I forgot another adventure we had yesterday before Daddy got home. I went down to the basement to switch some laundry out and when I came back up, the boys had pushed in the lock to the basement door, locking me out of the upstairs. I briefly panicked but realized they know how to turn door handles, so I quickly persuaded Beck to turn the handle to unlock the door. I didn't want to make too big a deal of it because I didn't want it to become a joke where they try to lock me out every time I go to the basement.

Jeff surprised me by coming home early last night, which was a huge treat. He also let me sleep in this morning while he got up with the boys.

This morning we broke out the easel I had stockpiled last year, since the boys had liked using the chalk at the pediatrician's office last week. It was a moderate success, though both Theo and Beck (but especially Beck) mostly liked drawing on the back side of the easel, for some reason.

We also were reminded by Pomelo that perhaps it was time to do a little measuring. Both boys have grown more than an inch since last measured at 18 months! Also different: they were eager to be measured on our ruler growth chart!

The new kid-sized table and chairs has been a big hit. It is still hard for both of them (but especially Beck, because he's not quite as good a climber as Theo) to get situated in the chair by themselves, but once they are there they happily read or do puzzles by themselves (while talking enthusiastically) for quite a while. You can see Beck in the second picture especially really getting into his book. It sounds almost like he's speaking German while he's reading--there are lots of hard consonants and throat-clearing type sounds. I don't THINK I sound like that when I'm reading (I also don't think I furrow my brow nearly as much as he does) but I have no idea where else he could be getting that from.