phases i hope will end soon: "no nap!" at the end of every request i make starting at 7 in the morning to 8 at night. especially with how often it turns into a hyperventilating chant. and rolling his eyes and looking in every direction other than my face when i ask him to look at me. eating toothpaste while i'm feeding nomi, making me call poison control. being able to find all the locked down stools and get into EVERYTHING. i love him. i swear i do.
phases i hope will never end: spontaneous kisses to baby nomi. saying "agoo" to nomi every time she coos, and 'be happy nomi, sh sh sh' every time she cries. he's a very sweet brother. being great at crafts, especially drawing right now. he hunches over his paper, and slowly and maticulously draws a little line or circle, and then tells me who or what it is. his understanding of complicated storylines, and his patience with me when trying to be understood. tonight it was 'boy milk cow' for the storyline of Christmas day in the Morning (the book). it took me several tries, but i finally got it. and such a sweetheart to people. hugs, thanks yous and pleases. also he's not running away as much. he stands in line like a pro (disneyland taught him that) being sweet with everyone he meets. and the last habit i hope isn't a phase? holding my cheeks and staring into my eyes while talking to me a centimeter away from my face. it's creepy sometimes, but i love it. it's even creepier when he makes his lips touching mine, but starts talking to me instead of giving me a kiss. haha. creeepy...and yet super sweet.
love him. (maybe i should write about him more...it seems to make me love him more.

a small note about my angel baby nomi. she not only smiles and is so so content all day long (even during all of porter's loving harrassment) but she's now experimenting in her coos. she starts to change the shape of her mouth giving her interesting different vowel sounds, but also keeps surprising herself with the loudness of her own voice. she'll be smiling with soft coos, but then will belt out a sound, and jolt her body in surprise at her loud sound, and then bust into a little hiccup of a laugh. daddy really got her going tonight, but alas, she always stops cold when the camera comes out. porter did that too. drove me crazy. she loves looking at herself in the mirror above her bouncer, but other than making herself laugh there, she'll usually stay quiet all day until someone starts talking to her.
love love her too.

all things porter

porter speaks in almost sentences. "Porter night night" you want to go night night porter "no. no mommy. porter no no night night." oh, you don't want to go night night? "yah. yesss mommy"

it blows my mind to think of what a boy he's become, and that he's no longer my baby. when he pretend cries i ask him what he's doing. "nomi" oh- you're trying to cry like nomi? "yah".

and he's so sweet with naomi. he'll give her hugs, cover her with the blanket and give lots of kisses. he's also worried if she's upset. "die mama" what porter? "nomi die die...WHAWHAWHAWHA" oh, cry. naomi's crying? "yah." (porter does that all the time. when he knows he's not being understood, he'll play charades or 'sounds like' just to help you figure it out. he's incredibly patient, and will just keep trying. in fact, he's so persistent, that when i'm just not getting it, i have to find a pretty good distraction to help him drop it.)

i was mostly excited about our trip to visit Christy, since i was looking forward to porter getting some interactions during the day with his cousins. mostly, porter was the monster that the other kids like to run and hide from, calling his name to keep him interested in finding them. or austin and ethan's favorite game of 'you wanna piece of me??' they all read him books and got him to really take time on drawing a detailed picture, and i was just so impressed with all of them in the way that they communicated so well with porter, in a way he could understand. porter loved the companionship, and i think he started to wish he was a younger brother, since he also seemed to enjoy being told what to do. that trip reintroduced him to chey and shydan and also gave him a grasp on what snow is, and snowmen too, which he now takes every opportunity to point out "noman, mommy!"

we also got to visit uncle ben and aunt raena, which was so great! porter always wanted to know where uncle ben was, if he wasn't in the room. "Wur bun? Bun, whare ar u?"...and having two thanksgiving dinners was fabulous as well.

he's starting to play favorites. "book book." yes porter i'll be right in to read you a book "no no, Daddy. Daddy book" ...at the end of a long day, that's fine by me!

he's figured out the computer screen dimming button, as well as the volume up and down, and the shut off button. no i don't LET him play with the computer...but while i'm pushing him away, these are his favorite buttons to take a stab at. unfortunately when i'm not looking, i've also seemed to find his handywork with our camera as well, as he's taken several pictures of his toys and books. he's also becoming a big boy on the playground as well, conquering the harder climbing structures that have always threatened his life before. sad- how fast he's growing.

as for Christmas, just like with his birthday, he's getting excited for the holiday. also, he hasn't really been able to let go of that birthday spirit since the fact that birthdays only last for one day eludes him. rightfully so, since he had his birthday one weekend (and we sang to him) then we celebrated his birthday with a party the next weekend. soon after it was mommy's birthday...so now everytime we talk about Christmas, it's "BIRDAY BIRDAY MOMMY!!!" it's Christmas honey "CHRISTMAS BIRDAY!!!!" ...so if you can't beat em, join em. at least now he's transitioned to saying "JESES BIRDAY"

and on that good note. merry Christmas.