Back Scratching

Lucy loves to have her back scratched. It started when we would rock her before putting her in the crib to relax her. We will lay in bed and she will say "Mommy, will you scratch under my back" which means will I scratch under her shirt. She has said this for about 2 years, and tonight she said "Mommy, will you scratch my back" so I started to scratch her back and she said "under my shirt." I said you mean under your back and she looked at me like what was I talking about. I told her that she always asked me to scratch under her back and she just kind of snickered and closed her eyes. I got teary eyed because it's another sweet saying that is gone. She is just growing up too quickly for me.

My heart smiles

My heart smiles...

...when Brandt says "ta u" (thank you) whenever I give him something

...when Lucy acts so excited when Brandt runs to her yelling "sissy" because he wants to show her something he has. She usually responds in a high pitch voice of "wow, Bubs, that's cool"

...when Brandt lays down on the floor on his tummy because Lucy is doing it or runs around acting silly because Lucy is

...that Lucy lets Brandt copy her and actually likes it

...listening to Lucy read

...rocking Brandt at night and listening to him giggle when I give him butterfly kisses

...when Lucy and Brandt yell "Daddy" as loud as they can when they hear his truck honk and his key in the door

...that Lucy loves to share with Brandt. It's usually that she will give him a bite of hers and then ask him to share with her. It seems to work. Although, the other day at Target, we stopped to get a free cookie at the bakery and Brandt ate his in less than 30 seconds and then kept yelling "sissy, more" thinking that she should now share with him. She was actually going to do it, but I told her she didn't have to.

...when Brandt smells things... well, just look at this picture. How cute is that!!

...listening to Brandt say new words like, throw (toe) and swimsuit (suesue), and the way he likes to hold my nose when I say something is stinky.

... watching Brandt hold a crayon and pencil to color. He loves to color, just like Lucy! I'll find him at the dining room table a lot coloring away, especially since he can crawl up on the chair now.

...listening to Lucy figure out math problems that she came up with herself while driving in the car. She always is wanting to learn something.

...the way Brandt calls his baby bear, binky and blanket all "baby," and loves to carry his baby bear around tucked under his little arm.

...watching them sleep... so peaceful, so beautiful! (This was after a big day at the zoo).

Sissy

Brandt is saying Sissy for Lucy all of the time. He'll call for her, he'll see something that is hers and say "sissy", and the sweetest thing is that if I give him something he'll stick out his little hand and say "sissy" which means can Lucy have one. I love listening to him talk because he jabbers away and I pick up a few words here and there. When the kids and I were at my parents, we would talk to Daddy daily and Brandt would get on the phone and just start jabbering and pointing as he talked. I sure wish I knew all he was saying. I do love that 95% of the time I do know what he is trying to tell me or ask me and all he has to say is "mommy." What a gift to be home with my children and know them so well that all they have to say is mommy, well sometimes it is "mommy, mommy, mommy, MOMMY" but none the less I know what he wants. These are such precious days!!

Yesterday at church, I picked up Lucy from her class and Mike got Brandt. When he saw us he started squirming to get down. I thought he was running to me because he usually does, but he ran right to Lucy and gave her a huge hug. Melt my heart!!

"K" and American Flags

If you tell Brandt something and then say "okay", his response is always "k", and it sounds so sweet coming from his little mouth.

A few weeks ago, I was trying to teach Lucy the Pledge of Allegiance. So she then started pointing out all the flags around town as we would drive by. So she decided that whenever we see a flag we have to say "hooray for God and American flags." It makes me smile every time I hear it, which is quite often.

Lucy and Brandt have had big weeks in the pool. Lucy is swimming without floaties and Brandt is swimming with floaties, and they both enjoy a good belly flop into the pool, except to Lucy it is diving and to Brandt it is jumping in.

Wild Boy

I took Brandt to have his 18 month picture and Lucy's 4 year old picture. Well, Lucy did great. She sat so nice and was so patient as Brandt ran circles around her. So then we decided to just try Brandt, well, the boy was out of control. I'm not really sure whose child that was because he would stop for a second, say "cheese" (no idea where he got that from) and then take off running around again. I really had no idea what to do. I kept telling the photographer that she needed something more than a duck to keep his attention, but she didn't know what to use. So she asked if he would sit in a chair, I said let's try it. So he saw the chair and headed right towards it, sat in it like a champ smiling because he was excited. Well, she then takes the time to do something to her camera and by the time she was ready the moment had passed and he was not interested in the chair anymore. I think at one point he leaned back against the drop back and slid down it. I just laughed because #1 it was funny and #2 he was tired and hungry and I knew she could try all she wanted but Brandt was not having his picture that day. The funny thing, when we got there, he sat on my lap looking around while we waited and waited and waited some more... a good 1/2 hour or more. So if we didn't have to wait, I bet he would have taken some nice pictures because he wasn't familiar with the place and had to take it all in.

He's a wild boy at times... if you lie on the floor, Brandt will jump on you, but he is such a sweet boy because if I am bending down by the dryer, he will wrap his arms around me and give me a big squeeze. He's quite the mama's boy and will let me love and kiss on him a lot. He gets super excited at night when it is time for his monkey vitamin. If you ask him if he wants a monkey vitamin, he will take his binky (if it's in his mouth) and throw it down and run for the kitchen and stand by the cabinets and say "yea, yea, yea." Anytime he gets excited he says "yea, yea, yea." He's stinken cute!

Cute conversations

So this week I've had some cute conversations with Lucy...

Conversation #1
Lucy: Mommy, do ants have names?
Mommy: They don't have names, they are just called ants because they can't talk so they can't give one another names.
Lucy: They can't talk, so do they do sign language or something?

That conversation went from talking about ants and how they sleep in ant hills which are dirty to talking about the homeless.

Conversation #2
Lucy: Mommy, if you and Daddy die me and Brandt won't have a mommy and daddy anymore because you'll be in heaven.
Mommy: Well, I hope that doesn't happen for a long time.
Lucy: I want to see heaven, but I like our house.
Mommy: Heaven will have all the things you like, but none of the bad things that earth has.
Lucy: Oh, you mean like bears and pokey bushes.
Mommy: I bet there won't be any pokey bushes.

I just love that girl!!

Vinoculars

It was a warm day today, so I went and got the pool and blew it up. Lucy was so excited that she didn't even care that the water was so cold. I got their swimsuits on and brought some pool toys out and then Lucy said to me, "Mommy, I think I will need my vinoculars too." I had to think for a minute and then she said "so I can look at the bottom of the pool." I said, do you mean goggles. She said, "oh yes, goggles." So I went and got them and while her and Brandt were playing in the pool, she kept telling him about her vinoculars. So, if you swim with us this summer, we don't use goggles, we use vinoculars. It just made me sit and smile at such cute things they say. It was also amazing to see Brandt splashing in that freezing water, even dumping it on his head. He and Lucy come by it honestly, I never cared if the water was cold, I just wanted to swim. I even pushed a block of ice out of my way once at our cottage one Memorial Day, so that we could jump off the pier.