Jibber Jabber x 2

So here's what these kiddos (when not in a cartoon trance) are saying these days...

Brynna (18 months)

Her words started multiplying the day after her 15-month check-up where the doctor asked if she was saying "uh-oh," yet. "Nope," we answered. "Nothing even remotely like it." The next day, Brynna said "uh-oh" and has not stopped since. When anything is amiss (or not really amiss and she just feels like saying it), Brynna is there to alert us with her loud proclamation: "Uh. Oh!" It's adorable.

No longer content with the simple, understated "Dada" and "Mama," she has moved on to the more mature, very articulate and often adamant "Daddeee!" and "Mommeee!"

She loves to point at her, or anyone else's for that matter, "noh" (nose) and "eyeee" (eye).

She knows most of her animals. Not by name, though. By sound. So a cat is "meow, meow," a duck is "cack, cack," a dog is "oof, oof," and a horse is "neeeeeh." The only animal she calls by name is a "bir" (bird).

She's also started using a fairly whiny version of "no." We have big brother to thank for that one.

She's obsessed with balls so that word is clear as a bell. Although it sounds more like "bahl" with only a hint of the "l" sound at the end.

One of her cutest sayings, not because of the word but because of the timing and accompanying hand gestures, is "Goooo!" This happens, almost without fail, when I stop at a red light and is accompanied but two outstretched arms and index fingers pointing forward like she's leading the charge. To her great delight, this always makes Mommeee and Daddeee smile.

Speaking of smile...she automatically says "teeze" (cheese) and flashes a cute grin anytime she sees a camera or cell phone or other people taking pictures of their children with said devices.

Oh, and, lest I forget, we figured out a while ago that Brynna has been saying "Brogan" for much longer that we realized. She pronounces it "Daggin," which we were mistaking for "Daddy." Silly us.

Brogan (Will be 4 in six weeks)

With Brogan, it's sort of two steps forward and one step back. All of the ooohing and aaahing going on around here over Baby Sister's new words launched him into his own version of baby talk. He often pretends to be Brynna (among the ever-growing cast of characters in his repertoire) and takes to babbling up a storm. Who can blame him? Being a baby seems pretty great to me, too. Minus the sitting in your own poo aspect, of course.

On the other side of the coin, Brogan (pictured here at his first T-ball practice with Coach Dave) is well on his way to learning how to read. He's mastered the alphabet and has moved on to phonics. When Jason and I speak, he often picks out unfamiliar words (such as "observation" or "dilemma") and asks what they mean. He's also started asking us to spell words for him. It's only a matter of time before he's spelling them on his own, I just know it.

And, one last, off-the-scales-cute thing he says... Instead of saying "I sneezed." Brogan says, "I blessed you'd." Good stuff, right? I love it.