My Sweet Ones are Growing Up!

Yesterday it hit me so hard - just how fast my two babies are growing up! I got so emotional yesterday at the park watching Z and E play and interact with each other and other kids and just couldn't believe how big they both were. At one point, Emmy was sliding down a slide holding my hand and Zane was helping me catch her at the bottom. Her little toothy, scrunched nose smile was as big as it could be, and Zane was so proud of himself for taking care of his sister and helping his Mommy. I also overheard Zane asking another kid who wasn't moving out his way to "Please let me get through" without getting mad or frustrated.
Then, we went to McDonald's and Emerson was seriously eating french fries and then crawling and cruising all over the bottom of the play place and laughing at her brother playing. Zane ate his whole lunch and then played, held his little friend's hand to help her, and took turns with other kids on the basketball court.
With all the time that we've spent trying to mold and shape Zane and Emerson into sweet and caring and happy people, and with the time spent lately dealing with fighting over toys, sharing, tantrums, fussing, etc., it's so refreshing and nice to see the benefits of our hard work. It's so fun to watch them change into who they are going to be. :) I feel so blessed to have two beautiful, wonderful, healthy, amazing, challenging, and energetic kids!

Here's what they've been up to...
Emerson:
* Stands up on her own without holding on and walks with help
* Crawls SUPER fast everywhere
* Gives us hugs and kisses when we ask her to and waves when we say hi or bye
* Uses her thumb to push buttons and other things on toys
* Loves swinging and climbing and sliding at the park
* Copies a lot more sounds now, words that we say and sounds like a cow mooing or Zane screaming
* Understands what I say and follows directions like "Go get Zane," "Put that lid in the box," "Let's go upstairs," "Put the ball in there," etc.
* "Runs" away when we chase her and squeals and laughs
* Has all four front top teeth and two bottom ones
* Dances every single time she hears any beat or music
* Plays rough with Zane in our ball pit, tackles him, rolls over, gets bumped and loves it
* Fusses at me when I'm holding Zane and tries to push him out of my arms

Zane:
*Knows all his letters and most sounds and is now able to tell me what a lot of words start with based on the sound. He also pretends that he's writing or reading words and tells me what it says. He can spell his name.
* Can count to 20 - but some of the teen numbers get mixed up and he adds in eleventeen.
* Tells Emerson so many things that crack us up. He lectures her a lot too. Here are some examples: "That's not funny, Emerson," "Get out of the bathroom, Emmy. It's too dirty," "No more Emmys jumping on the bed," "No, no, no Emmy. I'm playing with that right now,"
* Holds hands with Emerson in the car sometimes and they pass toys back and forth
*We had to pull over to take him to the bathroom and I told him we were going to my grandparents house but then ended up having to go to a gas station. When we got into the bathroom, he looked around and said, "This is NOT Grandma Shirley and Pappy's house!"
* Knows all of our full names, including middle and last. The other day, I asked him his full name and he said, "Zane Jesus, I mean Zane Moses Weingartner."
* We sing "The Wheels on the Bus" in the car a lot and the other day he told me, "Take me home, bus driver."
* When we visited Nell in Greeley, we were leaving and it smelled really bad, like usual. He wouldn't stop talking about it. He said it smelled like a big poop, giraffes, the zoo, etc. and kept saying, "Eeeww."
* Some of his catch phrases lately... "That makes me feel frustrated, that's impossible, I'm checking my facebook, sending a text, what the heck is that, Emmy's like, Where did my toy go? I'm starving, What are you talking about? Protect me from Emerson."
* Everytime we see Chick-fil-a, he says, "Eat more chicken!" and pretends he's the cow.
* When anything pokes him, he calls it a porcupine. He also pretends that there's a "nice porcupine" around a lot, sort of like a little imaginary friend.
* When he was acting like a dog, he started singing all his songs with "ruff ruff." For " Gotta Feeling" he sang, "I gotta ruff ruff. That tonight's gonna be a ruff ruff." Instead of "Mazel tov", he said "Mazel ruff."
* When he didn't want Zack to go to work, he told him, "Mommy said that you should stay home and not go to work."
* Zack says, "She's telling you your business" when Emerson is fussing or yelling at us so then Zane tells us, "Emmy is telling me my biz-a-miss."
* He got an arm out of his buckle while he was in his car seat and yelled, "To infinity and beyond" with that arm sticking straight up in the air.
* We asked him to sing and he said, "No, I can't because I lost my voice." Then, the next day, he told us he found his voice again.
*He called the book "Diary of a Worm" "Diarrhea of a worm," and when he built something with his blocks, he called it the "Barbara Bush shop" instead of the "Barbara Shop." He also made New York with his blocks and told me all about all the buildings.
* We were at the zoo, and I told Zane to say hi to the monkeys and he said in a matter of fact voice,"They can't hear us and they can't talk, Mommy." I swear he almost rolled his eyes!
* He names his poop, like Mommy poop, Brother poop, or animals, and talks in different voices for them. When he flushes he tells them bye and then responds back for them in their different voices.