Kelly Kids : General update of an almost 2 year old

Drawing has become a big winner these days. The Crayola washable markers really live up to their name, which is awesome since while Nathan's really pretty good at staying on the paper, he definitely gets a little overly enthusiastic sometimes with his sweeping strokes. He loves having us draw him specific pictures, especially faces. I draw a lot of pictures of "Dad."

He is also a fan of having me write out words and is starting to be able to pick out certain letters. His favorite letter is T, followed by S and M. We've made some serious progress on B and O. There really isn't a rhyme or reason to how he's learning them, but it's fun nonetheless. Most requested words are Mom, Dad, Nathan, and Cathy. Oh, and Frog. I think that tells you who are the major players in his life. That ugly arcade frog has really solidified a place in his heart. You cannot plan these things!

I also learned today that magic erasers get out pencil marks on the wall. It was a very surreal Harold and the Purple Crayon moment. I had been putting clothes away in Nathan's room when I heard a scratching sound in the hallway. Little Mr. had found a pencil and was having a great time literally walking down the hallway dragging it along the wall and periodically creating a mini-masterpiece. With Nathan wielding a wet sponge with a little soap (not sure it was actually necessary) and me with a magic eraser, we had it cleaned up in a less than 2 minutes (I actually almost got my camera to document the whole thing, and then thought that may have been a bit much). I thought it was good to have him involved in the clean up process, but it somewhat backfired because he thought he bubbles on the sponge were so great he wanted to wipe down the entire wall and did not agree with me that we were done.

He continues to be really dear with baby E on the whole. He is super sweet trying to give her cuddles, helping hold her bootle, giving kisses, etc. until he gets too tired, and then we start to see a little more jealousy come out. I can't blame him too much, I'm kind of ornery when I'm tired too. We have found if we say, "time to walk away" he really will 90% of the time. A lessons we could all learn from I would say. She loves watching him and sleeps about half of the day.