All About Lucy

Lucy loves to go the the library. She picks out books to read during her rest time in bed, and helps Brandt find books that he will like also. So she works hard on her reading every day, and we are amazed at how fast she is getting and the words she can sound out. We will take turns reading a page on larger books and she moves my finger if I run it under the words she is reading. So now we have gotten a spelling book and are working on that because she is always writing or drawing and asking how to spell certain words. I'm still prayerfully considering homeschooling because I don't want her love for learning to get lost or slowed down. It's so hard knowing what to do. I was just looking back at pictures of Lucy last year, and she still had the chubby little toddler face compared to now. She is looking like such a big girl.

Lucy is such a monkey... she crawls all over the swing set. She is getting so strong. We go for 2 mile walks and she rides her bike the whole way. She gets pretty tired and Mike has to push her up some of the huge hills on the trail, but she does it. She is so proud of herself when we get home.

Today after we finished reading a story we were talking about how the holidays are coming up and that Daddy will be home more often because he has so much vacation. So then she said "you know what my favorite part of Christmas is?" I started to guess...that Daddy is home more, that we get to bake cookies, that we go to Grandma and Papa's and Grammy and Papa's... of all which she answered, "oh I do like that, but that's not my favorite." I was trying to completely avoid saying Christmas presents because I was afraid that was what it was. So finally I gave up and said so what is your favorite part. She said "that Jesus was born." I am starting to cry all over again just typing this, and of course I started crying and hugging her right after she said it. I said, you've got it, that's right! And here I was afraid she would say presents when she said what our greatest gift of all is, Jesus Christ. This precious girl amazes me daily. I am so blessed to be her mommy!!

All about Brandt

Brandt is almost 2 and is beginning to talk more like a big boy, but it is still sweet little words and the most common words we hear throughout the day are "sissy", "mommy" and "baby" and "tweet tweet." Tweet tweet is for binky, and just when I was about to take the binky's away, he began calling it his tweet tweet. I thought it was so cute that I couldn't bring myself to take it away because I love to hear him say it. Baby goes with him everywhere and is always in need of a bath. I washed him last week and Brandt cried so hard when we put baby in the washing machine. It was so sad. Then when he heard the buzzer, he ran to the laundry room and then I had to tell him that baby wasn't ready to play yet because he had to get dried. Oh, how he cried again as we put baby in the dryer. It's a very traumatic experience for him and so baby is dirty this week and we just put some baby doll pajama's over him until I can sneak him away for another bath.

So after dinner, we usually all go in the living room or playroom and play for a while. One night, Lucy wanted Mike to throw blankets over them and then tickle them. So he was doing it for the longest time and they were laughing so hard. Well, Lucy told Mike to do it to me. So he did it and was tickling me and Brandt ran over to me crying "mommy" and was trying to save me. He did not like them getting me. It was so sweet. Then we had a sweet friend take our family picture last week, and whenever she was trying to take a picture of just Mike and I he would run over to me, stick his head between my legs and cry so hard. My goodness, I do have a mama's boy on my hand. I like it that way!!

I love that Brandt will play dolls and tea party with Lucy, and then a minute later he has found something to "fro" and is tossing it up in the air and yelling "fro" every time. We were in the kitchen and all of a sudden we here banging, so Mike goes up to see what it is and he finds Brandt throwing a ball against the wall. Mike tells Brandt not to throw the ball at the wall. He says "oh" and then goes over to another wall and it about to throw it. Mike says tells him not that wall either. He does this again and finally Mike says, here buddy throw it to me. So he gets all excited and starts to "fro" it.

I have noticed that Brandt will say "ta u" a lot without me even asking him to say thank you. He will do it when I hand him something or help him with something. It makes me smile every time because I can see such a sweet kind spirit in him. He also is quick to say sorry and give hugs. Oh how I love this precious little boy who is growing up much too fast for his mama!

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!