The Lancasters

Joshua is very alert. He is even starting to mimic us. For instance, if you look at him and stick out your tongue, he will stick his tongue out, too. He seems too small to be doing this, but he does it every time.

Ellie loves helping out with her little brother (she still calls him ‘baby’ but she does know his name). When he is crying, she will walk over and pat him and say, “it’s okay baby.”

Ellie has now said her ABC’s a couple of times and can do it about every time when asked — she sometimes acts bored with it like it is old hat. Works much better if she just spontaneously starts it herself. She is becoming shy and we have to work to get her to do things in front of other people, but once she warms up to them…watch out.

Ellie often uses sentences when talking. She also seems to understand pronoun usage despite ELMO talking without using pronouns. She can sing many songs and does so quite often. Her favorites are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, I Love you (Barney), London Bridge, Ring Around the Rosie and many more.

Joshua gave his first big smile on Halloween. Paula was playing with him and he gave her a couple of huge smiles. Otherwise, he sleeps, eats, and we change diapers. He did sleep 6 straight hours last night and that made mommy and daddy very happy. Keep it up slugger!

Halloween was a blast.

This morning, 18 month old Ellie recited all of the letters of the alphabet…not all of the way through, but close. She said, “A-B-C-D-E-F-G” and then I said, “H-I” and she continued on for a 4 or 5 letters and would stop. I would then say the next letter or so, and she would continue on until we were finished. I then went back through and did the same thing except I tried to avoid saying letters I had said the first time. It was pretty cool and she was quite proud, “all right!” when we finished. Won’t be long.

Ellie does the cutest little thing when she is thinking. If you ask her a question that requires thought, she places her chin in her hand and then says, “hmmm.” She might do this 2 or 3 times and she gets a serious look on her face.

Ellie could go on her potty chair every time, but she isn’t quite annoyed with going in her diaper yet. If we ask her if she wants to go on her potty chair, she will usually respond affirmatively. When she sits on the chair, she knows what to do. It is just a matter of guessing when she needs to go. We’ll get it worked out.