A few short stories...

Miss Moose Mouse:

1. I've been meaning to write this for weeks. Remember a little while back when I wrote that long list of the single words that Molly could say? Well I had been working on that list for a while, and she must have known it somehow. Because, wouldn't you know it, the week I posted that list, her language EXPLODED.

Now, I couldn't even come close to listing all the single words that she knows. And, she has suddenly "gotten" the usefulness of combining words. She usually uses 1- or 2-word sentences throughout the day. Some examples: up mama, eat more, down please, more water, dada tickle.

And, of course, the MOST useful 2-word combination in the house, which she wasted no time in mastering: "NO, Ben!!" :)

2. She has now moved on to some 3- and 4-word sentences. Today, she clarified the location of some of her favorite people to both Aaron and I by stating, "RiRi Anna Curt home!" and "Nana home Papa home."

There have been a few PRICELESS quotes that I've been meaning to share lately:

1. Ben has a habit of "playing" with words. He likes to change the sounds around a bit and make up silly words that are similar to the originals. Usually, this is just cute, but it got a little embarrassing a few weeks a go when we were at a restaurant, about to order him some "noodles". He loudly proclaimed, "Dada, I want to get some NUDIES for dinner!!"

2. Ben recently announced, "Mom, I have a tummy-ache in my neck."

3. I often take great pride as a mother in his huge vocabulary. I'll admit that I have been known to think of how well I must be doing as a mother if I have a son who knows such big words. Well, I think I was encouraged to be a bit more humble today when Ben used the word "gravity" in a sentence. It went something like this: "Mom, tell Molly to leave my balloon alone! She's trying to be 'grabity' with it!"
Though, the pull of gravity, and grabbing something really are a little similar:)

4. We had a very funny moment here a few hours ago. Ben has gotten so smart and grown up in some ways that we really can generally trust what he is saying. That is the good news. The bad news is that he isn't always good at remember how to keep a secret. Today, for example, I took the kids with me to Golf Galaxy to buy a birthday gift for Aaron. I told Ben that it would be a surprise, but I guess I didn't stress the secret part enough.

This evening, at dinner, Ben looked up at me, out of the blue, and said, "Hey Mom, remember when we went to that golf store?" I tried to give him a look to tell him to stop talking about it...but who was I kidding...he's 3!!
So I tried to throw him, and Aaron, off the track by saying, "Are you talking about some time that you and Daddy went to the golf store?"
He replied, "No, I'm talking about today when we went to the golf store to get something for Daddy."

At this point, Aaron had a huge grin on his face and was trying not to laugh, which just made me start laughing. Soon, the two of us were shaking with laughter, which only continued as Ben tried to help me get my facts straight by repeating, "Mom, THIS day, remember? THIS day. THIS day. THIS day!"

Oh well, Happy Birthday Aaron:)