3 years and 3 months old

looking at our family friend's model train set-up

I thought I would do a little update on my sweet young men.  They are amazing little boys!  They are both really talking now- tonight after I tucked them in (for the first time) I stayed in my room and listened to them talk.  I wasn't 100% clear on what they were saying, but they were having a conversation, and it was adorable.

the sign of a good summer night: filthy faces and water ice

There are 2 things I cannot stop laughing about:
1) I make Benjamin's turkey sandwiches with dijon mustard.  We ran out and I substituted French's yellow mustard. He took one bite and became incredibly upset, saying, "What this in my sandwich?  This BABY POOP?!?  There BABY POOP in my sandwich?!?" Eric said, "No, that's mustard."  Pause.  "No like mustard!" I just think it is hysterical that he would think we would put poop in his sandwich.  And I have to give him credit- baby poop does look a lot like yellow mustard.

2) We were getting ready to go to the Please Touch Museum and apparently Asher thought Benjamin was mispronouncing it.  He took him aside and said, enunciating clearly, "No, Benjamin.  Peese Touch NEW-ZEE-MEN.  New-zee-men, Benjamin."

And another funny one, which happened a while ago, Eric was drinking a beer and Asher told him, "I no like beer, Daddy. I like wine."

I love their mispronunciations- Benjamin puts a "g" in front of random words, so we have goghetti (spaghetti), gamorrow (tomorrow), Gomanda (Amanda, our neighbor who babysits), and Gokea, where we get cinnamon rolls and ice cream cones.

Asher has a hard time with barbecue- it is "gaba-coo."  And obviously he has a hard time with "museum," too.

panicked kitty cat

And they have both started to really enjoy imaginative play.  I love watching them, and it reminds me of when I was little and felt that I could make something real if I imagined hard enough.  Tonight in the tub they took a shampoo bottle top and Asher said it was his wine cup (like the small kiddush cup we use on Shabbat).  They were pretending to share wine, and Asher said, "I like wine A LOT."  Oh geez.

Asher also has a tendency to exaggerate (wonder where he got that from...), so things are "big, huge" in size, or he hasn't been somewhere or seen someone in a "long, long, long time."

Benjamin likes to sing, but he is a little sketchy on the words still.  Another favorite is "rain, rain go away, DON'T COME BACK!"

Asher has the cutest "hello" that he greets us with in the morning, with a big gap-toothed grin.  He may be waking me up early, but I'm happy to see that face.

And, big news- today Benjamin asked to go on the potty and he pooped on it!  A major milestone!  I was so thrilled and I hugged him and kissed him and he asked for a popsicle as his reward.  Asher then had a meltdown because he didn't get a popsicle. My fingers are crossed this keeps up and I have one child out of diapers for good!

at the park with their friends

The boys have friends whose company they enjoy, and who seem to enjoy them.  I'm so proud of my guys for being good people so far.  Of course they do their usual toddler trouble-making, but in general they are thoughtful and sweet.  They hold doors open for others, they say thank you, and they love to help me (when it's their idea, not when I ask them to do something they don't want to do).  They're turning into such wonderful people.