Words, words, words

Campbell constantly says stuff that cracks me up or impresses me with saying something insightful or thoughtful. Blake surprising me every day with something new he's learned. Here's a sampling (ok this list got to be quite long) and some (many) stories to go along with them:

Blake
Every day Blake is saying new, random words like ‘marker’ & ‘coffee’. Within the past couple weeks he has started to put 2 words together. The words aren't clear, but I (for the most part) am able to interpret. We’ve played with a few boys lately who are 2.5 years old& you can really see a huge difference in speech from where Blake is at now. No wonder every day he’s doing so much new stuff.  This list got to be quite long, but there is so much Blake has been doing lately & I don’t want to forget!

• Campbell often says "speda" when she wants someone to stop doing something. The correct Spanish word is 'espera' and she got it from Dora. Anyway, Gabe was singing and Blake said "top top peda" meaning: 'stop, stop espera'. Harsh critic!
• Blake is really into footballs. Some days he is very adamant that he wear his "'ootball" shirt. He still does his: throw/catch/tackle routine. Of saying "throw" & doing a throwing motion, "atch" and doing a catching motion, and then "ackle" and falling over or leaning over like he's being tackled.
• Blake had started to say "yeah" for 'yes' (he was previously just saying 'ah') and he's been very agreeable lately saying it for everything, which is very nice! We hadn't seen Gabe much in the past week because he's been working late so one night that Gabe got home at his normal time the kids were having a blast playing with Daddy. Blake kept running up to me and saying "DADDY!!!!" I would say: "Are you having fun with daddy?" Blake:  "YE-AHH!!!" He kept doing it again & again. He was so excited!
• Blake says his name now & will slap his chest & "ake" for 'Blake'. He's also started saying "ee" and pointing to himself meaning "me" when he wants to do something. These past couple days he keeps saying "too" as in 'me too' when he wants to do something that Campbell is doing. It's been non-stop "too" so Gabe gave him the endearing nickname of "Number Two".  Yesterday hes come down with a low fever, coughing and tonight started wheezing. He's obviously not feeling good and has been very disagreeable by saying "no" to everything. So now it's turned into "Negative Two." That won't last long I'm guessing when Blake is feeling better he'll be back to his happy disposition. The kids haven't had wheezing before, so I just called the nurse line to ask if it's anything to worry about & he has an appointment tomorrow. I guess they want them to come in anytime they have wheezing to check it out. All the stuff you learn as a parent! Kind of in the same topic of him being grouchy today...getting home this evening he wouldn't let me take him out of his car seat. He kept saying 'no! no! no!' and putting his hand out to stop me. Since the car was in the garage, he was warm enough, so I just left him in there & would go back out to check on him every few minutes. He DID NOT want to leave the car. He wasn't even watching a movie. Perfectly happy just sitting there with his travel blankets & his dog paci. We left him in there while we ate dinner. Then we packed up everyone to go run an errand (I ran in quick to the grocery store while Gabe stayed in the car with the kids) and once we got home from that he finally came inside.
• We were working on touching up some paint so we had the hammer out to close up the paint cans. Blake was playing with his toy plastic hammer & pointed to the real hammer & said "real" as in 'give me the real deal, I don't want to play with this plastic one.' Had hammer & mallet out for patching up paint spots & Blake said "real" as in give me that real hammer, not the plastic toy one. I wasn't sure that's what he said at first so I said: Did you say 'real'? He said: YEAH!
• "eech all" meaning 'beach ball'
• "un more" meaning 'one more'. He does this a lot more when he wants more of something. It's so cute because he holds up his one little finger and says it so passionately.  
• Reading books before bed, he picked the book about a boy that plays in a big cardboard box and said: 'big box'' 
• "ight thr" meaning 'right there'. He was pointing to the light switch when Campbell was looking for it. 
• "ere Da-dow" for 'here Campbell' when giving her a toy.
• "dhair es" This is a very common phrase for Blake, it seems like we're always looking for something & he says that when we find it. Lately, when we've been driving he recognizes places & says "dhair es" for common destinations like Campbell's preschool or even Caribou Coffee. Whoops. Does that mean I'm going there too much? He'll also say 'ark' when we drive by our neighborhood park.
• "dhere" meaning 'there'. This also is a common phrase. He always makes a point of showing me the precise location of where he got hurt...the table, wall, couch, etc.
• I had already gotten a cart at the grocery store, but Blake wanted to push his own. Campbell was staying near me looking at some magazines. I didn't feel like we were making a scene or I looked frazzled (well maybe not more than normal), but some well meaning gentleman said to me, "Hang in there mom, I've been there." I had to laugh. If he could have only seen us later in the shopping trip when Blake wouldn't sit in the cart & wanted to RUN full speed down the aisles, so fast in fact, that his boots kept falling off and he would fall. Campbell kept chasing after him & trying to help him get his boot back on. It was comical, but by the end of the trip, I was definitely frazzled. I had the realization that I am that mom. You know the one with the out of control kid who is making a scene.

While I'm a roll, I better document some things that Blake has learned/is into lately. He's doing so much now, it seems like he does something new daily that makes me wonder how he learned that or where that came from.

• Knows a lot of animals and the noises they make
• Knows all of the standard construction and rescue vehicles.
• Diego. Blake loves to watch Diego & loves the little stuffed Diego that Gabe got him on a business trip. He found a little stuffed tiger & calls it jaguar. I can't even try to spell out how he says that one, but that's what he's trying to say. He raises his arms & exclaims: IE-GO! for 'Diego'!
• Just this past week he's been into Mickey Mouse & can identify all the characters. Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and even Pete!
• His go-to toy is the train set. The first thing he'll do in the toy room is to set up the track and line up all the trains. Thomas is always first in line. He is very into lining other things up. Trucks/cars, food, etc. He is very careful about his lines & wants them straight and all the pieces touching each other. He gets very upset if his line up is disturbed and he'll yell and then immediately fix it.
• He calls a big animal 'daddy' or any male character in a book he will say 'daddy'. I find this interesting because Campbell went through a baby/mama phase where everything was either a baby or a mama. But Blake hardly ever has called anyone/thing 'mama' he's all about the guys....although he is really into me. which brings me to the next bullet point. 
• He still has pretty bad separation anxiety. Even when I run out to the store and he's with Gabe he gets very upset when I leave & asks about me when I'm gone. Gabe used to always put him to bed & I would take Campbell, but lately he gets hysterical if Gabe tries to do it. It's pretty comical how he'll be bawling if Gabe is getting him ready for bed & I go in and simply touch him and he stops immediately.
• Blake loves his little stuffed animals/dolls he sleeps with. He likes them all lined up next to him. Not on top of each other, but lined up side by side. He makes sure he has 'Udolf' (Rudolf is a big buck stuffed animal), dog, bear, 'tee-tee' (monkey), Baby Mama, and the Glow Worm that plays a short lullaby. He is so good about laying down when I tell him to and going to sleep. I cover him up with his blanket, he presses the Glow Worm and listens to a couple lullabies and then goes to sleep without a peep. I can even go into his room before he's fallen asleep if I forgot something & he doesn't mind. When Campbell was a baby she would never lay down for me. She would always be standing at the railing of her crib and be fussing every time I said 'good night' and left the room. Although Blake goes to sleep very easily, he's a very light sleeper. I swear if a pin drops he wakes up, while Campbell still has a hard time falling asleep, but sleeps hard once she's down.
• It's been a few months now, I can't remember exactly, but we finally got rid of his bottles, which was way past due. He didn't want anything to do with a sippy cup when a bottle was in sight, so we just put them out of sight and he was fine with it. He wants to get his own water from the fridge and drink out of a normal cup because that's what Campbell does. I try to be patient with it and give him a little bit, but it always ends with him going back again and again for more at the fridge and water everywhere. 
• A few times he's acted like a puppy for an extended period of time. Crawling around, panting, going up to me and Campbell and wanting us to pet him/give him a snack. It was pretty humorous how he did it for so long.
• When I say we're going to ECFE, he starts swaying side to side and humming/singing the "Pop Up" song which we sing at class every week.

Campbell

• "Ya know mom, pigs give the world somethin'." Me: What? Campbell: "Dirt! That's a funny one huh?!"
• While we were playing together with Play dough, Campbell said: You know what you are doing? You are making me feel happy.
• I’ve been giving the kids fish oil supplement lately (for the Omega-3). I am amazed that they both drink it without complaining. It tastes quite fishy, but has a little lemon flavor. (They haven't noticed me not taking it myself.....I really should though....) But anyway, I tell them it’s good for their brains & they just slurp it up. The other day Campbell said: Member (remember) when we didn’t have anything for our brain? It was such a shame.
• Campbell usually says the correct words/sayings for things, but every once in a while she says something a little mixed up for example: 

• I don't care 'bout that smell
• Getting ready to go outside and play in the snow: "I'm really bungled up today!" Meaning: bundled up. 
• I can't remember the context of this one, but a couple weeks ago Campbell said: "Is what it is, it's not what it's not" 
• Today while riding in the car Campbell said: I like being a big sister. Me: What do you like about being a big sister? Campbell: I like playing with my brother. He’s always powered up.