Finn:
- Major news stories: Our little boy is a half-year through pre-school and we're already looking into our Kindergarten options. Pre-school has really gone very well. While he has his days of sulking about it, he seems to like it, enjoys his new friends, is willing to try things (like writing his name, I mean, not eating new things). While we still have to have our conference with the teacher, as far as I can tell, he's progressing fine and will be ready for Kindergarten next Fall. By the way, in case I haven't said it before, I think Finn has a real knack for numbers. It's just my own intuition, but he really seems to grasp them well. He clearly gets what they mean (i.e., not just rotely saying them), but he also seems (to me) to really get the general concepts of addition and subtraction. He's also been great at pattern recognition since he was pretty little (thank you I-Spy Computer Game). Just my little plug for Finn being a smarty-pants, even though I think he's a late bloomer in some ways (much like I was).
- Current obsessions: Still Mario, and also anything Lego on the Wii. He's very into kittens; he likes to pretend he is one. This seems to be his way of "regressing"--essentially being more baby-like, while not actually pretending to be a baby (which we sort of discourage). He also wants to play dungeon, octopus tag, or hide-and-seek in the dark whenever anyone is willing to play with him (esp. me). I've been really busy at work lately, and I think he's missing me a lot (more than everyone else).
- Unfortunates: Apart from the normally brother-sister spatting, Finn doesn't seem to have any major problem with Kate. The biggest unfortunate here is that he tends to carry on himself whenever he accidentally hurts Kate (as if he is the bigger victim of the situation). He does this when he accidentally hurts Daddy too. It seems to be about a fear of getting in trouble (best I can tell) and it really annoys Daddy a lot. He's also still got the capacity to be very broody, fusses about most kinds of food (although see below re: peas), and he says "No" and is sassy a lot more than he used to be. Sometimes he "meows" sassily (believe it or not). That REALLY ticks Daddy off.
- Good things: He's been to the dentist again, which went great, and I only mention it because of a funny story. One night he had a bad dream that woke him up in the middle of the night (and he consequently woke me up). He couldn't tell me about the dream right then, but he said it was about the dentist. Uh-oh, I thought, I hope this isn't the start of a fear of going to the dentist. The next day it comes out... he had a dream where he had to win a game or he WOULDN'T be ALLOWED to go to the dentist, and that was the scary/bad part. HYSTERICAL! My son, the dentist-LOVER, apparently! While he still doesn't eat most things, he now eats frozen peas. We started having "pea races" between him and me, and that worked, although he still doesn't really like them. Now his favorite thing is to have a pea race with me while I'm still at work and they're eating their dinner early. Perfect opportunity for him to win uncontested!
- Common sayings: Still says "constructions" a lot. I feel like such a shmuck--he's got lots of new sayings that I pick up from time to time that are so cute/funny, and I can't think of any of them. I'll have to post more quickly next time he says one. As I said above, he "meows" a lot.
Kate:
- Major news stories: Too many to count. She's walking (has been since before the end of the summer), climbing, and talking, talking, talking!!! She is just such a smart cookie, I can't even describe it. She says so many amazing things that you wouldn't expect. Like yesterday, I offered to put her bib on her backwards, like a cape, and she said "Yeah!" nodding her head exuberantly as she often does. The she says "Now I'm super." That's right, I said, you're Super-Kate. I love the way she says "Yeah!" when she really wants or agrees with something because it's so full--she's so committed when she says it. She very clearly and appropriately speaks in full sentences, and if I can't do it anywhere else, at least I can brag my heart away here, because it's my blog! I just can't get over her!
- Current obsessions: Talking all the time, taking bubble baths, trying to do the stairs standing up and holding the railing (NOT our favorite trend), "reading" books, playing hide-and-go seek (esp. with the whole family), "marching" on Mommy & Daddy's bed, pointing out the kitties wherever they go, and VEHEMENTLY opposing anything to do with bed time.
- Unfortunates: See above re: bed time. She's so hard to put down, and is a light sleeper once she is down. She doesn't systematically wake up in the middle of the night anymore, but we go through weeks when she pops up (like this week). She's still pretty stubborn, and she likes to cross her arms and go "Hmmph!" when she's upset (which I have to say is so completely cute, but we never give in to it). She can be very polite, but is definitely in the "me", "mine", "gimme" stage. When she asks for something impolitely, if you say to her "How are we supposed to ask?" she says "gimme gimme gimme" in the absolute cutest voice ever with a twinkle in her eye. I can't help but laugh. But I don't give her whatever it is... I know that would really come back to haunt me later.
- Good things: She can still be shy at first, but she's much more quickly acclimated to other people now, and she talks with just about anyone, which is so gratifying from the Mommy perpective. She knows certain people's names and brings them up in general conversation (e.g., Seth and Sharon; Tommy and Seth; Meg and Mel), which is really nice to see. She clearly wants and needs both me and Daddy, which is nice. It would be so easy to feel left out, given that I work so much, if she were to task for Daddy anytime there was a boo-boo or something, but she really asks for both of us at different times (and always asks for the other one, if the one she is with is saying no about something or threatening to take her to bed).
- Common sayings: This is a hard one, because she says so much now. She still says "Sim" instead of "Finn" most of the time. She loves to ask for donuts (as does Finn). She calls chocolate milk "chocolate milk" (which is only odd because the rest of my family very consistently calls it "co-co-moo". She copies Finn in saying "Moommeeey" with the cutest little lilt to it when she's feeling silly.
The words and phrases are one of the best parts of being a parent for me, and I'm really going to try and put more of them down more quickly. Oh, I have one that I don't think I ever posted, even though it started late last Fall at some point. This is based on the knock-knock joke I invented:
Mommy: Knock-knock
Finn: Who's there?
Mommy: Finn
Finn: Finn who?
Mommy: Finn-ish your dinner, Finn! (we were eating dinner at the time)
Kate's version:
Katie: Knock-knock
Mommy: Who's there?
Katie: Finn
Mommy: Finn who?
Katie: EAT YOUR DINNER, MOMMY! (said very demandingly!)
That's one of my long-standing favorites, so I had to make sure to write it down.
These pics are from right around V's day:
