My family

Monday, July 19, 2010

Two Parrots

I have two parrots in my house now.  Parrots as in children that are trying to repeat or imitate everything that I or others say.  Ian will be 4 years old next month and Lyla is 18 months old and they are both at the same level intellectually. 

It's kind of funny in our house because we'll be trying to get one of them to say something then the other replies and we're happy if either one does.  Driving on car trips we'll make funny noises with our mouths and the two of them will start doing the same thing.  If one of them makes a noise, the other tries to make the same noise too.  It's also very encouraging for us to hear Ian finally repeat our words.  He's really trying to say what we're saying in the way that we do but I just wish he could start saying things more spontaneously and requesting things on his own.  He still can't put into words what he wants, he resorts to destroying our house to get what he wants.  He throws down all of our kitchen chairs, tipping them over to let us know he wants something.  He also bangs the cupboard doors, runs around the house mischievously or now just starts to pick on Lyla.....he likes knocking her over now if she comes near him or if he wants something.  Times can be pretty tense at our house just trying to figure out what he wants but mostly we know what he wants but he just can't have it or do it when he wants to.  Now that the weather is so nice out and that we have a trampoline out in the yard, he wants to be out there from the time he wakes to the time he goes to bed.  We have a nice big fence to keep him in but he's already trying to figure out how to scale it.  We can't always be out there to watch him is the problem, we have no shelter in the back to sit under in this hot hot sun and I can't take Lyla out with me for too long.  She's not used to the grass yet and always wants to be up in my arms which is hard on my back.  I'm looking forward to next year when Lyla will be more stable on her feet and can play with the rest of the kids on her own.

It's also a relief knowing that Lyla is doing the things she's supposed to be doing at this age.  I'm watching her so closely to see if she has anything that I missed with Amy and Ian.  The more talking and babbling she does, the better.  She already is great with eye contact and is responding to her name all the time.  She also likes to show me items and hands me things to look at.  The other day she was too cute.  I was vacuuming downstairs with this little skinny vacuum and she found her fathers golf club with a club cozy on the end of it and started moving it back and forth on the floor.  I tried to get a video because it was too funny, the two of us along side each other doing the same actions.

It's so strange to watch how these milestones in my children can come so easy for one but then the other has to be taught everything.  It humbles us as parents to slow down and pay attention to our children and teach them face to face everything we take for granted.

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