"I like Micah. He's the favorite friend ever!"

(while holding Jason's face in her hands and with a tone of gentle chastisement) "Look, don't chew maardvark;s nose, okay?"

"We eatt the rocks so that America can be free."

These are just a few of the most recetn ridiculously cute things that Alexis has said. She's such a hoot! He favorite thing right now is jumping EVERYWHERE! She can really launch herself off of the couch in the basement; it's pretty impressive. She's been in camp this week, and even though when we ask her if she likes it she says no sometimes, every day when I pick her up she's really excited about what she did that day. She told me it was the best party ever yesterday! She's the youngest kid there, but that's probably good for her. She went swimming the first day, but she swallowed some water and had to sit out for the rest of the time. They haven't gone back since, but I think it was probably good for her to have something a little scary in the water so that she gets a healthy fear of water. We went swimming last Saturday, and she kept wanting to insist that she coudl do it all by herself. It's great to see the independence, but with something like water, it's a little scary, too. We got her a life vest, so hopefully that will help the next time she goes swimming.

Micah is doing great. He walks everywhere and has absolutely no desire to be held at all. Sorry to everyone who wants to cuddle with him!He also loves to walk around wih objects in his hands, especially if thery're exceptionally large.I'm not sure why he likes that unless it's just for the challenge of it, but it's his chosen mode oftransportation. It's pretty funny to watch him walk around with a big red ball of penguin that it as big as he is! He's still not really talking, but he jabbers a lot. We've been working on identifying objects a little. Alexis picked up on a numbof things by the time she was about 14 months, so we'll see wherehe is in a few months. He also had his one year checkup today. He has to go back for a few more shots in a week (because he's not officially one yet), but the doctor said he looks great! He seemed pretty please to watch him walking around. Micah now weighs 19 pounds and 6 ounces, and he is 28" long. I think he's as tall as Alex was when we moved into the house, which was when she was 1 1/2. We also switched him to a front-fcing car seat a few days ago, which has been a really good move. He was starting to get pretty unhappy about hte other seat, where he had to recline, so now he has a good view of everything. I can't believe he'll be one on Saturday!