Oh-shoe do it!

I'm realizing that Christopher really is two.  About 200 times a day, I hear him say, "Oh-shoe do it!"  Now he's decided that we're really not needed . . . yesterday morning Will was being fussy, but Christopher wanted to hold him.  I positioned Will in Christopher's lap, and Christopher looked up at me and said, "Go play, Mommy!"  He did the same thing to Noel a couple of days ago when they were working in the yard.  Noel let Christopher do some hammering, and Christopher said, "Daddy, go play in the grass!"  

The bears worship Jesus, too.

Yesterday morning I went into Christopher's room, and he had positioned two bears on the floor, facing each other, with a plastic bucket of fish (from the Little People Zoo) between them. It looked to me like they were sitting at Starbucks having a chat!

   
The following conversation ensued:

Mom: Christopher, what are the bears doing?

Christopher: They're talking.

Mom: What are they talking about?

Christopher: About Jesus.

Mom: What are they saying about Jesus?

Christopher: Worship. Ah-guitars. Bear plays guitar.

Praise God that he's getting something out of worship at home and at church, other than his fascination with the instruments!

Christopher is also using pronouns more and more, usually telling us what instrument a stuffed animal or character in a book plays: "He plays basson! She plays timpani!" The other day, Will was crying, and Christopher said, "Mama, feed Will! Oh-shoe (Christopher) feed Josh (the doll). He drink bottle." Christopher is starting to say "I" when he talks about himself, but it is usually still "you"–my favorite from yesterday was, "You're drinking a big boy cup!" when I let him finish off the milk in his sippy cup without the lid on.

Will had his three-month check-up yesterday, and he is doing great! He weighs 15 pounds, 6 ounces, and he is just over 25 inches long. He is 90th percentile for both weight and height. It is hard to believe he is three months old already!

   

Pronouns, imagination, and smiles

Christopher is at that stage where he is starting to use pronouns, but he gets them backwards. When playing football with Mommy, he'll yell "tackle me!" right before he tackles me, and when he's telling you what he's doing, he'll say "you're dancing!" or "you're running!"

His imagination and fascination with all things musical continue to expand. The other morning we went into his room to find him holding a green Lego up to the mouth of one of his stuffed animals–"Rabbit playing trombone!", he explained. He also uses a puzzle as sheet music ("piece of paper", he says), putting it on a tv tray (which he refers to as a music stand) when he is pretending to be the conductor, or propping it up on throw pillows behind his keyboard when he is playing piano.

Will is full of smiles–I've never seen such a happy baby! All you have to do is smile at him, and you are rewarded with a huge grin that shows off his dimple, along with some adorable cooing sounds. He is trying so hard to tell us something! He also loves to smile at and talk to various inanimate objects around the house.  Will is sleeping through the night regularly now from 10pm until 8am, and rarely cries at bedtime.  Way to go, Will!  

Happy Easter!

Will and Christopher had a fabulous Easter.  On Saturday, we took pictures of the boys in their Easter outfits and had an Easter egg hunt for Christopher.  Once he figured out what he was supposed to do, he had a blast!  He was even more excited to discover that there was candy inside the eggs!

We attended church Sunday morning, and Christopher enjoyed hearing the trombone and French horn that joined our worship team.  After the worship service, our church had a brunch and an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Then we went to our friends' house to eat lunch and play with several of our friends and their kids.  They had another Easter egg hunt–by now, Christopher was a pro.   

We knew it was inevitable

Whenever I'm feeding Will, Christopher says, "drink milk a mama!" A couple of days ago, Christopher (who refers to himself as "Oh-shoe") was holding Will, and he turned Will's head toward his chest and said, "Feed baby! Drink milk a Oh-shoe!" Sorry, Oh-shoe, this is the only way you'll ever be able to feed a baby: 

Farming, typing, rolling and stinking

This morning I found Christopher looking at his Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever (such a true title). On part of the cover, there is a rabbit throwing seeds on the dirt, and another rabbit using a hoe. Christopher pointed to them and said, "He making a mess! He sweeping!" So we talked about how Great-Grandpa had a farm, and that farmers put seeds in the ground, and God makes things grow. He was totally intrigued by my story until he started realizing that the 9 that he was holding from his number puzzle could also be a 6–"I saw 9!"-turn it upside down-"I saw 6!"-turn it back-"I saw 9!"

Christopher's current favorite activity is typing. We sit him at the computer, open a Word document, set the font size to 72 and the color to green (his fave), and will type and say the letters and their sounds and words that start with the letters he is typing ("Typing green E! E-e-elephant starts with E!"). Unfortunately, he loves it so much that he hardly wants to do anything else!

Little Will hasn't learned any letters yet, but he is working on rolling over. He likes to lay on his back in his crib and kick his feet and try to turn himself over. No success yet, but it sure is fun to watch! He has rolled over from tummy to back a few times before, but it is a rare occurance. He also likes to smile at all his toys–his mobile, the lights on his bouncy seat, etc. Mommy is very proud of Will today, because last night he ate at 10pm, went to sleep with minimal crying, and slept until 7am!

One of the most distinctive things about Will right now is that the kid has some serious gas, and it STINKS. He just toots and toots all day, and it doesn't seem to bother him, but it sure can bother us. I had no idea babies could be so smelly. I think I might need a noseplug to use while I'm feeding him!

Piano bench and other musical discoveries

Christopher continues to love music–he's enjoying a "Meet the Orchestra" CD that Grandma and Grandpa got him, and his knowledge of musical instruments is growing. Now when he is using his violin bow (cardboard tube) as another instrument, it might be a trumpet, flute, clarinet, or bassoon. He actually holds it to the side if it is a flute, and straight down in front for the other instruments. This morning, he dragged the videocamera bag over by his piano and sat on it while he played. I asked him what he was sitting on, and he said, "It's a bench!" He sits on a piano bench when he plays the piano after church, so I guess he thought he needed a bench at home, too.

Fun with phonics

Christopher LOVES letters and numbers. (He likes to get numbers from his number puzzle to sleep with, and has been known to cry and say, "I want 9!") He has learned all his letters and the sounds they make. The other day, we were playing the game where I say a word, emphasizing the first sound, and Christopher tells me what letter the word starts with. I said, "What does v-v-v-violin start with?" He said, "Violin starts with V! And w-w-w-bow starts with W!" I suppose if you say it that way, he's right!

Welcome to our blog!

I've finally set up this blog, but don't have time to write . . . keeping everyone in the house sufficiently fed, clothed, and clean takes up almost all the minutes in the day! More to come . . .