Amazement

My kids just amaze me every day with all of the little things they do.  I love my babies so much.

• Arthur just started rolling in the last couple of weeks and has now both rolled ways - exactly one time each.  It's like he wants to prove that he can do it, and now he's done!  :)
• It's so funny how my kids are alike in some ways and very different in others.  Eleanor didn't get her first teeth until 10 months, and she only had 2 teeth on her first birthday.  Arthur just cut his top front 2 teeth today, and I think I might feel one on the bottom coming in too!  And he's 4 months old!  Of course, this really makes no difference at all, but it's just interesting.
• Arthur has FINALLY learned how to self soothe, just in the last few days!  He has never really taken a pacifier for more than 30 seconds at a time, but now he likes to suck on two fingers.  He pretty much always goes to sleep like this:
   
• So far Arthur seems to love books like his sister.  He's already turning the pages sometimes when we read.  Okay, I think he's really just trying to get the page into his mouth so he can chew on it, but it's like he's turning the pages.  ;)
• And now for some Eleanor quotes...  Yesterday she was in the kitchen while I was washing dishes and said, "Mama's kitchen is as clean as a whistle!" 
• The other day she kept asking me to read her The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter.  It's her favorite story these days, and it's LONG.  We had just gotten back from our trip and I was trying to clean the house and get laundry done, so I told her I would read it to her later.  At one point she dropped the book on her toe and cried.  I tried to console her.  "Will Mama kiss the toe to make it feel better?"  I kissed the toe.  "Will Mama read Squirrel Nutkin to make the toe feel better?"  She's only 2 1/2 and she already knows how to manipulate!
• Today she randomly said, "Eleanor doesn't like people.  Eleanor likes to keep the door closed."  "You don't like people Eleanor?  Do you like Mama?"  "Eleanor likes Mama always."  Love, love, love this girl.  :)

It was 85 degrees at noon today, and we had a great picnic in the backyard.  Eleanor ate her lunch and then ran around collecting sticks and leaves, and Arthur just laughed and wiggled every time a gust of wind blew.  There are some days when being a stay-at-home mom is really hard, but I am so thankful for days like today.  :)