Small Moments--Big Deal

There have been a series of precious moments in my house lately. My kids are just so darling and I love them so much. Little things are starting to happen and I just can't help but smile about them.
Captain is currently downstairs... playing... by himself. He checks in every once in a while, but for the most part, he is being independent and I'm respecting his privacy... until he gets a girlfriend.
Burbles has been reaching for and grabbing lots of stuff. Her love for paper is very aggressive and sometimes I wonder if she will be a scrapbooker (no making out pun intended) or an editor or something. She also loves her toes and tiny stuffed animals.
Burbles squeals with delight at some of the smallest things. Then I have to remind myself that every time she sees something new, it is like a new discovery for her. I would like to look at the world with those fresh eyes.
Niece M is also developing rapidly. The other day when Fundi went to sleep before he went to work in the afternoon, she came to me and said "Andy, should we go downstairs?" This is because that is where we usually go when Fundi is sleeping. She initiated the whole thing.
Captain's vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds. The other day, right after Fundi went to work, Captain sang most of the ABCs with a toy that sings the ABCs. Today, he counted to 5 with no prompting. Granted, he isn't counting objects, but still...
Captain has also stopped putting everything in his mouth. Instead, now, he insists on putting every little crumb and fuzz into the garbage. The real garbage is not in use at this time because he was putting all his toys in there, so we have a bag on the counter. He has come up to me at least 80 times already today saying "Garbage. Here ya go."
Niece M and Captain took a bath together the other night. Captain was watching me make M's hair into a mohawk. Then he just laughed and laughed until he was out of breath. After they got out of the bath, I put his diaper on. He took it off and was running around swinging the diaper in the air. Burbles thought that was funny and she started laughing and laughing.
Burbles is working on mastering sitting up and is also working on crawling. She can do boy push-ups and is sooo strong. She has been getting up on her hands and knees and rocking. I'm sure it will come soon. She'll be 6 months in 9 days! Wow, how time flies.
Captain is also getting more helpful and understanding more words. I can't go to the bathroom without him coming with to help me "Flush". He helps me by unloading the dishwasher...piece by piece. He gets the diapers together for the garbage. He picks up his toys and his books. He threw Fundi's big five pound shoe down the stairs today so that he could help me by bringing it back up the stairs.
Captain has shortened Mommy into "Mom". He's growing up.
The down side of all of this is that we have all been sick for at least a week and there is no end in sight. The noses run like faucets and the coughs are barky.
The weather, though, has been divine. Grumpa came and cut down our worthless tree in the front yesterday. Captain cried when it came down. He didn't really know what to think about all of that. It was a big tree. Now it is gone. Our view is really different. We plan to put a maple tree there in it's place. Maples are pretty and some grow quickly. They can also be trimmed so that they are tall on top and not branchy on the bottom. This is really what has been consuming a lot of our time lately... talking about all the landscape projects that we want to do. Right now, we have neither the time nor the money to do most of them, but planning and talking about it is fun.
The other part of our time has been consumed by the Usborne book party that I threw over a week ago. My orders were huge and I am ordering SOOOO many free and 1/2 price books. I still have to pay for shipping and tax, but in the end I am getting over $500 worth of books for less than $200. If anyone has an interest in earning free books for babies through teenagers, Usborne books is the place to look. I don't know... I would even consider selling them. Let me know if you would hold a party if I sold...
OK, well, I better get going. I wanna put some photos on here of the kids, etc.
One last thing... fall TV is getting good. I'm watching some shows this year that I haven't in the past and some oldies but goodies.
Monday:
Bachelor

Heroes(Catching up on DVD and then watching the new season on the computer)

Tuesday:

Biggest Loser
Wednesday:
Kid Nation
Thursday:

Survivor

Ugly Betty

ER

Friday:
Men in Trees