Beach Trip for Family Photos

Our friend's mom is a professional photographer, so we met her at a beach in Half Moon Bay a few weekends ago (Nov 12). Here is our family (less pictures of Gabriel than I wanted, though, because he was having fun running around in the sand and climbing the rocks).

20 Months

Ephraim turned 20 months old yesterday!! It's hard to believe he's almost two already. Here he is playing with play-doh. He loves the gingerbread man cut out (still a favorite book in this house) and making them dance around and kiss (with kissy noises).

Ephraim has been talking and constantly asking for new words by pointing to things. He'll try to repeat a word if you say it. Yesterday after I gave Ephraim his bowl of cereal, I heard, "Poon! Poon!" I had forgotten his spoon. He says, "Bye, bye" and "thank you." He is sometimes very "two"! He gets frustrated when he can't get things the way he wants, mostly around sleep time. He wants to hold his stuffed animal a certain way and have his blanket wrapped around him a certain way. My little perfectionist!

Gabriel watched the movie "Iron Giant" all the way through for the first time (it is one of Paul's favorite movies). He liked it a lot and drew a picture of the iron giant afterward. He is getting really good at drawing. He drew the cover of the movie "Totoro" (the current favorite), more than half by memory until I got out the cover for him to copy.

Gabriel's invisible friend, Yon, is still alive and well. While in Target on Monday, the conversation went something like this:
Gabriel: It's Yon's birthday today.
Mom: Yeah? Cool. What should we do for Yon's birthday? (Thinking of leftover decorations we might have, or the required birthday cake.)
Gabriel: We should buy me something.

Mom: Why should we buy you something if it's Yon's birthday? Shouldn't we get something for Yon?
Gabriel: No, we should get something for me. Yon is just made up.

It is so cool hearing Gabriel talk about Yon so much ("Yon has this" or "Yon does it this way") and yet Gabriel is so completely aware that it is all in his imagination.

On a side note, Paul's work is going well. He went to work as lead designer on the new project (still leading the old project but not really working on it). It is great to see him so excited and enjoying his job. Our couple project is going well for me too. A few weeks ago I started a weight loss game between us=put a dollar in a jar for each pound we lose. Whoever loses the most by May gets to spend that money. Because Gabriel is in preschool, I have been going for walks in the park with Ephraim and now that it is cold using the treadmill at home. The best weight loss motivation for me is losing weight! And it's working, 1-2 lbs a week so far!!

Nothing Exciting

Look, mom, I'm brushing my teeth!

We cleaned up our game shelf the other day. Gabriel grabbed this one and wanted to know what it was. Much to his excitement, it contained figures! It kept both boys busy for a while.

While looking for the fondue pot for Paul's birthday last month, I rediscovered the ice cream machine. We made basic vanilla. Big hit. I got wild and tried the chocolate pudding "fudgesicle" ice cream recipe. The pudding was great, but it didn't make good ice cream. Gabriel was quite proud of his face here.

Ephraim built a nest of clean socks the other day and ate his graham crackers on it. It made me laugh so I had to take a picture. Today, Ephraim grabbed a pencil and ran down the hall with it before I noticed. I found him a few seconds later drawing on the wall. I got angry for only a second until I realized what he was doing. He was coloring on a door jam. So I asked him, "Are you measuring how tall you are?" and he nodded! Wow!

Two cute boys playing trains. (By the way, this was the pose Gabriel kept for the photo. Not sure why.)

Hit by a Milestone

While getting ready for preschool this morning, I heard something that made me burst out laughing. Gabriel (not a morning person) was sitting on the couch and Ephraim crawled up to sit next to him. Gabriel said, "Ephraim, stop looking at me! Stop looking at me!" We've reached that age! :-D

Speaking of age, I usually share my bowl of cereal with Ephraim in the morning. He sits on my lap and gets every other spoonful. This morning, that was NOT good enough for him. He wanted to hold the spoon himself. He was making a big mess, so I got him his own bowl of cereal and let him sit by himself. That bowl promptly got flung across the kitchen!! So, summoning all my powers of patience, I let him feed himself from my bowl. Soon he was covered in wet cereal, along with me and the blanket he insisted on wearing to the table. But he had a satisfied smile by the time he was done. Then, while walking Gabriel into preschool, Ephraim pushed out of my arms and wanted to walk NEXT to Gabriel instead of being carried. Wow! My boys grow up fast!