English 101

Thomas and Elizabeth's speech has exploded this week. Thomas has been putting 7 and 8 word sentences together, and so has his sister. Even though I know this is within the average range for children their age, it is amazing to watch. It was always amazing to watch my speech students' language skills emerge, but to watch my own children.....it is one million times that.

With that being said, the English language is a very tricky language to master. Ask anyone who is learning English as a second language. There are synonyms, homonyms, and idioms that increase the difficulty of understanding the English language. Learning the meanings of idioms is hard for toddlers even those whose native language is English.

For months we have been trying to teach Thomas and Elizabeth to say, "Excuse me," when someone is in their way. I hate to hear people say, "Move," and don't want the twins to say it. It is quite shocking to me the number of adults I hear say it. Oddly enough, I usually hear adults saying it to children. Anyway... back to my point. We first started working on the phrase, "excuse me" in order to teach a more polite version of "move." Then we tried to teach them to say "excuse me" after burping. The use of this phrase for two different situations has confused the twins. Here is an example of what I mean:

Frequent Mealtime Exchange:
Thomas: Burp!!!
Mama: Excuse me
Thomas and Elizabeth: Move burp!!!

Lots of laughter usually occurs at this point. I wish I knew what was going on inside their racing toddler minds.

Potty Training?

Last night, while my family was eating supper I went to the bathroom and saw the above. I asked Thomas and Elizabeth who put baby on the potty, and it seemed it was a group effort. I caught them later doing the same, but their aim was a little off.....baby fell in the potty.

Catch Up

Here are some catch-up pics from the past couple of weeks. I know I haven't posted in awhile....I have been going through detox from two years of election hooplah. Starting from the top:

1. Dress-up at Mily's

2. Thomas' first cotton candy at Norah's birthday party

3. Burger King with Linda, Elizabeth Parker, and William

4. Thomas in heaven (train table, book store, DOORS!)

5. Carousel ride with Daddy at the zoo

Happy Halloween!!

T and E were very quick studies on the subject of trick or treating. They had a blast Halloween night, but David and I had a much greater time watching them.