Mimicry

The other day the boys were watching "Wild Kratts" and they taught about mimicry (one animal mimicking another animal).  Well Andrew and Eric have a little mimic of their own -- Tanner.

First, mimicking "the look" -- often when the boys get ready for school, Tanner does too.  Here he is in Eric's coat, with a backpack and hat.  If Eric had gloves on, Tanner would have also.

The other thing Tanner has been doing is wearing the boys clothes -- he's even been known to where their (clean) underwear on top of his diaper.  Almost every night he wears their pajamas.  The picture doesn't quite capture the fact that he's wearing Size 7 pajamas here.  It's a tripping hazard for sure.

And the picture below is one I took back in July -- cracked me up when I walked in the room and saw him perched on the table just like Andrew.  My favorite lately is when the boys put their hands in their pockets because it's cold -- he stops and puts his in his pant pockets too.  It's really cute.

Now if he would only start mimicking their speech.  He's great at mimicking noises and even voice fluctuation.  But when it comes to actual words -- he's got a language of his own.  We started speech therapy this year, and I'm hoping it'll help.  We both get frustrated when I can't understand him.   And then if we specifically ask him to repeat something, he won't -- even if I'm asking him to repeat a word/sound that he knows.  Hopefully this will all improve  soon!

2012 Glimpse

So I'm writing my semi-annual post.  I'm not sure why I keep trying -- I think I'll be like my bro and sis-in-law who have a great blog and then print it off at the end of the year into a huge book.  I don't keep a journal, and so once in a while I think it would be so great to do something like them!  But then I think "where do I start" and "I'm not that interesting."  But since I only have 3 "followers", I guess I shouldn't care too much.  (:

So here's a little review of the last half of the year:

 1.  We had a great time at the cabin with cousins.  There was a little grandpa/dad/sons fishing trip -- I was told that Tanner LOVED the mud, water, and just being out there in by the water.  I'm not surprised.  Eric just walked by and saw this picture and sadly said "Oh.  That's when I got a leech."

I love this picture of some of my beautiful nieces hanging out at the dock. 

2.  Brian's mother passed away in June.  She had endured a lot in the last few years, so mingled with the sadness and loss was a bit of relief.  It's hard to watch someone go through Alzheimers, surgeries, strokes, and loneliness.  Brian's dad died several years ago, so we all happily think of them together again.  Almost every night Eric says "Please bless that the people who have died (Grandma and Grandpa) will remember us.....and we will remember them."  I'm not even sure where he got the idea to include that in his prayer, but it does make us pause and smile.

One great thing about this time was the chance to see our Cox cousins who live on the other side of the country.  They were so nice to our boys!

3.  Halloween --  Here we have Spiderman (or as Tanner says "Bawgubas"  Not sure where he got that!)  He was quite the trooper trick-or-treating.  Brian said he just kept on following the big boys up to each porch, outlasting even Eric.  He does love candy!  Andrew was a zombie -- he was very good at acting the part.  When we went to see him in the school halloween parade, he came by looking quite dead, with his limp arms and dragging foot.  Eric was a ninja again this year.  I love it when I can reuse a costume!

4.  We had some great snow storms earlier this year.  The boys had a great time building giant snow balls and we did make a pretty good snowman this year.

5.  Brian is a big classic rock fan, and so when he read that Styx was coming to town we got 2 tickets to attend the sold-out concert.  It was a small arena (400 people or so, I think.)  It was a lot of fun and I actually recognized many of the songs -- thanks to my older sister Marie's music listening in high school and also the "musak" station at Taco Time.

 6.  I turned 37 this year.  The boys were very excited about my birthday -- Brian was going to make the cake, but after he and Eric picked out the cake mix, he asked Brian if he had ever made a cake.  When Brian answered in the negative, Eric said "Maybe we should just have mom make it."  (:  We didn't have many candles, so there are 3 candles on one side, and a big 7 on the other -- 37.  Fancy!

7.  Christmas has come and gone but here are a few pictures we took at a family party.  Ho. Ho. Ho.

Our obsessions

I've been a bit obsessed with quilting these days.  After reading about this "emerald" mosaic contest, I thought I'd enter it.  Chances are slim....but given that I've been contemplating a "MineCraft" quilt for my boys, green has been on my mind.  How could minecraft not be on all of our minds around here...  The boys talk about it A LOT!  So.....I have to put the mosaic somewhere online, so here it is:

Tell me that doesn't say Minecraft Creeper to you?

Hopefully I'll post something more interesting later...an update on our life.