Fun kids

I love the ages of my kids. I think I always think that though. No matter what age they are I think "now this is my favorite age". It's funny to me that I can think 3 years old is my 'favorite age' but then also 14 months is my 'favorite age'. How can both be my favorite? I have now been through both ages and stages, so shouldn't I just pick one? They are both so much fun in totally different ways.

I realized the other night that Lexi is 14 months and Jackson is 41 months. As a bit of a numbers dork this was kinda cool to me. Then add in that Benjamin should be 24 months (another '4' in there). Neat.

At 14 months Lexi is discovering new things every day. She is obsessed right now with 'honking' our noses and showing us her belly. Every chance she gets she plays with her belly and specifically her belly button. It's a pretty cool bodily feature apparently. Her favorite toys are her pop-up toy (one of those that has 5 different skills for the baby to figure out and when they push it or turn it an animal pops up), any and all stuffed animals, her blankie, shoes of any kind, and basically anything her brother is playing with. She signs a few words; more, water, milk, all done, eat, and just learned 'help'. She picked it up on the 2nd time of me showing her! Smart girl! She also is trying to speak. She will imitate Mommy, Daddy, hot and ouch (while pinching me). She also has a certain word for Jackson and blankie, but I cannot remember them when she isn't saying them because they do not sound like either word, lol! Blankie is something like 'meemee'. She is walking now! She's getting braver with it every day and takes about 8 steps in a row now. All the while giving us the biggest, proudest smile possible. Then she will plop down on her bum and laugh, then start crawling faster than the speed of light. And she is so cuddly and loving. She often just randomly will crawl over to us and give us a cuddle. She is also learning to kiss. Very sweet little girl.

Then there is Jackson. Man oh man is that kid 'high energy', lol! He is so many things. He is loving, compassionate, stubborn, inquisitive, funny, short tempered, smart, etc. I really do enjoy spending my days with him. His favorite things right now are puzzles (we just brought them back out for him and he is obsessed), Nintendo DS (I introduced him to it in preparation for our 5 hour flight next month), trains, and 'helping' me with anything, especially if it involves screwdrivers, lol! He talks nonstop, unless someone else is around or he isn't with Brian or I. Then he's very shy and quiet. I'm sure that will change soon, I think he's started talking a bit more at preschool. Oh, and he loves preschool. In the mornings he claims he doesn't like it and doesn't want to go, but then he will not leave when I go to pick him up! He loves playing outside with Victoria and Tiffany (or Toria and Tiffy as he calls them) or playing with Ryder. There are only 2 other boys in his class so he's a little more calm than I thought he would be. I think it's really good for him. He seems to be coming out of his shell a lot and will actually play with other kids willingly. He's come so far in the last few months. I am relieved that he is doing so well.

But my favorite thing right now is watching them together. Individually each kid is so much fun and fascinating to me, but put them together and I just sit there in awe. Whether it is watching them have fun playing together or watching them fight about something. It is just awesome. Jackson is so patient with Lexi and wants to teach her things. If he is playing with a toy and she wants it they often get into a little match. But usually Jackson will just hold his ground and not let her take it, then she will start screaming and trying to hit him to get the toy (to anyone not in the room watching this they always think Jackson is being mean to her, but it's just her dramatic nature showing through). Almost always, Jackson will then find Lexi a different toy and try to give her that to calm her down. He hates to see her crying. If we aren't directly where they are and Lexi is upset Jackson will run to her room and get her a soother and her blankie. He is so compassionate to her it just makes me beam. And they LOVE playing together. Yesterday we were home all afternoon and neither kid napped well, so they started getting a little stir-crazy. We had a fairly large box kicking around so I made it into a car for them. Then we tied a rope onto the end of it and Jackson pulled Lexi all around the house in the 'car'. Any time I tried to take Lexi out of the box she lost her freaking mind and screamed bloody murder. So then I'd plunk her back in the box and she'd happily wait for Jackson to start pulling her again. And he didn't mind, he loved how excited she was about it. It was a good afternoon.

Other than those updates it's basically the same old same old. The kids are healthy and happy. We are healthy and happy. And that's all that matters!