The Inquisition

I wasn't sure when it would start, but I think I thought it would be awhile. But it's here. Casey is asking questions all the time - "What is that?", "What's his name?", and yes, "Why?" Most recently, the answers were: "a tweezers", "Thurman the turtle", and "because you are bigger than him and you could hurt him". So, this should be fun. It's interesting - his ability to verbalize his questions must feel so good to him - he has probably wondered a lot of these things for awhile. Of course I am already nervous about the questions we won't be able to answer. The classic "Why is the sky blue?" type things. But I hadn't studied up on how to explain what a tweezers is for, and I think I did OK with that one, so hopefully we will be alright.
In other disconcerting news, I walked into the kitchen today to find Casey standing at the fridge, door open, just starring at nothing. I was not aware he could open the door himself, much less that he knew the "there's nothing to eat" posture.
On the plus side, Casey's verbal milestones are a ton of fun. He has new words all day long and loves learning the names of all the characters in any given book or show. He has many of his books memorized and we hear him telling himself stories when he lays in bed. He also loves learning songs and then asks us to sing with him over and over. This weeks favorite is "Go Tell It On The Mountain". We must get this on video - we must.
Speaking of language, we have removed the word nap from Casey's daily routine. It has been replaced by "Quiet Time" and it is working like a charm. Let me back up. Last week from Wednesday to Sunday we had ridiculous and frustrating nap times. Starting at about 2 pm, Casey was screaming, getting out of his bed, and being generally difficult until he would collapse in sheer exhaustion sometime after 4 pm. We had a number of evening commitments last week so we had to wake him at 5 as usual. Our pal Heather told us about Quiet Time and this week has been a lot better. The deal with Quiet Time is that he can read, tell stories, sing or play with one or two selected toys, but he has to be in his bed. He thinks this is great and takes great care in selecting some books and toys for quiet time. Of course, 15 minutes into it, he is asleep in a pile of books. I guess this way its just his idea to sleep during quiet time, instead of our idea to take a nap. Whatever it takes.
Speaking of sleep: Sam has had two nights this week, yes TWO, where he slept a 7 hour stretch. Hooray! I knew he could do it! I hope its a new trend, but time will tell.
In an unrelated story, the boys seem more rested this week. :)
















Sam is starting to wave at us a little bit. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. He holds his arm up very close to his head, so that his little wave might also be an attempt to itch the top of his head. But we will take it. The teething pain seems to have subsided for now which is so nice for all of us. Sam is getting really good at rolling around as a way to cover a little ground. I think he is getting ready for the sitting up to belly trick but we probably have some time yet. I think we get to try a whole new level of activity once he is mobile. Now you can plop him down and run to see what Casey just knocked over and when you come back Sam will be right where you left him. This might not last much longer. He is so eager to keep up with big brother - its fun to watch.
Well, that's probably enough babbling for now. Thanks for checking in!

Casey is getting really into helping cook - its a lot of fun


We are again enjoying this wonderful meshy invention - Sam loves eating apples out of this thing.