[Daniel] Hilarious!

To Number Two, who was playing with a flashlight, Mini Me said "Are you flashing me?"

We just about died laughing.

[Daniel] Wonderful!

Mini Me melted Moriah's heart the other day. He turned to her at lunch and, without prompting, said "Mama, you are wonderful!"

[Moriah] Ha Ha Ha!

Tonight's random dialogue brought to you by Mini Me. Dada was holding Mini Me, giving him a hug and letting him pull the chain on the ceiling fan to turn out his light for bed when, with Dada's head turned up toward the fan, Mini Me got a glimpse inside Dada's nose, and asked the following:

"Dada, you have raisins in your nose?"

Ah ha ha ha ha haaaaa!!! I nearly fell over. What a hilarious, yet completely curious and serious observation on his part. Ah yes, the great things that come out of childrens' mouths. I love it.

[Moriah] Happy 3rd Birthday, Mini Me!

Today marks the culmination of your third year of life. We are so very proud of you and all that you are. You are such a wonderful, curious, funny, happy, intelligent little boy and we enjoy so much the opportunity to watch you grow. We are so happy you had such a fun birthday. We love you! Happy birthday!

[Moriah] Number Two's Blankie

Tonight we gave Number Two a blanket to sleep with for the first time. He's 19 months old and a big, strong toddler now so we thought, especially with the weather getting colder, that he's ready for his first blankie. When I laid him down on his back in bed like usual, I started to pull up the blanket over him while announcing to him excitedly that he gets to have a blankie tonight. He stopped squirming around and stared up at me with a huge smile on his face. Then, he turned over onto his stomach, curled up into a ball and started sucking on his fingers as I tucked the blanket around his shoulders. He looked so adorable just laying there curled up into a little ball, all cozy-looking under the blanket. And the cutest thing was he didn't move at all after I covered him up. He simply lay there as if thinking, ahhhh, so cozy warm. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but I didn't want to disturb him. It was so adorable, though. So, congratulations, Number Two, on reaching yet another milestone. :)

[Daniel] Parenting Is... #45

...trying to help your panicking toddler calm down after the first time he throws up and to explain what happened. Poor Mini Me.

[Daniel] Mini Me's Leaps & Bounds

Of course, Number Two isn't the only one making huge strides. Mini Me has made enormous strides in the last several weeks, an almost incomprehensible amount had we not witnessed it first hand.

He constantly talks in complete or nearly complete sentences. His vocabulary is expanding at a tremendous rate. The estimates of ten words per day for his age seem very realistic, often picking up a word within only one or two mentions.

What's even more impressive is his understanding, logical abilities and imagination. He's fascinated by more complex books (growing out of board books). He's correctly naming all the basic colors as well as matching them. He's sorting and matching shapes. And he's using his imagination all the time when he plays, everything from driving a race car to floating in space to being a fireman to cooking in the kitchen. He recites movie dialogue very well and frequently talks about things he did days ago.

It's really quite amazing and a big shift from a month or so ago, when most of these things weren't the case. It's awe inspiring and I'm (we're) really proud of him.

[Daniel] Number Two Speaks!

Granted, Number Two has tried saying a couple things before, infrequently saying "mama", "dada" and making car/animal noises. But within the last several days, he's started trying and saying much harder words!

Yesterday, while reading a book with Moriah, he said "apple" at a picture of an apple and giggled to himself. Today, while looking at pictures with Mini Me and I, he saw a picture of Sean from last October in a maze of hay bales and said "hay". He's also said "baby" on more than one occasion. Then tonight, while reading a book with everyone, he tried to say "school bus", which came out a little mangled but still recognizable!

Just crazy but attaboy Number Two!

[Moriah] Parenting Is... #44

...the sting in your heart the first time your child doesn't want you around. Mini Me was playing with his V-Tech laptop today and I sat next to him to help him play a game on it when he said, "Mama, leave me ALONE." Ouch. :(

[Daniel] Want Cake?!

Mini-me: Need cake!
Me: No, you want cake.
Mini-me: Want need cake!

Happy 27th Birthday, Moriah!