KateSpeak, Proud Jack

Kate's become a chatterbox lately, but a lot of it has a similar ring to it. She likes announcing she's done something, eager to share her little achievements, like putting on her shoes or picking something up that's tough to reach. "My got it!" "My did it!" "Got it!" "Yes!"

She's taken to carrying these AutoBlox cars around that were Jack's. They're really awesome toys. She can spend up to 20 minutes just taking them apart and putting them back together over and over again. (And on completion, "My did it!") One is bigger than the other one. She calls it Big Car. One is smaller. She calls it Baby Car. She'll walk around saying, "Big car...baby car....Big! Car. Babycar." The other day she carried them everywhere, upstairs, into the bathroom when it was time to brush her teeth. I got her out of her crib one morning and the first thing she said was, "Big Car? Baby Car?"

The guy next door has a giant (8-foot-tall) inflatable Thanksgiving Turkey on his lawn. How do I know it's a Thanksgiving turkey, you ask? Well, it's wearing a Pilgrim hat, obviously. Anyway, we visit it each day. Kate has taken to calling it "chicken." "Hi, chicken!" "Bye, chicken!" The other day she apparently corrected Emily when Emily called it a turkey. "No," said Kate, seriously, reproachfully. "Chicken."

Halloween brings candy, and Kate has developed a taste for it. (Shocking, I know.) At random times when we're in the kitchen, she'll come in. "Candy?" she says hopefully. Then nods, smiling, sweet. "Candy? Pease? Candy?"

She likes identifying things she knows. Like when she sees a picture of several dogs, or looks at refrigerator magnets of dogs. She points to each one. "Dog." Pause. Points to another one. "Dog."

"Dog."

______________________________________________________________

Went to the playground with the kids on Tuesday, they were home for some odd reason. There, Jack climbed up this ladder thing he'd avoided in the past, and carefully stepped over onto the jungle gym. When he got there, and was safely standing on the platform, he was so proud.

"I did it!" he yelled down to me, beaming.

______________________________________________________________

We were watching football last Sunday. Brett Favre threw a touchdown. I got excited: "Touchdown!" Jack ran over. "Chest bump!" he said. Me on my knees, him standing up, we chest bumped. It doesn't get old.