Roll Call

Teacher Kerri: Stephen.

Stephen (deep voice): Here!

Teacher Kerri (to Mama): Every day he uses a different voice to answer roll call.

Wheels On The Bus

Stephen (singing from back seat of car): Wheels on the bus go round and round, wheels on the bus go round and round...

Stephen: I like that song! Cuz I little!

The Little Gentleman

Stephen is a little gentleman in almost everything he does. He says please and thank you without being prompted. Whenever he gets some candy or something special he immediately wants to share it with Sarah or make sure that she gets some and knows about it too. And anytime if he has a difference with Sarah, Mama, or Papa he is usually very quick to try to make amends and to give and receive a hug.

Papa (hands Stephen something)
Stephen (beaming): Thank you Papa!

Stephen's Flip-Flops

Mama bought Stephen a pair of Disney's Cars flip-flops somewhere the other day, and Stephen loves them so much he wants to wear them everywhere.

He even wore them to bed. But since they started bothering his feet, he took them off and hugged them in his arms as he went to sleep.

Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!

Stephen likes to wake up every single morning at 6am when we are lucky, 5:45am or earlier when we are not. Lately he has learned to entertain himself playing in the room for a while while Mama and Papa try to get a few more minutes of sleep. (Ever notice that those last few minutes in the morning are the very best moments of rest you can get?)

The other morning I was asleep with a pillow over my face and Stephen came up to me and put his face as close as he could to mine, with a huge grin and whispering,

Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!

Over and over, trying very gently to wake me up.

New Words

Papa recently read how the second child in a family faces language challenges in comparison to the first child, since children only learn when you speak directly to them and are interacting with them, and that indirectly overheard or "secondhand" language makes very little difference. So when there is one child, that child receives all of the talk. When there are two, the talk per child is divided roughly in half. That puts second and later kids behind the firstborn in a statistically significant way.

So we have been trying to speak more to Stephen. It seemed to take effect within days of starting, with Stephen becoming more vocal and saying more words.

Some of his new words he has been saying:

Go!
Bath
Hot! (He pretends he is taking a bath, then steps out and says, Hot! Hot!)
He has been attempting names too, like Ivett, Joe, and Scott.
Chht! (Quiet! Or, Stop! Holds finger up in front of face)
Cereal
Food
Book
Thank you (Eeh Ooo)
Red light! Green light! (From the game, red light green light, but he recognizes red and green streetlights now, too)
Juice
And he continues practicing his all-time favorite, No!
Plus some more that are not coming to me at the moment...

Shhhh!

Stephen is crying and begging Mama to give him her Eskimo Pie, being unreasonably demanding.

Papa: Stephen, Mama already gave you some! Look how big she is and how small you are - she has to eat a bigger portion tha-

Stephen (glances over, holding up one finger): Chhhttt!!

(Continues trying to get Eskimo Pie from Mama)

Papa (laughing to hard to continue correcting Stephen)

Stephen's face was the perfect combination of sternness and playfulness at the same time...

Tu-tuu

Stephen's new word: tu-tuuu (Thank You.)

He uses it all the time in the right contexts and it is so cute. You give him a drink and he says, Tu-tuu!

You hold the door open for him and he says, Tu-tuu!

You say, Stephen, can you tell the lady thank you? And he says, Tu-tuuu!

Sarah's word was gan-ku. I seem to remember that being Aunt Anne's pronunciation when she was little, too.

Sharing

Stephen loves Sarah and shares with her easily. The other morning, Stephen asked for some raisins, and when he had them in his hand immediately pointed towards the stairs and said, "Sarah? Sarah?" He is always thinking of his sister.

Food II

Stephen and Mama are in the kitchen and Stephen is getting into everything that he should not be getting into.

Mama: Stephen, go tell Papa that that food is ready!

Stephen (momentarily turns head): Food! (Continues pulling things out of drawers)

Metallica

Sarah (hears a Metallica song on the radio): Look Papa, DRUMS!

Sarah (pause, listens): LOUD drums!

Sarah (listens some more, laughing): Silly song!

A few days later, she heard a Metallica song on the radio again and started bouncing all around the back seat.

Sarah: Louder! Turn it up!

I turn around and both Sarah and Stephen are having a ball, bouncing around and laughing to the music.

(Papa: My babies are muzzies??)

Motorcycles

Stephen loves motorcycles. Every time he sees one he wants to stop and look at it and touch it. It makes no difference if it is running or parked.

This kid is going to be a lover of adventure.

Princess Pea

Sometimes Sarah reminds us of the princess in the story who was able to feel a pea through twelve mattresses.

But her skin is very delicate. She got several tiny cuts on her hand the other day just from touching some dry grass. Not cutgrass or anything, just grass.

Friends

Sarah is getting good at making friends. We go to play in one place or another, and very quickly she is playing with whatever other little girl who is her age or so, or up to five years older.

At the library, she made friends with a 6-year-old or so girl, joining in playing with puppets, and then inviting her to sit down and read a book together, and then inviting her to go sit together in the play castle.

Later that day, at a Mesa McDonalds, she made friends with a very nice girl, who helped her with her shoes and socks, as well as running all around the play structure together for as long as we let them.

Sarah On Obedience

Sarah: Papa, I like it when you obey!

Sarah: Papa, you need to obey me!

Sarah (to Grandma): Obey!

Sick

I lost count of how many times Stephen threw up last night. But I think he never stopped smiling the whole time. What a kid.

Don't Cry

Stephen was having a blast rolling golf balls down this contraption at the children's museum when he noticed a little girl crying nearby. He walked over to her with a golf ball in each hand and gave them to her, then pointed her over to this contraption. He got her to come over and had her roll the balls down, and she stopped crying.

Wow that made us feel good to watch happen!

Rhyming

Sarah (singing): Water in your mouth you can drink by yourself!

Sarah (now talking): That's my song. It's about food!

(Sarah has come up with several spontaneous rhyming songs already, but this was the first one I was able to write down before forgetting it. Note: mouth and yourself rhyme when Sarah sings it.)

Way Too Early

Sarah (heard through bedroom door, early in the morning): Open your eyes! Bricela, open your eyes! Open your eyes, Bricela!

(Poor Bricela.)

Just Go, Mama

Sarah (entering kitchen with her Tia Bricela): Mama why don't you just go, because Bricela and me needs to eat, and play! So why don't you just go!

Mama (laughing): Um, OK Sarita!

(Sarah loves spending time with her aunt Bricela.)