Kaio and Josefine: October 2011

Kids seem to change every day. They learn so fast and pick up so many things we do or say. Josefine seems to learn even more as she also tries to do everything Kaio learns. When we try to help him pronounce the RR of certain words, like "primo" (which means cousin and he says pimo) we repeat pRRRRimo a couple of times, to which he then replies and does a great job in correcting (although he does say pirimo) and then Josefine also does "pIIIIIIImo mano"! (as if she is teaching him!). Kaio and Josefine continue to play nicely together, although Josefine loves to grab a toy Kaio is playing with and run fast away. Most of the times Kaio starts crying and I have made it a point in not helping retrieve his toy if he is crying.... (I think she has figured this out and enjoys these moments)
We recently have sorted out our garden and Kaio loves to water the plants (he does a great job at it). He also adores the new little herbs Jason planted and enjoyed the tomatoes we have grown so far. Josefine also adores watering the plants, however she ends up getting herself and everyone around wet as well!
Kaio has improved at school and has been getting lots of compliments in how he is behaving much better now (we had to be a bit harsh in really not allowing certain behaviors and he noticed that he would loose his TV and we would not be happy with hi if his teacher complaint!)
Josefine suddenly started counting until 10 in both Portuguese and English. (Another thing she picked up since we spend time with Kaio on his numbers) She has also cranked up the amount of songs she sings and does a great job in pronouncing the words, following the rhythm and dancing along! Some of my favourite ones: "quem quer ser o amiguinho do peixinho?! GABRIELA UUUUU", "inimini miney mo", "sapo cururu", "twinkle twinkle little star", "old McDonald had a farm". We spend our route to school and back singing together.

On a less pleasant note, we have decided to start with the "naughty step" for Josefine. She can sometimes really test us! We had anticipated a more dificult situation with her then with Kaio, but so far she has been on the "step" 3 x and it went well. While she is crying on the step, Kaio walks to her and begs her to ask forgiveness to us (so we can resolve teh issue)... he then comes to us and says - Josie is really sorry (although Josie has not said anything!)

Last week Jason and I finally took another (much deserved) holiday together. We left the kids with my parents. It went really well and the kids slept, ate, behaved and were just perfect. My dad loves to joke how they don´t miss us as they don´t even ask about us! Which I do believe as they love spending time with them, getting spoiled and knowing we will return!

Some pics:

Watching TV. Josefine is not that interested in TV, but kaio is crazy about it and just zones out. Josefine knows this and often plays and teases him to disturb him!