Hugging sisters
1. Twenty-month-old Twin Talk
Abby adds new words more quickly than Lydia. She says "yesh" or "esh" in just the cutest possible voice. I ask her questions just to hear her say it. She also says "hot," "amen," "Poo-doh" (Pluto--Josiah has watched some old Disney cartoons on youtube lately), and "bee" (applied to most flying insects). Last week Abby said "gin-ky" when Daddy called Josiah "stinky"; she enjoyed repeating it over and over.
Abby
Abby also likes to count. She intones the numbers without clearly enunciating the words. Anytime Josiah wants to play hide-and-seek, Abby kick-starts the counting!
Both girls said "no no" to each other last week. (Lydia also tried saying it to me--the little stinker!) They say "pee-pee" (sometimes "bee-bee") and "poo-poo," usually to let me know what they did that requires a diaper change, but also as a request to use the potty. Abby actually went poo-poo on the potty for the first time a couple days ago! Unfortunately, at the same time, her sister was playing in the bathtub and did her business there . . . Scooping poop out of bathwater? Not my idea of a good time.
Lydia
The girls have caught onto Josiah's dear love of dough, so whenever I make bread, all three clamor for a taste. Abby and Lydia crowd together at the gate and chant the word: "Dough! Dough! Dough! Dough!" (Josiah did this around a similar age, too.)
The girls love wearing helmets like their brother
But the buckles are sometimes frustrating
Lydia threw up her hands and said, "Hurray!" when I brought an egg to the table for her at breakfast the other day. (Josiah often rejoices in this manner about food--he also makes a slurping/smacking noise of anticipation or especial relish for food he particularly likes.)
Lydia also likes to try out Josiah's shoes and bike
The girls play hard and fight hard. Often when I hear them hollering, I ask, "What's wrong?" Invariably the injured party will answer with her sister's name--Abby says, "Lilla!" and Lydia says, "Abby!" [or "Babby," as she still sometimes pronounces it].
Lydia
Abby
2. Our Funny Boy
Just a couple funnies from Josiah . . .
Some time ago I asked Josiah to take a pencil out of his mouth. He responded with the objection, "Mommy, it's my smoke!"
The next day at lunch I asked him to do something he didn't want to do--probably sit on his bum and eat rather than fiddle with his carrot. He said defiantly, "I don't want you! I want to smoke!"
Last week Josiah and the girls were setting up stoves and picnics with the play food. Josiah told me, "Lydia and Abby are tookers [cookers]."
"Are you a cooker?" I asked.
"No, I'm an eater," he said.
Doesn't he look like a little Jeremy here?
3. Josiah's Education
While we're not doing formal instruction this year, Josiah's curiosity and a few modest goals of my own drive some of our "lessons."
He continually asks questions about the world around him and beyond him (i.e., what we read in books). Almost every day he asks about a given animal's diet. "What do bears eat, Mom? What do bunnies eat? What do kitties eat? and dogs? Dogs like bones?" Since many of these questions are repeats, he corrects me or adds to my list if I miss something. He likes to compare similarities--"Bears and cats eat fish! We eat fish too!"
Josiah often asks me questions about how his body works or draws my attention to his growth. "Look, Mama! My legs getting longer!" or "I have bones in my nose, Mom?" Combining his interests in religion and biology, Josiah has several times asked me, "Jesus has bones, Mama?"
He's gotten the hang of riding his bike and loves to do it!
Family relationships interest Josiah as well. He likes to see familial order in groups of animals and is concerned when an artist of a children's book has left out a key member. ("Where's the mama bird? Where IS she?") He talks about becoming a "big, strong daddy" himself one day. He often says to Jeremy, "Someday I gonna be a daddy, and you gonna be a grandpa!" Once he clarified, "Not an old grandpa; a big grandpa." Usually he plans to have "seven little kids."
Josiah has taken more interest in letters lately. I've overheard him singing the ABC song (with some errors), and he knows what J looks like and that he and Daddy have names that begin with J. He sometimes mistakenly extends this to others, too, though--"Look! J for Lydia!" he has said to me (with a magnanimous intent to include his sister in what is clearly a desirable club!).
Josiah's "J" on the right!
He also likes to point out S--"S for snake!" he says. We worked on writing big A and little a a couple weeks ago, but he lost interest in trying to write it pretty quick. Instead, he wanted help drawing a picture of himself with a sword or slingshot.
My two main goals for this "preschool" year are (1) start scripture memorization with Josiah and (2) read lots of books together. So far so good. We practice memorizing Psalm 1 most weekday mornings. Josiah can say the first four verses; he's working on the fifth and looks forward to picking out a star sticker to put on our chart when he's completed it.
The girls can sit still a little longer these days for stories, so sometimes I can read a book to all three children. But Josiah and I spend a good half hour or so reading after I put the girls down for their nap and before he goes for his quiet/rest time (he only naps about half the time now). Recently we've read some poems from an illustrated collection--"Jabberwocky" concerned and intrigued him in particular (he sympathizes with the Jabberwock and believes the "beamish boy" is the bad guy), and he has repeatedly requested The House on East 88th Street (the first of the Lyle Crocodile series).
We had a cool, rainy morning the other day and Josiah decided it was time to pull out the winter gear
He loves Richard Scarry (especially the Sam and Dudley "detective mysteries"). He also loves any "new" books--from the library or the thrift store. I keep a stash of used books I've found and bring one out now and then. Lately he's enjoyed The Best Nest and Sam and the Firefly, along with some Barbara Cooney books from the library like Miss Rumphius.
4. Bedtime Sweetheart
A couple nights ago (after bedtime) Josiah heard the washer rumbling with its load of towels and came out of the bedroom, wondering if he heard thunder. I reassured him, helped him back to bed, and covered him up--and then asked if I could pray for him. "Yes," he said. "You please pray that I be brave?"
The last several nights at bedtime, Josiah asks me for a "big squish hug" before I leave the room. He likes to like his head on my lap when I sing, and he usually gives me kisses across the room when I leave, even when he's very drowsy (or even after a middle-of-the-night wake-up).
