Looks like we're riding the Potty Train!

Wow. Jamie is nothing if not determined. He has steadfastly refused diapers since Monday. He's doing great, has stayed dry ALL DAY today. Yes, it's only 3 p.m., but for only Day 4 in undies, I'm feeling pretty good about his progress. I think he was totally ready, and I was in denial because he's a boy! I wasn't expecting this at all, at this age. I knew he was showing some signs that he was ready, but I thought we had a couple of weeks at the minimum. It's always something new with this guy.

Potty Training????

What do you do when the 18 month old picks up his diaper, says No. All Done. That! and points at a pile of underwear?

I gave him the underwear. He promptly put it on, unassisted, and went on his way.
I'm sure this won't last, but it seems we're getting closer! Good news for my wallet, since I won't be feeding my cloth diaper addiction.

Jamie's Birthday Cake

True Story

We're eating breakfast this morning, and Emmeline asks me, with curiosity in her voice:
"Mom, do you know why Jesus walked on water?"
I take my time, weighing how I want to hit this one. I decide to tread lightly, answering,
"I think it was to get to the men in the fishing boat."
I must have been wrong. I immediately get back,
"No! To get to the other side!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Ok, she doesn't know that joke, and she didn't say this with a huge grin, nor did she start laughing. She went on to explain to me that he needed to get to the other shore, and tell the men not to be afraid. But how can I resist recording that one?

So obviously, I'm not very good at this blogging business. Sorry...

12 month check up:
James is still my little peanut. He weighed 19 lbs, 2 oz, and was 29" tall. Teensy. I personally love it! He is so very independent, wanting to run around all by himself everywhere, and refusing to let me feed him anything. We are also having a little bit of a biting problem. Jamie apparently has a bit of a personal space issue. As in, he doesn't like people all up in it. Unfortunately, Emmeline also has a personal space issue. In that she doesn't recognize that anyone else could not WANT her up in their space.

Emmy-Bear:
Is writing (with movable letters), and reading so much! She has recognized several letters, and put them together phonetically to make words. So, I had a tee shirt on with writing on it last night, she saw the "t-e" on it, and told me it spelled "tea." Or, when we were at California Pizza Kitchen, they had a word search on their kid's menu. She found an "e-r" next to each other and told me it spelled "ear." I am totally impressed. Once she gets all her letters and sounds down, she'll be reading in about 10 minutes. She's continued to spell with her fridge letters, most recently spelling "apple" - "A-P-O-L." I will do my best to get pictures up ASAP of both the kids.

And He's Off!

They're Growing Up!

Jamie is walking. I'm not sure we can call him a walker or a toddler yet, since it's not his primary mode of transportation, but he is taking 7-10 steps at a time now. He's confident. When he gets up from his (non) nap, I'll take some video.

Emmeline is ALL about phonics. I swear, I know I'm biased, but that girl is so smart! She wants to talk about which words rhyme, and which words start with the same letters. We've been doing some collaging (is that spelled right?). I bought teacher-bulletin board letters at the dollar store, and spent several evening decimating our magazine collection for pictures. I paste a letter to the top of a posterboard, and she picks out pictures of things that start with that letter. She then gets to glue the picture to the posterboard. It's going really well! It combines her favorite things - gluing and phonics games. She's even been spelling things with her fridge letters. She has been asking for our help, but mostly it's her thing.

Clearly, this spells "Dad"

And, obviously, this spells "mommy"

Oh, These Kids

I hear from the lunch table today:
E:"I look around, and once again, I'm on my own. My man ain't here, he's gone, and done me wrong"
Yes, we ARE Muppets fans, how did you know?

Jamie is inches away from walking. About a week ago, he let go of the coffee table and tried to take a step to me, while I was on the couch. He fell down. But he hasn't stopped trying. He also, apparently, taught himself how to (in Shawn's words) rappel down the stairs. After months of me trying to teach him. He's speedy! So now, nowhere is safe from this boy. Well, nowhere under three feet. He can go up and down stairs, he cruises and take 2-3 steps, and pulls things out of cabinets. Tonight, I had my phone in the front pocket of the hoodie I was wearing. He could see the edge, and was trying to pull it out. I was quietly pulling the phone back in from the other side. He gave up, looked up at me, and put his right hand, flat, up to his right ear, and cocked his head over to his shoulder. Then said "Ha?" I almost let him have the phone for being so damned cute. Maybe a fluke? I thought so at first, then put my flat hand up to my ear, and he cracked up and did it again, and "talked" to me for a minute on his "phone." Hilarious! What a big guy!

This Girl Has Her Own Way With Words

Picking Shawn up from the Metro tonight
Me: All right, I'm just going to pull the car over there. This place is a distaster zone
Em: A disaster?
Me: yeah, I don't even know what's going on here
Em: Is a disaster zone a fancy way of saying not nice?

Before bedtime tonight
I'm kissing Emmeline's cheek
Em: Please lay down
Me: Ok, I was enjoying kissing you. You're so kissable!
Em: I'm also so snuggable! I'm your snuggle worm!
Me: My snuggle worm??!! I'm not sure I want a snuggle worm!
Em: But I'm not yucky!

Calling Meme the other day, the phone is ringing, but not going to VM
Me: Ok, Em, I think Meme will call us back later, or we can call her another time.
Em: No, I will wait, the phone is still purring.

He Really Loves to Dance