Lex decided that the dog was hungry and needed a
snack. So he put the dog on the counter (Lex’s favorite place
to eat) and gave him a “bowl” (Eve’s new slipper). He cracks me
up.

When I was young I used to have this weird
dream of things watching me sleep. I recall seeing figures in
the doorway but the shapes were distorted from the bright light
behind. I guess I’m a little slow, but it didn’t occur to me
until I had Lex that perhaps these weren’t scary aliens – just
my parents. We got in and check on the kids every night before
we go to bed. Sometimes multiple time because they are just so
cute. Sometimes we even take pictures of them!! And now, gotta
love the Internet, I can share the pictures with the world!

PS. You can all thank Lauren for
reminding me that it’s been 5 LONG days without a kid update :)
Glad people care enough to nag!

We have our first daycare baby starting next
month and she came over for a few hours yesterday as a practice
run. Practice for me, my kids, her, and her mommy. We all need
some practice! She came right at nap time, which was tough, but
good since that’s the hardest part of the day. I was expecting
her to be fussy (she’s a baby, after all) and Lex to be
difficult (like I said, nap time), but what I was not expecting
was Eve to be jealous. That’s right, jealous! We were all
sitting on the floor reading stories and baby started crying. I
picked her up and Eve immediately reached for me and started
being fussy. It was so funny. Baby cried a lot and Eve cried
and Lex ran free. I ended up nursing Eve to sleep, rocking baby
in her carseat, and Lex got no nap. Like I said, we all need
some practice! Eve only took about a half hour nap (usually she
sleeps for a few hours). When she woke up, baby’s mommy was
back and Eve was all smiles. She kept looking at baby and then
giving me big hugs. She’s so mellow, but I guess there is a
jealous streak in there. So funny.

A little dinner time movie of my chatty
babies.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJSMA4Ktgw]
Oh,
there’s daylight, this must have been lunch time. So hard to
remember… that was, like, hours ago!!

Nothing exciting, just playing with the
camera at dinner. My kids crack me up, so now you have to look
at them too!

I moved some of Lex’s books because
the shelf was getting too crowded and I think that’s why he
hasn’t been reading as much lately. After my handiwork he
jumped right back into reading (proving my point) and with the
reading comes the fancy book placement. Tonight he made a “book
road” with the books he finished reading. See how it even goes
under a tunnel? Very clever boy.

Notice both vehicles have drivers
and the school bus driver is even in a wheelchair. He regularly
rearranges the school bus people so that the driver is in the
wheelchair. I’m not sure what his logic is behind that, but I’m
sure he’s got something in mind.

Lex was an early talker and has always had
an impressive vocabulary for his age. He has been frustrating
me lately though because his enunciation has gone from
“acceptable for a toddler” to downright unintelligible. Maybe
it’s because I usually understand him so he doesn’t bother
trying anymore? I’ve been working with him on looking at people
when he talks to them (he prefers to look at anything but the
person he’s talking to) and using people’s names. Now I have to
start getting him to speak more clearly — like he used to!
It’s interesting to see him with other kids though. For a long
time he was ahead of the crowd, but now a lot of the kids are
speaking very clearly, using people’s names, saying please and
thank you, and sounding like little people. Suddenly my little
guy isn’t leading the way! It’s a shocker, I know. I’m not even
concerned with that so much as suddenly I can’t understand a
lot of what he says. :/

These are a few we took with Michelle’s
camera at the Halloween playgroup.

Eve is
thinking “What did I do to deserve this?”

Trying
to get Lex to pose for a picture. Not the best picture, but it
made me laugh.

Halloween cuties.

Lex and
Dylan sat down to eat a snack so I popped Eve in the middle and
grabbed the camera. Dylan is a bat and VERY excited about it
:)

Eve and
ladybug Lily

A very
tired monkey.

What a strange holiday. Let me preface by
saying Halloween is not my favorite of the holidays, but I do
my best, especially now with kids. In the last week or so Lex
has learned about skeletons, ghosts, grave yards, spiders, and
candy. All about candy. Alan’s mom got him a book that just
names candies and treats. He, of course, has the book memorized
already. Fortunately this year he’s just learning words. I have
no idea how I’m going to explain things next year when he asks
why he’s getting cards with skeletons on them.

All that said, we had a good day today. We
went to a special Halloween playgroup this morning. Lex didn’t
want to put on the monkey costume, but when we got there I took
off his hat and shoes (like usual) then his pants and shirt and
he didn’t object. I think he was so distracted by the other
kids running around in costume that he didn’t even notice
himself becoming a monkey. I got a great picture of Lex, Eve,
and Dylan together, but it’s on Michelle’s camera. I’ll post it
when she sends it to me. Eve wore her costume all morning with
a resigned sort of look on her face.

Then we came home and Lex asked for a banana for lunch :)
So cute! So we read stories while he ate his banana and milk
and then it was nap time. Eve slept through lunch and stories,
but woke up just as Lex was falling asleep. I was desperate to
get a few bills paid (you can only put that off for so long!)
so Eve “helped” me pay bills for awhile.

This evening Alan’s parents came to visit and we got
everyone dressed up again. His mom stayed to hand out candy so
the rest of us could go out trick-or-treating. Again, I felt
weird walking my 2yr old around the neighborhood with the sole
purpose of collecting candy. We tried to at least get him to
say “trick-or-treat,” but he usually he didn’t and people oohed
and ahhed and gave him candy anyway. Several tried to give Eve
candy too. We had to politely decline, so they gave Lex extra
candy instead. When we got back he plopped down on the floor
and ate more candy than he has ever eaten in his whole 2 years,
5 months, and 6 days of life (so says the ticker above). When I
put our candy in the basket this afternoon, Lex was playing
with it and asking what each different kind was, but not once
did he ask to open or eat the candy… but after tonight I
think that innocence is gone.

Anyway,
putting my cynicism aside, we did have fun today and the
kiddies were adorable in their costumes. Thanks to Grammy Lynn
for getting them!!

Some pictures:

Lex
waits patiently while Eve gets ready.

Parrish
the pirate and his big sister Chloe.

Off we
go!

Knocking
on Parrish’s door.

So
cute.

I’m not
sure who’s happier about the candy
collection.

Eve
helps herself to some M&Ms.;

Being a
duck is hard work!

I didn’t
know monkeys could read!
(I hung his Halloween cards on
the hearth and he’s been going over to them all week and
reading them, like books.)

Storytime for the chocolate-faced
monkey.