Currently the kiddos are taking over!

Mama is currently...
Takin' it outside. Lovin' me some hiking!

Cole (almost 3 years old!) is currently...
Admiring all of the toys we've taken out of storage for Bevin.  It's like "Ooh, what's this? Yemme play with that." Keith had to explain to him the difference between the toys we have for Bevin and his toys. But they're new to him, so he can't help his fascination with them. He brought one toy to story time on Thursday and another one into his room later that night. In particular he has discovered a musical wind up mechanism (what else do you call those things?) that Keith's aunt sent to us when Cole was born. It plays "Twinkle Twinkle" (Cole's favorite lullaby). I kept it in Cole's room until he started to walk, and then I packed it away for fear he would break it. Unfortunately I did a shoddy job of packing it and broke the feet of the statue. Cole didn't even notice he was so fascinated by the fact that you wind it up and it plays a beautiful melody. Then later that day? He broke the head of the statue, so we're even. I have another musical wind up mechanism that was given to me when I was a child. Of course, he's admiring that most of all, specifically because he can't have it.

Caring about who he is. The other night he was getting into bed and stopped to ponder on his identity. "I'm a big boy, but I'm still a little boy. But I'm growing up. I'm a little boy, but not really...." It was the cutest display of existential contemplation I've ever seen in a toddler.

Loving his yogurt covered pretzels. Thanks to the reward system I created for pooping in the toilet, he gets one about 2-3 times a day. And we don't have to clean up gag-inducing diapers. So everyone is much happier.

Cleaning up the sand from his shoes. His daycare recently acquired a new sandbox and naturally he came home with sand all over his shoes. He pointed to it as it scattered all over the floor the other afternoon. "What's that?!" I told him it was sand and was about to suggest he clean it up when he said "Yemme get the vacuum."

Creating his own path. We went hiking the other day and the blue blazes that marked the trail became confusing and we weren't sure where the trail went. So we tried going in one direction but quickly realized that it was a dead end. However, Cole was not thrilled about changing course, so he kept insisting the trail went the way we were going.

Bevin (3 months) is currently...
Admiring her big brother. When he comes over to her to say hi, pat her head, or squeeze her hands, her deep blue eyes light up and she smiles her big happy smile and bats her long gorgeous lashes.

Caring for Mama when she's not sitting in Mamas's arms. At dinner time, I will plop her in the Space Saver High Chair we have (it reclines a little for newborns so it is all kinds of awesome) and she'll just stare at me, her eyes widened, as if she's saying, "Why are YOU over there and I'm here?"

Loving her nightly routine. I started the same routine I had with Cole when he was her age. Bath, nurse, sleep. The minute she's done with her bath, she's all in a tizzy kicking her feet, whining and keeping me from getting her dressed (don't they know that if they just sat still things would go so much quicker?! as if she's saying - "Okay where the hell is my milk?" She also loves sleeping with me. I don't know why I even thought that she might sleep in a bassinet or in our co-sleeper. This kid loves being close to us, so every night she falls asleep nursing or the latest: while I'm reading a book with her curled up in my arms.

Creating an amazing amount of wet diapers. Gone is the time where she has oodles and oodles of poop. Now she pees a ton and does a big blowout maybe once or twice a day. We're still sticking with cloth diapers during the day, though we do disposables at night and when we go out. It's not the ideal system in terms of saving the environment, but we are not looking to be ideal. We do enough laundry as it is!

Discovering her hands. She has so far: touched and grabbed my watch, pet Kiwi, touched Keith's beard and her regular thing is bringing her hands to her face and sucking on her fingers.