Two is definitely not 1

 This girl turned the big 2 last week.

She didn't quite remember what to do with the candles, 

But, she instinctively knew what 2-year-olds do. Literally on her birthday, her vocabulary increased 10 fold, she was able to pedal her little tricycle 3 enormous blocks, and her tantrums took on a whole new level. 

In addition to her skills acquired on her birthday, she has mastered the art of squirt guns, 

Straightened out her run, (though still maintains the flailing arms)

 And continues to hone her jockey skills at every park.

 

 She also attended her first tea party with her bosom buddy Miss T, who also happens to be having a big 2 birthday. Their composure is quite stunning--I realize they are 2, but seriously!? Grandma Elna would have been proud.

 Oh how we love this personality-filled cutie. Bring on the terrific 2s!

Language Acquisition

We are acquiring language in multiple facets of our home right now. Jackson in the print department, Allie in the linguists department, and all of us in the etiquette department.

Jackson is mastering sounds of letters. Just today, I asked him what whale started with and we made a huge leap when he remembered "wah wah" starts with a "w" not a "y!!" This was especially exciting because so many of my first grade students struggled with that when I was a teacher... the "w" sound definitely doesn't make sense, it just has to be remembered (right up there with "y" itself, and "h" and "x" and.... oh the English language.)

Jackson made this awesome sign for Mark (after he was out of town for Brennan's funeral). The best part is his slow reading of it. I'm not sure how much is real, and how much is just slowed speech mimicking, but either are great skills to have when trying to get this print to word thing down. He'll look up and point saying "Wwww-eeee-ll-c--ah-mmmm ...."

 (He was SO proud of how many lines he put on his E. I think I will miss the many-lined-E stage--

so cute!)

 
 Allie is surprising us daily with new words she has figured out how to pronounce (in her own special way). She uses a great combination of hand gestures and sounds that are somewhat relevant to the word, to get her points across. The spectacle is effective 80% of the time--half of the time amusing, and the other half annoying as she screams and increases her volume. The 20% of the time that we don't understand is quite frustrating for all parties, especially since she won't buy the "Oh really?" response anymore. [Sigh]

Her articulation is rough for us to decipher, let alone other humans. She's starting a little joy school class in September--so we'll see if anyone else can interpret. If Jackson was available, we'd send him as a translator since he confidently tells us exactly what she is trying to say quite often--sometimes he's correct, and sometimes not, but the confidence is assuring to both of them.
 
To aid her clarity and language we've been trying to wean her from the binky.

The weekend was a little rough, so I caved in a ton, hence why I yelled to Mark to cut the tips of the little things right before bedtime last night. Mark was not thrilled to be given this task last minuet. Allie took it in decent stride (almost following exactly what Jackson did when his were cut) but Jackson was very upset about the whole thing. He had tears in his eyes as I went to put everyone back in bed last night. "But mom, how can we fix her binky? What about the new baby? How will he have a binky?" Oh it was hilarious and sweet.  Allie was perplexed by it most of the day, checking on them and making sure they were still "boke"--but I feel like she seemed like a more carefree person. Perhaps that bink was tying her down. Hopefully it allows her language to fly free.

Allie does have most of her body parts and animal sounds down, which serve as great distractions whenever we need one. I took this video last week, and she definitely doesn't get most of these questions as she mimics the last word of every question, but she is getting better every day, and mimicking is stepping us toward better articulation... a good place to be!

Oh my goodness. I love how she eats toast!

 With all the acquiring of language, we are still working hard to acquire nice language. Don't these kids just look amazing in this picture? I was grateful for my awesome helpers this weekend, but I must say we are working hard on not being rude (to each other and strangers).

I'm thinking I should have Jackson make some banners that say "Please" and "Thank you" and we can put them around the house to practice reading them (slowly). If Jackson did it, it would likely rub off on Allie which may eventually create more opportunities to remember saying them--for all of us.  Hmmm... this language stuff could be a good thing.

Memorable Whirlwind Part 2: Beautiful Waves

I have a distinct memory from a few years ago, of looking in the mirror and seeing my sister. I was looking at myself, but I understood why everyone thought we looked alike, and I felt like I understood her differently.

                    (seriously can't pinpoint a feature... but goodness, there's a likeness between us gals!)

We went to Portland and had an amazing time eating, playing and enjoying sunshine (!) with only slightly tired kids, but the highlight for me was singing a song in church--accapella--with both of my sisters. The sensation of having 3 very different voices converge in waves of unity was overwhelmingly powerful--especially because I had a hard time pulling my own voice out as I joined these sisterly waves. Also, and more poignantly because it was the first time we had ever sung together.


I received two packets of emotion today. We were emotionally shocked to learn of a close family member who died of cancer last night. She battled hard for a year and a half, and her body succumbed. Just after learning of her death, I opened an email from my Dad that had his pictures from our trip to Portland. The sense of gratitude for family completely enveloped my tears as I reflected on Brennan's death. I am mentally and prayerfully sending waves of family unity and spirit to her husband and two young boys. I picture ocean waves of love enveloping them in this dark hour and the future hours that will come soon.



We experienced many waves on our trip to the Northwest and I'm most certainly grateful for the wave of family love, but it's also fun to reflect on the others we experienced.




The ocean waves were beautiful but best enjoyed from the sandy shore, especially with Grandpa and his big shovel



Allie had her many "halloh" waves---sometimes spontaneous, sometimes inspired, but always cute

Jackson had his many mood waves--he's still a 0 to Armageddon type of kid, you never know if he'll be squealing for joy, screaming from an instant wave of anger, or if he'll be completely apathetic

(Luckily Grandparents love him through all the waves, though new mamma Lindsey may be a bit scared for her future)

(Notice all the wardrobe waves that occurred with the 50-90 degree weather that blessed us while there)

  Lily bug accepted waves of kisses and slept in waves

She didn't enjoy the hair waves that Allie did,




and could only dream of the many food waves she'll enjoy with her cousins in the future

                     (Salt and Straw ice cream)                            (Oregon strawberry jam)


But we all enjoyed the waves of beauty that crept up with stunning acuteness


Thank you Dad, for taking and sending the photographic art through digital waves (or whatever the internet travel via)--what a whirlwind of beautiful waves.

Memorable Whirlwind Part I: Open Space

We did our first summer vacation loop--where we went to both of our hometowns to visit family in one crazy tornado of a trip. There were so many memories made, and great pictures... at least from the first 4 days. Afterward my picture taking stamina seemed to peter-out. Luckily by the time we got to Portland, my family took over the picture taking stamina--I just have to wait for the pictures to get to me. And so, we shall publish in parts.

Here is our Arizona part (not all pictured): cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents (3 sets in fact all in AZ), horses, cows, water, lightning, 24 hour sickness, and open space. Lots of open space.


Big Lake. Perhaps Big Cold Lake may have been the more appropriately name.

I could not believe the open fields that appear suddenly after traversing mountains of dense forests. The fields made my inner sound of music come alive with the little hills that gently sloped. Arizona is so diverse in its landscape!

Old meadows homestead of Peter Isaacson. Norman took his Ford F150 to levels the commercials don't even touch in finding this meaningful "whole of a wall".

Most spectacular was the hand dug well that was still next to the old stone house. Made me think of Laura Ingles Wilder, and her Pa digging a well. Oh the luxuries we have today.

   Hard to picture our little family surviving more than a day in the arid 
   Northern AZ open spaced country. Oh they were faithful saints indeed!
   The country they were asked to settle was pretty much like jumping off a
   cliff :)




Somehow the cows survive and thrive in the arid land. I learned the rough prickly brown grass has a higher protein content then then nice green stuff they get to forage for up in the mountains. Allie and Jackson did quite well helping them look for healthy grass.

Jackson was adorably confident as a little cowboy, until they broke out the branding irons. He was about has disturbed as I was when the calves skin sizzled.

I suppose the cowboy confidence came from the awesome riding lessons the kids received prior to cattle drive. 

 

That horse blood runs thick. These lucky city kids get to actually touch something so tangible from their past.

Mostly the kiddos enjoyed the near tangibility of supreme cousin love.

And open enough schedules to get wet and jump and play plenty of make believe.

And get well acquainted.

 (I think Allie met her match in size!)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a lovely week.

Jackson missed out on hoeing school, but was able to help G'pa with the planting.




We'll have to pencil it in to our open space next time.

XY

Jackson called it. A brother is on its way!

We'll be sporting blue this winter when a new little boy arrives sometime around Thanksgiving.

And cue name ideas please...

Moving to Zone Defense

#3 is growing. Oh wait, did we mention that? Ya. No longer one parent per kid. Time to share the love family, or grow more. 

We had a lovely photo session today to remind us this is actually happening (11/30), and Mark and I feel like we are seasoned ultra sound viewers. We recognized 85% of the images as part of the human body! Big improvement over the first time where the tech had to point out everything but the foot.

Can you tell what the gender is just looking at that profile? (I guess we weren't that seasoned we couldn't either).

 (It's the same picture)

We will reveal on Saturday... feel free to guess in the meantime.

Beach... What!?

Jackson's been in this habit lately of saying "WHAT?!" after we tell him something exciting, like "tomorrow we have swimming lessons," or "aunt Savannah is leaving on her mission today." He says it as though he can't believe whatever you are telling him, but he has that sparkle of excitement lurking underneath a raised eyebrow and crooked smile. Most likely it perpetuates because we think it's hilarious.

I felt this surprised "what!?" feeling when a friend of mine told me about a beach that was only an hour from DC. The beach wasn't on the Atlantic ocean with crashing waves, or swarms of people, but it had sand, warm water, and it was 1 hour away--not 3, like every other beach we have visited.

We went on what is likely to be the last 78 degree, low humidity day until autumn, and I must say... it was so nice to be burning our feet on the sand.



The beach is along the Chesapeake bay, where there are apparently multiple sandy spots not owned by private households. This particular beach had bathrooms, and nets to keep the jelly fish out.

 

 And no giant waves to knock toddling water carriers down.

 And shallow enough water to be enjoyed by the resident 4 year old swimmer.

I feel like this treasure of knowledge is so precious I've been proselyting it to all friends who live in the area.

I love when their faces scrunch into their own version of "what!?"