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!

I took Lex to a great new hair salon today
and he got a haircut!! It took a bit of cajoling and the lady
was nice enough to be flexible with a toddler. She tried to get
him to sit in the chair and wear a fun cape with trucks on it,
but he’d have no part of it. He actually wanted Eve to go first
:) The woman ended up sitting on the floor and cutting his hair
(sans clippers and water, per his request) while she cut his
hair. Now he’s got a spiffy new do and we’ve got a great new
salon!!

Pre-cut
crazy hair

Eve is
ready for a haircut! I think I even see a hair or two up there!
:)

Lex’s
first professional haircut. They even gave us a cute
certificate with a picture of him and a lock of his hair taped
to it. It’s cute, but it made me laugh because he’s 3 1/2 and
it’s not really his 1st haircut, just his 1st professional cut.
We all had fun though and that was well worth the
$6.

Lex has had a big burst of imagination
lately. I used to worry that he had no imagination and was so
overly literal (after his fathers heart and mind), but lately
he’s been amazing me with the stuff he comes up with. Blocks
are now drum sticks, towers are now fire houses and schools and
front-loader supports (ie: the front load is the base with the
tower built on top of it). We were in the car for about 3hrs
yesterday and he came up with a very elaborate story about
doggie (I had brought doggies and blankets, hoping for naps!).
Doggie took a nap on the arm of his carseat, then woke up and
needed a snack, so he got a snack out of the cabinet hanging on
the door (“mommy, be careful when you open the door so doggie’s
cabinet doesn’t fall out”), doggie sat at the table (the other
arm of the carseat) and ate his snack. It was really cool to
listen to it. Fortunately Lex still narrates a lot, so I got to
hear all about doggie’s activities even though I was in the
front seat driving.

This morning Lex
decided to make some “hot number soup.” He took a few numbers
out of his new clock puzzle and put them in a cardboard egg. He
had spoons for stirring, he put a lid on the pot, he had
seasonings to put in it, and then he pour it into a bowl and
served it to me. It was so fun! He made three batches (numbers
1-5, 6-9, 10-12). He served me the third bowl with no spoon and
when I commented that something was missing the thought for a
moment and said, “oh, right, mommy, would you like milk or
water with your hot number soup?” I cracked up and asked for
milk. He made me a “sippy cup” (wooden box) with milk and then
brought me a spoon. We had a lot of fun. It makes me really
happy to see the imagination starting to emerge.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9N0iv8vW7M]

Here is a video of Lex writing his name.
What I didn’t get on camera was his description of how he’s
going to do it. It went something like, “I’m going to make a
line down and then another little line going straight out! Then
another line down and three LITTLE lines off it. Then a line
across and another line across.” It sounded oddly familiar (how
I’ve described it to him many times before).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I89n1AT8uIY]

While I was exercising this morning Lex drew a
whale on the Doodle Pro. I was very impressed. He then drew a
squiggly line through it (starting in the bottom, right corner
and up to the top, left, then up and a down a few times) I was
bummed that I didn’t get a picture before he added the squiggly
line, but then he told me the whale’s name is Grn (pronounce
“jurn”). He repeated it several times but I didn’t understand
him, so he said “I’ll spell it for you.” and proceeded to add
the three marks in the top right. “G” is close, and two lines
for “R” and “N”. Not quite letters, but more progress on the
writing front than I’ve seen so far :)

In a funny new development, both kids have
taken an interest in tickling. They are both very ticklish,
though Lex will sometimes say, “stop! stop! tickling is bad!”
Of course, when you stop he comes right back for more :)
Anyway, the funny part is that both of them now attempt
tickling. He announces that he’s going to tickle you and then
comes at your face in a scratchy sort of way. Not usually very
ticklish, but it makes me laugh anyway. Eve just walks around
wiggling her fingers and saying “tickle, tickle.” She tries to
tickle me, Alan, Lex, her toys, her sippy cup, the air…
whatever! She’s not picky :) I never realized what a fine art
tickling is until I saw two novices at work.

Happy June!

I
learned today that Lex can pedal his 2-wheeler (with training
wheels, of course). He’s had the bike since last summer (a
hand-me-down from Joshua), but was never quite big enough to
get the pedals around full circle. He was riding it with me a
few weeks ago and still having trouble. Alan took him out
yesterday and apparently he got the hang of it. I took him out
today and off he went, much to my surprise! He hasn’t yet got
the hang of steering while pedaling, but I’m sure that will
come soon enough. Guess who will be heading to the bike store
for a helmet ASAP? :)

Sorry for all the posts in one day (in
case anyone’s complaining ;) ) but I wanted to give this one
it’s own attention. Eve said “apple” today! I was very
impressed. We had apples for lunch and she was trying to say
it, and then later, for snack, I asked her if she wanted apple
yogurt or blueberry yogurt. She pointed right to the apple one
and said “apple!” She has a pretty good vocabulary, I think. I
was trying to think of all the words she can say today and came
up with: apple, up, down, cup, bowl, water, more, no, mom, dad,
eye, ball, hat, cat, book, hi, hmm… I guess that’s all I can
think of now. She has several more, like sock and shoe, that
she’s working on, but can’t say it quite yet. It’s so much fun
to hear her talk. Lex likes to get in on the game too and says
“Eve, can you say water?” or whatever. It makes us all happy
when she talks. Probably good motivation for her :)