HOME!

So we took the early flight home yesterday after a month away. As mentioned previously, the kids have been learning so much! As we pulled into the driveway, Emily shouts out "HOME"! It was so sweet! She knew where we were! And Kyle immediately saw the giant jug of bubbles and shouted "BUBBOS"! It was really sweet!

Before we left, Jeff bought Guitar Hero for the Wii. Kyle was just getting into the "ti-gaar" before we left. Last night, he picked up the guitar and jammed to "Sweet Child of Mine" with Daddy. He was rockin and rollin and strummin and saying "ba ba ba" like Daddy. We're going to take a video so you can see just how cool it was. We'll have to have him dress the part with just a diaper, a mohawk and the guitar! Perhaps we have a future rocker in Kyle!

I-teen, ish-lo, & gramma

Yes, it's been a VERY long time since the last post and I apologize. There has been a lot going on. With visits from family and friends and travels, I have let the blogging fall by the wayside.

So we've been in Chicago for the past several weeks and the kids speech has improved dramatically! They went from saying "greeya" to "gramma" for Grandma. Bailey went from being "Bittie" to "Baitey". At first, we thought Kyle was calling her "mut" but he was confusing Mozart with Bailey. Oscar and Olivia went from being "meows" and sometimes still are to being "Ah-kar" and "Littie". The picture going down the stairs at Papa's is "I-teen" (Einstein) and lotion is "ishlo", neither of which they could say previously and now it's "loshon". And there are some new words too! Like "ti-gaar" for "guitar" and they can now say "Stephanie" though it comes out "Steffeee".

I now have a better understanding on how people learn a second language. I'm in the process of learning my kids language. It's a repetitive, often difficult, process with a lot of trial and error as well as pointing. For instance, the other week when Emmy had her big leg owie she was a bit more whiney than usual (for very good reason - not only did she fracture something in her leg, she was also getting 2 year old molars! Poor little girl!). She asked for "wah-wah" for about 20 minutes. She declined water and anything else I offered her that could have been "wah-wah". Finally I brought over her woo-bear and she smiled happily and goes "wah-wah"! If only I had figured that out sooner to spare us from the 20 minutes of difficulty!

In other news, the kids are doing great! Emily is back on her feet after 2 weeks of not walking. Her leg seems to be healing great, only with a slight limp that will hopefully correct itself in time as she regains strength in her leg. Kyle is having a great time playing cars with Ben. He is also learning how to climb everything! He uses cabinet knobs and handles as steps to climb to higher heights. I'm glad we have the furniture bolted down at home!

Today we went over to the park district and rode the horseys (carousel), played at the kiddie gym, and went swimming. Emily couldn't get enough of the horseys and swimming. Kyle LOVED driving the car in the kiddie gym.

Okay because I can't quickly figure out how to make the pics line up nicely, here they all are at the bottom. First, Emily meets a chocolate cookie while Mommy drives! Then, Kyle & Emily walk with Davie & Ben after sushi with Josh & Stephanie on each end. Note Kyle's mohawk! He LOVED it! The last 3 pics are at the park district with the kids on the carousel and Kyle driving the car the playroom.