Talking and swimming lessons part 2

Little Moe has realized that he has a voice that can say words - or at least words to him!!!  It is so, so cute!  Over the past week, he has started talking and repeating things - just not very clearly :).  He will often repeat words from books that we are reading or he'll repeat words when we ask him to.  For the first time he said who Daddy was in a picture without me having to prompt him.  He definitely knows the word, 'MORE' and still uses the hand signal just in case we don't understand or aren't fast enough!  And he is more clearly making animal sounds with great enthusiasm.

It is pretty precious watching him talk......

And an update on Charlie's swimming lesson.  This week we continued to watch the kids swim, even though they do the same thing every lesson - so it is obvious that Charlie clearly knows what to expect.  On the second swim day this week, I told him he was going to start participating.  Which is a great idea until the swimming instructor decides to change things up and put everyone into life jackets.  Just so everyone knows, Charlie has never worn a life jacket and has said in the past that he doesn't want to.

Well - I immediately knew that the lesson was going to be a failure :).  He did put on the jacket, however, not very willingly.  Then we proceeded to watch.  Meanwhile, Moe is continuing to wonder why his brother refuses to go swimming, even when it looks like lots of fun.  Needless to say, we left the 30 minute class 10 minutes early because it was very clear that Charlie was not going to participate and I was finished trying to keep one boy happy while encouraging the other one to just get in the pool!!!!

On a side note, Moe found a puddle he could splash in and completely got all of his clothes wet.  As an exasperated Mommy, I let my younger get wet while trying to get Charlie in the pool!  In the end, Moe was blowing bubbles in the puddle.  I think another mom thought that Moe was drinking the water and said that he might need some extra vitamin C!  Hahahaha!!!!  I would never have let Charlie play in a puddle let alone stick his face in it!  Oh how things change :) 

I know this is going to be a great story for me to read in a few years from now - but right now I just want Charlie to get in the pool, have fun, and show his instructor how he is really a good swimmer!!!!

Here are a few iphone pics from our last swimming lesson - he had taken off the life jacket, but as you can see, he was not in the mood for lessons. 

Big brother vs little brother

The boys love each other, but the older one definitely likes to take things away from his younger brother, or maybe give him some extra pushes so he will fall down.  And lets just say that little brother lets us all know what big brother has done.

These few pictures will show you what Moe's face looks like when Charlie takes something away.  And there are also a couple pictures of Charlie wearing Daddy's socks - which is pretty cute!  AANNDD there are a few pictures of Charlie with his buddy wearing jerseys :).

Look Momma - my favorite ball!!!!!!!

Uh oh - here comes big brother Charlie.....I think he wants my ball.

Hey - you can't just take it from me!!!!!!

Hey Momma - he took my ball without asking nicely!!!!!!!!!

NO FAIR!!!!

Seriously - I want my ball back NOW!!!!!

Fine - I will come and take it back!!!!!!

While winter dragged on....

While we waited the three weeks for Spring to come - finally - and hopefully here to stay - my boys found endless things to do to have fun.  Charlie has once again rekindled his love for watching video's of himself on our iphone.....  And Moe is learning he can get anywhere by climbing.  He is going to be my little climber and trouble maker.  Here he is climbing the step ladder I used during a recent photo shoot - I had to take a few pictures of him, but they quickly came to an end once Charlie decided to join in too.

Moe also likes to climb up onto little chairs and pull himself up over the side arm of our couch, and fling himself around.  Charlie NEVER did this.  I guess Moe won't be too far behind Charlie on the playground this year.

The bottom pictures of Charlie sleeping are from when Moe and I couldn't wake him up for dinner - I seriously tried three times - it was so quiet in our house while I quickly made dinner and ate it with Moe..... I'm not used to such peace :)

Oh and a story about swimming lessons - for my memory!  I decided it was time to put him in lessons and I thought I had prepared him enough for what to expect - but I was wrong.  The first day he cried and cried because they didn't go in the right pool and that was basically the end of that swimming lesson.  He did eventually join his class, but quickly left it when he didn't know what chop-chop timber was!  The next day there were no expectations on him....I let him watch and he eventually went in with his class, but he is super shy of his teacher :(.  My new goal for swimming lessons is for him to at least do a few things with his teacher.

The day after his second lesson, I took the boys swimming at the hotel - and guess what - Charlie was a fish.  He was jumping in and swimming everywhere with his water wings.  He even swam from the shallow end all the way to the deep end (with me waiting for him at the deep end). So needless to say, my boy can swim and he isn't really scared of water - just his teacher :):).  Oh and Moe is a fish too - blowing bubbles and jumping in the pool - when did he grow up???

FUN uncle pictures

This awesome uncle, who is also a twin to the dad, was visiting one of my favorite families and wanted some pictures......so I happily obliged.  He brought in some hockey jerseys - which just happened to be Doug's favorite team too - Charlie wanted one sooo bad!  Here is a little preview of our quick photoshoot!