Growing Fast

6 months!  Joelle is 6 months old!  When did that happen?  Our little girl is growing so quickly and is becoming a little goof ball!  Joelle's favorite discovery lately is her mouth.  There are just so many different noises that your mouth can make, and Joelle makes them all!  From the loud squeaks and yells, to the giggles and laughs, she is quite the little talker!  I have even heard her say 'ma' a few times!  Maybe she will follow Jonas's lead and say 'mama' as her first word too!  She loves to play in her Jumping toy, and even when she isn't in the toy, she is constantly jumping around on our lap.  I think she is getting close to crawling, too!  When she is playing on her tummy, I have noticed a few times that she pulls her knees under her and is able to support her body weight up on her knees.  She isn't able to stay put on hands and knees, yet, but I know she will get there!  Jonas was 7 1/2 months when he first crawled, so I think it will be another month before she is crawling.  It still seems crazy that we are already approaching the crawling stage for Joelle!  It seems like just yesterday was Christmas, and we were still anticipating her arrival!  Time really does fly by! 

Jonas is becoming a big boy too!  In about a month and a half, we will celebrate his 2nd birthday!  Yikes!  Every day, his speech is improving and he is learning more and more.  So far, he can 'sing' the ABC's.  He hasn't quite mastered the pronunciation of each letter, but he is pretty close!  He can count to 10, and sometimes tries to go higher, but usually gets the 'teen's' mixed up.  It is funny, though to hear him count: '1,2,3...9,10,16,13,14,16,10...'  He likes 16 right now.  And it usually sound like 'dee-deen', but it is so cute to hear him try!  Jonas has also started to recognize letters - which totally shocked me - but we are running with it!  I made him a magnet board last year, and he has probably 100 magnet letters that we like to play with.  He does really well to recognize maybe 10 or so of the letters in the alphabet!  I am hoping that he will continue to learn quickly and we will give him more and more things to learn!  When Jonas was a baby, I taught him a few baby signs, but this year, I am hoping to really dive into Sign Language with him and give him his first experience with a second language! 

We are officially potty training with Jonas, but I think it will be a long journey until he is ready for big boy undies.  He loves his 'poo-poo potty stickers' though, and is being really cooperative with potty training.  I'm guessing that by Christmas 2013 we will either be completely potty training, or really close!  Or maybe, if things aren't going so well, we will just wait until little sister is ready to potty train and they can learn together!  Since we use cloth diapers (most of the time) I am not too worried about him being in diapers for a while longer.  It doesn't really make much of a difference to me since Joelle will be in diapers for a while anyways! 

My favorite experience with my kids lately has been watching them interact.  Jonas loves to hold his baby sister, and sometimes asks to take her from my arms when we are walking... yeah, we are not quite there, Jonas, but maybe someday you can carry a baby around!  I do let him hold her often, though, when he is sitting down, and either Steve or I are close by to catch baby if he decides he is done holding her.  They love to talk to each other, though, and Joelle loves to hold onto his face.  Jonas thinks that is pretty cool and always gives a big smile and a giggle when she does!  I pray that they will be close as they grow up and that there won't be too many arguments or sibling rivalry as they get older.  They are quickly becoming the best of friends, and I want it to stay that way forever!

Here are a few pictures of the kids lately.  They are growing up way too fast!