Our little girl is developing quite the personality. She knows what she wants and is tireless in her attempts to get what she desires. However, she often thinks she wants something only to get it and then change her mind. She is silly; for example, in the last few days has taken to toddling up to family members and tickling them, but she also tries to tickle inanimate objects like the floor. And she grins with mischievous glee when she's tickling, which is partly how I figure out she is trying to tickle me in the first place since her skills aren't quite honed yet.
Amalia could possibly be called a picky eater in that she does not like to try a lot of new foods, but what she lacks in adventuresomeness she makes up for in the sheer size of her appetite. The girl can eat ... my, oh, my can she eat! When she is feeling well, look out - she will eat you out of house and home. Some days I feel like all I do is feed her. Lately she has been allowed to walk around with a snack trap of goldfish crackers or Cheerios, which helps keep her hunger at bay, but she has also gained the new nickname of "Gretel" because she leaves a trail of food wherever she goes.
She likes to spin in circles when she is tired or feeling funny (or if she sees her brother doing it). It makes her belly laugh and smile wide, so I encourage it when I can.
Mollie doesn't talk nearly as much as Baylor did at her age, but we can tell that she understands us quite a bit. She does say a few words, though: "ease" for please and cheese (each clearly defined by the appropriate sign language), "ga" for Daddy (actually, just today it turned more to "dada"), "uh oh", "ah dun" for all done (accompanied by the correct sign language), "ee-yah" for ear (while tugging at her ears), "hi", and "a-yah" for yes. In addition, she has become very good at shaking her head no. *sigh*
She loves her brother and follows him around most of the time. She is more at ease when he's around and seems to have fewer tantrums when he's nearby. Mollie loves kissing him, hugging him, and now tickling him, and basically wants whatever he has. This often causes conflict, though most of the time it dissipates quickly.
Oh, and have I mentioned that she is absolutely fearless? Climbing, bouncing, swinging, and everything in between, she has an appetite for activity that is quite different from her brother. If I am laying on the ground, she loves to come over to me, straddle my midsection, and bounce up and down on my stomach. All day long, our little girl loves to move.
Of course, all that activity means that when she is tired, she falls hard. With Baylor we still have a naptime routine of reading books and snuggling, and then he still doesn't fall asleep for a while, talking in his crib sometimes for over an hour. Mollie, on the other hand, requires almost nothing before her nap; I usually just give her her binky, turn on her sound machine, put her in bed, give her Dolly and Sleep Sheep, and cover her up if need be. And usually, she's out like a light.
Now on to Baylor. Our little man is certainly turning into just that, a little man. He talks nonstop and has little patience for when others are conversing without him. His terrible twos have been, so far, not too bad. Yes, he has days where he is, as I put it, "being extra two", but for the most part he is just awesome.
As he develops his speech and has a wider range of words to choose from, I can hear him quoting things he's heard in books. Lately he's been saying, "No, no, that's not right!", which he heard from his Who Will Tuck Me In Tonight? book, and "My stomach's feeling kind of queasy," from a book we got in a box of Cheerios called How Do You Hug a Porcupine? It's awfully cute and completely wonderful that he is so influenced by books.
When he doesn't want to do something, he lets us know quite clearly. Sometimes he cries and whines, often proclaiming, "This is NOT fun!", but it rarely lasts long. Other times he'll just give us a creative excuse for why he can't do something. For example, when recently asked if he could sing a particular song, he replied, "No, no! I can't do that. My teeth are too little." He has used that excuse a lot lately, actually, from why he can't sing to why he can't eat something.
With that said, he actually knows a lot of songs. We frequently hear him singing in his crib while he tries to fall asleep for a nap. Some of his usuals include, "Do Re Mi" and "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music, "Happy Birthday", and "The Wheels on the Bus". The little dude loves music, and I'm itching to introduce him to something new to really expand his musical repertoire.
He loves watching the Top Ten on ESPN's SportsCenter, often referring to it as "the numbers game". As it counts down the top ten best or worst plays of the day or week, he asks us what sports are being shown and will file it away in his brain for the rest of the day; heaven help you if you can't remember accurately which sport was at number six. Baylor also has chosen (well, I may have chosen it for him ...) his Tiger. For those of you not living in Michigan or who are not aware of this particular ad campaign, our state MLB team, the Detroit Tigers, encourage you to choose "Your Tiger" - basically your favorite player. Baylor can proudly tell you that his Tiger is Brandon Inge, that he plays third base, and that his number is 15. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if he is even aware of what Brandon looks like. Quite often while we watch the numbers game or other highlights of baseball, he'll proclaim proudly, "That's my Tiger! He (fill in the blank, e.g., caught the ball, jumped)!" It's quite hilarious.
Baylor's imagination is quite impressive these days. We're always jetting off to one place or another on our couch plane or putting balls into a giant imaginary machine. He cooks in his kitchen, sells us things with his cash register, and irons more than I do (which isn't saying much, but still ...).
Oh, and he usually puts his hat on like this ...
... 'cuz he's hip, you know?
Anyhow, that is what the kids are like these days. There are probably a million other little things I have forgotten to list, but you can't record everything, right? Regardless, enjoy!
Oh, and I apologize about the post formatting lately ... we have a new computer and I'm not used to how blogger functions on it yet.
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