Mr. Independent and "One, Peace, Three"

Aeron loves to grab daddy's hat from the chair and wear it backwards. He pulls it down just so, so he can see through the hole in the back. I didn't get the picture at the right time below, because it's not pulled down quite as far as usual, but you get the idea. The other thing I have noticed is that right after he gets the hat, he goes for his Tonka truck. I guess truckers wear hats in his world. Addyson usually sees Aeron with a hat and has to grab a baseball cap as well.

We have also been wearing our snow hats quite a bit lately.. in the house. Often times we also have to put on gloves as well. Strange, yes.

We had to get a few of the kids' baby blankets out the other day. The kids love their baby dolls, Sesame Street dolls, stuffed animals.. whatever is the choice of the day.. wrapped up in a blanket. As soon as we start wrapping, Addyson and Aeron say "Shhh" (because the babies are going to sleep, of course.) Below is how Addyson says "Shhh," while Aeron points more to his nose and says "Ssss."

Mr. Independent, Aeron, has decided lately that he likes to dress himself. He doesn't do this all the time, but if you try to help when he is wanting to do it, you better watch out. The other morning he took his sleeper off with the tiniest bit of help getting it around his ankles. He put his shirt and pants on with some minimal help as well. His coat is another thing he tries to put on by himself quite often. He can get his arms in the sleeves, although many times it's upside down or just in the wrong hole, but he's learning!

Aeron is also trying to learn how to say a lot of words. His sister has quite the vocabulary and he is learning from her, I think. He says many words, and most of the time you can tell what he wants to say (especially when he points :), although much of it sounds the same. He does say "sister," which is adorable. Addyson used to call Aeron, and still does sometimes, "Ernie," but it's starting to turn into "Eeron" or something like that.

Starting when the kids were pretty little, when they would start fussing or fighting, I would put two fingers up and say "Peace!" The kids would get a kick out of it and both try to put a finger or two up and say it, so I guess it did the trick. In the last few months or longer, I don't think I really did this with them much at all, but.. We have been working with the kids trying to learn "one" and "two," since their second birthday is coming up. Both can hold up one finger and also say "one" (not necessarily at the same time.) So once we had them saying, or at least recognizing "one", we held up two fingers and Addyson yelled "Peace!" If we don't hold up two fingers and just say "two", she has said it before, but there has not been one time yet that when we hold up two fingers (and we can even say "two") that she hasn't said "Peace." So.. we are thinking maybe we will try holding up two different fingers than the normal index and middle finger, or just start counting "One, Peace, Three, Four..."