Crafts and chatter
Yesterday at playgroup, Paulchen made a little snowman with falling snow out of paint. Granted I had to help him maneuver the sponge and paintbrush, but he enjoyed himself and made the sound effects along with me as we swirled circles with the sponge. The snowman has replaced his snowflake on the fridge.

It's great that he's accumulating crafts now. I picked up a bin so we can store them for the future. I write his name and date them all on the back, so we keep track of these memories. But I just love that we're starting a scrapbox for him and already have a few things in it. Over the years it will fill up nicely with memories.

Paulchen is also getting chattier. When we were at work yesterday he spoke with Mike, our photographer. None of it made any sense, but he had the inflections in his voice and was chatting and asking questions. Mike got a real quick out of it. And it's the next step forward. Now he's willing to talk more, so eventually his chatter will turn into real words.

He did the same thing last night. I caught him bouncing down on his bed and scolded him strongly. He gave me excuses and asked what the problem with it was. At least in his own language it seemed that's what he was saying. So I had a nice little conversation with him, as to why he couldn't jump on the bed. It was fun.

He's also eager to talk on the phone now. Granted, he likes to listen more than talk, but he does get the occasional words out. Unfortunately once he has the phone, he doesn't like to give it up. Since our phone system is a little odd here, I have to find out if I can have two lines somehow, so he can be part of the conversation, while I still talk to the family each week.