Hugs

This morning, for some reason, Zane and Emerson were playing so well together. They were doing puzzles together, playing with cars together, chasing each other and cracking up, and then they started giving each other hugs. They must have done it 15 times before I finally started video taping it because I kept thinking they were going to stop. I think it's funny at the end how Em starts giving Zane kisses and he turns right in time to get a smacker right on the lips. :) :)

Hugs from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Characters

Here's Zane dressing up like Fred from Scooby-Doo, and then the video is him running as fast as he can like Dash from Incredibles. Our house was such a mess, but we just cleared a path for him and he ran back and forth for about a half an hour...really trying to go as fast as he could.

Dash from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Dancing

Any time we play rap music, both of our kids go crazy dancing to it. How can you resist, I guess. Emmy's got some new moves - with her arms. And of course, who wants to wear clothes when you're trying to dance?

Dancing Girl from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

More Dancing from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Updates

Zane:
He pretends to read things all the time. Yesterday, he was "reading" the newspaper and said in a serious voice while pointing to the words, "Oh, no, Mommy. This is really bad news. It says that kids were pushing at Monkey Bizness" (an indoor playplace).

He told me, "Cadence (his friend at school) and I were talking at lunch yesterday. We talked all about the movies that we've seen in the theaters." He just sounds all grown up sometimes.

I casually told Zane that when he listens to us and obeys, it's a way to show us he loves us. I had no idea that he would grab onto that so much. Several times a day now, in the midst of getting upset or misbehaving, he'll doing it and say, "Mommy, I'm listening to you. I'm showing you I love you."

I asked Zane hypothetically if he was going to have another baby brother or sister, what would he name them. He said he'd name a boy "Little Mister" and a girl "Cookie."

He loves having "Pajama Parties." Today, he asked Emmy to go upstairs with him to help pick out a new pair of underwear and pajamas for their party. I could hear him talking so sweetly to her, saying, "No, I don't think I want those this time. How about these?" They both came down with PJs ready to have their party.

Zane's been into super heroes and villains lately. He comes up with such creative super powers, vocabulary, and stories surrounding different characters. I can't even believe what he comes up with. When we play "The Incredibles," his character is "Dash," the fast little super hero boy, so he's been getting lot's of exercise running everywhere and has been doing everything fast.

He says, "If you exist" instead of "If you insist" and says, ""berember" instead of "remember."

Emerson:
She helps Zane with his puzzles by giving him pieces and she cheers and claps for him when he gets a piece right.

Her words are getting more clear and she's starting to talk all the time. She copies every single thing Zane says. A lot of it is still not understandable but a lot is now. :)

She's pretending so much better too. I LOOOOVE watching her imagination grow - it helps that her brother is constantly imagining things. She pretends things are suckers or ice cream. She pretends her baby is crying and makes crying sounds and then takes care of her. She acts like a dog and bunny a lot. And all sorts of other things.

She likes Elmo and Dora shows the best.

She knows what character she plays in our role-playing games. So, if Zane ever tries to switch her to a different character, she argues with him. He tried to make her be a robot in a Scooby Doo game, but she got upset and kept saying, "No, I'm Scooby Doo!!"

When I drop Zane off at school, she goes and joins in with whatever the kids are doing...cutting, magnets, blocks, etc. She wants to be big so badly.

She loves wearing sunglasses, hair clips, and when she talks on the phone, she rests it on her shoulder.

Emmy talks a lot about how things are her own or if Zane has his milk she asks for her own. A few days ago, I took a lick of her ice cream cone and she yelled, "No, Mommy! Your own!"

She also uses phrases like, "Where's the other one?" "I don't know" "I want that one." and others.

When she trips or falls, she pops right back up and yells in a really high, squealy, excited voice, "Woah, I fell down!!!"

When she purposely does something naughty - like throws food on the floor or takes something away and we tell her no, she usually just laughs like it's funny. She also doesn't mind being in time-out at all. She usually just sings to herself and smiles up at me. What a stinker.

When she sees characters in books, TV, or other places, she points out who reminds her of herself or Zane or us. She says, "That's me!"

She still gets nervous when the trash truck comes and runs to me. Any loud noise usually makes her a little bit uneasy. The other day, Zane was fake roaring like Shrek, and she got really scared and started crying so hard. Zane thought it was funny and we kind of did too, but felt bad for her!

Pictures Lately

Starting from a few weeks ago, these are a few pictures of what we've been up to...

Zane and I attempted a Gingerbread House. It turned out pretty silly, but was so much fun for Zane. He basically did the entire thing completely by himself.
Another project that he was proud of...
We had our playgroup over for lunch and all the kids (12) had a "picnic" in the kitchen.
We went to the Zoo last week and then stayed for the Zoo Lights. They love the penguins.
I wish I would have gotten a picture or video, but I didn't catch when a monkey came right up to Zane and jumped up at him, growled at him, and tried to scratch him through the glass. I jumped back and screamed because it scared me so bad but Zane didn't even flinch. It was crazy.

Emmy hates being in the stroller so we let her walk most of the time, which takes forever but she loves it.


Dressing up in their chef outfit and apron. Zane also got a cool skull apron for Christmas.

Trying out his new Wii Fit game
Just thinking
I made this fort for them for New Year's Eve and we left it up for a couple of days. It took up Zane's whole room. That night, we had a "Pajama Movie Party" and ate snacks and watched Despicable Me. They went to bed early so Zack and I hung out till midnight. It was fun.


We tried to take the kids ice skating last week and the first place we went, they didn't have skates their size - so lame! So, we went to a second place and it was closed for New Year's Day. Bummer. We ended up just hanging out at Tattered Cover Bookstore and we let them share a Vanilla Steamer. The loved having their very own hot drinks.
For one of our playgroups, we went to My Gym. It was good memories for Zane because he used to go there and liked it. He and Emmy both had fun for sure.


This is Emmy playing her "Elmo Game." It's a Sesame Street computer game that she can mostly do independently.

The messiest eater on earth - you probably can't see how messy it really was, but it was soooo bad! She won't leave her bib on lately, which makes for some stained laundry, that's for sure.

Bath time - they love to lay on their bellies next to each other and giggle and play



I had Strep Throat before Christmas and then shortly afterwards, we noticed that Zane had a rash but thought nothing of it. Luckily, since it didn't go away, we decided to take him to the doctor Monday. It turned out that he had Strep so they checked Emmy too, since she had been running a fever of and on and she had it too. Zack went the next day and ended up having a sinus infection so they're all 3 on antibiotics. Yuck.

Emmy Counting

Emerson is an expert at mimicking us. Here's a perfect example. Now, sometimes, when she wants Zane to give her something or if he took something, she'll say, "No Zane!!!" and then start counting for him to give it back by 3. Here's a couple videos of her counting for him to give her back the computer game he was holding.

Emmy Counting Part 1 from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Emmy Counting Part 2 from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Wii, Dr. Seuss, and Puzzles

Here are some videos of Zane lately...

He got the new Nickelodeon Wii Fit game for Christmas so I got one of his first tries on tape. It's tricky because in a lot of the games, you have to use so much coordination - a lot of times your body (on the board) and arms (with the remote) need to do different things. He liked it, but at one point he said, "Woah, this is way too much exercise." I think that's a good sign that it was a good choice in games.

Nickelodeon Wii Fit from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

More Wii from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Zane was making up words to this Dr. Seuss book. It's funny because he knows it should rhyme and gets the rhythm and uses the pictures to think of ideas for his own words. He likes to read to Emmy a lot.

Reading Dr. Seuss from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

He got a bunch of new puzzles for Christmas and is really able to figure them out on his own now. They entertain him for up to hours a day. Here's him and Zack doing on together for the first time.

Zane's New Puzzle Part 1 from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Zack always says funny things and I love how Zane copies him.

Puzzle With Dad Part 2 from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.