Saturday, December 22, 2007

Random Things

Random things about Gabe:

  • He's finally saying "Mama" with m's instead of n's. He's also getting a lot quicker at using his signs to communicate.
  • He so wants to be big. As I write this, he's trying to put on my shoes and walk around. It seems he wants to wear everyone's shoes except his own!
  • Chet noted a couple of weeks ago that Gabe and I seem to have something in common... we both like to put one knee up when we're sitting in a chair (you know, knee bent with that foot on the chair).
  • He loves to dance, and it is hilarious! Raising his left shoulder up and down is one of his favorite moves.
  • He has started to do Grandma Rosemary's "Big Ole Crow" to himself!
  • He loves to read books. He opens them, turns the pages, and makes all kinds of sounds as if he's reading aloud to us. When he wants to find his "Five Little Monkeys" book, he starts waving his index finger around like he's saying, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"
Random things about Ladan:
  • Ladan and I cooked pizza for the first time yesterday. He hasn't shown much interest in doing any kind of cooking, but we had a great time making our pizza yesterday.




  • His imagination keeps getting wilder and wilder. He doesn't have imaginary friends... he just imagines that he's playing with his real friends. He has conversations with them, eats with them, and shares his toys with them. We also have to rid our home of gorillas and alligators fairly regularly so that everyone's safe.
  • Ladan was talking to Gigi (Chet's mom) the other day, and he said his snow boots were at her house. She said, "Well, you'll need to bring your snow boots to my house when you come. Do you have snow pants?" He said, "No. I have snow shorts." It's clear that he's likely to be on this shorts kick for a good long while. At least he leaves his pant legs fully extended now when he wears them!
  • He's developing quite the vocabulary and now seems kind of into finding syllables for things (although he doesn't know that's what they're called). For example, at dinner last night, he asked Chet if his pizza was "good". Chet said it was. Then Ladan asked if it was "yummy". Chet said it was. Then Ladan asked if it was "tasty". Chet said it was. Then Ladan asked if it was "delicious". Chet gave him the affirmative and commented on his developing vocabulary. These, of course, are not the most difficult words he knows, but it is kind of funny to hear him trying to find so many words that say the same thing.
  • He is getting lots better at hitting the ball when Chet pitches to him. He doesn't even use a fat bat, and he's really good at it.
  • His new challenge to himself is to hop on one foot an increasing number of times without putting the other foot down. So far he's up to two hops, but he's working on it.

Well, that's all for now. In just a few hours, I get to have girls' night with the Murray ladies and Lindsey Mikeska! I know Claire has some big plan in the works, and it's going to be great! YIPPEE!!!!!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Merry Christmas to You!

After looking at this picture for a second, I realized that it looks like I'm choking on a whole hotdog. Ha! Actually, we were just taking some Christmas photos for some of our friends, and Chet was trying to test the lighting. I decided to act a fool, and this is how it turned out. My mom should be proud!

On our way home from the photos, I decided that it would be fun to yell, "Weeeeeeee!" every time we rounded a corner. Thankfully for Chet, I only thought up this crazy idea before the last four turns of the night. It made for a good laugh... at least for me, anyway.

This is what happens when you spend the first 4 days of a week getting all kinds of things done until 4 or 5 am. You feel pretty good about yourself, but your mind just isn't all there. Lord help anyone who comes into contact with me throughout the next few days. I'm pretty sure that Chet will have gone insane by tomorrow night. Girls night, anyone? Just not tomorrow, because we already have plans.... See, I'm CRAZY! Amber, where are you?

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Ladan's Teachers and A Fun Christmas Story

At church, Ladan has regular teachers on Sunday morning for Sunday School and then on Wednesday night during our prayer service. On Sunday morning, his teachers are three women (Ms. Allen, Mrs. Barrett, and Mrs. Hill) and one man (Mr. Hill). He calls them "Mr. Hill and The Mommies". It's pretty funny.

On Wednesday night, Job Goshi is always one of the teachers in Ladan's class. Job is from Nigeria and has very dark skin. Ladan calls him "Mr. Jove" (which is kind of funny because he pronounces B's just fine, and normally kids use B's instead of V's, but whatever--I told you he's a little backwards sometimes). Anyway, last Wednesday we came home from church, and Ladan was telling us about his class. After a bit of chatting, he said, "Mr. Jove is black."

I replied, "Yes, that's a really cool thing about Mr. Job, isn't it?"

He said, "It's BEAUTIFUL!"

Mr. Job just graduated from seminary and may be moving soon. Ladan will be VERY sad when he leaves.

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My mom got the boys an Advent calendar for this year... the paper kind that you open the window each day to see what's behind. One day, Ladan opened the window and found a man most people would recognize as Santa. However, Ladan has no idea who Santa is, so he yelled out with excitement, "It's Noah!"

Me: "Oh, and he's carrying a big bag."

Ladan: "And he's carrying a tree too. That's funny. Noah is silly."