Odds and end and found notes

Zach's favorite color is now brown ("I like brown; it's my favorite"). Caleigh has switched from pink and purple to turquoise.

From end of June -- Caleigh calls grilled cheese "girled cheese." She asked Zach in the car from church if he wanted girled cheese. Zach said, "No, me want boy cheese!" You saw that one coming, didn't you? :-)

Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me..... We were singing this around the house - Caleigh says "body" instead of Bonnie and Zach translates it to anything that he wants returned (i.e., he'll sing, "bring back my chair to me, to me...").

At 8 months, Caroline pulled to standing for the first time. The next day she was cruising. Now at 11 months she has moved from about 4 steps per day (with coaxing) to full fledged walking across the room. She is a speed crawler so it isn't surprising she favored that method of locomotion. Now, she is so pleased with herself and stays standing/walking as long as she doesn't knock herself over laughing.

At 10 months, Caroline started opening her mouth really wide and saying "I" back at you when you said "I love you" to her. So cute! She doesn't really 'clap' her hands, but consistently claps her right hand on the back of her left (or on her legs) to the same effect. She loves her nap/bed routine of eat bottle, rock, snuggle and sleep.

Caleigh has been able to write all her letters for awhile now (using pencils, crayons, chalk...), but usually picks four from the 26 to write backwards at any given time (e.g., s, z, j). And she counts to 100+ and adds & subtracts (in her head). She is more reliably reading single words, especially when she wants to.

Zach now loves to use the wooden letter/picture set to spell out words. He acts like he is sounding out the words, but they all start with "sssss." He tells elaborate stories and jokes. He cracks himself and us up daily. He LOVES his elephant ('pooh') and will hug, kiss, cuddle, and say "I love you" to this special stuffed friend.