For those of you wondering what sparked my romantic payload, yesterday marked 13 years that we have been together.  We were kind of together for a few months before that, but we weren’t really committed as a couple until that day in 1996.  We usually don’t celebrate minor anniversaries as such, mostly because we forget until a few days later, but I thought the prime number deserved a little something.   Next up, 17, then 19…  OK, I’ll probably pay some attention to powers of 2 as well.  ;p

Three babies, two blankets, two giraffes, and a doggie.  These are the things Eve is sleeping with in her new big girl bed!!!  She likes to cuddle with things and I’ve been taking them out of her toddler bed lately because there just wasn’t enough room, but now she can sleep with whatever she likes!!  And hopefully she’ll sleep later than 5am!!  (It’s been rough these past few weeks with her 5am wakings!)

We bought a bed through Grampy Don’s company and they came up today to deliver.  The excitement over Eve’s new big girl bed has been building as we bought her new sheets last week (you can see them on Lex’s bed in the picture below) and picked up a boxspring a few days ago.  Today was the final culmination!  She was so excited, but insisted on napping in her toddler bed (instead of my bed where she usually sleeps better) for one final time.

The kids tested out the bed (Jumpable?  Check!) and “helped” us put the sheets on and basically wore themselves out with excitement :)  I took them down to watch a show while Grammy Lynn built a shiny purple crown headboard sort of thing.  Eve says “there’s a crown on my bed.”  :)

Welcome to your big girl bed, baby girl!!  May it serve you well for many years.

Ok, so she went to bed happily at 7pm, slept until about 9pm, and is now up and wide awake.  Hmm…  Now I’m worried she’ll sleep too late in the morning and I’ll have to wake her up to get Lex to school.  Sigh.

I think I forgot to mention in my flurry
of posts yesterday that Eve can officially count to 10. For
quite awhile her counting went oonnnee… sssiiiixxxxx……
ooonnnee… but now she can get from 1 to 10, in order. She
also can sing the alphabet song and she’s getting pretty good
at the starter puzzles we have and really likes the Melissa
& Doug sound puzzle. Alan and I think it’s possessed
because it randomly makes sounds all on it’s own, but she likes
it. And she recently hit a language phase where she uses words
like “me” and “I” but still isn’t clear on who “me” and “I”
are. I remember it being a really interesting phase in Lex’s
language development and it’s cool (not unexpected, of course)
to see it in her too. Sometimes life flies by with the second
one, so I try to stop and notice the developments she’s making.
She’s very funny and verbal and smart! An amazing little
monkey!

We do a lot of coloring around here these
days and it’s neat to watch Eve. She’s really good at holding
the crayon (almost always the right way) and coloring specific
parts of the picture. She doesn’t exactly stay within the
lines, but she’ll say “eyes!” and color just on the eyes. She’s
pretty precise. She can also make great straight lines. A lot
of her drawings are just a series of multi-colored vertical
lines.

The other day they were both at
the table and Lex had an activity book he was coloring in. At
one point he started saying random words and when I glanced
over his shoulder I realized he was doing a word search! I was
amazed! He found both horizontal and vertical words. Their
learning and development never ceases to amaze me!

The other big news from today is that Eve
is officially plug-free… and none too pleased! :) Lex and I
made a big deal about how grown up she’s getting and how she
doesn’t need her plugs any more. We took her and the two
remaining plugs to the garbage and I asked her to throw them
away. She picked up one and happily tossed it in the garbage,
then picked up the other one and popped it in her mouth. I
tried to talk her into throwing the second one away, but she
insisted on keeping in. “Garbage!” she said, pointing to the
one, “mouth!” she insisted, pointing to the other. Smart girl!
After a few minutes I just popped it out and threw it away. She
cried, but settled down when I offered her two treats (the
chocolate chips Lex was getting as potty rewards). I gave her
two treats, one for each plug. She was happy until naptime,
then she cried and sobbed and said, “plug. garbage. mommy, get
it!” :) Took about a half hour at nap and half hour at bedtime.
Tomorrow will be better, I’m sure. It makes me sad to hear her
crying, but I know it’s for the best. It’s interesting when
kids talk at a young age because instead of just crying I hear
her calling me and calling for her plug. “Get it, get it,
mommy, plug!” She’s 19 months now and was getting a little too
plug happy, so I’m confident it was time. And I’m happy we
threw it away so I couldn’t be weak and give it back!

On another note, Eve has had some serious
growth spurts lately, both physically and mentally. She has
outgrown a lot of her clothes (as my family enjoyed mocking
this week!) and looks like a kid now! She also has taken an
interest in the alphabet and can sing part of the song, and
she’s learning to count. Her preferred order is “ooonnnee…
siiixx… ooonneee….ssiiixxx…” etc. But when you help her
focus she can get one through five… yet somehow doesn’t yet
connect that six comes next :) She’s a funny girl. She is also
learning how to make Lex laugh (I’ll post a video of that soon)
and cry! He took a toy away from her a few times this morning,
then she grabbed the radio he was playing with and ran away! He
cried, she laughed, I tried to be mature and not laugh as well.
It’s amazing watching them grow together. I’m a lucky
mommy.

The big news in our house is that we’ve
completed our first full day with no diapers on Lex. Yesterday
he was pleased to announce that he would wear Eve’s diapers
that day (we are out of his diapers) and then wear underwear
the next. This morning he had a different story :) After
discussing for awhile he agreed to put on pants with no
diapers, but still refuses the underwear. He had three
accidents and a bunch of successes. After the first two
accidents he remembered that we used to do stickers and treats
for successes, so he asked about that and I agreed and he was
much more motivated :) I think we’re on the right path. We also
bought “big boy pull-ups” for night time so we don’t have to go
back to diapers at night. The hardest part so far is convincing
him to sit on the potty. Something comes out every time he
does, but he’s pretty opposed to the idea of stopping what he’s
doing for a potty break. Stubborn monkey :) We’re currently
using the oven timer and when it beeps (every 1/2 hour!) he has
to take a break and sit down. As I was saying good night he
said he wanted to try the underwear tomorrow. I’m super proud
of him!

Lex has taken the leap in to writing…
his name, anyway.

L-E-X

And a
few more letters :)

I
always get so excited when I see him write his name. Sometimes
I think it embarrasses him though, because he often colors over
the writing so you can’t really read it anymore. On this page
he wrote some letters and his name, and when I asked if I could
hang it on the wall he said he wanted to color a picture on it
too. I was afraid he was going to color his picture all over
it, but luckily he didn’t! Not bad for a little guy, I think
:)

I also wanted to add a comment about
his imagination. I think I’ve written about this recently, but
his imagination constantly impresses and amuses me. This
afternoon we played a game he made up. We put imaginary avatars
on the eyes of the backhoe loader in the “I’m Dirty!” book. We
went through the whole book, taking turns, picking up imaginary
avatars off the floor and putting them into the book. Exciting,
huh?! He’s also started naming things, such as Eve’s baby doll,
now named “Chockla” (he spelled it for me, so I was sure I had
it right). He also nursed the baby for awhile today, nursing on
one side, burping, nursing on the other side, then changing
Chockla’s diaper. Then Chockla “walked” over to play with
blocks with me and Eve. He’s so funny! He also has two little
koosh ball-type toys with heads and legs (koosh animals?). Alan
and I have no idea where these came from (Halloween, perhaps?)
but he has decided that they are Sky Turtles, one named Leona
and the other has a name I can’t spell or pronounce. And to
think I used to be concerned that he was so literal and had no
imagination!