The Kings: september updates

time to catch up for the month of september! my sweet kiddos are growing more and more, and continuing to keep us busy.

noah is a wonderful older brother. he does an excellent job sharing with sam, even if she doesn't necessarily want whatever he is offering her. recently he's been running up to her with toys and saying, "here you go, sammy!" while handing her a car or other item. unfortunately, sometimes she just wants to keep crawling to standing or doing what she's doing and completely ignores the toy. this results in a *very* unhappy noah, who desperately wants to share. i've actually had to explain to him that it's okay if she doesn't want to play with a toy "right now." it's getting better. of all the things i didn't expect about having multiple kids, having them cry because they are trying to share and the other kid isn't taking the toy was not one that i anticipated!
and speaking of the sweet brother, i have found him more than once curled up on the floor in sammy's room. for some reason, he still enjoys sneaking out of his bed at night, but now he sneaks across the hall and closes the door. i have found him snuggled up next to the crib with his blanket and lovey. awwww.

other favorite things for our sweet boy include eating pancakes (a huge favorite!), anything with peanut butter, eggs, sausage, all fruits, and cucumbers. he has also recently figured out his pockets, but can't always operate them alone, so we are frequently asked to assist him put toy cars, acorns, and/or money (fake poker chips) in his pockets for him... then moments later we have to retrieve them, too. he also tells us nearly every day that he wants to "play with his cousins and grandma sharon!" he isn't picky about which cousins, but he knows that they will all offer extra entertainment. mom and dad are just too boring! noah also seems to be enjoying our new church and seems excited about going on sundays. of course, he usually recounts his sunday school class for us by telling us that he ate goldfish -- nothing else. i guess i can just be glad he's enjoying his time there.

other cute things our sweet boy is doing include reading parts of books to us. he does a great job finishing "reading" pretty much any page from any book that we read on a regular basis. he's especially good at dr. suess books and the llama llama books we have, but a new favorite is the story of ferdinand. i love to hear his sweet little voice "read." there are even parts in ferdinand where he knows how the story goes but he substitutes his own words -- there's a part where the men "jump with glee" but noah always reads it as "jump with joy." and another part where the book says, "and all the lovely ladies had flowers in their hair" but instead noah tells me (and it always makes me giggle) "and all the lovely ladies had hair on their heads." :D and speaking of cute, noah has been telling us lately that everything is "cute." i'm not sure where it came from, but he will tell us, "oh, that thing is pretty cute! isn't it so cute, mommy?" or he will refer to anything small as a "baby," i.e. "oh, mommy! look at this baby grape! isn't it so cute? ...i'm gonna eat it!"
our sweet one-year old samantha has been wonderful! she is still practicing walking, i think she has no desire to give up crawling anytime soon, but has been cruising very confidently around furniture and (finally) started walking behind the little push-cart. it was shortly after her birthday when she started using the cart, but now she will walk the entire length of the living room or kitchen behind the cart before finally getting stuck somewhere and, typically, collapsing into a heap of tears because she can't go any further.

she has also begun signing certain words including "please" and "more." this is incredibly helpful! and speaking of food, she's made the complete transition to cow's milk and cups with straws, which is incredibly convenient for us (yay!). she also has let us know that she loves fruit, but loves strawberries the most. she will also chow down on some sausage, turkey, and any kind of crackers, but still will barely touch any kind of eggs -- not a fan! in addition to signing, our sweet daugther has learned to say quite a few words: night-night, uh oh, bye bye, berries, and hot dog. she has also learned how to wave, which i love to see :) and she seems to be developing a real love of reading, not only at bedtime, but during the day she will crawl over to any of the books (hers or ours) and pull them out and spread them all over the floor and turn the pages, pointing out pictures or words. i love it :)

practicing on the tricycle