Milestones

It seems like this last week both our kids decided to take a quantum leap (as my brother calls it) in their abilities. The winter months have not dulled Afton's love of the swing, and now that we can go to the park and out in our backyard again she is even more dedicated to it. This week she has gotten to the next level... pumping her legs to swing herself. She even pushes her weight back and forth to get her momentum going! This is great for her because she feels so big and old. Great for me because I don't have to constantly push her. Afton also loves to write her name. She gets all the letter written correctly, although the order doesn't really mean anything yet. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that she is turning 3 in a week!


A few funny Afton-isms are worth recording:

1) She has made the number 29 and the number 5 kind of the ultimate descriptors for everything. For example, she'll say "When I turn 5 I'll be bigger and can do everything." And she'll assign those numbers to things too. Yesterday she woke up from her nap and reported that it was a really good nap saying, "Mom, my nap was 29 today!" When she asked how Ben's nap was, I told her (to her great satisfaction) that his nap was 5. Fantastic.

2) She still describes going barefoot as having "naked toes." This brings me endless joy for some reason.

3) At dinner last night Jared was praising me for being very smart (can't remember why but, I'll take it thank you!) When he asked Afton if she thought I was smart, she said wholeheartedly, "Yeah Mom, you're really fart!"
That whole "sm" sounds is tough for her and always comes out as "f".
hence, smile=file, smart=fart, etc.

4) She has been practicing the song "I've Been Working on the Railroad" constantly and can sing the whole dang thing even the fee fi fiddely i oooooo part perfectly. So cute.


Ben is 9 1/2 months old and this week it finally dawned on him that he can start to move. And once that idea lodged itself in his brain, he has totally embraced it! In the space of one day he made TONS of progress. He went through the whole getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth, to pushing himself to sitting position, to pulling himself up to standing all in ONE DAY! Jared and I are scrambling to baby-proof the house now. I think this weekend he'll be crawling. It is exciting to see him feel all proud of himself for accomplishing these major milestones. Now he won't be so ticked when he gets left behind by Afton. It also means that we are in the phase of having to chase him around all over the place and get him out of sticky situations. I'm happy for him, but I will miss the put-him-in-a-spot-and-he'll-stay phase.


This week he has also made a jump in cognition. He has expanded his babbling repertoire and I think he even might be trying to say Mom now. Ah, shucks. How come that feels so awesome?