Karate

Rand has overcome his initial apprehension of karate and is having a good time out there on the floor. Yesterday he was positively chatty.

Everyone was lined up and his teacher said, "Okay, now pay attention." Rand: "I am paying attention!"

While stretching: "Everyone stretch as big as you can." Rand: "I'm stretching REALLY big!"

While doing some blocking moves, Rand said, "Excuse me! We had ants in our house today and mommy vacuumed them up. Do you have a vacuum?" Teacher: "Yes, I do."

A minute later....Rand: "Where is your vacuum?"

At the end of class, the kids were all going to run a relay race. The teacher was lining them up by age and how fast he thought they would be. He picked the first two runners and then asked, "Okay, who's the next fastest?" Rand: "I AM! I'M THE FASTEST! I'M SUPER FAST!!!!!"

Afterwards one of the other moms told me that he was hilarious to watch.

Growing

It's fascinating to watch Rand's emotional and cognitive development as he gets older. This week provided some really fascinating insights:

Rand accidentally bumped Ella and she fell off the couch (onto a pillow, thankfully). He felt so bad that he was crying harder than Ella was.

For the first time, Rand asked where he came from. He also wanted to know what would've happened if some of our friends would have been his parents.

We had a rough karate lesson on Tuesday and I left feeling pretty grumpy. Rand asked, "Mom, why are you mad at me?"

Rand lied for the first time. We had a nice chat about truth and lies and what that all entails.

He is starting to learn that his actions and words influence other people -- this is mostly a positive thing, and it certainly makes for an interesting week.

Peer Pressure

Last weekend was our Special Olympics' back-to-riding barbeque. When it was time for the kids' little meeting, Rand was adamant that he wanted to participate. He was by far the youngest kid there, and it was so cute to watch him emulate what the bigger kids were doing. He sat quietly and watched a video on horse safety. He raised his hand at every question (even though he didn't know the answers).

When Amy asked, "Okay, who needs a helmet?" Rand said, "I do! I need a helmet!" When Amy asked, "Who needs boots?" Rand: "I need boots!!!" After four of these questions, I took Rand aside and said that the helmets and boots were only for the kids who were going to ride horses. I asked him if he wanted to start riding, and he said, "Maybe tomorrow." After the meeting, all of the kids went out into the garage to clean tack, and Rand followed right along. He watched and paid attention, and it was so neat seeing him positively influenced by peer pressure.

Rand also started karate lessons this week. He actually participated in his first two classes, which was fantastic considering how swimming lessons started out. The hardest thing for him is waiting his turn when it's time to do something individually -- he actually jumps up and down in place while he's waiting.

Bits

In the last few days, Ella has climbed on top of the washing machine, up to the bathroom sinks, on end tables, and can climb on and off the couch with ease. She has also gotten much more confident at walking and is starting to walk more than she crawls.

Yesterday, when I asked Rand if he would like a baked potato, he informed me that "God didn't make him for potatoes."

Ella is starting to get quite a little mind of her own. If you dare lift her off the washing machine, for example, she goes boneless and starts howling.

Both kids are really into an old Rockapella CD -- their favorite songs are "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," "Carmen San Diego," and "Zombie Jamboree.

Natural History Museum

Some friends of ours got a membership to the Natural History Museum in Mesa, and they graciously invited us along. Rand had a wonderful time. They had dinosaurs, a mine you could walk through, jail cells, a place to pan for gold, a whole exhibit on outer space, and a lot more. It was really interesting and I'm sure we'll go back again.


Mining for gold



Ella was so tired she started sucking on her stroller instead of her pacifier.


They had a blue screen where you could put yourself into a movie. Rand thought this was hilarious.

Girl Dinosaurs

This morning Rand was pretending that he was a pterodactyl. He flapped up to Werner and squawked. Werner said, "Hello, Terry!" Rand said, "My name's not Terry, it's Mary!" Werner said, "But that's a girl's name." "I'm a girl pterodactyl."

Guess what Ella loves?

If you guessed baths and yogurt, you're absolutely correct!

But he has a good heart....

Two gems from Rand today....

"Mom, I didn't want to clog up the toilet so I put the toilet paper in the trash can."

We were off to play baseball this afternoon when I asked him to "watch" Ella in her stroller while I walked 10 feet away to put the trash in the dumster....

"I watched Ella, Mom! And I didn't hit her with the baseball bat!"

Cuteness.

This is called, "Can You Find The Ella?"

Permission

We were out driving in the car when this conversation took place...

Rand: "Mom, when we get home I'm going to ask if I can watch a movie on the computer. And you'll say, 'Yes, Rand, what movie do you want to watch?' And I'll say, the sun is a mass. And you'll say, 'Okay.' Okay?"

She walks!

Ella is officially a walker as of tonight. And she didn't just do one little step and stop. Nope, this girl has been studying how to walk for ages -- she walked a good 7 or 8 steps, sat down, stood up, and did it over and over again! Rand held out her binkies in front of her and she would walk to get them.

Rand declared that he "had never seen a baby do that before!" Go Ella!