Kiddo Update: Bonus Materials

What mom can remember every single thing that her kids are doing and saying in one sitting at her computer?  Certainly not me, and it's become abundantly clear as I've been thinking on it that I left out quite a bit of information in my last post.  So here, in no particular order, are some fun miscellaneous goodies on my bebes (enhanced by an impromptu photo op this morning):

Will

• Favorite books:  Still "Go, Dog, Go" by PD Eastman, but other faves include "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See" by Henry Holt.  Also any of the Sandra Boynton books and anything by Richard Scarry.  (Honorable mention:  his copy of "Goodnight Moon" doesn't get pulled out much anymore, but he still does request it from time to time; the poor thing is so raggedy that I'm tempted to toss it and get him a new copy, but it has his first baby teethmarks on it and I can't bear to part with it, at least for now.)
• Everyday activities:  lining up Matchbox and HotWheels cars, requisitioning one or both parents to "build BIG tower!" with blocks, or assembling a new line of track for his Thomas trains. He also adores playing hide-and-seek, sometimes involving us but usually involving hiding his humpback whale or orca toy and finding it.  (I think it must be genetic in every kid to peek through fingers while counting, and to do the speed-counting thing:  "1-2-3-45678910!")  He also really loves to pretend to be an airplane, holding his arms out to his sides and running around the living room in big figure-eight patterns, making all kinds of adorable zooming noises.  He gets SUPER-excited if he can get one or both parents to do it with him.  :)  He still loves drawing on his Magna-Doodle, too.  Will has an especial fondness for stickers, but I'm reserving my stash of those for potty-training bribery (yep, still working on this, too; sigh).  Will has this beautiful Melissa & Doug (if you haven't yet discovered these toys, you are in for a treat!) animal alphabet train puzzle, which he can put together entirely on his own, and he can say the names of all the animals, only occasionally getting tripped up on "G" for "gorilla" (of course it's a "monkey" too) and "N" for "norwhal" (yeah, cuz that just rolls off the tongue for any adult!?).  He also has a shapes puzzle and can say most of the shapes, but his clear favorite is a hexagon; in fact, if he sees a stop sign, he always points excitedly, "Hexagon, Mama, hexagon!"
• (Our) favorite expressions:  Anything he likes, he will exclaim, "(X thing), oh my favorite!" such as "Chocolate chips, oh my favorite!" or "Bathtime, oh my favorite!"  If he wants one of us to do something with him, like lay down for a nap or bedtime, he'll say "Mama's turn for bed rest" or "Daddy's turn for bed rest."  (He still hates going to bed alone...working on that.)  He also says "That's beautiful" and "That's perfect" quite a bit; again, I don't know where he gets his penchant for dramatic language.  :)  Another one:  somewhere he learned that when you do a karate chop, you're supposed to say "Hie-yah!" but for Will, it comes out "Pie-yah!"  Similarly, when he wants to say "Hooray," it comes out "Pooray!"  The substitution of the "p" for the "h" is entirely too cute to correct at this point.  Will is also fond of saying, "You try!" if he wants you to do something with him, and the funniest thing to do is to insist back, "No, you try!" which starts a back-and-forth "You try!" exchange that gets louder and more vehement and pretty hilarious at its loudest and most insistent.  And probably my absolute favorite thing he does...I deal with headaches sometimes that I have to rest off in order to keep them from becoming migraines, so I will occasionally lay on the couch until the pounding stops.  I usually stick in a video for the kiddos so they will be occupied right where I can keep at least one eye on them.  Anyway, if I'm laying on the couch, Will retrieves his beloved blanket and covers me in it, then leans down and kisses me on the cheek, sometimes several times in a row.  It's absolutely precious and heart-melting and even during a headache, I can't help but grin from ear to ear.

He's sporting a small scratch under his right eye, sustained from an in-the-night itch? He woke up with it a couple mornings ago, and looks like a little bruiser.

Lucy

• Favorite books:  "Barnyard Dance" by Sandra Boynton, "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" by Eileen Christelow, "Nursery Tales" by Mary Engelbreit, any/all of the Nancy Tillman books, and any/all of our Sesame Street book collection.
• Everyday activities:  Lucy loves to help her mama with laundry.  Her favorite thing is for me to open the dryer door (which opens down), place wet things on it, and allow her to push them into the dryer.  She always acts so proud of herself!  I've already mentioned that she is very musically inclined, so one of her favorite things is for me or Marty to sing her songs, and her ultimate favorite is "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  She doesn't quite have all the hand motions down, but she loves to try them, and when we're finished she'll say "Yay!" and clap enthusiastically.  Lucy also loves for me to put one of my robes or a blanket around her shoulders; she walks away with this look of pure girl vanity on her face, like "I am a PRINCESS and I'm SO pretty and you KNOW it."  It never fails to crack us up.  Another girlie-girl thing she does -- we have this set of rings that build onto a pole/tower, but instead of using them on the tower, she puts them on her arms like bangle bracelets.  I don't own a single bangle, so I think her desire to adorn herself with jewelry is purely genetic or instinctual, and of course I LOVE IT.  She also loves to play with phones, both real and play, and dig through my purse and wallet, pulling out every credit card and receipt.  I think it makes her feel big and important.  :)
• More words:  Marty and I have been paying attention to her words the last couple of days, because we knew she had more than what I was able to list the other day.  Here's what we came up with:  She loves rainbows and butterflies, but for now the words come out "bow" and "bye" but she's clearly working on them.  She also says:  choo-choo, yeah, comb, hot, and of course, poop.  Nice.  :)

Awwwwww.

Well, hopefully between last post and this one, I have a pretty comprehensive update.  I'm going to try to do this more often, especially as these two little people become more and more interesting, which seems to happen with each passing day!