Happy 2nd Birthday Luke!

As I'm sitting here writing this post, you are showing off just how big you are these days. You've got some sort of superhero toy that has a disc you can load and then shoot. You are loading the disc, then aiming and shooting it at me, with a huge grin on your face each time you succeed.

Your language and communication have really exploded over the past month. It is hard to describe how many more words and phrases you are saying compared to the previous month. You are putting many more words together into phrases such as "Gone. More please." One of my favorite things you say is "I'm coming mama" whenever I call you. Your voice is sooo sweet when you say it.

With your communication explosion this month has come your ability to really say Ella and Troy's names well, and to say them often. You've been able to say them for a while, but you've really started to use them to call them or direct them to do something for you. I often hear you say "Ell-A! Elp me! (help me!)" One day we went to drop Ella's water bottle off at school, and when we pulled up you started saying "Ell-A! Ell-A!"

You love to give directions to us these days, sometimes with words and sometimes by pointing. For instance, if someone gets up and leaves you start pointing for them to come back to where they were. Though you are still a stubborn two year old in many ways, you've really been obeying better each and every day. You do a great job coming (most of the time) when we call you to come. You also love to complete tasks that we give you to do such as taking something to the trash, putting shoes by the front door, or even going to find your cup. However, with that said, if you get something in your mind about how you are going to do it and we ask you to do it differently, you usually end up throwing a fit.


I think you really missed our dog Reeses while we were in Paraguay, though I'm not sure how much she missed you ;) ! You love to chase her around, even though she isn't very keen on that these days. You also LOVE to let her in and out the back door, and  you don't like if someone else lets her in or out. Not only can you open the back door, you can also unlock and lock it too. A couple of times you've decided you'll go outside and play on the slide or in the sandbox by yourself.

This past month you also moved officially into a twin bed. When we left for Paraguay, I took your crib down, and didn't intend to put it back up when we got back. I was pretty skeptical at how you would handle being in a twin bed (especially since at the moment you are sharing a room with Troy), but you've done pretty great. I think the first week you were in the twin bed you didn't think you were allowed (or could) get out of the bed without us getting you. You've since figured out that not only can you get out of bed by yourself but you can also open the door and leave your room.

You are quite the sorter of objects. You sorted (without instruction from us) your animals in the photo by color and kind, and also sorted all the jenga blocks by color. You also love to stack and build things

You've loved to color for a while now, but this past month you've started doing what I call "squiggling." You get really intense, and then draw these little squiggles over and over again. It is quite funny to me! Even your Bible class paper was covered in squiggles when you brought it to us. And, speaking of Bible class, you've moved into the 2 and 3 year old class, and seem to be doing great in there. I was a little concerned about how you'd transition from class in Paraguay to the older class back at home, but you've done well. We've been told by a few different people that you love to do the puzzles in there, and that you do a really good job with them.

Our one day excursion to Disney World was really fun with you! You were SOOO excited at all the characters, and loved waving at them during the parades. I wished we could have taken you to meet Mickey Mouse, but in our short time there we didn't get to do that. I know you would have loved it though!

Signs you do: more, finished, thank you, hungry, thirsty, please, sleepy, bath

Body parts you can identify: nose, ears, mouth, eyes, tongue, teeth, hair, face, hands, feet, belly, neck, arms, legs (You can also identify soem body parts by their Spanish name)

Animal noises you make: cow, duck, dog, anything that roars (especially dinosaurs!) (I think you can do more, but I didn't take good note. . . .)

Favorite foods: Yogurt, chicken (especially chicken nuggets/strips), nutrigrain bars, donuts, mac and cheese, ice cream (if we offer you ice cream you start jumping up and down and yelling "yay! yay! yay! ice cream!"), and foods you get to eat with a fork

Favorite activities/toys: Books, balls, little figurines (like Mickey Mouse), cars, buckle stuffed lion. You love to "put things in things" as well as throwing. You also love to play chase with the other kids. You also enjoy shutting doors and drawers. You also love to play peek-a-boo! You really love singing as well! One of your favorite things to do is to "wrestle" with your dad and siblings.

Words you say: I cannot keep up with the words you say anymore! You say so many things (in English and Spanish)!

Luke @ 23 months
Troy @ 24 months
Ella @ 24 months

Happy 2nd Birthday Troy!

Happy Birthday Troy!

It is amazing how grown-up you seem these days. I recently took you to out to take pictures for your two year old birthday, and I couldn’t believe the difference in how well you listened and followed my instructions during the photo shoot as compared to your 18 month photos. Six months make a big difference at this age!

You love to color, and often ask to color. You are starting to learn some of your letters, and you can identify “A” and “T” and sometimes “B.” You also know a lot of the sounds the letters make because you and Ella love to watch these videos from KidsTV123. You love to sing “A is for apple, a a apple!” You even frequently ask for “abcs” or “cat” (cat is for the letter “c” in the video).

You really like Mickey Mouse (aka “couse”) as well as Woody. You like to sleep with your Mickey Mouse and Woody and always ask for them before you go to sleep. You also really enjoy actually playing with your toys. You make your animals walk around and make animal noises. You drive your cars around. Although these things seem simple, these were things Ella never really did with her toys – she just didn’t (and still doesn’t for the most part) play with her toys like that.

You have a big personality. Although that big personality sometimes manifests itself as frustration, it also shows through your big smiles and laughs, as well as a sweet shyness at times. You love to make yourself laugh as well as others around you, In fact, you feed off of people laughing at you.

You love singing, and actually have a pretty good feel for the tunes of songs. You can almost sing the entire song of “Jesus Loves Me” (just missing a few words), as well as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” You also chime in on many other songs and also do the hand motions. Speaking of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” one your favorite things to do is to run around the room with Ella right before bed singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and the “ABCs.”

You went to your first two year old Bible class this past month. You’ve been a bit unsure about it (upset when we drop you off), but you have been generally OK once you are actually engaged in class. I think it was mostly a few things coming together at once to make your first experience a little scary to you, and I think you are really going to love being in the older class.  With our help you’ve also started saying prayers. There’s also been a time when you said one by yourself in a slew of fast speech: “God, thank you Ella mama daddy Amen!”

Your speech continues to impress me. You speak in more and more sentences all the time. You also speak SO fast and with a lot of inflection. We often joke you are speaking in a foreign language!

(Side note: I saw the idea for the above photo on Pinterest)

Signs you do: more, finished, milk, hungry, thank you, please, thirsty, sleepy, bath

Words you say: No way I can even count or name them! You say so many things!

Animal noises you make: chicken, duck, cow, dog, horse, frog, pig, cat

Body parts you identify: nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, head, hands, belly, shoulders, teeth, tongue (you love to point out your teeth and belly)

Favorite foods:  Generally your favorites are yogurt, cheese, peaches, beans, chicken, and crackers. You also LOVE to dip.

Favorite activities: walking, running, and tip-toeing to explore everything, especially following Ella or chasing a dog; mimicking Ella; reading books; watching Mickey Mouse or Finding Nemo or Cars or How to Train Your Dragon; playing with balls (you love to throw any kind of ball); playing outside; playing with toys, especially talking on the phone or putting things over your head or playing with the kitchen stuff; trying get any electronics or drinks you can spot.

Troy @ 23 months

Ella @ 24 months

Tot School

-Ella is 24 months old-

Last week we worked on the letter “D” using several printables from the COAH blog. Ella can now identify A, B, C, D, E, and sometimes L. She’s picking up letters quickly now. We’re still only working on one letter each week, but she’s learning to recognize the letters a lot more quickly than in the past.

In conjunction with the letter D, she had her first exposure to a lacing activity using the dinosaur from COAH. She didn’t get it at first – in fact she just ripped the dino’s head off even though I had laminated it – but by the second day I let her play with it, she was actually practicing lacing!

Ella has also been doing really well with counting to ten, although at times she forgets eight. We practiced counting using the Ten Tiny Puppies book.

Ella has been thoroughly enjoying playing with her shape sorter. It has a bunch of shapes and is a good challenge for her. Sometimes she enjoys just dumping them all out and putting them back in (with the lid open), but that works great too!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ella!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ella!

I realize this post is almost a week late, but that's how life goes sometimes. Things have been pretty crazy busy this past week! I still cannot believe that you are already two years old!

It is so hard to begin this post because you are doing so many amazing things these days that I don't even know where to begin or what I should include. Every moment is so special to me. I never realized how much fun having a toddler could be until I had you! You are funny, sweet, precious, cute, and smart. You always make me smile. You test our patience a lot as well, but that is part of growing up and figuring out your boundaries.

You like to inform us about what is going on, even though it is obvious.  For instance, when Troy is crying you’ll say “Troy crying,” then “Mama, Troy crying,” then “Daddy, Troy crying!” You've really started giving us directions (aka bossing us around). You'll see the TV remote and tell us to put on one of your favorite shows (your favorite is Clifford The Big Red Dog right now) or you'll tell us to read a book or you'll tell us to stand or sit in a particular location. Your language skills amaze me daily. You are speaking more and more clearly, and your sentence structure continues to grow.

You are still a great big sister. You are so proud of Troy, and it is hard to describe how I feel when you say "I love you Troy!" You still like to help out with Troy - in the photo below you were spinning the toys on his bouncer to entertain him.

You continue to love to sing. Even though it has been a month since Christmas, you love to sing "Frosty the Snowman!" Other favorite songs include "Jesus Loves Me" and "Roll the Gospel Chariot Along." You have been doing great in the two year old Bible class. You are very proud of your work when you come out of class.

You love to color and draw. You got an Aquadoodle mat for Christmas, and you have already almost worn it out from coloring and drawing so much! One day I looked down and you were just drawing a bunch of straight lines. I was impressed and so was your dad - he said he couldn't even draw lines that straight!

You love to identify the letters you know, and I'm always impressed when you shout out "A!" or "B!" when you see them whether it be in a book, on TV, or even on the wall at a restaurant. Right now you can identify A, B, C, E, L, and sometimes D. You can also count to 10 . . . well, most of the time, when you don't forget 9! I'm thankful you got over counting "1, 2, . . .4!" and finally remembered to include 3.

We celebrated your birthday by going to dinner, going to a movie, and going to get dessert afterwards. We had such a great time!

Favorite foods: eggs,  noodles (especially with meat and red sauce), bread (rolls), crackers, cookies (animal cookies), rice, cereal, lunch meat, tortillas


Favorite games/activities: coloring, playing with stickers, running around, dressing up (yourself or monkey), reading (some favorite books right now include Handy Manny Flicker Book, The Foot Book, and There's No Place Like Space), doing puzzles, pretending to cook

Ella @ 23 months

Ella @ 22 months

Ella @ 21 months

Ella @ 20 months

Ella @ 19 months

Ella @ 18 months

Ella @ 17 months

Tot School

~Ella is 24 months old~

We’ve been really out of our regular Tot School routine. We’ve had a sick household off and on for about two weeks, but with that said, we have done a few things.

For Christmas Ella got a ton of Melissa and Doug toys. I love these toys, and so does Ella. They are great for learning, and Ella really enjoys playing with them.

Ella has loved building towers with these blocks. I’m absolutely amazed at how good she has gotten at building the towers. She also puts the boxes all back together. I thoroughly enjoy watching her mind work through the process of figuring out which order the boxes must be put back together.

Ella is beyond obsessed with coloring lately. Although it is still a bit advanced for her, I printed out tracing sheets from COAH. Ella has started drawing lines and circles on her own, so I thought I’d go ahead and introduce the tracing sheets.

Ella played with alphabet fridge magnets I got from Target for $1.00. She loves playing with them on the cookie sheet. Although she can’t recognized many letters yet, she loves finding the ones she knows. She’ll ask “What’s that?” when she comes to a letter she doesn’t recognize.

Ella has also been playing with puzzles a lot, like this Melissa and Doug animal sound puzzle. She’s so quick with the puzzles now, but she still loves to do them!

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On a completely unrelated note, my photo of Ella that won first place in the Paper Mama’s Photo Challenge is in a vote-off for the best photo of the month. I’d love a vote if you like my photo! :)