The baby whisperer

Today we were looking at the pictures on the fridge and Libby saw cousins Addison and Joseph. She quietly whispered "baby" over and over getting a little louder each time. It was as if she wanted to make sure she was right, that they were babies before she said it with certainty. Yesterday Gpa D got home after his two plus week Milwaukee trip and Libby greeted him, after some coaxing I'm sure, with "Apa."
Libby has also learned to climb stairs. Another milestone I would be happy holding off on. :) She did it last Wednesday at the playgroup, but it was on cushions shaped like stairs, so I didn't count it. However, yesterday at Gma and Gpa D's she started up the steps and this morning went down the one step we have from the living room down to the porch. I didn't even realize she had done it until I looked into the porch and there she was rifling through the diaper bag. Probably looking for some food.
Speaking of food, she has been eating like a horse lately. Usually a jar of food or two, sometimes a container of yogurt. Yes, she has polished off an entire container of yogurt! And, at every meal she gets small pieces of age appropriate table food. She typically eats quite a bit of that too. She used to get more on the floor than in her mouth, but less and less is hitting the floor now that Libby has got that pincer grasp down pretty well. Before meals she has recently started to put her hands together when we pray. I'm sure she thinks we are all clapping and wants to join in. It is so funny to see babies imitate people in clapping or laughing or such and they have no idea why they are doing it, they just mimick. Kolbe is now at the age where he doesn't just imitate people clapping or laughing. During the sermon, if the priest makes a funny remark and everyone laughs Kolbe will loudly ask "What are they laughing about?"
Libby's new words: "Brrr" and "Poof." Okay, maybe they are not words as much as they are sounds. We were coming inside from the car on one of the few really cold days we have had this winter and I kept saying "Brrr" while getting her out of her carseat and taking her into the house. Once we got inside she said "Brrr." "Poof" was started back when Jeff was home and we were laughing about the condition his car was in. It had some difficulties and Jeff said one of these days it might just "Poof," fall apart or go up in smoke or something. Kolbe was in the backseat and heard him say "Poof" and could not stop cracking up. We all got a good laugh out of "poof." To this day, whenever we say "poof" it makes us all laugh so Kolbe will get right in Elizabeth's face and say "Poof" and blow in her face while he says it. She thinks it's pretty funny too and now says it herself. She hasn't mastered the blowing in his face while she says it.
Kolbe is learning the alphabet. He can get to J but usually misses the J and can get to P but falls apart after that. When he counts he skips the 4. That will probably be his lucky number someday.
A few nights ago we had Gma D over for dinner while Gpa was out of town. On her way in to the kitchen to take the dishes she patted Kolbe on the back, you know, a love pat. He said "I don't need to be bumped."
He has pretty much mastered pottying in the potty, but like I have mentioned previously we are not attempting nighttime dryness until he wakes up a few times with a dry diaper. Each morning we examine his diaper to see how dry it is. Most of the time it is drenched, but Kolbe says "It's a little dry." I guess maybe he means the tabs are dry because the rest of the diaper isn't a little dry by any stretch of the imagination. He's even tried to convince Gma D it's "Really, really dry." The diaper probably weighed 5 pounds that particular morning.
Recently Kolbe's favorite toy, his chainsaw bit the dust. It lost a screw, I don't know how, but even after I found the screw I could not repair it. He wants to wait till dad gets home to have him try to fix it. What is so ironic is the day it fell apart I had talked to one of my friends about alternatives to time-out when Kolbe misbehaves. She asked if he had a favorite toy I could take away for a while, like a 3 year olds version of grounding. I responded that the chainsaw might do the trick. Wouldn't you know it that was the very day his chainsaw fell apart.
A few weeks ago the kids and I went shopping. Kolbe spotted a bright green jacket and said "That is Gma B's jacket." I agreed that it did look like her jacket. We continued shopping and on our way out I noticed he had put the jacket in our stroller. Guess he thought he'd return it to her.
One last quick story I forgot to add the day we went to the park. On the way home I decided to go to the carwash. I realized the boys, Kolbe and Matthew, hadn't been potty in a while and asked them if they needed to go. Both said yes and so I let them stand in the car right inside the door and let them aim outside. Afterwards Matthew said "I thought we were going to get arrested."