Later and Water

I have very smart babies. They have all mastered the "Yes" and "No" nods at the appropriate times - usually. Some exceptions include when a very stinky-baby Alex was asked if he was stinky and he laughed and shook his head no, repeatedly - guess potty training is still a little ways off. They know what we're talking about when we talk to them and know where they are supposed to go when we mention going "downstairs" to play or "upstairs" for naps - different gates for the different locations. They even do what we ask them to, every once in a while.

They also have a handful of signs they'll use to communicate with us. Yesterday I taught Nick (and Logan) how to sign "later". In context, the weather was so nice yesterday that they went outside in the morning and afternoon to play! They were out in our back yard learning how to climb up (and down) our hill. So of course when we came home from work, they were excited to go back outside. I told them we'd go later - it's too dark out now. I signed later for Nick and he just looked at me for a while. After a while, Nick and Logan started signing that they were ready for their baths. Still a half hour from bath time, I again signed later to them. Nick started waving his arm/hand to mimic mine. It isn't 100% (as the L sign is a little advanced), but it's so cute to see him sign it. Logan must have been watching too because he was joining in with Nick. Tonight they repeated the sign, without my prompting. Okay, so I was saying later (we can't see Mr. Moon tonight because of the clouds but we'll look for him "later"), but wasn't signing it. Nick looked at me, started shaking his head yes and signing "later". I'm so thankful that they are smart little guys! Now if only they'd start using their words!

Something else we learned/tried this week was drinking water. It sounds odd, but they've only had milk or juice before. I just started the other day giving them a drink from my cup with water in it. There are mixed results. Eventually, everyone drinks the water, but Logan likes to spit some of it back out, either back into my glass (gross) or all down himself or onto the floor - you've been warned. I also started using some sippy cups with straws this week. Logan will drink a whole glass of water and not want to put it down. Alex drinks when he's not busy doing something else. Nick drinks it, I think. I'm not fully convinced he's learned how to suck it through the straw. Some times it looks like he does but other times he just looks frustrated. Maybe he's just frustrated that it's water and not the diet Pepsi he tried last weekend!

I'm updating the slide show on the right hand side of the blog. It has some pictures of the boys from the last week. Some are from being out in the yard yesterday. Some of them are just cute, around the house pics.