personalities emerging

Today or yesterday is their should-have-been 2nd birthday! But hey, we got to meet them sooner than expected and they are doing great! So the kids personalities are really emerging. So a little about each:

Kyle is really into cars, choo-choos and airplanes. He found a few train cars and figured out that they go together magnetically and put a 3 car train together all on his own. His favorite food is still probably lentil soup, beans and pretty much anything you put in the little traveling cereal bowl. He loves Puff the Magic Dragon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar books. And he still loves playing guitar - or tigar as he calls it. His favorite song is La Bamba as sung by Hullabaloo. He's excited to see them play for his Stroller Strides group. His favorite shape - doesn't everyone have a favorite shape?- is an octagon, closely followed by diamonds. The other day as we were walking through the neighborhood, he pointed to his left and excitedly said "yellow diamond!" There was a yellow diamond sign that said "bump" off to his left! Amazing! And then on the way home, he saw the back of a STOP sign and even though it was the back and silver, he said "red octagon!" Pretty cool!!

Emily is really into princesses. She recently got a Cinderella princess boo-boo ball and is always saying she has an owie so that she can look at Cinderella. She has diversified from Dora! And she really loves books, asking to read stories all day long. Among her favorites are Puff & Caterpillar, but she also loves the Dora books, ABC, 123, shapes and duckie books. She too is a big fan of La Bamba. Her favorite food is still cheese, but she loves fruit twists and lollipops (vitamin C lollipops we got when we were all sick). Jeff took the kids to the zoo the other week and they had a blast. The zoo conveniently situates their gift shop right by the exit and the kids suckered Daddy into getting them giant stuffed animals. Kyle chose a giraffe and Emily chose a Cheetah. When we asked her what her cheetahs name is, she replied "Shasta mommy!" How cute! Soon though, she will learn that cheetahs are cats and Shasta is a golden lab dog, but for the meantime, she things this giant cheetah is Shasta's mommy! Speaking of names, Emily has learned her full name - Emily Beth. And Kyle knows his - Kyle Thomas. When we pointed out that Kyle's middle name is Thomas, Emily started saying his name as Kyle Choo-Choo, just like Thomas the Choo-Choo. And since Kyle gets to have his middle name share the name of a train, she insited that her middle name was Dora - Emily Dora! How funny!!