Two for the price of one
Well, it seems our boy is just too clever for his own good. Today, as I was working in the kitchen, I realized the refrigerator door kept opening and closing. Paulchen learned how to use his weight to pull open the door. We warned the girl babysitting him that he had just figured it out.

Later when we came home, Kayla told us Paulchen unlocked and opened our front door while she was in the kitchen. She just caught him. So now it seems he can open the front door as well. Not a good thing, as we're in the third floor of the building, which means lots of steps to fall down. He knows how to take reasonable steps down, but he still needs us for balance.

What really ticks me off, is the Army doesn't have deadbolts on the doors. We just have a simple turn lock within his reach. We have to request a special chain for high up on the door, but we can't put in the order until Monday and who knows how long the Army will take.

But on the bright side, Paul and I are incredibly proud of how clever our son is. He learned two major techniques on the same same. We're impressed.

Paulchen-ella
I woke up this morning to the sound of clanking dishes. It didn't catch my attention for a bit; I figured Paul was just grabbing a dish for breakfast. Then, after the clanking continued a while longer, I figured he was putting away the clean dishes before he went to work. (Well I can dream can't I?) Finally I looked at the clock and realized that Paul should have already left for PT and wouldn't be home for a bit. That made me guess that it was Paulchen playing with the dishes. I jumped out of bed and hurried to the kitchen, waiting for the inevitable crash of glass and stoneware.

What I found instead thrilled me to no end. Paulchen was attempting to put away the dishes. We often put them away together, since he enjoys helping me at this age. He had two small plates stacked on a bowl, on a large plate; on the floor. He also had all the flatware and mixing spoons put away. Granted, he placed all the tools and flatware in the fork section of the drawer, as that was the only area he could reach, but it was the thought that counts. I was so impressed with his eagerness to help out, not willing to wait until we could do it together. Of course I put away what he took out and closed the dishwasher and went back to bed, but we finished the dishes together later in the day. What a clever little boy!

A Rolling Good Time
I am so proud of Aveline. Today she finally learned how to roll from her front to back. Granted Paulchen did that pretty much from the first day, but doing it in less than a month is pretty good. She's learning quicker than many children out there.

Paulchen is doing pretty well too. He really needs to learn limits with his sister though. He hits his siter too hard or rocks her chair too harshly. He's usually pretty good, but every now and again, he's not gentle enough and has to be kept in check. He does try to be helpful though. He'll feed Aveline the bottle, but gets tired of holding it and takes it back. It's really cute.

Getting Out
Today I took the kids downtown by myself. It actually wasn't too bad. I put Aveline in the carry sack and Paulchen in the stroller and took the tram down. We headed over to the mall so I could look for some caps for Aveline. I ended up with some bandannas, a sundress and a shirt and pants.

As I was checking out, I picked up sunglasses for Paulchen. I had him wear them when we walked to the gas station early this evening. He looked so cute in them and seemed to enjoy wearing them. He also received a few compliments. When I first tried them on him when we got home, he placed them on top of his head like I do at times. He looked like a little beach bum, it was so cute.

Last week when I took Paulchen into town, I bought him a pair of swimming trunks. I'm hoping to start going to the indoor pool in town regularly and begin to teach him how to swim. He will look so cute in his swim trunks and sunglasses. I can't wait to get a photo.

Tomorrow I plan to take the kids out again so Paulchen can play. If I'm up for it, I'll take them to the park in town rather than the dinky playground behind our apartment. The park in town has more running area and nicer playground equipment for Paulchen.

On a side note, our wonderful military stove busted yesterday. So of course I can't cook anything unless I use the microwave. The stove won't turn off, so we had to turn off the circuit breaker for it. Which means the oven is off limits too. So of course I wanted to cook pasta for supper and bake cookies with Paulchen. The moment I can't use something is the moment I can't live without it. Unfortunately the repairman won't be here until Friday, so we're stuck without it again tomorrow. And I was really hoping to cook some eggs for Paulchen. I'm trying to vary his diet more. He's getting tired of the same old snacks and breakfast. At least I have the egg cooker so I can hard-boil a few eggs. That way we can have egg salad sandwiches for something different.

Sound Effects
Every night I place three books in front of Paulchen and have him pick two. Tonight one of the books he picked was "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" As I was reading through, I noticed Paulchen was making a few noises. Then as I paid attention to the noises, I realized he was making the noises in the story, the same noises I make when I read the book to him. It was awesome!

He's also so helpful with his sister and the house. We did dishes again today. We also walked to the gas station. Paulchen walked down all the stairs himself, I just held his hand to help with balance. But I didn't have to carry any of his weight. He's definitely improving.

On a personal note, I put my size 8 jeans on at the post-partum two week mark. Granted that's large for me, but I should be back into my size 6 jeans in a few months. I'm thrilled, considering most women these days are lucky to fit into size 10 jeans a few months after giving birth.