A Few Kid Updates...

Emerson Updates...

Here's how I know Emerson has a 4-year-old brother and also how I know she's a 2-year-old...
She says things like, "Never!" "This is not my day!" "It's not fair!" "You're not my friend anymore!" "I'm never playing with you again!"
I know this is our red flag to really get control of Zane's language, because she is copying everything!! Even though she has all these crazy responses that she uses, she's also doing a million cute things and saying a million cute things a day.
* She says, "Mommy, I have bad news for you - I don't like _____," and then she pauses and yells, "I love it!" Yes, another Zane copy but so cute coming from her!
* She is starting to recognize letters and numbers and is starting to ask about them a lot. She uses her finger to point to words and acts like she's sounding out words and reading them - just makes something up that makes sense.
* She does puzzles all day everyday. She can do 48-piece pieces and less all alone. For bigger ones, she needs some help but is amazing at them.
* She has never gotten out of her bed since we switched her to a big girl bed a few months ago - what a good girl! Well, Zane talked her into sneaking out once (we could hear him whispering) but usually if he gets out she tells him no. She also waits till the clock turns green (7:00) in the morning to get up, unless Zane talks her into it.
* She randomly tells all of us she loves us all day. Either just "I love you" or "I love you more than the whole world" or "You're the best Mommy" or others.
* When she wants to leave the table for something and come back to finish her meal, she very seriously says, "Don't eat my food. Leave it right there. I'll be right back!"
* When we can't understand something she says she tells us, "You're not listening to me!" and repeats it louder.
* She leaves the 's' off the beginning of words so "spin" is "pin" etc.
* Her imagination is awesome, I'm sure a big part because of Zane's influence. She pretend plays most of the day and is really coming up with creative ideas of what to play.
* She is pretty much fearless with anything and everything.
* She loves "girls days" with Mommy and is also loving Dad a bunch lately. She especially loves dancing with him.
* When Zane asks for a turn with a toy, she answers with "In a second" or "someday" or "no thanks."


Zane Updates:
* Zane is reading now. He can read Bob books, which mostly have 3 letters words and sight words. He can also write any 3 letter words and a lot of other words by sounding them out. He can decipher between beginning, ending, and middle sounds.
* He can do all sorts of math - for sure easy adding and subtracting, what comes before or after a number, counting by 10s, reading 2 and some 3 digit numbers, counting base-10 blocks (100's, 10's, and 1's together to make numbers), etc.
* He's really into making books where he write a story and illustrates each page.
* He is so funny - such a good sense of humor. I wish I could think of all the examples. He exchanges words in songs a lot, jokes around, etc.
* He told us the other day when he used a "figure of speech" and explained what that meant to Emmy
* He also still makes up stories a ton - he's into super heroes right now so is always in character as some made up super hero. He tells about what he's doing like it's totally true. Like, this morning he said, "I watched the news this morning and they said that Doc Oc is coming to town and wants to fight Super Zane, me. So I better get ready. But don't worry, I always win because I'm super strong and super fast..."
* He always has some game or story going on while he's playing. On the playground or play area, there's always some imaginary person who is chasing him or he's trying to find, or some mystery going on, or villains to fight. He always drags Emerson along for the ride too, which is fun.
* We're working on teaching him not to complain so much. He's going through a phase of finding the negative in things. ex. When he gets to have icecream for dessert, he'll complain that it's not the kind he wanted. So we're starting to take fun things away if he complains about the way they happen or what they are.
• He's also working on being patient and understanding that saying yes but later is different than saying no. We want him to be thankful for what he has instead of complaining about what he doesn't. Don't we all need that lesson?
* He loves school and loves his friends.