I love life with a two year old. HA! You thought I was going to say with a newborn, didn't you? Well, we ALL love that, and here is a picture to prove it:

Surrounded by her adoring fans, with the ever present papparazzi snapping pictures ;)

But, back to what I was saying. I think I mentioned before that 2 years old is (so far) my favorite age, though really I love the whole span from 2-4. Ezekiel is starting to talk much more (all my kids have been kinda late in this area). He has a rather extensive vocabulary, but he only ever uses one word at a time. However, he also has 1,001 expressions to help punctuate his story. A conversation with him goes something like this:

Him: Train. Train. (He usually repeats each word)

Me: You saw a train?

Him: Ya. Crash! Crash! (eyes wide, hands clap to demonstrate the crash. Don't worry, he's talking  about his toy trains. This is a frequent occurance with them)

Me: Oh, your trains crashed?

Zeke: Ya. Broken. Broken (A shrug, hands up and open with a coordinating expression that clearly says "what can you do? these things happen.")

Me: Your trains crashed, and now they are broken? That's too bad.

Him: Yah. Yah. (serious nod, then walks away)  

I think I need to start carrying my camera around all the time, just to be on the ready to catch these expressions. Here is one example though; this look says "AH! You caught me doing something I shouldn't be, but since I don't think its a really bad offence, I'm just going to smile real cute, which will most likely diffuse any anger you might have been inclined to"  (See, I told youhis vocab was extensive!)

Now, for the real milestone news, item #1: Arianna can make a pony tail! Whoo-hoo! She initiated the attempts of her own accord, though I'll admit, this life skill was on my list of first-grade requirements. I was so proud, she was proud and excited, and of course I got a pic:

I love that smile! Next is learning to braid :)

MIlestone #2: Emily's cord stump fell off, and to celebrate she got her first bath . Of course, I didn't get any pics of that because I was home alone when I did it and no way was I going to let go of her in that baby tub. She is terribly wiggly and amazed the nurse by practically rolling over at 4 days old. But here is the Obligatory Baby Picture anyway, fell free to AWWW...

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT let her sleep on her tummy, or on my bed for that matter. She was placed here only for the pictures, and was afterward returned to her proper place and position. Now that you feel better, isn't she cute? :)