Before I forget...

Some cute things the kids have been doing.

Gabriel:

WALKING!!! (See video in previous post.) And climbing. EVERYTHING.

Yesterday I was making lunch and the kids were playing quietly in the living room. Perhaps TOO quietly. I turned around and saw that Gabriel was standing on the armrest of the couch! Apparently he had climbed up on some sofa cushions that were stacked on the floor, then up onto the couch, then the armrest and onto his feet. Scary!

Beginning to blow kisses, peekaboo expert, eating almost 100% table food with us, ever-louder babbling, and recently became very interested in books, finally! He especially likes pictures of animals and babies, and books with textures (like Feely Bugs, or That's Not My Dinosaur). He also enjoys playing with Valerie's baby doll (although he does try to bite its head sometimes).

Valerie:

She saw a couple Pink Panther clips on Youtube, and she has now adopted a new identity. If I say "Val-Val, do you want some milk?" She'll answer "Panther wants some milk." She calls me Mama Panther, Terry is Dada Panther, and Gabriel is Baby Panther. Except sometimes now she's Bird, and occasionally even Panther-Bird. She acts out portions of the video, like when the panther tries to kill the flea on its nose with a baseball bat (she uses a drinking straw, thankfully) or freeze it off its back with ice cream (she uses plastic toy ice cream, thankfully).

She likes to act out pictures from the big Richard Scarry Storybook Dictionary Anita brought for her. One recurring theme in the book is a pig eating pickles. I commented off-hand one day, "You've never had a pickle, but someday you will get to try one." So for days after that she'd say "someday Val-Val eat a pickle" (this was before the Panther persona). Finally I bought some pickles for her to try and she didn't like them, which I kind of expected, and I felt kind of bad because she was soooo excited when I got them out for her to try. But then she talked about it afterwards a lot, "Val-Val ate a pickle!" so it wasn't a total loss.

She also re-creates the picture of all different kinds of buildings with her blocks, making castles with post-it note flags, "brick" houses, barns, etc.

Today she helped me make cupcakes. Well, first she found the muffin tin I used to make carrot cake cupcakes for Gabriel's birthday, and she got super excited "Mama make cupcakes! Mama make cupcakes!" So I looked around for something to make them special and decided just to add some orange juice for flavor to the basic cake recipe my mom taught me when I was 12. Panther helped me dump in the ingredients and mix them together, and then while they were baking she ate a huge bowl of alphabet soup BY HERSELF, switching back and forth between right and left hands. This is huge for me because even though she CAN feed herself, she hates getting food on her face and so usually insists that I help her eat. But she was so fascinated by the tiny letters that she didn't once ask for my help. Yay! And I don't bake much (ever), so there's not much cooking I do that she can help with since everything else involves knives and heat. So it was really fun to do this together.

Siblings

Some absolutely golden moments that make everything worth it:

• One day I was singing a dance song and V wanted to dance with G but wasn't sure how, so I suggested she hold his hand. He was standing supporting himself with one hand, and she took the other, and did a little running dance step back and forth while he grinned from ear to ear! By the time I ran to get the camera she was done, but it was SO CUTE. You'll just have to use your imaginations.
• Another day G was standing unsupported and I suggested V give him a hug. She stood behind him and put her arms around his shoulders and they both smiled. It was beautiful. Again, same story with the camera, but someday I'll get a shot since she's done it a few times since then as well.
• They've been learning to play together like little puppies on our bed - rolling around, tickling each other's feet and hands, giggling and laughing.