Health-Conscious

I bought Max and Ella each a chocolate advent calendar to countdown to Christmas. This morning Max said to me, “You know what? The thing on the back told me that the very last chocolate on Christmas has a lot of fat in it.” When I said, “Oh really?” he said, “but not too much.” I hope I'm not making this poor kid paranoid.

Max has been working on some worksheets from school and he's been practicing writing his name. He told me this morning that he's been writing his name a lot at school. I told him, “And you're getting really good at it!” and he said, “Apparently almost too good.”

Family Support

Today at church, Max bore his testimony (and did a very good job.) When he was about halfway through, Ella yelled to him, “Good Maxi-boy!”

A few weeks ago when we were taking Max to school, the moon was still up. Ella was really excited to see the moon and she kept talking about it. Then she said, “I wanna go up in the sky with the moon. I need a moon step stool.”

The Joy of Making Your Own Rules

Nate was walking outside with Carter and Carter told him about the new game he just made up. He calls it the "Super Super Bad Game." He can punch and when he races he doesn't have to say, "on your mark, get set, go"; he just goes.
Ahhhhhhhhhh, freedom!

Ella

Tonight Cory was helping Ella say a prayer and he told her to say, "Please bless Mommy and baby Sam." Ella said, "Bless Ella."

A month ago or so, I said something to Max and called him "Boot Strap" (one of his nicknames is Boot Strap Booah, his "pirate name.") Then Ella said, "Max is Boot Strap, Ella is Awesome!"

Sounds Like Crap to Me

As usual, Ella was pooping her diaper tonight. She stopped moving, became silent, and got "all teared up." Helping Ella prepare for potty training, Shell asked "Are you pooping, Ella?"

"Yes."

Then Max jumps in, "Really? It doesn't sound like pooping."

"Hmmm...what does pooping sound like, Max?" (Only dads ask these questions.)

"Drop. Drop. Drop. Drop."

Well, at least we know he's potty trained!

My Brave Bilingual Babe

A few months ago, I gave Cailia some food and she said "Shi-shi" (thank you in Chinese). I didn't think I heard her right, so I asked her what she said and she said "Shi-shi, thanks!" She now alternates saying thanks in English and Chinese. Then tonight when I was putting her to bed, I put her baby down next to her and she turned to the baby and said "Ni-hao" (Hi in Chinese). Who said you can't learn anything from tv?!

Also today I was trying to open a bottle of bubbles and couldn't get the seal off of it so I said quietly mostly to myself, "I need something sharp", but just kept trying to do it with my fingers. A few minutes later I heard Cailia yelling "Help Mommy, I stuck!" So I went to see what was wrong, and found her with only her belly balancing on my laptop desk, teetering back and forth about to fall off, with my scissors in her hand! I didn't know she knew I kept them up there! I also didn't know she could figure out that when I need something sharp, scissors will help! She's smart, but too brave for me! She also climbed up on Jeff's motorcycle twice today. She reminds me a lot of Jen, good thing her legs aren't long enough to climb the walls yet!

At Least He's Honest

For the past couple of months, we've been using charts with stickers to reward Max's good behavior. When he fills a chart, he earns what he's been working towards. (It's been lots of different things like a new bike, a trip to Jumpin' Jacks, etc.) Most recently, he was working on earning some new Curious George stamps. A couple of days ago he told me, "Mom, after I earn my Curious George stamps, don't do any more charts because I don't want to have to be good anymore. I want to do things I'm not supposed to do."