From the mouths of babes..

Wow, life in my house has really gotten crazy lately. My daughter, now 13 months, is everywhere! There is absolutely no containing her. She climbs, crawls, bounces and roams wherever she pleases. She has even mastered pulling up on things, which is a little scary. She isn't walking 100 percent, she's a little skittish and wants to hold onto something, but she's so close, I know it's coming soon. Add that to a typical toddler boy, who knows no fear and we certainly have our hands full. But while their ages do have challenges, we are really enjoying them both immensely.

Colby has really started talking and it's not the chatter of a baby, it's WORDS and SENTENCES, like a little boy. I guess he's to the point where it's almost like, where did the baby go? And boy can that boy talk.. and talk.. and talk... which he comes by honestly. He wakes up talking, goes to sleep talking and never seems to run out of things to say. He's also getting kind of bossy and he thinks he's in charge of the other kids at his grandma's daycare and while it can often be amusing, it's going to get him in trouble. He's constantly saying " (child's name here), don't do that. Go to time out, ya hear me?" And while I know I shouldn't, I just can't help but laugh when I hear him say "ya hear me?"

In our house, I'm constantly telling the kids not to stand on things, like furniture, or use them as step ladders, because I'm afraid they will tumble over. Well the other day, I needed something from our highest shelf in our kitchen, which was clearly built for someone more my husband's height than my own and after a few minutes of searching for a step stool to no avail, I decided to use a kitchen chair and use it to make me tall enough to kind of sit on my knees on the countertop to reach the right cabinet. Just as I climbed on the chair and got situated on the counter, here comes Mr. Boss (Colby). "Mommy, what happened?" he asked. I told him, "Nothing, but mommy needs a bowl from way up there in the cabinet, so I climbed up here." To which he shot my own rule back at me, "Mommy, you don't do that. You fall and bump your head." -- while hitting his head with his fist -- "No more monkeys jumpin' on the bed. Get down now. 3... 4... 5... ya hear me?" I couldn't help but laugh as I climbed down from the counter, bowl in hand. He was right, if I fell, I would've probably hit my head, like the monkeys who were jumpin' on the bed. Glad to know he's learning the rules, but maybe we need to work on the counting a little more.

Another new thing in our house is the SpongeBob SquarePants addiction. Seriously, I've never been so irritated by the sight of a little yellow sponge before. Don't get me wrong, SpongeBob isn't that terrible, at least it's not really graphic or violent (except for the Karate) like most shows are getting to be nowadays, but I can seriously only handle so much SpongeBob in one day. Colby was really into Lightning McQueen and the whole CARS movie, but then we started letting him watch an episode of SpongeBob here and there, mostly to get a break from CARS and BarnYard, and now he's hooked. Which means, that's all that is ever on our TV. Even Paityn says SpongeBob now whenever she's seems him and if a 13 month old can recognize SpongeBob, we must be watching way to much of him.

Paityn's newest fascination is babies. She loves baby dolls and stuffed animals, which she calls her "babies." She loves hugging them and kissing them, and for a little girl, she's starting to grow quite a collection. Never leave home without one either, you will regret it later. It's really sweet to see her love on her "babies." Any time we are in the store, she loves looking at the babies and she wants them all. Her bed is usually so full of babies, that in the night I wonder if I'm going to pick up the wrong baby one of these times. She's also really into blowing kisses and giving hugs, but her most favorite thing of all is her "Bubby". As soon as she wakes up in the morning, she wants her brother. "Bubby," she demands, and if he's asleep, she wants to wake him up. The advantage to that is that if you don't want to wake up the grouch, let his sister do it, he's guaranteed to be nicer to her than anyone else.

Somedays it's a struggle having two kids so close in age, but then, you see the two of them laying together for a nap or talking together and the hard work is worth it. Colby loves his "Sissy Sue" and Paityn loves her "Bubby." Even after the hardest days, there is nothing sweeter than that.