Eve was being a naughty
monkey tonight and I put her to bed with no stories. After bath
I asked Lex to go downstairs and pick out a few bedtime stories
while I got Eve in bed. I was surprised and amused at what I
found when I came downstairs. He made himself a library (be
sure to watch the video) and was very proud of himself. After
some negotiations we ended up reading just two stories. Maybe
we’ll get to the rest tomorrow. :)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojgnRp7fqcE]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_pQkxs_8j4]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_u1j536NHc]

On a bit of a whim today we jumped into
the stroller (well, I jumped into sneakers) and we took a walk
to the playground. It was a day of firsts. Lex climbed to the
top of everything, made it to the end of the balance beam, and
successfully kept himself going on the swing by pumping his
legs. Such a growing boy!

Eve
discovered sap at the playground today. Got it on her fingers,
realized how sticky it is, and went back for more! Silly girl.
She also made it all the way to the playground with pants, but
no diaper, peed in the woods (first time!) and made it home
again. Such a growing girl!

Lex shocked and amazed me yesterday when
he decided to write Happy Birthday on pictures we were making
for Caitlin’s birthday party. Lex first decied to draw a
picture of a birthday cake with candles. After I wrote “Happy
Birthday Caitlin” on the picture Eve was drawing, Lex decided
he wanted to write it on his card too. He wrote “HAPE” and was
very excited. He asked if he spelled it correctly, and I had to
tell him no, but I said it gently and said it was a great try
and Caitlin would love it. He got frustrated anyway. For a
moment I thought he was done, but then he decided to get
another piece of paper and try again. Following my writing, he
wrote “Happy” on one side of the paper and “Birthday” on the
other. Then he wrote his name on both sides. I was so excited
that he was interested in writing and interested in trying
again and, AND he knew how to write most of the letters!!! I’ve
seen him writing his name a few times, but I didn’t know he
knew how to write so many letters! They weren’t all perfect,
but it was exciting anyway. Then we made an envelope out of
white paper and he wrote Caitlin’s name on it. We folded it up,
glued it together and he was very excited to bring it to
Caitlin. She smiled :)

It’s so rare that Lex hams for the camera
(or even looks at the camera!) I had fun and it looks like they
did too :)

Dential hygiene is very important around
here and Eve is preparing for her first dentist visit in
January. Mostly she just likes floss :)

Have I told you about Lex
lately? How sweet and amazing he is? How wonderful and lovey he
is? How very, very fortunate we are to have him?

For about a week we’ve been playing a silly
game. He says, “Mom, do you know who I love most?” and I
proceed to make silly guesses… “Mickey Mouse?” Each guess is
sillier and makes him laugh more. After three or four guesses
he says, “It’s you mommy!!” and he runs over to give me a hug.
Then I say “ooohhh, I’m such a lucky mommy!” We do this so
often that sometimes I can’t even make breakfast because he
gives me so many hugs! Eve likes to play too, but her version
is more like, “Who I love best? You!! Ooo, such a lucky mommy!”
all in one stream. :) Yesterday he decided that he also loves
Eve and Dad most too. So the game now ends with “I love you
most! And dad. And Eve!”

After bath tonight I sent them
into the living room to pick stories while I put the dirty
clothes in the laundry. I do this most nights and I usually
return to find them both playing. Tonight I came into the
living room and found them sitting together in the chair and he
was reading a story to her. He told me that he was going to
read her all of the library books for bedtime stories. I, of
course, grabbed the camera and made a movie of him reading. I’m
sure you’re all bored of movies of him reading by now, but I
love to hear it. I love his voice. I love how he reads. After I
put the camera away I asked if I could sit with them and Lex
decided we all needed to move to the couch, with him in the
middle. He read us three stories and then Eve got too crazy and
I had to put her to bed. Sadly she isn’t very good at going to
bed these days, but Lex was super sweet and read stories to
himself while I tended to her. After awhile I told her I had to
go take care of Lex (left her crying in her room). We played
with his trains until the clock chimed (our life revolves
around clock chimes) and then he went right to bed. I was
dealing with her for quite awhile and he stayed calmly and
quietly in his bed. I think it took him awhile to fall asleep,
but he was just soooo sweet!

I’m so
proud of the nice person he is growing in to. We are all so
lucky to have him in our lives.

I got the kids new lunchboxes last week.
They are called Bento Boxes. The kids love them. I like them.
They are a little small, but we have a serious shortage of
storage containers here so I was having trouble finding little
containers to put their food in each day. So far they are
working out well. One thing I have to figure out though is how
to insulate. For twice the price I could have gotten insulated
lunchbags with the Bento Boxes, but I was hoping for something
more compact as I’m already carrying a lot of stuff to daycare
when we go. Anyway, like ’em?

These are the videos Alan took at 10pm
while the kids were actively not sleeping. The last one is
pretty long, but cute.

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

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQLEWUg4vA]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srwty9VleQ8]

I think summer has finally arrived… only
a month past it’s official date! This morning we had our first
day at the beach. Hopefully with many more to follow. We met
three other families and spent the morning at the lake’s edge
and had a picnic lunch followed by some playground time. I
think everyone had a blast! Eve promtly conked out in the car
on the way home. I was hoping for Lex to sleep as well, but no
such luck. I was really impressed with how well they both did
in the water. I’ve been having fears of them running in
opposite directions, under the water, losing one while trying
to keep track of the other, etc. Eve is known at the Aquatic
Center for having no fear and I really didn’t want to test that
in the lake! Lex did an awesome job of following the belly
button rule. Several times I thought he was too deep, but then
he would put his feet down and stand up and what do you know,
right at the belly button! Eve is still learning the rule (we
went with skirt because her belly button is a little harder to
see) but she did good. I was mostly pleased that she stayed
calm, stayed with us, and listened to me. Can’t ask for much
more than that!

Nate and Dylan in front, Eve and
Caitlin in back

Lex

Anya, blackberry-faced Eve, and Lex’s
belly