It's been a busy week. Thankfully, it's been less stressful than last week, but still filled with somewhat notable happenings.
Weve enjoyed the weather, continued to watch the Olympics and spent time with friends, but mostly we've watched our kids grow up. They both seem to grow and change every day and it is hard to believe it, or keep up some of the time.
Joshua has taken up singing in the past week or so. We were shocked about a week ago when he sang, nearly perfectly no less, the "ABC" song. I knew he recognized a few letters, but didn't have any idea he knew the song and he's never really been in to singing even songs he knows well. (He loves to hear us sing and it's a big part of his routine, he just never joins in.) He's followed it up with renditions of "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as well as "I'm a Little Teapot" as well as many made-up songs and snippets of TV-show themes, etc. All of our car rides recently have included hearty serenading, sometimes to the dismay of the stressed driver. All-in-all there's just nothing like your child singing almost anything in his sweet little voice. My favorite, however, came while we were walking the other night. Joshua was singing away to himself and started skipping along. Here's the conversations that ensued:
Joshua: "I'm skipping mommy"
Me: "I see that, why are you doing that?"
Joshua: "I'm skipping like 'myLou'!"
Lydia has decided that days of sitting and observing the world around her are over. And, she seems to think that one form of mobility at a time is not enough--she wants it all, and she wants it now! On Saturday she started full-blown crawling (defined by me as up on all fours, moving all limbs to locomote). On Sunday it was cruising--around the room and from item-to-item by Tuesday.
Today we found out that she can climb up stairs...Yikes!
Today we found out that she can climb up stairs...Yikes! 
I've been instantly transformed into crazy child-proofing parent--except I've been lulled into complacency by 18 mos. of relative calm. I've gotten used to a child that knows what will support his weight or that you don't climb up if you can't get down. Now I'm trying to see things through a newly-mobile little one's eyes. Whew! It's just crazy to turn around and find Lydia someplace entirely different than where I placed her. The only time she's still is when she's sleeping...
Joshua is doing as well as can be expected with her ability to move to get the things she wants. Most of the time he's really proud of her--but when she takes something of his he's left lying around he tends to get really upset. We're trying to work on the "if you don't want her to get it put it away or up high" but he's not really gotten that concept yet. He's become quite the little boss recently and advises all of us (especially Lydia) about what we should or should not do.
It was mildly annoying at the time (but humorous in retrospect) when he decided to tell me when to pull out into an intersection the other day. Let's just say there's a reason that you have to be 16 to decide that on your own--his judgement was just a bit off, but he was very emphatic. As soon as the car in front of me pulled out, he started yelling "Go mommy--go now!" He is quite the champion on what the different light colors mean though. :)
Anyway, we're looking forward to enjoying a relaxing weekend and hopefully catching up on things around here, since we're leaving at the end of next week for an extended weekend with our extended families in Michigan. We're really looking forward to it, since we haven't seen any of them since June!
We've been able to view them not once, but twice this week, so he's considering it a succesful one. Tuesday night's show was viewable from our deck (another of the perks of living in the heart of a small town) so we put Lydia to bed before they got started. Last night was following Concert in the Park, an annual outdoor orchestra concert, and not near the convenience of her bed. So, I was a bit tentative about how she'd do well-past her bedtime with extremely loud booms, but snuggled in Daddy's lap she didn't even flinch at the noises (past the first one, of course) and even seemed to enjoy watching the colors and lights.
We've continued to make daily visits to the local parks and it's more and more fun to watch Lydia. She starts bouncing and squealing when she sees the swings! Joshua is a little monkey and can't get enough of jumping and climbing on everything, though he scares me sometimes, because when it comes to park structures, he has no fear. We took a detour on our walk to the park this morning and swung by the fire station. Several of my friends with little boys have mentioned that our local fire station is happy to give tours pretty much anytime assuming there aren't any emergencies. We haven't taken advantage of it as of yet, so our completely unscheduled morning seemed like a good opportunity. Joshua was definitely in awe of the trucks, although a bit hesitant lest touching something should cause the sirens to start sounding. He got to climb into the jump-seat on one of the older trucks and probably could have spent the rest of the day climbing in and out. He also got to try on our friend Paul's helmet. It was way too cute! Alas, the sponteneity of the trip did prevent me from capturing any of it on film, but it was fun. I have a feeling we'll be returning at some point not too far in the future, so maybe next time.
We've also been trying to get some projects done around the house. The most recent is re-paining our deck as time allows. Joshua has insisted on "helping" James paint, and really for a two year old, he does a great job. The brush, however, is a bit worse for the wear. ;-) 
