No Post Christmas Let Down Here!

 Above is us at the Kennedy Center after Christmas to see the Eric Carle puppet show. This group travels out of Canada doing this awesome puppet show of Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Papa, Please Get Me The Moon. IT WAS AWESOME. The kids ate it up, they couldn't tear their eyes from the stage. What a Christmas gift! (Thanks, Meme and Papa)

This is Jamie rocking his fireman coat and boots - another great Christmas gift. I haven't caught the kids with my camera playing with everything yet, but almost. As I get more, I'll put some more up. I really want to get a good one of them doing yoga with Emmeline's cards and mat!

Christmas 2012

We had an awesome Christmas this year. Emmeline asked for "lighting up shoes" from Santa, and Jamie asked for his very own bike and helmet. They were not disappointed. We had our traditional Christmas Eve TauTau dinner with the family, and then hosted Christmas dinner at our house. Despite short/non existant naps, the kids were pretty well behaved!

The above was Christmas morning, when I asked them to say HoHoHo while Shawn got coffee etc ready downstairs.

After Christmas, we took a quick trip down to Williamsburg (Wibbiamsburg, if you ask Em) and went to Jamestown. I have pictures of myself and Katie and Alex at various ages holding Pocahontas' hand from the early/mid 90s. This is really cool to me. Oh, and her name is Hocapontas according to my daughter.

On a more general note, my kids are continuing to grow and impress us every day. Jamie is pretty well done with potty training. He tells me when he needs to go about 90% of the time, the rest is me being paranoid. He is still in a diaper overnight, but I'm not worried about that yet. He is a MUCH happier, sunnier guy than he was as a baby, and his language is awesome. He knows the names of about 20 different types of trucks. He loves to read, which we really didn't think would happen. But he is constantly bringing me books and backing up into my lap, saying "read book?" Usually it's one of three books: Tip, Tip, Dig, Dig or Roadwork or Sheep in a Jeep. Occasionally he wants to check out Little Blue Truck, but those are about it. If I'm reading something else to Emmeline, he'll join in, but he never asks me to read anything else.

Emmeline will be reading to us all shortly. I've been saying this for a while, but she is now reading without realizing she's doing it. I will provide 2 examples for posterity.
The other night, we went to District Taco for dinner. She and I went into the door labeled "IN". They had a very separate door for out, located about 7 feet away. I don't know why they are so concerned about this, but there is a definite IN door and a definite OUT door. As I held the door for her, she said "Why is this door only for going in?" I asked her why she thought that, and she said because the door said in, and then pointed at it. SHE DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE SHE READ THE DOOR!
We went to the GAP outlet to exchange some jeans I bought. She and I were standing in line, and looking at the huge wall of reusable bags that are emblazoned with GAP. She turned to me and asked "What does Guh-Ah-Puh mean?" I asked her what she meant, and she said "those bags say gap, but that's not even a word." I explained that gap is a word, and what it meant, and told her I was impressed that she read it. She acted like this was no big thing. IT IS A VERY BIG THING! My baby is reading. I can't believe it.

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.