Sam has been very concerned lately with who's doing something when we talk about what's going on that day. He runs through the list when we say we are going to the zoo, daycare, etc.: "And Anna? And Daddy? And Mama?" Almost always at the end he'll add an emphatic "No Bella (our dog)!" with a shake of his head. Imagine his surprise when we told him that in fact, Bella was coming too when we all treked to PetsMart last weekend to buy our dog birthday presents! When we talk about things in the distant future like going swimming this summer, it's the same list run down: "And Anna? And Mama? And Daddy? No Bella!" with an occaisonal variation of names with daycare people, grandparents, etc.
Along the same lines, he's asked to go to work with me in the mornings with a "Me work?" It's hard to resist not smuggling him in by hiding him in my school bags.
Maybe he's just going through a little bit of an increased Mama-Love stage, because in the past few days he's also asked me every night to stay by him after I lay him in his crib at bedtime. "Mama stay right here?" and "Mama sleep right here by me?" make it awfully hard to tear myself away at night. Every night I explain that Mama and Daddy have to sleep in our own bed and so last night he added, "Bella sleep right here by me?" I have a feeling that separating rooms with Sam and Anna down the road is going to be harder on him than her.
And finally, lately Sam's been expressing things in the world of make believe more often. He'll often say things like "A bee bit me!" when there isn't even a bee around, or things like "Wind blow me over!" He isn't trying to pull one over on us, I think he's just trying to sort out what's real and not, and what's okay to say and not.
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Anna's her own little cheerleader. She's always been big on referring to herself in third person, although she does use the words I and me appropriately as well. Whenever she does something that requires a little effort, she's the first one to say, "Yay Anna!" I think it's cute that she's so proud of herself for what she accomplishes- from opening a tricky door on her own to picking up toys unprompted, or singing a song to drawing something well.
Yesterday on our walk with the stroller, Sam wanted to wear his Daddy's hat. After he had it awhile, Anna on her own said, "1, 2, 3... Anna's turn!" Then Sam handed it over without a fuss. We generally use 1, 2, 3 for doling out discipline or stopping something they would want to carry on longer. It's vindicating when it works so well that they use it unprompted to share nicely.
Miss Smarty Pants now recognizes stop signs where ever we go. If you ask her what one says she says "Stop!" So now when I'm driving she'll be my little backseat driver and tell me to stop before I get all the way to the sign. Both Anna and Sam can also "read" the Target sign where ever they see it(it's called environmental print- a pre-reading skill to recognize words you see often in your familiar environment). Not sure what that says about how much I shop at Target...
Anna has also moved on from the lots of repetitive NOs stage. Of course we still hear a fair share of nos from our toddlers, but for now Anna's phrases du jour are "I no like it" or "I no want it." I'm finding that the extra words make the refusals a lot more pleasant and easier to diffuse with the options of choices for her. She's being a lot more particular about what she wears and often turning down my pajama or hair clip selections. Her current faves are the pjs with hippos on them and the hairclips with purple stars.
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