Monica Jayne

I love getting this little girl out of bed in the morning because she smiles at me through these insanely cute curly locks that spring out everywhere in her face and she can't see anything. She's started doing this thing where she brushes them out of her face with the back of her hand, which makes her look much older than she is...kind of like a teenager except for the binky in her mouth. And the hairstyle perfectly matches her personality: one wild woman. She is so cute and so cuddly with a distinct sense of humor, but she's also VERY independent. At almost 20 months, she wants to do what she wants to do, and she wants to do it by herself: putting on her shoes, buckling her car seat, climbing and going down any slide at any playground, etc. If I try to help her she says emphatically, "No Mommy!" or "No, me!"

The list of words she knows how to say gets longer every day, which is fun. For example, this evening at dinner we were having broccoli and she kept insisting the Jeff give her "Mo bocky," which is more broccoli. I didn't even know she knew how to say broccoli! Where did that come from? And with the increase in verbal vocab you know she's understanding almost anything you tell her.

Another joy is that the older she gets, the more she likes playing with Cal and he enjoys playing with her, too. Yesterday they were playing "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," which is from another of Cal's favorite movies. He kept calling her Space Ranger Mira Nova and telling her what to do. "Space Ranger Mira Nova, report!" And she just followed him around and went along with it for a long time. Then the other day we were playing hide and seek. She wanted her own turn counting, of course. It was so cute to see her come around the corner to look behind the couch saying, "Cow? Cow?" (how she says Cal...) He doesn't quite understand the purpose behind keeping one's hiding place a secret, so he called out, "Monica, I'm in the pantry!" She promptly said, "oh!", turned around, and headed that direction. Since my hiding place was still a secret I got to watch this, and I thought 'You know, she's really a big girl. She can play these games now. When did that happen?'

So with my sweet Monica, too, this childhood thing seems to be going very fast. That makes me grateful that even with all her independence, she loves her binky and blankies and when she has them, she'll snuggle for a long time on my lap. I'll take that for as long as I can get it.

Callahan Michael

Hey Everyone. I promised you some video/pics of Cal a while ago, and thanks (again) to my fabulous sister-in-law Wendi, I have some really cute pictures of the kiddos to share with you. Here are a few of Cal that I love, and while you're looking at them, let me just tell you a bit about my favorite little boy.

Cal is 3 1/2. His favorite pastime is finding little "treasures" around the house, which could be anything from pennies to pieces of ribbon, little beads, google eyes, jingle bells, rocks, etc. and sticking them into little containers like plastic eggs. He still loves playing with sticks he finds outside, which double as swords, spears, bows, etc. In fact, he refuses to wear pants or shorts with no belt loops because there'll be no place to put his stick. He LOVES the movies that he loves, and if he were to tell you his list of favorite movies, you might think it was kind of long...for a three-year-old: Tarzan, Mulan, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Dark Crystal, David and Goliath, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and James and the Giant Peach are some of them, and yes, he's a movie quoter. I didn't know it was a genetic trait, but turns out he got it from my family. Besides this, he really has good ideas and loves making things. He'll often be heard to say, "Oh, I have a brilliant idea..." or "I'm just trying to figure this out..." He's very observant and I'm constantly amazed at things he notices (like when two words rhyme) and recognizes (like where we are when we're driving, which I'm sure I wouldn't have paid attention to when I was that age). As with any 3 1/2- year old, we have our moments of course, but overall he has a sweet disposition and is a great big brother to Monica. He's a sensitive little guy and hates being in trouble. A lot of the time when I have to discipline him he says, "Mom, you need to talk happier!" Anyway, I'm really enjoying being his mom and getting to know him as his own person. This evening I left him in the nursery during an enrichment activity, and when I picked him up I could have sworn he'd grown up just a little more. I know I'm just imagining but I can't believe how fast it's going.

I'll write about Monica tomorrow. Gotta go to bed.