Communication and Miscommunication

James is in the habit of repeating what we say or telling us what is currently happening in his world.  This creates some confusion for Alma now that his words are much clearer.  Two recent examples which make me smile:

#1.
(in yet another game of "house")
Alma: I'm the mommy.
James: Mommy!
Alma: No James, I'm the mommy.
James: Mommy!
Alma: No James, I'm the mommy!
James: Mommy!
Alma: No James, I'm the mommy!!
James: Mommy!
Alma: No James, I'm the mommy!!!
James: Mommy!
Alma: No James, I'm the mommy!!!!
James: Mommy!
Alma: No James, I'm the mommy!!!!!
James: Mommy!
....

---

#2.
(Alma gets up from her chair to push in James at the dining room table)
James: Sit down*
Alma: I just got up to push you in.
James: Sit down*
Alma: Okay, just a minute.
James: Sit down.*
Alma: Ugh, I will once I push you in, James!

* He was referring to his own action of sitting down in his chair.

---

A different example that is pure joy to hear....

(any time I'm out of the room but within earshot)
James: (speaking endlessly in a pseudo baby babble)
Alma: That's funny, James.
James: (continues speaking endlessly in a pseudo baby babble)
Alma: No, I don't think so.
James: (continues speaking endlessly in a pseudo baby babble)
Alma: Good idea.  Let's ask Mommy.
James: (continues speaking endlessly in a pseudo baby babble)
Alma: Don't say that, Sillypants.
James: (continues speaking endlessly in a pseudo baby babble)
....

Summer Loves

July Updates

Photo update of our month

Fourth of July bbq and swimming with good friends

We borrowed a bike trailer and, while Joshua ran, the kids and I followed beside him on the Lehigh River Canal trail.  Hot day but fun ... especially playing at the Sand Island Park afterward.

Recent paintings from Alma -- the center painting is a volcano with a dinosaur climbing up the side

 

Lots of dressing up, going out for walks around the neighborhood (especially to Foxy Loxy's castle, a building on Moravian's campus) and dancing around the living room

James is officially drinking out of a cup these days.  Alma loves playing restaurant and setting up snacks for her and James.  Her independence is awesome. 

You can see the last photo that the kitchen's bathroom door is open because I spent two weeks this month removing wallpaper  and repainting the bathroom (hooray -- nearly the end of apples all over the kitchen).  It was a fun, relatively easy project with dramatic results.  The bathroom is difficult to photograph but I'm sure eventually I'll share picture of the new dark grey/green look.  Here it is mid-project...

How awesome are these two photos (below)?  We were waiting outside the bank to do some MOMS Club transactions and they decided to be my "protectors".  I love their muscles ... but maybe not as much as they love showing them off.

Since they both fell asleep in the car one day, I decided to drive to the zoo and surprise them when they woke up there.  It was really fun to do.  They loved the big sand box, the gardens and, of course, eating ice cream while we watched the cows.

Bucket and a paint brush make the best outdoor activity in the backyard

Pastor Maritza's house for a bbq.  She purchased a pool for the kids to play in, which was so sweet.  Here's Alma demonstrating her awesome torpedo (which she calls a tor-tea-toe, because, as she explained to me multiple times, it is a Spanish word like tortilla), James trying to drink from the fountain and the kids catching lightning bugs for the first time.

Two Years Ago

Two years ago (July 2011) this was Alma, James (bun in the oven) and me in the back yard.  I love this photo and the memory of that time in our lives.  It is wild to think that James is now nearly that same age that Alma was in this photo.

This summer has been wonderful and wonderfully busy.  While I'm doing well at recording a lot of it in photos, I haven't been as excited to record it on this blog.  I'll get to it, but for now I'm going to just enjoy these carefree days.

Random recent photos

Rainy day umbrella love

Large floor puzzles borrowed from the library

Wooden stringing beads on her finger tips ... pretending to be a spider

One morning when I was helping Alma with a project in another room, James helped himself to a snack from the pantry.  I came into the kitchen to find him camped out on the floor enjoying some pretzels.  His wonderfully devilish smile was awesome.  When I asked Alma how he opened the pantry child lock, she responded, "I did because he said please."

Joshua figured out a way to put these pillows on the kids heads using the tiny bit of velcro on them.