Are we having fun yet?: life is good

T loves jokes. He picks out the Olivia and the missing toy as the bedtime book often because it makes me laugh with him when we get to the Whoosee gaga part.

We got new books at the library. One of them is cat in the hat comes back. There is a part in there that talks about how the cat is eating cake in the tub like a pig. This past week I heard T randomly tell Papa that he didn't want Papa "eating cake like a pig". I honestly hadn't thought of that rhyme as part of every day life, but T did. At it was soooo funny. I guess he will be the master of inside jokes, especially one liners and quotes from movies. Sigh. At least my roommates from college gave me plenty of practice with that and preparation.

Here is another quote/inside joke from a book. T told me "I only want Spanish books tonight, mom. No English books". This is also something from the book Olivia and the missing toy, except she only wanted books about cats, not dogs. Pretty clever.

There is a book we borrowed that I didn't preview closely enough. It is very clever in it's jokes, but it set up to read like a comic book. I don't like that style too much because it takes a really long time to read and the sentences are usually not complete and involve a lot of grunting noise or action sounds to go with it. Which is probably why T likes it so much, but he seems to get that it is a funny book. He loves reading it because it is funny. Hmph.

T is getting better with his booster. He can finally fasten himself in again. He calls it "toilet paper!" Toilet paper is when he pulls the seat belt out almost it's complete length. It does look a bit like toilet paper.

T also amazes me with how much he loves Thomas. We got him a sticker book full of Thomas stickers. Only a few are pulled out. They are not pulled out because he wants to save them so he can just look at them all. He loves to spend lots of time looking at all the Thomas character stickers and their names so he can learn them. Only trouble is most of them are not labeled. Now what?

I forgot to mention T's response to E's first haircut. When I picked up E the next morning I said "You look like a big kid now, not a baby!" T was there. He asked in a very animated voice "Mom! Does that mean he can walk now?!"

T was being very cute the other morning with E. E loves opening and closing things and playing peekaboo at the moment. T was behind the bathroom door while E closed and open the door to find and hide his brother. They were both laughing and playing together for a few minutes.

Here are some things that E thinks are absolutely hysterical in his current phase of life. Pulling out all the toilet paper off the rolls. Although, this is only secondary and occurs because what he really likes is ripping it off the roll. The sound of tearing is fascinating to him.

He also likes popping noises or some sudden movements. I was holding the plastic pokey ball we have in my mouth and he was pulling it out of my mouth. I was biting one of the plastic small strings. When he pulled it out, it was kind of like a rubber band snapping against the plastic part of the ball. The snapping sound is really funny. Kind of like suddenly pulling off socks. I can do it to him or his sister can suddenly pull off her socks and that is funny, too.

He understands echos. We went in a public bathroom and he was yelling "Aah!" just to hear his echo. He also had a great time testing out his echo during conference. I like to take the kids and me to the church to watch conference in the morning sessions. It helps us all focus a little bit better. But not this time. I had to leave because the conference was turned up only so you could hear it with no one talking. But E was yelling in short bursts because he was so amused with how loud he could hear his echo with hardly anyone there. It was really distracting, especially since he was the only little kid there, so we listened in the foyer. But then T was upset and wanted to go in because he thought he was in trouble..... Sigh. That idea was a bust. We didn't go back the next morning.

E really likes running water. So does T. But E stands in the tub and holds on with both hands trying to shake it really hard. Like that is going to turn on the water. I think he is going to pull the handle out of the wall. He yells really loud too, because obviously that is going to get it all to turn on.

E loves soft things like W. He was standing at the side of his crib and discovered he could reach through the bars and touch his blanket. So he immediately put his hand in left hand in and sucked his fingers on his right. Feeling his sheets like W does.

This week they have been playing with the "weasel". For some reason T hasn't paid attention to the correct pronunciation of easel and calls it the weasel. It sounds funny. It must be funny enough or he just can't hear it right because even W has stopped correcting T.

Thursday I was trying to get W to do her morning chores at a fast pace. She does things well, but likes to do it her way and her time. She told me she doesn't want me brushing her teeth anymore. Maybe. When she can make enough money to pay her dental bills. Anyway, I was trying to motivate her to get moving a bit faster. Milli was coming to play that day, so I said that meow meow (hello kitty) wanted W to make her bed and cover her up before Milli came to chop her up. T thought that was sooooo funny! So I heard him repeating "before Milli chops you up" about a lot of things. Good thing he didn't say it when Emi was here. I think she would have felt bad.

I don't know who started this. Could be either T or W. They started putting Papa's "crunches on sale". They hang them on a knob we have on the wall to turn on a heater. Because the crutch is on the wall, it's on sale.

T noticed another person at church today with their crutches. He was also very excited to tell Milli about how Papa has crutches. Milli responded by pointing to her shirt and saying she has a shirt with a bow and a flower AND a jewel on it. It must be Milli's favorite outfit. I see her wearing it about half the time I see her.

T wanted me to put a battery in the cuckoo clock we have in the playroom. I didn't tell J or W, but they both noticed that night. W said "the points are moving and the bird is dancing and the pine cone is ticking!"

One thing that made me laugh and cringe at the same time was at bath time. W couldn't remember which underwear on the floor were her dirty ones or her clean ones to put on after bath. I couldn't remember either, so I asked her which ones she wore that day. She very carefully picked up one and opened them up and took a deep whiff right where she should to check. She guessed wrong on the first ones and made this face, but in a very matter of fact and even voice said "these ones are the dirty ones. They don't smell like laundry" and put the other ones on. I laughed pretty hard. I didn't teach her that. Maybe Papa did, but she knew just what to do and didn't seem bothered.

But today was sunny. W was very excited to pick out a play dress and put on flip flops We all were!

A little cold walking around the tulip fields

A fish on a dish!

Trees they made from their light sabers

Look! Woofy is in a boot just like this woofy!

One of the first times W sat down to write letters on her own.

E and W

"Henry" in designated parking spot. "Fiery" has a parking spot with his name below it on the other side of the driveway so "they don't bother each other"

It wasn't really warm enough to play in the water. Burritos on the porch

T made a "backyard" for me in the living room. There was a beach towel for meow meow woofy and pez

T at tulip festival

Who doesn't love this??!!

E was hard to capture looking at the camera. He had been stuck in his car seat too long and was trying to crawl to check out the flowers. He probably wanted to eat them. Must have been a deer in his previous life