"No! No!"

So for months now we have been waiting for the boys to start talking. Quite honestly, we were really in no hurry and figured the words would come in good time. Well, they are here and seem to be doubling every day now. Nathan was the first one to start practicing more of his words. Lately he has started to repeat everything we say...sometimes quite well, sometimes not so well. He has mastered one phrase: "No! No!" Of course, this comes right after he has been disciplined for something. His response is a huge grin followed by the "No! No!" and then he resumes his "bad" activities such as climbing up on the table. As you can guess, this new little exchange has earned him many time outs over the last few days. The problem is that he just kicks back in time out (ie jail which is his pack n play), sucks his thumb and serves his sentence without batting an eye. When it is time for parole, he meets us with a huge grin. This is scary. So, we are very open to any suggestions on how to effectively punish this happy, defiant little boy. :-) It is pretty hard not to laugh or smile when he gives you the big toothy grin and giggles nonstop. As you can guess, he has it all figured out.

Christopher has earned the "most improved" award this week. He has been very quiet in terms of his talking. He would say a word here or there when it served a real purpose. He has never been a performer like his brother. All of the sudden this last week, he has really started to talk. He has picked up many of his brothers words such as "more,more" which sounds like "mo, mo" and he has continued to practice mamma and dadda. This afternoon he and Nathan were running through the restaurant with their heads cut off screaming "No! No!". See the theme? haha
They both are really starting to play with each other more and more. They actually sat quietly on the floor today working on stacking blocks TOGETHER without any fighting for over 10 minutes! Get out the pen...this needs to be written in the record books! They were having such a great time.
We do continue to have some serious car jacking problems in the Li household. We have ONE little bike (which they call a car) they ride on through the house and on the patio. The key word there is "one" if you haven't guessed. Whoever does not have the bike is just waiting for the brief opportunity to jack the car and take off. This leads to plenty of screaming and of course and unfortunately, some biting episodes. I really need to check Craig's list for another one of these but I hesitate since Nathan figured out how to do wheelies with this car today which I am sure is just denting up my hard wood floors. (I have decided not to look until tomorrow)

Both boys have really gotten into big trucks such as semis. This has been great when we are driving on the interstate. It is a great way to delay or even stop a temper tantrum by pointing out the "big trucks". Hopefully this interest continues for an extended period of time since there are plenty of "big trucks" on the road at any given time.

As you can see, the Li household is full of laughter, screaming, and insanity. We are loving every minute of it.

Have a great week!
Love
Robin, Will, Christopher, and Nathan