What's New

Everyone is growing and learning (and saying) new things.
John is really learning a lot about his letters. I'm impressed at how well he's picking up the concepts of sounding things out and writing his letters, even the ones they haven't reviewed yet. He really seems to be doing well in school. Our friends have a daughter, Lauren, that is in his class. Apparently they're quite a pair. She likes to play superheroes and transformers with John and his buddies, and even put her neck on the line with the teacher the other day protecting one of John's toys while he was working on a lesson with the teacher. He seems to enjoy spending time with her, but I think he's really more interested in playing with the boys. He's learning and saying a lot of new things like "that's a girl toy" that I'm constantly asking "where did that come from?" and trying to keep in check. I know it's only going to get more difficult. He is also getting crafty and creative with his tattling. His new method is "I hope Eve finishes doing ____ before you get in here." I just have to laugh. He is definitely blessed with a gift of sympathy, well sometimes. Whenever someone is feeling bad or he hears something bad has happened, he always says he's sorry you're not feeling well, or whatever the problem is. It's very sweet.
Eve is starting to express her feminine side more. Maybe if we'd given her more of a chance she would've found it earlier. She still enjoys the superheroes, transformers, trains, etc. but I've noticed a growing interest in princess apparel and girlie toys. I took her to Target to pass the time while the car was in the shop. Usually John is with us so we go straight to the transformer aisle (they love to just look and dream, and we walk out empty handed). John was in school, though, so we looked at the shoes first and she pointed at a pair of boots and said "that's cute!". We then went down the aisle of girl toys and she made a pretend cake for me with a standing mixer. Unfortunately since John has just entered the phase where he wants everything he sees, I realized during this particular trip that she's an early bloomer to that phase. She copies well. Still, the day before Halloween she was running around in her Bumblebee (transformer) costume making robot fighting sounds, and when she paused at the end of the driveway and I asked what she was doing, she proudly responded "picking my nose". At least she's not all princess.
Ellie mostly enjoys grabbing at everything and trying to put it in her mouth (except food, for some reason). She's particularly fond of jewelry, and I blame this on my girlie neighbor (to whom I also attribute Eve's shoe fettish). She and I have also been working on life skills such as rolling over, sitting, and making fart noises. Unfortunately she's not on the floor often, so she doesn't have much opportunity to work on rolling over, and I never know if she's done it or if John or Eve have moved her. I think she can go either way if she puts her mind to it, but she doesn't often try. As far as sitting, I definitely wouldn't leave her even for a second, but I've seen her do a good minute or so with only a few practice sessions. As far as the fart noises (raspberries, of course), she practices them all the time and is quite good. I don't remember John or Eve putting so much effort into their technique.