girls just wanna have fun

Libby and Morgan are interacting more and more and it's pretty cute!

Sorry the video is a little dark. Morgan is the one doing all the laughing in the beginning. It's hard to tell if you aren't used to their voices.

Plurals

I am continually amazed at what a sponge Casey is. This is especially true of language. He can already talk in complete sentences (when he chooses), name all the letters of the alphabet and identify what sound each letter makes. But Casey's most recent discovery is "plurals". He is struggling with this a little bit even though he is rather confident that he's not.

On my birthday we were in the car on the way out to dinner. All the sudden Casey starts saying, "flagus, flagus flagus." Matt and I were at a loss for what he was talking about. Finally we realized he was pointing to banners hanging from street lamps down the side of the road. We corrected him and told him they were "Flags" not "Flag-us". In fact, I've had a few arguments with him about it lately. He is adamant that there are a lot of Truck-us on the street. I tell him they are called Trucks and he says, "NO! Truck-us Mommy!"

Despite this little hiccup, I'm pretty impressed with his development!

Get a Move on

Morgan has really mastered her low crawl. It's very similar to how Casey crawled. She can get around FAST now!

Around the House

Some recent pics of the kids around the house. Just so you all know, Casey has reached the "I'm too busy/independent to get my picture taken" phase.

Morgan crawling away from Libby. Safe Haven under the music table!

Casey taking a rest on the ottoman with Morgan's Boppy!

Morgan crawling under the exersaucer...what a cutie!

Who's that girl?

Firefighter Casey to the rescue!

More Casey Quips

I am due for a big blog post (just need to download some pictures) but in the interim here are some of the cute things Casey has been saying.

One of his favorite shows is Sid the Science Kid. I really enjoy the show because it is one of the few educational cartoons that don't focus on reading or vocabulary. Anyway, there are 3 kids that go to school with Sid: Mae, Gerald, and Gabriella.

AKA

Mae, Garold (with a G like Gary), and Gam-mella

Every day when Matt leaves for work, Casey now says, "See ya later!"
Some days when he returns from work, Caseys says, "where ya been?"

We are increasingly amazed at his ability to apply concepts that he has learned. He knows all his letters, can sing the alphabet, and 90% of the time can tell you the correct sound each letter makes. We did not know that he has also learned his shapes too. While eating chips from Chipotle a few nights ago, he says, "I'm eating Tri-nangles!"

Casey is really into assigning ownership to things. For instance, he walks around saying, "Daddy's shoes, Morgan's wattle, Libby's paci, Casey's car." But, his favorite is, "Mommy's wah-he, " and, "Daddy's beer!"

To sum it all up, I am so impressed with Casey's vocabulary. There isn't much that he says that I don't understand, and he rarely is at a loss for the right word when he wants something. He can even put full sentences together now consisting of 4 or 5 words. The kicker is that this time last year we were a little concerned about his lack of language skills. He probably only had 5 words at the time.

I guess the lesson is that kids have to develop at their own pace and intervention is not always necessary. Sometimes kids just need the chance to figure it out on their own.

Casey's new pal - M-cole

Siamese Turtle

In the past two weeks, we have gone on two outings with our friend Nichole. She and Matt are in the same Army reserve unit and we have become good friends in the past year, since their return from Iraq. Nichole loves kids, and Casey loves Nichole.

Last week we went to a "water park" at Miami Whitewater Park. It's more like a water playground. They have a bunch of places where water shoots up out of the ground and two play ground slides that have a little water running down them. It's really fun, age appropriate, and only $2 for kids 2 and older. Casey had a blast. He is so tentative about things (I attribute it to him not going to daycare with other kids) but Nichole is really good about making him push through his fears. Morgan was not a huge fan of the water park so I never managed to take any pictures...sorry.

Today Nichole, Casey, Morgan, Libby and I went to the Cincinnati Zoo. I get anxiety even thinking about taking all 3 of the kids out, so this was a huge step. We put Libby in the big stroller, Casey in the umbrella stroller, and Morgan in the sling. It was a lot of fun. Casey saw the Rhinos, Giraffes, White Tiger, Tiger cubs, Monkeys, Gorillas, and Goats. He also went on his first Carousel ride and fed goats for the first time (again, with a little urging from Nichole). I'm posting some of the best pics from the day. I would have never been able to go without some help and really appreciate it. Everyone had a great time both Casey and Libby took a THREE hour nap this afternoon!

My Little Inchworm

Morgan is pre-crawling. She has started inching around from place to place. Sometimes she can make it a few feet in a matter of minutes. She pulls with her arms and pushes with her little toes. As with all things "kid" related, when you try to video or take pictures the child will not preform. So, here is a video of Morgan sort of doing the inchworm...she really can move when she puts her mind to it, despite how it may look on this video.

Casey Quips

Casey has quite the personality and the vocabulary to go along with it. Most of the time he is spot on but sometimes he has his own way of saying things.

The manmail comes each day to our house with letters and packages in the manmail truck

Make sure your bring your rainbrella if it looks stormy out

Daddy wears sandals but Mommy wears foo fahs (flip flops)


Some other funny incidents:

Last night a cloud in his book was raining snow

This morning I asked him if he had pooped and he said, "NO!" I said, are you telling the truth? And, he said, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The other day he asked me if he could call Nonny. I told him that she was at work. He asked me is Gran was at work too and I said, "no, she's retired." His response..."Gran's Tired!" (Gran got a kick out of this and confirmed that he is correct)