Ben & Ella turn 2

There are so many things to blog about, but I just don't seem to have the time lately. I need to make time so I have this to read later when I'm old and have forgotten everything.

Anyway, onto the blog post. Ben & Ella turned last Friday. It's hard to believe 2 years as passed. They are becoming such good talkers with saying so many new words and phrases. One of my favorites from Benjamin has been when he sees an item that has a big one showing and a small one showing and he will call the big one the "mommy" and the small one the "baby". He did this with lamp posts he saw in the book "goodnight gorilla". He's done with many other things too. It's quite cute.

Ella is saying a lot more words too - including moon and glasses. She has taken to potty training her baby doll much like we are doing with her and her brother. She has tried to teach Nicholas things too. Very much the little mommy - though I think she's getting more jealous of Nicholas and wants to be carried like he gets carried.

I'm not sure why but the last few nights they haven't wanted to go to sleep. Before a few days ago, they went to sleep no problem. Now, they scream when we close the door and tell them to go to bed, so it's been a bit chaotic the past few nights.

Anyway, for their 2nd birthday, we went to the zoo. They had never been to the zoo before and I haven't been to a zoo since we went to the San Diego Zoo about 4 1/2 years ago. Going with the twins reminded me how much fun the zoo can be. Benjamin seemed to enjoy the animals a lot more than Ella, while Ella enjoyed climbing on everything. I think our favorite animal that day were the penguins. It's a new exhibit at our zoo. I put pics on my flickr site for anyone who wants to see (www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim).

When we first arrived at the zoo, we saw some farm animals - Ben & Ella know that a cow says "moo" so they said that quite a bit at that time. We saw chickens, cows, goats and I'm sure other animals I'm forgetting. Then we moved on to the African Safari part of the zoo where the kids beat on a drum and played with bells. We also saw zebras, ostriches, giraffes, a peacock (also in the farm animals exhibit) and something else (blanking on what it was). That day we also saw a bear; gorillas, including a baby gorilla (how cute!); elephants (sadly the baby elephant passed away a couple years ago); and more. It was a good day and I hope we will go back soon (and now that we know we can bring in our own food and drinks, we will be doing so next time).

This Saturday, we are having their birthday party at a park. I'm hoping that the rain will hold off while we are there!!! Ben & Ella enjoy this park because, I think, the playground seems better suited to them. I feel like I don't have to worry about them too much when they are playing at this playground.

In other news, both Ben & Ella have gone on the potty. Now, we just need to figure out how to make sure that they always go on the potty! We're trying to get them on the potty at night and in the morning and get the daycare to help out during the day. I've noticed one thing that they do with one of the older kids is make sure she's on the potty every hour and this seems to have trained her pretty well, so we'll have to try the same technique when they are with us during the day on the weekends.

Happy birthday to my beautiful children, Ben & Ella. I love you so much, and I look forward to watching you grow.