Edward has entered a very oppositional stage. His response to nearly everything is "No" or "I don't want to" even if it's something innocuous or something he clearly would enjoy. Tonight he sat in the doorway of the kitchen because he announced, "I don't want to eat dinner." This despite the fact that he'd been asking me for a second snack less than 30 minute prior. I told him he did not have to eat dinner (chicken chili, which he likes), but he could not be in the kitchen unless he was at the table eating with us, so he stood and sat in the doorway trying to get our attention while we attempted to carry on a conversation and "ignore him into submission." He eventually came to the table after we were completely done eating, so John took Daniel to play, and Edward ate while I cleaned up. It's a really irritating stage (and we PRAY it truly is something fleeting.) For the most part we are successful in either ignoring the behavior or pointing out unfavorable consequences. "Don't want to put your shoes on? OK, well then you'll have to stay home while I take Daniel to school." Of course this is a dangerous path in itself since I couldn't actually follow through and leave him at home. Oh well.

To counter-balance with cuteness, over the weekend he shoved his new stuffed dog (photo above) under his shirt and pretended he had a "baby in my belly that will come out on my birthday." One of the teachers he sometimes interacts with is pregnant, and I think has been answering the "when is the baby coming" question with "on her birthday." So this was all very cute as he wandered around for a bit in this state. Then I saw him bending and stretching backward at angles while holding his lower back in a very good imitation of a pregnant woman, and he said, "Oh, it's hard to sit down when you have a baby in your belly!" It took me a while to recover from that one!

Daniel has been expanding his vocabulary a bit. I think I'd previously reported "uh-oh" and "no" but he also says "bye-bye" with a wave and "ni-night" while laying his head on your shoulder or the floor or wherever he happens to be. He does this when tired, but also at random intervals throughout the day, as if practicing for when he actually becomes tired. He can say "ball" and what we assume to be "brother" because he seems to use it in reference to Edward. These are very hard to distinguish--context is helpful. Ball kind of sounds like "baw" and brother is more of a straight on "baa." He can also say something like "my ball," which I believe to be somewhat Darwinian in terms of self-defense/preservation. He just started saying "Hi" in the last week. He's been able to sign and say "more" for a while now, and he just had a break though over the weekend in learning to sign "help me." Thank God! The alternative is endless screeching and grunting in frustration to the point where I'm ready to join in the howl!