I'm not sure when or how I got started doing this, but every now and again I'll ask E, "Do I love you this much?" spreading my arms out more and more each time while he answers, "No!" to each one until my arms are as far apart as they can go and then I ask, "Do I love you all the much in the wide world?" and he says, "No!" and it usually ends in a wrestling match until he admits that I do indeed love him all the much in the wide world.
The other day he started doing it to Gigi. There really couldn't be anything cuter.

I am the slowest driver in the world. Maybe literally. Partly because I'm pretty sure everyone in the world is out to get me or my kids, partly because it is the only time in my life I don't feel bad about taking a slow pace, but mostly because the police force of the country is out to make sure that I get a ticket every time I even think of speeding. I have never been able to cry, talk, or otherwise negotiate my way of a ticket--and I have had plenty of opportunities. Most of the time the tickets are for ridiculous things; I have even gotten a ticket for going three miles over before. No joke. Whether it is my terrible luck, or just fate making sure I never start to enjoy speeding... I cannot seem to avoid being pulled over.

On the same note, driving is always interesting right after you move because you have to search for all the speed limit signs to make sure you aren't going faster than you should, add to that the fact that all the trees here hide the signs from you, and you have a recipe for plenty of speeding tickets. I got my first one the other day. Not knowing the speed limit is not a good excuse. I know this. However, that didn't stop me from shaking a fist of fury about the unfairness of life and all that good stuff. E, being the amazing little man that he is, did his best to comfort me from the back seat telling me things like, "It's all going to be ok, mom." and chanting to Gigi, "Calm it down, calm it down." while I had a good cry and tried to move on.

I thought it was all in the past until I got behind the wheel again and heard a sweet little voice from the back asking, "Mommy? Are we speeding?" Ever since every time we start picking up speed I have to affirm to him that we are definitely following the speed limit this time. Who needs a police force when you have a three year old?

E wants an explanation for every single thing in life lately. When we're walking through the grocery store it is a constant stream of, "What is that? What is he doing? Why?" Sometimes the explaining is easy (what is the name of every vegetable we pass) and sometimes not so easy (why a man is filling his entire grocery cart with whole milk and muttering to himself) and sometimes people step in to answer for you, which is always the best. E has noticed that if he asks loud enough, most people will answer him themselves. This is a good and bad discovery. On the one hand, it saves me from coming up with an answer that will satisfy him. On the other hand, it creates some interesting moments with complete strangers. One thing is for sure, having a toddler can cure you of all  your embarrassment pretty quick because honestly, after "Mommy! I won't play with my penis!" it is all uphill.

There are definitely some pretty fantastic moments to go along with the embarrassing ones, so you take what you can get I guess.
I was snuggling in bed with E the other night and he put his little hand on my face and said, "Mommy, you have beautiful lips. And beautiful teeth. You are a princess."
He was covering Gigi up with a blanket and informed me that he was making her a princess so that she could "go to the temple and get married." He may or may not have decided that the picture of Bryce and I at the temple on our wedding day is "when dad made mommy a princess forever!"
He gets in trouble all the time for trying to sit in Gigi's Bumbo chair or get in her bed. I can't count how many times we have had the "you are a big boy so you won't fit" conversation. Just today he informed me: "I'm making myself little little so I can fit in Gigi's chair." He proceeded to scrunch himself into the smallest ball he could manage. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, shrinking himself has yet to work.
He tries to get away with things by blaming it on his animals. "That was just the horsey bonking you on the head." "The frog just wanted to eat the cookie." His poor animals spend a lot of time in time out.

Apparently E is rubbing off on Gigi because she thinks she can talk. She jabbers on about this and that pretty much constantly and somehow makes her will known despite the lack of words. She is not only a talker, but a smiler/laugher/general good mood keeper. She always has this look like she is going to go conquer the world in about a minute.
She is rolling over and prefers standing to sitting any day. She scoots herself all over the floor and I keep telling Bryce that she's going to be crawling by four months at this point, but praying that I have a long time before I have to deal with that hurdle.
She also has an obsession with her toes. She doesn't suck on fingers or thumbs, and rarely wants a binky... no, no, my child sucks on her toes. It is not uncommon to see her curled up in bed, half asleep and chowing on her big toe like it is a pacifier. At least it'll be an easy habit to break once she starts wearing shoes.

Turns out it is hard to get a pictures when there are so many exciting things around.

E's favorite thing to do lately is to make a fort over Gigi and snuggle in beside her to play. He could do this all day long, and often times does which is fantastic because Gigi loves it too.

We broke out the Bumbo chair the other day (which Gigi adores) and E decided that he needed one too, so we brought out his little on-the-go high chair and they sit and play all day long (when they aren't in a fort that is).

Gigi has also begun the monkey thing. I thought that this was only an E thing, but Gigi is proving that apparently past the age of three months it is normal for my children turn into a monkey. You barely have to hold them. They just squeeze their arms and legs and latch on. It definitely makes carrying them a whole lot easier. 

Also, we finally got some good pictures of our damsel in distress. It's amazing she still has an eye.