Things to remember

Liliana is officially three, as of last Wednesday. This past year she has really become great at speaking in clear/understandable ways and has been using increasingly complex language. She also began giving "bubble kisses" which are basically non-spitty raspberries and kisses at the same time. She came up with them and named them on her own.

Last night, after we put the kids to bed, David and I were watching a movie (Despicable Me) downstairs. More than halfway through the movie we heard a strange noise down the hall and went to see what it was. Liliana had not fallen asleep, but had quietly come downstairs without our realizing it and had been watching the movie for who knows how long! It was going on 9:30 at night and she's usually in bed by 7:30. We asked her how long she had been there, but she really doesn't have any concept of how much time has passed (especially when she gets "sucked in" to a movie - which is why we don't let her watch movies more than about once a week at most), so we have no real way of knowing. We laughed and put her back to bed and she fell asleep pretty fast after that. Silly girl!

More, please. Thank you!

Saturday we celebrated Liliana's 3rd birthday. She was a little confused when I told her that she wasn't actually going to be three until Wednesday. "But I thought I was three years old at my party," she said. I explained that we were having her party on a day when more people could come and celebrate, but that her actual birthday was on the 19th, which is Wednesday. I'm not sure she fully accepted my explanation.
On Saturday Emmett started signing, "more". This morning he started saying, "thank you," in sign language. So now he can say, "More, please. Thanks!" with his chubby little hands.
Emmett also continues his climbing fetish. As I am typing this, he has climbed onto the coffee table and from there, stretched over and crossed the small gap to get onto the piano bench. This week he has learned how to climb into his high chair without assistance and makes me nervous each time he does it. He also regularly tries to follow his sister's lead and climb up the end of the bunk beds, since I took the ladder down to prevent him from constantly getting on the top bunk. I foresee a possible career in spelunking in his future.

Puzzles and Patience (or lack thereof)

Liliana received a little boxed Winnie the Pooh puzzle for Christmas from her Uncle David. She has been able to do puzzles that have little puzzle board trays with the outlines of the pieces for nearly a year now, but she has never tried puzzles without the form tray. She asked me to open the puzzle box and then went quietly to her room. After a few minutes I went to check on her and she had already assembled a couple of the characters. I was fascinated by how she was putting the characters together rather than starting with the flat sided pieces from the outside in, like most of us do. I called David over and the two of us watched her assemble the entire puzzle with no assistance from us.

Today I was getting ready to take a bath with Emmett and he came running when he heard the water running (as usual). I had just stepped out of the bathroom to grab a few items of clothing for Emmett when I heard a loud thud and splash. I came running into the bathroom to find that Emmett's enthusiasm for bathing had caused him to open the shower doors and climb into the tub - fully clothed! He had a surprised look on his face, like he wasn't sure how I was going to react. Once I started cracking up, a big grin spread across his face and he started to laugh and splash around. I called David in to snap a couple of pictures and then I got to strip off Emmett's soaked pj's, onesie, and diaper. I think patience is a virtue that Emmett doesn't have time for (at least when it comes to something as exciting as a bath)!

Walker says, "Please"

It's come to my attention that I never wrote about when Emmett really started walking. He has been able to walk and would take various steps at a time for awhile, but it wasn't until the Wednesday before Christmas that his walk-crawl ratio tipped more heavily into the walk side. Ever since he's become more and more of a walking champ. I love watching him waddle walk in his penguin-like way! That same day Emmett also "said" his first word in sign language. He said, "please" to Liliana to get her to share some toy with him. He has attempted a couple other signs since then, but always goes back to "please" when he wants something. My little guy is definitely getting to be more of a boy than a baby.

In the words of Liliana

The other day Liliana was sitting on the toilet and she said, "I'm going potta." "What's potta?" I asked her.
"Potta is potty in Spanish," she responded matter-of-factly.
I have been teaching her some Spanish vocabulary ever since she was very little and occasionally she'll ask me how to say something in Spanish or she'll say a Spanish word and ask me to remind her what it means. This, however, was the first time she had created her own Spanish word. I taught her the correct word for potty, but she still likes to use "potta" for now.

As we were driving home from church today, Liliana asked if she could have a cookie after she ate her lunch. David and I said that would be alright. Then she said, "Actually, I need two cookies because I'm two."
"How many cookies will you need after your birthday this month?" I asked her.
"I will need three," she replied, "because I will be three years old."
"Do you know how old I am?" I asked her.
"No."
"I'm 28. So does that mean I get 28 cookies?" I asked.
"Yes. How old are you, Daddy?" she asked.
"I'm 27," David answered.
"Daddy is an old man," I interjected.
"Daddy is old so he has to go in the garbage," Liliana said.
[*Insert peels of laughter from me here]
:)