Discovery

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and that Christmas isn't that much farther away. With the kid's behavior lately, switches and coal may be all they are getting :)! Katie, in particular, is in a real independent/testing stage. I am learning to get thicker skin since she is bound and determined to humiliate me in public. Hitting (me, dad, and Tyler), flailing on the ground, refusing to sit in her carseat or hold my hand - those are all bad enough. But the worst is that Katie has learned to be loud and verbal and will yell "No mama, and mama no hurt Katie" everytime I have to inevitably pick her up after long minutes of her refusing to come when I tell her to (like when we are getting in the car to leave school). Tyler isn't as demonstrative, but he is testing too. He flat-out refuses to have his diaper changed these days, or put pajamas on and it is a two-person job with one having to grab his kicking legs and the other of us trying to find a way to put the pjs on. Most of his resistance revolves around him wanting to"sit on the potty," all the time (and usually with a book in hand - what is it with boys and bathrooms), which is great, but neverending and usually with no result. I would say that they are both in a stage of discovery. Katie is discovering what control she has (and we are hoping to teach her that it isn't much) and what she can get away with. She has a pouty face (where she literally turns her lips down in a sad look), and has started throwing herself down when we say no or she doesn't get her way - and really seems to be starting to understand emotions and feelings. The plus side of that is that she has started saying "I love you" more deliberately and is all about hugs and kisses - the downside is obvious, she is learning to express her emotions, which for a toddler means lots of the world is coming to an end type of meltdowns. My dad said that I need to call Super Nanny for her - I just might have to. Tyler's stage of discovery is much more fun. He is doing really well with his colors and has started pointing out shapes on signs as we drive. He also really seems to have started to grasp the concept of "reading" and will sit down and go through a book reading it in his own way. They are both learning lots of new songs and we have singing time every day on the way home. I have some cute pictures that I haven't had a chance to upload (the one below is from their Thanksgiving lunch at school yesterday where Lance got roped into reading while the kids were trying to avoid naptime - it doesn't really show the kids but I thought it was cute to see "teacher" Lance), but I wanted to post while I was thinking about it regarding wish lists. It can't be said enough that we definitely don't expect anything from anybody for these two, but I have had a lot of questions about what the kids would like for Christmas so I started a wish list on Amazon as I come across things that I think they would enjoy - here is the link!
http://amzn.com/w/31MTSRB4PTVRA