Every since Logan turned 2, his vocabulary has doubled or maybe even tripled! I can almost always understand what he is trying to tell me, although I know I understand his "language" better than others who aren't with him all day like me. :) Grace sometimes helps tell me what he is saying too. He says 4 word sentences now and asks questions like "Where did ____ go?" or "Why?" which I really dislike him doing at this age already. But I'm definitely impressed with his language lately.
He also knows all of the typical rainbow colors. He can both point to them, match like-colors, and repeat them back to me. He is slowly learning letters but he knows how to spell half of his name so far and can point out the L, O, G, B, and a couple others I can't name off the top of my head.
He can sing the alphabet song pretty well and without any help. He LOVES singing and asks for more and more songs at bedtime until I cut him off (which he usually gets sad about). His favorites are Away in a Manger (he calls it "Baby Jesus song"), Rainbow Song, I Love to see the Temple, I am a child of God, and Wise Man/Foolish Man.
Logan is so curious about everything! He recently started obsessing about his toes and if there were left-over fuzzies from his socks stuck between his toes... So I told him they're just "fuzzies" and now he talks about "fuddies" in his toes every day. Multiple times a day. He also says "I see!!" (I want to see) if I'm cooking, cleaning, pouring him a cup of milk, stirring something, changing his diaper, ANYTHING! He wants to watch me do everything.
Logan and Grace now fight about who gets to do something first, or whose turn it is. If I say "who wants ____" or "It's ____'s turn" or "Let's go wash our hands", etc, they both start yelling "Me! me! me!" and run to do whatever it is first. Praying over our meals always seems like a fight. It's strange because up until a month or so ago it was like pulling teeth to get either of them to pray... now they fight over it. Kids are strange.
When we do pray, this is the look Logan gets on his face. This is him trying to close his eyes. haha!
They both had a sucker and Logan's tongue was red.
There was finally a day that wasn't bitter cold back in February (still in the 40s though) so we walked around the block with our snow boots to enjoy the sunshine. I'm not sure why Grace's leg is up so funny....
We had some days of 50 degrees so the snow melted (mostly), and then we had a really heavy rain storm that left flooding all over the place. A lot of the farm fields around us turned into small lakes!
Thank you Dollar Spot for some new sun glasses! Grace has been begging for sunglasses since last fall when her last dollar pair broke.
Finally a day warm enough for backyard swinging! Logan wouldn't let me put him in the baby bucket swing so I hooked up the other big kid one and he liked it for a little while. He doesn't really enjoy swinging though, crazy kid! He reminds me over and over to do small pushes by saying "Tiny tiny push".
They built this tall tower together and wanted to send Daddy a pic.
These kiddos are pretty good helpers when they want to be! :) They love sweeping and Grace actually does a very thorough job. She has also been helping with the dishwasher a little bit sometimes, and they love setting the table for me. I've also found that if we either A) ask Grace which toys she wants to put away, she will do it without complaint. And B) she gets somewhat excited about putting away toys if I put everything in a big basket and say "You are so good at sorting! Will you sort these toys please?" Whatever works, huh!
These kids feet are the same size! Same length, mostly, although you can see that Logan has fat feet like Ryan and Grace has long, skinnier feet like mine.
After a nap one day, Logan was super cuddly and laid with Ryan for a few minutes. It melted my heart!
At the end of february, the stomach flu was circulating through the ward and through 2 of our preschool co-op families. I tried so hard to avoid it, but Grace did get a bit of it. :( She had told me that morning she wasn't feeling good so I went ahead and played it safe by covering the couch and having her rest there. A couple hours later she was up and feeling great, ate some breakfast even... but not long after she threw up. This is the first time anyone has had the stomach bug since Grace was 10 months old so it was a new experience for us. It turned out that was the only time she threw up and she was feeling much better shortly after. I'm grateful! Plus no one else got it, aside from everyone feeling sort of yucky and having no appetite for a day.
That day happened to be fast sunday and I was supposed to be teaching the YW. But there was also a big snow storm that was threatening to hit and cause lots of issues, so the Bishop cancelled church again (for the second time this year). It didn't end up snowing more than a couple inches... but it was still a blessing for us so I could postpone my lesson and stay home with sick Grace.
The kids got these fun magnifying glasses (also Dollar Spot) so we walked around looking at things outside for awhile. It was nice to be out!
Logan is so funny. I can never quite put my finger on the perfect words to describe him... but he is just a "character"! He's a tease. He is ALL boy. He picks his nose and eats it! He is a pro at "giving looks" especially pouty faces and scrunchy nose faces. When he talks or makes noises, he always finds a way to stick his big lips out and I just want to eat them. They're too much! He can tease and push buttons like it's his job in life... Oh, I love that boy. ;)
Playing at the park recently.
Ok, Gracie's turn.
She is starting to mellow out after her monstrous year 3. She had so much attitude and had behavioral struggles during year 3 (screaming, kicking fits)... but now it's mostly tears. She cries (like the super sad cries) over anything. Yesterday she was coughing/slightly choking on dinner so Ryan reached over and patted her back (somewhat hard, I think) and she hid her face and burst into tears. We tried to explain why he did it, and that she wasn't in trouble, and he wasn't doing it to hurt her. :( So sensitive!
That's just one example, but she cries multiple times a day now. Oh those hormones! Teenage years are gonna be fun.
One new habit I can't stand is that when I'm trying to grab a toy from her that she stole, or something I'm trying to take away as punishment, she will hold it away from me or straight up run away! Ugh. I really hate that.
Grace gets self-conscious easily. I worry sometimes that this is something I caused, and it breaks my heart. I hope I can help her feel comfortable in her own skin and not make her worry about what she is wearing, how her hair is done, if she says or does something stupid/silly, etc. I'd hate for her to grow up as self-conscious as I was/am or too afraid to try new things and make mistakes... which I know could just be how we are wired, rather than outside influences. Gosh, who even knows... ?
Grace is getting better at telling time. I have the minutes covered up on her digital clock so she will know when to get out of bed in the morning. She usually wakes up in the 6:00 hour but she knows she can't get up to play until it says 7. I actually set her clock 15 minutes slow so it gives me a little longer to exercise or sleep-in a little each morning. hehe
Grace can write every letter of the alphabet (cap or lower case) without any help, except for q, n, and u. She just needs a refresher sometimes but does it all on her own. The other day we wrote a message for the grandmas and all I did was tell her how to spell things and she wrote it all herself! I'm so proud of her.
She is way behind in her cutting skills which is totally my fault. I am uncomfortable with her having a pair of scissors if I'm not right there... I don't know why. So the only kid pair we own is in the traveling preschool co-op box, so I rarely have access to it. She has had some practice at preschool but I know I need to let her do a lot more with them.
Just recently Grace has started to crawl and bark around the house acting like a puppy dog. It's cute... but I'm probably a bad mom to admit that it's super annoying. haha. But see, this is one of those things I was talking about not wanting to make her feel dumb or like her silliness and creativity are not accepted. So... I keep my comments to myself and just smile at her... ;)
Grace is so interested in watching me cook and bake. She likes to stand on our couch and peer over the bar so she can see what I'm doing. After I've made something, and if it's something she really loves to eat, she'll ask me all about the ingredients. Now whenever I make homemade cookies, she will run through the list of everything in it.
We sure love our Gracie girl!
I didn't know where else to throw this in here... so here it is randomly at the end.
Ryan's rotation last month was at Doctor's hospital (one of three hospitals he rotates at each year). He is only there once or twice a year and they have a food card for the residents who work there. The program puts money on it and it just builds up all year. Well as he went through the lunch line one day, he asked for his balance... $2,300!!! What?! It can't be transferred anywhere or used on anything except food at the hospital. So everyday after that he was buying the most expensive foods he could: greek yogurts, juices, snacks to stash in his car or at home, treats to surprise us with, hummus dips, and even sushi! We were able to fill this entire box full of snacks and drinks and he still has $1,500 on the card. Craziness.
If it weren't for the fact that the hospital is 40 minutes away, we would easily go there for lunch or dinner together anytime we wanted!
