growing up...

I know it's so cliche to say how fast your kids grow up but man, Owen and Elias are changing so fast, I can hardly keep up:

Elias demands to feed himself and asks for his own fork, water, more, bite...
granted they are only one word requests but it seems like his vocabulary is expanding every hour. Tonight he added "gecko" and "owl" and earlier it was "shorts on" This kid is only 15 months, I wonder what he's going to be asking for in another year. Owen didn't start talking until he was close to 2.

Today for the first time Elias climbed down the stairs from the trailer all by himself. He runs with agility and is intent on trying to escape the yard and either go out in the street or down behind our house that is being built. I can not take my eyes off him for fear he will take off.

He is an amazing sleeper, unlike Owen he goes down really easy... read him a book and sing him a song and he's good to go. Last night he slept from 6:30pm until 7:15am. After battling through the whole bedtime thing with Owen I must say it is a welcome reprieve and definitely gives credence to the saying that babies come with their own unique personalities. We really didn't do much different between Elias and Owen with respect to the whole bed time thing. Elias goes to sleep on his own and Owen, well I can remember trying to let him "cry it out" one time for over an hour. He still has a longer bed time routine than Elias.

Owen is a fantastic big brother... he is amazingly patient with Elias wanting to play with almost everything that he has. He gives him loves, hugs and kisses and seems genuinely concerned with Elias's whereabouts. Sure he has his moments but don't we all. Owen's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds also, he even has a few spanish words in the mix.

Lately he has been really into letters and numbers and pretending that he is reading. He also spent a lot of time with my mom while she was here over the Christmas holiday. Well, the other day when my mom was with him he said that he couldn't read something because "he needed his glasses". Wonder where he learned that? My mom just happens to wear magnifiers to read with. He's also picked up an exasperated sigh that he uses in all too appropriate moments. Crazy how our kids can be mirrors we don't want to look into. I never even realized I made this obnoxious noise until Jeremiah pointed it out to me.

I am amazed by how much he picks up on, their little minds are truly like sponges. Scary and at the same time hopeful. I feel a sense of urgency to try and fill Owen's sponge with as much truth and wisdom as possible.

I almost forgot to mention... I think we might be finally on the road to potty training Owen. Until now he's had virtually no interest in the toilet whatsoever. At the suggestion of my mom we decided to offer m&m's after every successful use of the toilet. Owen LOVES chocolate. It worked for the first couple of pee's and then there were about 5 days where he very clearly decided he didn't want to use the toilet, even if it meant forfeiting the m&m's. We're back on the toilet today and he's happy about the m&m thing... I'm truly hoping we're on our way to ditching diapers.