with Katherine, Matthew & Christopher - he'd call & go looking for one of them if he couldn't see them, and he stayed up till 11:30p and even then was so wired, he didn't go to sleep for another hour!  He also had fun the next morning playing with both Julia and Emily.  He kept saying "TWO babies!", and then decided he wanted to be a baby too.  :)  Emily played well with Julia, and I think she missed having someone her age when she left! 
J's new fun is playing w/ "garbage". He wanted something to put in his garbage trucks, so Shawn gave him some tiny pieces of toilet paper rolled up.  On the up side, it is easy to make more and clean.  On the down side, I now have "garbage" all over the place!
J is counting to 10 frequently, but he leaves out 7 & 8.  He was singing "Jesus loves me" in the car the other day and I could understand the words!  He always wants the "big fish" story at night before bed (Jonah), and the "lions" story (Daniel & the lion's den) if he finds one of our Bibles.
E is walking - wobbly - with holding just one hand. On Sunday, she squatted to pick up toy & stood back up without holding on. She gets so excited - jumps & squeals - when Shawn comes home now. It is fun to watch her play. She thinks about things - putting balls in hole, the trying to fit a car in hole; banging a ball on different surfaces and noticing the difference in sound.  When we're downstairs, every time I put her down, she makes a bee-line for the stairs, and she's fast!   Joshua stands at the top and tells her to "climb, climb" until she gets to the top.  Then he drops on his belly, and reaches out to pull her up.  She just smiles and squeals! 
I realized her shaking head doesn't me "no", it is that she is dancing to music. :)  She loves to eat paper, esp. Joshua's books.

Nov 23

Emily was climbing all over the place today!  First I found her under the kitchen table.  She was sitting on the middle ledge and not sure how to get out.  Then, she crawled into one of the barstools, pulled herself up and was stuck in it.  As I was trying to get her out, she thought she'd flip head-first and try to crawl out.  Good thing I was there to catch her!  She's definitely going to keep me busy!
Joshua has been learning about red and green lights, and likes to tell me when it's green.  He gets upset when they are red and we have to stop.

Nov 22

It is so fun to watch Joshua figure things out.  I was changing Emily's diaper and Joshua came in to watch. He was holding his juice cup and a ton of toys, but he wanted to climb up on the bed.  He put the toys on the bed first, then tried to put the cup on the bed, but it kept falling over.  He tried to make a pile of blankets to lean it on, but it rolled. So he lifted up the blanket, put the cup under it, and set the blanket on top of the cup - voila! it stayed upright!!  Shawn & I were both impressed - we wouldn't have thought of that, but it worked!
If all Emily wanted for Christmas was "her two front teeth", it seems she would have it.  Her top right front tooth come in on Sunday, her bottom left tooth come in today, and it looks like the top left will come in tomorrow!!  I realized her shaking her head is her form of dancing to music.   :)  She will also often hum along.  She is definitely "cruising" now.  She always prefers to be standing, and will pull-up if she can anything to hold onto!
Joshua was playing and talking in a high-pitched voice, so I asked him if he were a mouse, or a little bird.  He says "No, mama.  Tata BIG boy!" in a confident voice!  :)
We had a fun day on Saturday - we went to Zube Park where they have free train rides on miniature steam locomotives.  Joshua loved seeing all the different trains, and enjoyed the ride too. Then we went to Dewberry Farm.  It wasn't quite as fun for Joshua as the Oil Ranch was, but he still enjoyed it.  He loved bouncing on the air pillows, feeding the goats, and sliding down the roller slide.  He wanted to do all the things the big kids were doing.  He tried to hang on to the big ball swing, and enjoyed it for a minute or two, and then he fell off.  He didn't get the idea of wrapping his legs around the rope when jumping off the hay bales....  oh well, he tried!  It was a fun day, and the kids were wiped out and both in bed by 7pm - and I was able to get in bed around 8p, which made it an even more wonderful day for me!  :)

Nov 18

Joshua was hiding under his crib before his nap and wouldn't come out, so I said goodnight and left, thinking he'd come out and want me.  I waited outside his door for a bit and didn't hear anything.  When I checked on him, he was asleep!  He took a two-hour nap on the floor under his crib!  :)
Joshua's been learning about "same" and "different". He'll get two garbage trucks, even if different colors, hold them next to each other and say "same? yes!"  He's been going around doing this with all kinds of things.  We were reading a book with alphabet flaps in it and it had an x-ray under the "X", but there was a xylophone in the middle of the page.  He told me the xylophone needed to go under the "X"!  When I asked him to find the "J" for Joshua, he pointed to the "T" and said "Joshua two".  hmmm.
Emily didn't have any fever today, thank goodness, but she was very cranky!!  She bumped her mouth on the playzone bouncing up & down and it made her gums bleed.  I think those top two teeth must be pretty close to the surface.
 She is funny with clothes.  She knows that shirts go over her head, and she'll sit there and try and try to get them on.  She also knows that socks go on her feet, but she can't get those on either.  Usually she'll just end up playing "peek-a-boo" with them instead.
She started shaking her head today.  I don't think she means "no" because she laughs when she does it - it's just a fun motion. It's pretty cute too!
She made it all the way up the stairs by herself today. (I was right behind her just in case she fell.)  She had a little trouble turning the corner at the halfway, but Joshua was encouraging her too.  She was pretty proud of herself when she made it to the top!

Nov 16

Sunday: Emily stood and balanced herself for probably 5 seconds. 
Monday:  I was so proud of Joshua in Target.  We went down the toy aisle, and I let him out of the cart to look at things.  He saw a train set he really wanted, but it was more than I was planning on spending then, so I told him he'd have to ask Shawn about it.  When I was ready to move on, he came without throwing a fit, or crying or anything!!  He saw & asked about a couple other toys as we passed them, but kept coming when I said no.  He was very happy when I treated him to an Icee when we got to the front of the store, but he mentioned the train to Shawn as soon as he got home!
At dinner, I was trying to get Joshua to eat a sandwhich.  I told him he needed to eat "these two pieces" and then he could have his fruit cup (dessert).  He said yes, looked right at me and then proceeded to put the sandwhich up to his mouth, slide it down his chest, under the table & threw it on the floor!!!  I couldn't believe it!  I had to control my laughter before disciplining him!
This morning when Joshua woke from his nap I heard him saying "wait, wait, wait".  I think he was referring to my answer to him when he asked first thing this morning for the train set from Target - I told him "maybe for Christmas, but he'd have to wait."  :)  As I write this (9:25pm) he is in his crib, using a FisherPrice lantern to read the toy books!  He holds it over his head to see the page, puts it down to turn the page and then holds it up again...
Emily has been sick with a double ear infection.  She was just pitiful last night with 104.5 fever; she was just laying in my arms staring at me.  She was better today, but just has short bouts of energy and then gets clingy again.  She is clapping more and more.  Joshua encourages her by clapping too and saying "Yay, Myee clapping!"

Nov 13

Emily went shopping with me today while Joshua played Frisbee Golf with Shawn.  We had a great time!  She loved smiling at everyone, and even talking to some.  She got a balloon and had a blast with it!  She would pull on the string and then bounce up & down, kick her legs and squeal in delight.  She must've been entertained by it for at least half an hour!  Then we tried some samples - she gummed a piece of french bread and a pretzel stick - both firsts for her.  She loved them - I guess she inherited my love for carbs!  When we got home, she would put the clip/weight to the balloon in her mouth and then use both hands to pull up on the playzone and then be so excited when she got up.  She also crawled around with the balloon string in her hand and a Little People in her mouth - quite a site!
We tried to take the bumper out of her crib, since we've lowered it, but she must've hit her head somehow because she started screaming and now has a bruise on her forehead.  She'll spend tonight in the pack-n-play and then I guess we'll be putting the bumper back in tomorrow...
Joshua had fun with Shawn.  He would try to throw the frisbee too, but wasn't quite sure when to let go.  He came home happy, but tired.  After his nap we watched Toy Story 3 - again.  He really likes the opening scene with the train.  After that he wants to "play cars, mama".  :)   I guess I must tell him "no, sir" alot, because when Emily went for his cars tonight he started saying "No, sir, Myee. No, sir."  :}

Nov 11

Joshua was SOO  entertaining today!  I actually caught it on video, but he was playing with more imaginary dinosaurs.  This time they were "long-neck dinosaurs" - brachiosaurus. He called it out of the bedroom and then proceeded to read it a book, complete with frequent "see, dinosaur?" Then it fell, so he went over and gave it a hug (hugging himself).  Then it was thirsty, so he set his drink on the floor and said "wait, wait, wait" for the dinosaur to come out. !!!  It was so cute!

Emily was a "giggle box" today, and laughed at everything. I love her laugh!

Nov 10

  Emily was the energizer bunny today!  She talked and played in her crib for 45 min, until she finally woke Joshua with her squealing.  She played "peek-a-boo" in the handle hole of the playzone & also with her bath towel. She loves to play chase w/Joshua.  She will crawl towards him, and then when he comes, she'll squeal and crawl away.  Joshua loves it too and will follow her around on his hands & knees.
  Joshua stood at edge of our bathroom and pretended to feed imaginary dinosaurs, throwing them miniature playing cards, like he throws bread to fish.  We must have read the new toy book 50 times, looking for cars.  Emily pulled all the train tracks off the shelf while I was changing Joshua's diaper.  He came out, said "mess!" and then sang the clean-up song as he put them all away.  However, when I asked him to put all his toys back in the box, he kept saying "mama's turn.  Tata watch."!  He enjoyed playing in bed sheet, while I was folding the laundry.  We drove past Fleet on the way to Gymboree.  Joshua kept saying "in, here".  So I asked him why and he said "water".  He had seen a picture of him w/Shawn at the pool in Cozumel and wanted to go swimming! (He asked again on the way home!)  Maybe we'll have to put him back in swim lessons!

Updates

  When I'm driving, Joshua says "Hold on tight, Don't fall" whenever I go over an overpass.  He also likes to shout "We're coming" when he sees a truck in front of us.
  He always says "okay, daddy/mommy/miyee" whenever someone coughs or sneezes.  And he doesn't understand the difference between "look" and "see", so he just says both.  It's always "look-see ____"...
  When he's in his crib at night, he holds a lantern up over a book, looks at the page, then sets the lantern down to turn the page before shining the light on the book again.  He also likes to fake snore in his crib!
  Joshua is learning letters.  He sings the alphabet song, usually in the bathtub - due to swim lessons.  When he sees a sign that is on his level, he'll go over, say a bunch of random letters, and then say "Joshua" or sometimes "Emily.  I think this is due to some puzzles he has that are their names, and each letter comes out. So we'll take all the letters out, go over them as he puts them back in, and then say the name when it is all put together.
  Emily is crawling - half on knees, half army-crawl.  She can go up stairs pretty well, but can't do down.  She likes to pull up to the train table and pull off the tracks - much to Joshua's frustration.  She loves his toy cars too, but they usually end up in her mouth.  She is standing alone for a couple seconds, and pulls herself up on anything.  She loves to jump, be flipped, and hang upside-down!

Nov 9

Emily clapped today for the first time.  We were at the playground, and she saw another little girl clapping, and followed suite!  So cute!  At the playground, they both had a blast!  Joshua is a little daredevil - he wouldn't stop shouting "faster" until he was "getting air", and even then, he would try to let go! (he was in the bucket seat, so he was safe.)  Emily loved the swing too, and was laughing and trying to jump in it. 
Emily had another "first" today too - she found a Ritz cracker from Joshua's Lunchable on the floor. I grabbed it from her, then decided to let her try it.  She did great!  She would take little bites, gum it and didn't gag at all! 
On a down note - Emily pooped out her diaper three times today and then threw up all down the back of my shirt.  (She really doesn't do well with Similac!  She gags on it when she can taste it, but I snuck a little into her cereal - and she threw it up...)  Joshua was fighting me on changing a dirty diaper, and then proceeded to pee while I was changing him, and then he broke my bracelet from Papua New Guinea.  :(  oh well - it lasted over 3 years.