No!

The inevitable has come to pass- quite some time after learning to say "yes", the boys have finally learned to say "no!" I think it sunk in a few days ago when I got passionately upset with them for making an unusally huge mess. I must have been gesticulating somewhat wildly while exclaiming "no! no! nooo!", because now whenever the boys say "no!" they wave their forearms in the air, just as someone would who is saying "enough is enough!" They will walk around the house and point to all the crayon scribbles that have cropped up on our walls and furniture recently, and sternly say "no! no!" They have also started saying "no!" to each other when they irritate each other. They have not been so brazen as to use it against their parents, though!

Caleb has memorized the rhythm of Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear? books. Throughout the day I will hear him singing to himself "Brow-bear, brow-bear, wha da daa da?" or "Lion, lion, wha da daa da?" etc. He can also identify all the different animals at the end of the book, even in the Polar Bear book, which has children dressed up in animal costumes and is therefore a little trickier. If you ask him "where is the walrus?" or "where is the zebra?" he will point to the correct animal costume. He is one smart little animal-lover.

One funny thing that the boys have been doing for a while now, but I keep forgetting to mention, is that if you tell them "Joshua and Caleb, you look sooooo cute!" they will look down and examine their outfits to see what they are wearing. I don't know how they learned to do this, but it's really funny (and sooooo cute)!