And, YES, it's time for random Will-ness!

Kate's not the only big talker in our house now--Will's gaining speed every day!! He's talking constantly now and is SO proud of himself. Now that he can verbalize things, I'm actually amazed at how many words for things he knows. When we go to the store, it's sort of like he has some mild case of toddler Tourette's syndrome; he just yells out random words when he sees things he knows. We were in Target the other day and he was gleefully screaming, "SHIRT!" "BROOM!" "BALL!" "JUICE!" and on and on. He's starting to put two words together, some good (he heard someone say "have fun!" the other day and now enjoys busting that one out every few minutes) and the not so good (he's learned how to say "NO, MINE!" which has upped the sibling rivalry in our house by quite a bit). And, of course, Kate is his ultimate and supreme idol (he points to her closet and says "skirt, spin!" because we wants to wear tutus like her), so she is able to teach him pretty much whatever she wants and is able to get him to do whatever she wants. So far, she's wielded her power fairly tamely--she happily got him to yell "pee" and "poo"--but I can see that he's in for it! She has been trying to teach him letters and colors, which is so sweet because I can see she's copying the mannerisms of her pre-school teacher. It's met with a little success--if you point to a color, Will will emphatically nod his head and say "boo" or "geen" no matter what color it is. Hey, it's a start, right?Whether it's good or not-so-good talking, this age is pretty much my favorite. Watching kids learn how to talk is such a welcome reward for all the months you spend guessing what they want and trying to talk for them. It's fantastic to watch them show you what they know. We've de-camped to Grandma Connie's for a couple nights while Ryan has his guys' March Madness weekend and, last night, we watched Kate and Will dissolve into belly laughs together. They were sitting on the table around a bouquet of flowers, sniffing them (Will was actually blowing on them, but sniffing's tough, right? :) and then pretending they were stinking by yelling "P U"!! To them, this was high comedy and so funny because they were having their own little moment. Grandma Connie and I were laughing equally hard just watching their antics. It's amazing to think these two were in my tummy not so long ago, and now they're playing together and becoming mini-comedians! There's nothing like watching your kids grow up--if you can tough it out for those months of no sleep and adjustment to life with a newborn, you sure do get a big payoff as they grow!