Taking it all in

While the boys may not be speaking much English yet, we've come to realize that they understand many things. Lately we have been playing "Where is the...?" a lot. The boys can correctly identify so many things, including things that I'm certain we never specifically taught them. They know: house, tree, butterfly, squirrel, rabbit, mouse, eagle, bat, girl, boy, Jesus, sun, fire, zebra, monkey, giraffe, cow, frog, hippopotamus, peacock, leopard, tiger, boa consrictor, lamb, sheep, fish, polar bear, flamingo, window, car, pillow, corn, table, chair, couch, floor, ceiling, diaper, balloon, bird, rooster, boat, snowman, and horse, just to name a few. They also know their tummy, chest, bellybutton, elbows, shoulders, fingers, toes, and hair. They're so proud of themselves when they can point to the correct thing, and will sometimes clap and say "Yaaaay!". They clap and cheer for each other's acheivements, too.

The other day Halmoni was asking them where the different animals in the "Brown Bear" book were, and Caleb (who is especially quick to identify which animals are which) was sweet enough to defer to Joshua and let him have a turn at pointing to the correct animals, which he did. We thought that was really sweet.

One time a couple weeks ago we asked Joshua, "Where is the elephant?" thinking he'd go retrieve his elephant stuffed animal. But instead he hurriedly sorted through his alphabet books, found the "E" book, and turned to the page with the elephants on it! He was bursting with excitement and beaming with pride, it was so cute!

Words they do know how to say include: dog, puppy, turtle, apple, eye, owl, star, moon, baby, knee, duck, and book. They are also learning to count when they walk up and down the stairs, and even though they don't know all the numbers, it sounds like they're actually counting.

They've also started hugging each other. We ask them, "Caleb, do you love Joshua? Joshua, do you love Caleb?" and they will run towards each other and hug and gently pat each other on the back while embracing. I really need to get that on video!