The Kings: a new year!

this month has been busy as always, but also incredibly cold! january is usually chilly, but living in texas we don't ever expect to see a lot of snow and ice. this year we've already had several local school closures and i've done a lot more driving than i care to on slippery roads. despite all this, things at home are going well and the kids have enjoyed seeing the snow fall. noah continues to keep us laughing, saying the most wonderful and, sometimes unexpected, things. he has also continued to keep us entertained with his singing, learning more songs and song lyrics. he's also started to ask me, "mommy, what's the name of this song?" when we are listening to the radio or the ipod, and tries to request songs by name. a recent favorite is "johnny b. goode" by chuck barry. noah was introduced to the song by matt, and the two of them will listen, sing, and dance to this song repeatedly throughout the day. He also tells me he wants to listen to "the buzz song," which i finally realized was "applause" by lady gaga. i guess he misheard the name or misunderstood the lyrics? he is also quick to tell us which songs he does and does not enjoy, and whether or not we have mentioned our preferences in the past. we will be driving and and suddenly i will hear, "MOMMY!! turn this song up! i like this song." or even, "mommy! daddy likes this song. do you like this song?"
in addition to his love of lyrics, our not-so-little boy continues to amaze me with his memory for ...anything. he recently has taken an interest in some books he got for Christmas from his aunt heather, one that is about the human body and one about reptiles (they are both "the cat in the hat knows a lot about that" books). he now tells us all sorts of interesting facts about what reptiles eat, where your jaw is, and things about muscles and bones. i can't deny that it makes this RN momma proud ;) we've also recently started talking about his upcoming birthday and it's fun to see him be so excited about it. because of his love of all things with wheels, and especially the movie "Cars" i was going to host a Cars-themed birthday party. my plans were altered, though, when i spoke to noah and he told me, quite seriously, that he wanted a "blue cake with a firetruck, and ambulance, and a police car on it." he was not dissuaded when i spoke of having a "stickers" or "mater" cake. at first i figured this was just a temporary request, but every time it's come up since then he has given the same answer. so i guess it's good i hadn't purchased decorations yet!
potty training continues to go well, although i've honestly been too lazy to even attempt to go diaper-less during naps and bedtime. during the day, however, noah will stay completely dry without problems. in fact, the only issue we have is actually getting him to go to the bathroom. he will just not go for hours and hours, which doesn't seem normal to me (but what do i know, i've never potty trained anyone before!) so we will often look at the clock and drag him to the bathroom kicking and screaming, set him down on the toilet and see that he did in fact have to go to the bathroom, but didn't want to stop whatever he was doing. my most recent strategy has been to back off a bit and wait for him to tell me when he actually feels like he needs to go. i figure he will either tell me or i'll go back to doing extra laundry, but i won't be dragging him to the bathroom anymore...we'll see what happens.

sweet samantha grace is growing and changing all the time. she continues to add new words to her vocabulary all the time, but i think she would speak more if she didn't have a brother that was quite so loquacious ;) noah tends to do a lot of speaking for sammy, and i think she's perfectly content with that. we have added more animal sounds to her vocabulary: she will now gladly make monkey, cow, dog, and lion/tiger/dinosaur sounds when quizzed and we're continuing to work on more -- stay tuned! the little girl also loves to sing and dance. it's hard to tell who loves music more, her or her brother, as they often ask for music to be turned on and then proceed to bop around the kitchen with each other. sam's current favorite songs to hear are two from the newest Lorax movie: "how bad can i be?" and "this is the place." but she also enjoys listening to "the roar song" by katy perry, as noah calls it, and also enjoys dancing with her father to the above-listed "johnny b. goode."
sam has also mastered the skill of running, which is good when trying to keep up with noah, and recently learned how to navigate walking down the stairs. prior to this month, she would just slide down, feet-first on her stomach or just slide down while sitting. no more! she's learned to hold onto the balusters and stretch her sweet baby toes down onto each step. and yes, it's always her toes because we can't keep the girl in socks, despite it being around freezing all winter this year!
sam adores her older brother and has picked up the habit of mimicking his behavior. while sometimes this is good -- she now tries to put away her dishes and such after dinner, and if we can convince noah to do something sammy will typically follow suit -- it also means that she copies all of the not-so-good behaviors, like throwing tantrums at the same time as her brother when he doesn't like what's being served for dinner, or playing with doors in the house, or throwing toys...you get the idea. for the most part, though, it's pretty sweet and cute. and i love seeing her interact with him so much. they will often play together for long stretches of time, chasing each other around the house (sam will push the dump truck and noah will push the "cart"), and playing their own made-up games of throwing and snuggling on their loveys while rolling around on the floor. i'm curious to see what will happen when we add a new baby to the mix.
sam has become very helpful around the house and has gotten exceptionally good at following directions (most times). as i mentioned before, she's not speaking a ton, so i think at times it's easy for me to take for granted how much she understands. she will now go retrieve her booster seat from the pantry and attempt to drag it all the way across the kitchen in the mornings when she is ready to eat while we are making breakfast. she also does a great job of cleaning up toys and knows where everything goes without being instructed. and we've recently started working with her on carrying her cup to the counter after she's done eating. eventually, we will have her carry all her dishes, but i'm not willing to clean up all the leftovers right now as she toddles along with a tipped plate. and lexi is more than willing to help with that, but i don't think that's the message we want to send (dump your leftovers on the floor and the dog will eat them).
the last big piece of news for sam is that we put together her toddler bed this month, but we haven't set it up in her room yet. i think we will wait until after noah's birthday party to get the room all changed around. i'm not quite ready to have her out of her crib, and i honestly have no idea how she will adjust to it. i am also concerned about making such a big change for her just before we have out-of-state company come to stay with us and host a big party for noah. i think we'll wait until things "settle down" a little bit -- for my sake and hers! also, this baby isn't due until the first week of june, and even then he won't go straight to the crib, so we have plenty of time. i just don't want to wait until the very last minute.
i can't believe that my sweet baby girl isn't going to be the baby anymore! how on earth is this all happening so quickly? i keep praying that the older kiddos adjust well, since they still seem mostly happily oblivious to the big change that will be taking place at the beginning of the summer. time will tell!

snuggle time with my sweet monkey girl