Tuesday, July 3, 2012

20 months

20 months old means that it is only 4 months to Jack and Madelynn's second birthday.  Where has the time gone?  I ask that all of the time, but nowadays when I see one of their baby pictures hanging in the hallway I just stop and wonder where the time has gone.  My house is now full of very active, loud toddlers!  There are no more babies here.  It is also amazing how quickly that time is forgotten...maybe it was because I spent most of the past 20 months severely sleep deprived but I am thankful for this blog and the many pictures I have taken to document these early years.  Speaking of pictures, I will post some soon, I promise!

Jack has been very busy lately.  His favorite activity right now is buckling things--he will spend his time buckling and unbuckling the strap on his booster chair, his carseat and the strap of the grocery cart.  He can also pull the chair out from the kitchen table, climb into it himself and if he pleases (and he does) he climbs onto the table chanting "no no no" and shaking his finger.  I think somebody has been telling him NOT to climb on the table and he appropriately directs himself and his sister if she trys to do the same (and she does).  He runs all over the place and the pitter patter of his feet is the sweetest sound I have every heard.  Every time our front door opens he exclaims "Ti!" (Auntie) and she is currently one of his favorite people.  He is always hoping for a visit from his auntie.  He chases Chloe all over the house and rolls all over her.  When daddy works in the garage Jack sits on the steps and watches him.  Sometimes he goes into the garage and tries to hand daddy his tools.  Jack is also very clean.  If he spots a speck of paper on the floor he brings it to me to throw away and he still loves to pick up all of his toys.  He takes a bucket, fills it up with toys and then dumps it into a larger bucket.  He has also figured out how to empty his toy bins and turn them over to use them as handy step stools to reach anything he wants to on the kitchen counters.  He is a tough kid to keep up with but he is so much fun and such a sweet little boy.

Madelynn is very theatrical.  She has a facial expression for everything.  She has a new scowl that she gives when she is not pleased or skeptical, she has a silly face that she makes by scrunching up her nose and she has her very interested, engrossed face that she uses when she reads a book on her own or in her parents laps.  Madelynn loves to read.  She will sit still through eight or ten books and after momma has read them, she takes the same books to daddy to read over again.  She is also very loving.  She picks up her stuffed animals or her baby dolls and holds them tight, giving them kisses and cuddles.  She loves to be wrapped up tightly in her tiger blanket (it can only be the tiger blanket and no one else is allowed to use this special blanket).  She follows her brother on all kinds of adventures and tries to keep track of him.  We will often hear her yelling from the other room "Jaaaaa," trying to keep tabs on him.  She loves to pick out her clothes and try to dress herself.  She also brings Jack his clothes when it is time to get dressed.  Madelynn has been showing a lot of interest lately in potty training so we have been working on just letting her sit on her little frog potty.  So far, she likes to sit and get up and sit.  She also thinks that she needs to take all of her clothes off when she is on the potty and she is constantly taking her diaper off and running around naked.  She also likes to unroll an entire roll of toilet paper in one sitting. 

That is our crazy, yet wonderful household as of lately.  We went to the zoo this past weekend and when I told them where we were going they both were yelling, "zoo!" over and over again until we got there.  It is so much fun to experience things through their eyes.  My next post will have some pictures!