What can I say about the kids these days? They are so full of character it astounds me. At such young ages, all that essence of personality is distilled down into such a small package and without any inhibitions that you can't help but notice it. So here they are!
Baylor ... ah, what can I say about my little man? Lately my sister has taken to calling him The Riddler because he asks SO MANY QUESTIONS! I swear, some days that's all he does. He asks questions he knows the answer to, which end up being the most frustrating ones because he's just quizzing you and heaven help you if you get the answer wrong. And he asks questions he doesn't know the answers to; those I don't mind answering nearly as much, even if they come in an endless string. Seriously, at this point, I am pretty sure - when it comes time for him to start dating - he'll have no trouble perfecting this technique.
He seems to be finally coming out of his shell ... hallelujah! At this point, he'll talk to just about anyone, man woman, or child, though he tends to confine his topics of conversation to clocks and elevators. Unfortunately for him, not everyone is interested in those two topics so the conversation tends to be one-sided. Also, if he has a chance to teach someone something, particularly if he encounters another kiddo he isn't familiar with, he will quiz them on shapes, spelling, colors, and the like. It is a little embarrassing for me sometimes to see him do that, but I know he's only two still so I guess it just falls under the cute-factor. Right?
In an unfamiliar place, particularly one with no toys, no television, and an abundance of adults, Baylor's favorite activity is going on adventures. Below he can be seen with Great-Aunt Ellene on an adventure they took up at the Hook and Horn. He just loves getting to use his little Melissa and Doug binoculars and discovering new things. And, thank goodness, it often gives him something new to talk about.
Baylor ... ah, what can I say about my little man? Lately my sister has taken to calling him The Riddler because he asks SO MANY QUESTIONS! I swear, some days that's all he does. He asks questions he knows the answer to, which end up being the most frustrating ones because he's just quizzing you and heaven help you if you get the answer wrong. And he asks questions he doesn't know the answers to; those I don't mind answering nearly as much, even if they come in an endless string. Seriously, at this point, I am pretty sure - when it comes time for him to start dating - he'll have no trouble perfecting this technique.
He seems to be finally coming out of his shell ... hallelujah! At this point, he'll talk to just about anyone, man woman, or child, though he tends to confine his topics of conversation to clocks and elevators. Unfortunately for him, not everyone is interested in those two topics so the conversation tends to be one-sided. Also, if he has a chance to teach someone something, particularly if he encounters another kiddo he isn't familiar with, he will quiz them on shapes, spelling, colors, and the like. It is a little embarrassing for me sometimes to see him do that, but I know he's only two still so I guess it just falls under the cute-factor. Right?
In an unfamiliar place, particularly one with no toys, no television, and an abundance of adults, Baylor's favorite activity is going on adventures. Below he can be seen with Great-Aunt Ellene on an adventure they took up at the Hook and Horn. He just loves getting to use his little Melissa and Doug binoculars and discovering new things. And, thank goodness, it often gives him something new to talk about.
He has a crazy-amazing memory for details, which is both awesome and overwhelming. The overwhelming part comes in when he pairs his amazing memory with his love of questions and expects you to remember, scene-for-scene, line-for-line, everything that happened in a particular movie or television show he is fond of. If I could, he would have me retell all of the Sound of Music ... all 2 hours and 56 minutes of it.
While Baylor is very good at speaking, he has trouble with a few words. Ironically, one of his favorite things is tough for him to pronounce; ever since he really started talking "elevator" comes out sounding more like "eledator". He also still pronounces his hard "c/k" sound like "t"; for example, a baby fox is called a "kit" ... Baylor ends up pronouncing it "tit". He also, for whatever reason, won't really say the words "yesterday", "today", and "tomorrow". Instead, he uses words he has made up; "yesterday" becomes "lastday", "today" becomes "thisday", and "tomorrow" becomes "nextday". He can say the correct words, but when he speaks freely he always uses his words. It took a while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it you generally know what he means.
Cute as he is, however, Baylor is in the not-so-fun stage of being two/three. He has trouble listening to me; sometimes I can say his name twenty times and he won't even budge or acknowledge I've spoken, and I have had to raise my voice at him more often to get his attention when he is putting himself or someone else in danger. He is too tall for his own good and can get into just about anything; I know this is all part of his yearning for exploration, but as his mother it makes life a little difficult - things have to be more picked up or you could have a mess or an accident on your hands. Oh, and a fun and unexpected treat: he is refusing to potty train. That's right ... at least three or four times a day I have to hoist that 40-pound child up onto a changing table and clean off his rear end. It's great fun ... if you like that sort of thing.
But, even though he is in the trying two/three stage, he is an amazing child. I thank my lucky stars every day for the little man. He is not only brilliant, he is loving as well. Lately he has taken to just saying, "I love you, ____." Quite often he says it to a person who is having a rough day, and it almost feels like he understands that. He also likes to say, "Thank you for coming!" I don't quite know where he picked this one up, but it's adorable nonetheless. And he loves his sister. That's probably one of my favorite parts. It's not always perfect - they do have their trying moments - but so often they are just playing near each other and one or the other will just go in for a quick hug. For all the worries I had way back when, I feel like the payoff is finally starting to appear; they just might be friends after all!
Speaking of Mollie ...
Good golly, Miss Mollie sure is growing up! She is a bundle of energy, on-the-go from the time she gets up to the time she gets in bed. All this movement, however, means that she is nearly perpetually hungry. I feel like I am always feeding her! I have a feeling I'll be saying this again when Baylor is a teenager, but for now it's all Mollie. In addition to eating a lot, her increased activity level also helps her sleep really well. I hate to jinx myself by saying this, but my girl is an amazing sleeper. She actually likes going down for her nap! All I have to say is, "Do you want to see Dollie and Sleep Sheep?" and up we go. Then I just give her a binky, put her in her crib, cover her up with her blanky, and say, "I love you!" Then she's out! It's a very drastic but welcome change from Baylor's nap time routine of two books, bed rearranging, and then listening to him on the monitor for upwards of an hour. With Mollie, when she's tired, she's out, plain and simple.
In addition to just running around and following Baylor's every move, she is industrious. She likes to clean up, often picking stuff up just so she can mess it up again. (She will, however, help us clean up at the end of the day, even when Baylor won't.) Sometimes she'll pick up the play phone in the little play kitchen and walk around talking on it like there is someone chattering away on the other end. She does all this and more with great purpose; you can tell just by the weight of her steps and her fluid movements that she has put much thought into all her efforts.
My girl is a little daredevil! She isn't afraid to climb a couch, crawl onto a table from a chair, or tear after her brother; in no time I'm sure she'll be keeping pace with him. More than once she has fallen over the arms of chairs or couches and just yesterday she fell off one of our dining room table chairs. She can even climb into her rear-facing Britax Marathon car seat all by herself! Seriously, the girl has no fear! Well, except when it comes to dogs; big, small, friendly, ferocious ... they are all terrifying to her. She's getting a little better about it (she used to scream bloody murder if a dog was anywhere in the vicinity), but she's still a long way off from being a "dog lover".
Mollie still doesn't say a lot, but she understands so much and follows directions well. What she does say she says with conviction, even if it's not all that clear. One of her current favorite "words" is "LLLLLL" which means "Olivia"; it is often accompanied by a lot of gesticulating towards the television, and it means she wants to watch Olivia or she has recently watched Olivia. She also uses sign language to get her point across; "again" is a current favorite and joins "please", "thank you", and "milk" as an everyday occurrence.
Amalia still eats mainly baby food, a fact I am loathe to admit. When the mood strikes she'll eat pizza or Baked Italian Delight, but for the most part her meals consist of baby food (cereal and a fruit, veggie, or meat, to be exact). She will eat adult food for snacks, mainly crackers and cereal, and she enjoys fruit whole, but it all has to be on her terms and exactly what she wants. Miss Mollie is a very particular gal. Heck, she won't eat most kinds of cheese; she really enjoys Kraft 2% American Cheese slices and will reject almost anything else.
One of her favorite things to do is to get her shoes and request they be put on. Unfortunately, she often wants to wear her tennis shoes with shorts or a skirt. And no socks. Yes, very Working Girl, I know. But I guess that's just how she rolls.
While Baylor is very good at speaking, he has trouble with a few words. Ironically, one of his favorite things is tough for him to pronounce; ever since he really started talking "elevator" comes out sounding more like "eledator". He also still pronounces his hard "c/k" sound like "t"; for example, a baby fox is called a "kit" ... Baylor ends up pronouncing it "tit". He also, for whatever reason, won't really say the words "yesterday", "today", and "tomorrow". Instead, he uses words he has made up; "yesterday" becomes "lastday", "today" becomes "thisday", and "tomorrow" becomes "nextday". He can say the correct words, but when he speaks freely he always uses his words. It took a while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it you generally know what he means.
Cute as he is, however, Baylor is in the not-so-fun stage of being two/three. He has trouble listening to me; sometimes I can say his name twenty times and he won't even budge or acknowledge I've spoken, and I have had to raise my voice at him more often to get his attention when he is putting himself or someone else in danger. He is too tall for his own good and can get into just about anything; I know this is all part of his yearning for exploration, but as his mother it makes life a little difficult - things have to be more picked up or you could have a mess or an accident on your hands. Oh, and a fun and unexpected treat: he is refusing to potty train. That's right ... at least three or four times a day I have to hoist that 40-pound child up onto a changing table and clean off his rear end. It's great fun ... if you like that sort of thing.
But, even though he is in the trying two/three stage, he is an amazing child. I thank my lucky stars every day for the little man. He is not only brilliant, he is loving as well. Lately he has taken to just saying, "I love you, ____." Quite often he says it to a person who is having a rough day, and it almost feels like he understands that. He also likes to say, "Thank you for coming!" I don't quite know where he picked this one up, but it's adorable nonetheless. And he loves his sister. That's probably one of my favorite parts. It's not always perfect - they do have their trying moments - but so often they are just playing near each other and one or the other will just go in for a quick hug. For all the worries I had way back when, I feel like the payoff is finally starting to appear; they just might be friends after all!
Speaking of Mollie ...
Good golly, Miss Mollie sure is growing up! She is a bundle of energy, on-the-go from the time she gets up to the time she gets in bed. All this movement, however, means that she is nearly perpetually hungry. I feel like I am always feeding her! I have a feeling I'll be saying this again when Baylor is a teenager, but for now it's all Mollie. In addition to eating a lot, her increased activity level also helps her sleep really well. I hate to jinx myself by saying this, but my girl is an amazing sleeper. She actually likes going down for her nap! All I have to say is, "Do you want to see Dollie and Sleep Sheep?" and up we go. Then I just give her a binky, put her in her crib, cover her up with her blanky, and say, "I love you!" Then she's out! It's a very drastic but welcome change from Baylor's nap time routine of two books, bed rearranging, and then listening to him on the monitor for upwards of an hour. With Mollie, when she's tired, she's out, plain and simple.
In addition to just running around and following Baylor's every move, she is industrious. She likes to clean up, often picking stuff up just so she can mess it up again. (She will, however, help us clean up at the end of the day, even when Baylor won't.) Sometimes she'll pick up the play phone in the little play kitchen and walk around talking on it like there is someone chattering away on the other end. She does all this and more with great purpose; you can tell just by the weight of her steps and her fluid movements that she has put much thought into all her efforts.
My girl is a little daredevil! She isn't afraid to climb a couch, crawl onto a table from a chair, or tear after her brother; in no time I'm sure she'll be keeping pace with him. More than once she has fallen over the arms of chairs or couches and just yesterday she fell off one of our dining room table chairs. She can even climb into her rear-facing Britax Marathon car seat all by herself! Seriously, the girl has no fear! Well, except when it comes to dogs; big, small, friendly, ferocious ... they are all terrifying to her. She's getting a little better about it (she used to scream bloody murder if a dog was anywhere in the vicinity), but she's still a long way off from being a "dog lover".
Mollie still doesn't say a lot, but she understands so much and follows directions well. What she does say she says with conviction, even if it's not all that clear. One of her current favorite "words" is "LLLLLL" which means "Olivia"; it is often accompanied by a lot of gesticulating towards the television, and it means she wants to watch Olivia or she has recently watched Olivia. She also uses sign language to get her point across; "again" is a current favorite and joins "please", "thank you", and "milk" as an everyday occurrence.
Amalia still eats mainly baby food, a fact I am loathe to admit. When the mood strikes she'll eat pizza or Baked Italian Delight, but for the most part her meals consist of baby food (cereal and a fruit, veggie, or meat, to be exact). She will eat adult food for snacks, mainly crackers and cereal, and she enjoys fruit whole, but it all has to be on her terms and exactly what she wants. Miss Mollie is a very particular gal. Heck, she won't eat most kinds of cheese; she really enjoys Kraft 2% American Cheese slices and will reject almost anything else.
One of her favorite things to do is to get her shoes and request they be put on. Unfortunately, she often wants to wear her tennis shoes with shorts or a skirt. And no socks. Yes, very Working Girl, I know. But I guess that's just how she rolls.
If she could, Mollie would spend all her time outside. Even so much as mentioning outside or moving close to our back door sends her running for her shoes; and if she already has her shoes on, she'll get Baylor's out for him. Once we get outside, she loves to just explore, poking at trees and flowers, stooping down to see little bugs, and smiling as the breeze blows through her hair. Just give her a pair of sunglasses and off you go! Good luck trying to get her back inside, though; often times the only way I can get her is to offer food to her and hope that she has expended enough energy to be hungry again.
I'm sure there is so much more about them I'm forgetting to write about, but that is the gist of them. So sweet, so wonderful.
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