Reading

Richard read his first book tonight! Granted it had about 2-4 words per page and no word was longer than 3 letters. However, he read it! He's so excited! I'm very proud of him and hope to have my life organized enough to spend 15 or so minutes a day helping him read.

Trilling

Richard and Audrey would trill when they were angry. They started at about 4-5 months or so and quit at about a year. I am unaware of any other babies that do that. Until now. Peter has started! Why do they do that?

Mobility

Marie is starting to be mobile. She can roll and twist her body enough to gradually move. Today she turned around, got off her playmat, and made it to the middle of the kitchen floor. Peter is not quite as good as she is. I think it's because he has more weight to lug around. However, he can move some as well. While it's so fun to see them getting stronger, that means a whole new level of excitement at our house.

throwing things

Richard and Audrey usually play pretty well together. However, when they do, they start throwing things. They take out toys just so they can throw them. They don't play with their toys. They just throw them. Then the toys break or the books rip or the walls get dented.
I'm tired of taping books that they've thrown, but I hate to just take their books away. I hate to put their toys away, because I need them to have something to do during the day.
Any suggestions on how to teach them that throwing toys and making messes for the sake of making messes is not the best way to treat toys and books?

Yard

Our fence is finally finished! The kids had so much fun playing outside to their heart's content and I enjoyed that I didn't have to be out there with them! Our patio is also now finished, and I think it looks totally wicked! I want to put some potted plants on it. However, it gets really windy where we live, and so I haven't yet decided the best thing. We'll also get a grill.

They've also started building garden boxes so I can plant a small garden. I am excited to have some fresh veggies! Now we just have to wait for the irrigation water to be turned on to finish up the bush beds and get a shed!

Teeth

Audrey has had a couple of run-ins lately with objects. She's hit her face on the back of Richard's head. She hit her face on something when she fell of the stool by our counter. It seems she also did something else. So, last night, I noticed her right front tooth is going gray. That means it's at least hurt if not dying. She doesn't complain of pain, but she will point to her tooth if you ask her if she has owies in her mouth. She eats and drinks fine. It moves slightly but doesn't look out of alignment.
I called the dentist today and he told me the only thing to do is wait and see what happens or do a root canal. She's 2 1/2, so she'd need general anesthesia. Plus, it's a baby tooth. I'm not paying for a root canal and putting her through all that. He said they're often not successful anyway. So, we'll wait and see what happens. She could just have a funny colored tooth until it falls out at a normal age. He said there's a chance it could get lighter again and kind of "heal" and then fall out normally. Or, it could become infected and then need to be pulled. For now we are just watching it to see what happens.

Rice cereal

We have entered the trenches of solid foods. I don't particularly like teaching a baby to eat solids, because you have to give them the same bite of food over and over and over. However, they are getting old enough now that we CAN try. Also, now Scott at least has something he can feed Marie while I'm at work.

We tried Marie first during dinner time. She took a few bites and seemed confused by what was going on. After a few minutes, she started turning away and then cried. Such seems to be the first introduction with all my children. We'll keep trying and hopefully she'll warm up soon.

Peter was hysterically tired when it was dinner time, and so we tried him the first time he woke up after going to bed. He wasn't too thrilled.

Making Cookies

My mom made some cookie dough with a recipe we wanted to try. My kids and I had the fun of cutting out and frosting the cookies!

Richard wanted all the colors on the cookie. Festive!Audrey enjoyed licking the frosting off the knife more than she enjoyed putting it on the cookie.

Audrey with her doughnuts

Here is Audrey enjoying the doughnut she received when she gave up her binkie

Success!

Audrey went ALL night without her binkie! Truth be told, it started because I couldn't find her binkie. That's when we ended up taking it away from Richard. Totally spontaneous. No big party planned. No huge "put-the-binkie-in-the-trash" moment after picking out a replacement toy. I just couldn't find it.

So, I told her if she could be a big girl and go all night without her binkie, I would buy her a doughnut today. Well, since it's hard for me to get to the store, we have to wait until Scott gets home. So, I haven't done it yet. However, she did great! She didn't whine or cry one more time!

This morning, I made sure I was the one to find the binkie, so she didn't find it and think she could still use it. Hopefully she'll be fine with the fact that this is permanent change and not just a one time thing.

In the meantime, we've finally gotten rid of Audrey's binkie! Now if she could just be fully potty-trained...