Cadence-, Campbell-, and Layl-isms

Layla is so flippin' cute that it's dangerous.  Those of us around her all the time are often  tempted to squeeze and chew and kiss her to the extreme.  Luckily usually she gets off with no more than peanut butter or chewed goldfish smeared in her hair and maybe some painfully loud, "I LOVE LAYLA SO MUCH" whispers right in her ear (thanks to Cadence). 

We like her.  She talks more than any baby I've seen.  I mean, if she can get you to make eye contact, BAM!  She's got you hooked and she's going to coo and sigh and babble for as long as she can get you to listen.  Even Cadence was not as talkative as Layla is.  She smiles at everybody and she takes all the overly-zealous cuddling and kissing and loving like a champ.

Campbell is a a little spitfire these days.  She has become quite opinionated and her vocabulary is increasing every day.  One of my favorite things that she does is "the headcount".  She looks around and names all the family members present.  It's so funny, like she's constantly keeping track of where everybody is.  She does that about once an hour, all day.  Another thing I love is her "counting".  She has the cadence of counting down, just not the words.  "Doo [one], do [two], do [three]!"  It appears that she can count to about 5, except that all the numbers sound the same.  She uses counting to make it clear that she is not going to wait around (just like mom--the time out count down).  She hates time out but if Cadence is in time out she will go sit quietly next to her with her arms folded. 

And for some reason, she has this fetish with putting food on her toes.  She lifts her toes up to the table and smashes food into them.  And then when I'm wiping her clean she begs me to clean her toes off with the same rag I use for wiping her face.

One day I decided to be a fun mom, so we made a fort.  It was a mess.  A really exciting mess.

Cadence is really into dressing herself, wearing swimsuits/leotards for everyday play clothes, and the Spanish language.  Since most of the time we aren't doing anything particularly special these days, (it's pretty tough to get out, with all three, in the cold--can you imagine how long the bundling process took?  Another day, another post) I don't fight the dressing battle.  I let her choose.  It gives me leverage for when I need to call the shots, which she doesn't like me to do.  Ever.  So most days she wears either a swimsuit, a leotard, or a princess dress.  Or a strappy little summer dress.  In any case it's ALWAYS inappropriate for the weather.

Cadence overhears Spanish being spoken a great deal, since many of the families in our building are Chilean and Argentine.  She has really become interested in it. She pretends to speak it and the gibberish that comes out of her mouth is a very good imitation of Spanish.  At least once a day I'll say something to her, such as, "Cadence, please put your pajamas on",  and her response will be, "Mom, en espanol, please".  Naturally, she loves Dora.  She's learning a little each day and asks us to translate her bedtime stories into Spanish, too, which is impossible for me and really difficult for Spencer.  Any suggestions on how to continue encouraging this?

Cadence is often overheard saying, "I love you so much, Layla!!!  But I don't love Campbell."  She give hugs and kisses out to all the family and then refuses to give them to Campbell saying, "I don't have enough 'lovesers' left.  I only had one hug and I gave it to Layla."  Don't worry Campbell.  Merica wasn't particularly fond of me until she actually moved away to college and finally had to live life without me.  And now I''m indispensible (well...).  Deep down, Cadence loves you.  You're too loveable.

I look at pictures like this and I can't use words to describe the love.  This is my everything, sitting on a couch enjoying the moment.  And Cadence is. of course, in swimsuit, by the way.

And I made this quilt. (with a great deal of help from my mom).