I'm completely in love with my new camera.  The other day I actually took a pitcher of water into our very dry yard and encouraged Spencer to get muddy.  Then I refilled the pitcher TWICE lol.  He and Rachel had a blast though, and honestly I wasn't thinking of the amazing shots I'd get when I took the first pitcher out.  I was thinking of him trying to dig in the dry ground and his poor little fingers hurting because of it.  Not that he's ever complained, but still, mud is more fun than dirt.  Surprisingly all the clothes came completely clean (if you click on the slideshow on the right, you'll see why that's so surprising ;o).

I'm noticing now that Spencer actually doesn't understand a lot of things that I thought he did.  Words like: what, when, who, etc.  The SLP said that kids usually repeat things they don't understand, so when I hear him repeating things (especially when he's just mimicing a string of sounds instead of a series of words), I try to re-explain, or say it more slowly and I think it's been doing some good.  He's doing really well wiht his letters, colors, shapes, and counting/numbers.  He's also started to understand the concept of 'mine' (well, he says "Spencer's") and that's made things a little more difficult.

Rachel is doing great.  Walking better each day, more words, more clarity, unbelievable beauty.  Using some simple sentences.  She's been wanting a nap in the morning and then doesn't want another in the afternoon, so it's been a bit of a balancing act figuring everything out each day.  

We just got home from the mall.  Spencer cried because he wanted to go to the play area and then cried when we got there because he didn't want to go.  So we had some lunch and went back.  He cried again but this time I just let him sit next to me for a few minutes while Rachel took off.  Then when he finally got up to go, he got upset that I was taking his shoes off.  They both played for awhile and had fun, then we left.  We went to a camera store to get a new bag and strap for my camera (both of which are awesome) and the salesman took way too long to explain everything to me.  He even commented on how well behaved the kids were.  I couldn't tell if he was actually sincere or just trying to butter me up to buy more stuff.  They weren't too bad, but it was a nice camera store with lots of stuff they could grab, but nothing they were actually allowed to.  Spencer completely ignored the man when he tried to ask about his cars :o(.  Plus they were both very tired - Spencer hasn't napped the last two days and Rachel took a 20 minute catnap in the car on the way to the mall, but that wasn't enough for her.  We came home and Spencer begged to watch puppies instead of napping, and cried his way into bed lol.  I didn't hear a peep after that.  He's just not ready to give up naps yet.  I wish I could convince him of that.

Oh well, I'm just rambling now, so it's time to go.  Later...