Rachel entertaining herself

Sometimes they have fun in the strangest ways! :)
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What kids are for

Last week on the day I worked in town, instead of the babysitter coming here, the kids went to her house. Apparently she was unloading the dishwasher when Abby asked her what she was doing:

"What are you doing?"

"I'm putting the dishes away."

"Why?"

"Because it's one of my jobs."


"You should get some kids!"


HA!!!

Is that comfy?

This is how we found Abby when we went to wake her up from naptime. :) Her feet aren't even touching the floor!

Rachel's words

Rachel will be 18 months in a couple of weeks, is 18 months now and we realized it's definitely time to count her words before she says so many things that we can't count them anymore! Here are the words that Rach knows (and says on her own, not just parroting us) right now:

- Mommy
- Daddy
- Abby ("Babby")
- puppy
- baby
- kitty
- hockey
- jacket ("ja-KA")
- buckle ("be-KA")
- donkey
- paci
- grandpa
- poopoo (often used at an appropriate time!)
- peepee
- cheese
- nana (banana)
- fishies
- brother
- hat
- blankie
- night-night
- uh-oh
- bunny


Here's a link to Abby's words when she was learning to talk (she was a little younger when this particular list was made). Gavin, being a boy and the firstborn, was a little slower learning to talk - his list of words is from 22 months old and it's about 15-20 words. (Although he's certainly made up for his slower start since!!)

Gavin's plans for the future

There are some moments that make me believe the kids really will turn out okay...

Gavin stayed up later than the girls tonight and was helping me put lights on the Christmas tree (those of you on Facebook know this was the SECOND time putting lights on the tree, as the first time several strands mysteriously stopped working...after they were on the tree). I was debating with myself whether or not we were going to need yet another string of lights, and getting frustrated that it's taken almost a week to get the stupid lights on the tree. ;) Here's a peek at our conversation:

"Mommy, even if you don't get lights on the tree, I will still love you. Even though I really like the tree being up with lights and really like to look at all the lights on the tree, if you can't do it, I will still love you. I will always love you, no matter what."

"Thank you, buddy - you really have the gift of encouragement, you know that?"

"Yeah, that's my second favorite gift. After my family and friends, of course."

"That's a different kind of gift, honey - encouragement is one of the spiritual gifts that God gives to people."

"Oh...right. Being an encourager is my first best spiritual gift, and it's my second best gift of all the things God gave us."

"It's going to be fun to see what God's going to do with your life, Gav."

"Like what, like what I will be when I grow up? What kind of jobs do you need to be a good encourager for?"

"Well, maybe a pastor..."

"Oh yeah, pastors do a lot of encouraging. I might be a pastor." (pause) "Or a cheerleader."

(stifled laughter from me)

"I don't really want to be a cheerleader, but if that's what God wants me to do, I would do it."

Man, I love that kid. :)