Wil-wem and such

John Stephen's language is growing with leaps and bounds. I love to hear him talk and wish I could capture every little thing he says. I'm going to attempt to write a few of my favorites down but it's really the way he says it that makes it so cute so I'll never be able to write that. I just hope that this will trigger my memory of his sweet little voice later on.

John Stephen has a new little brother. His name is "Wil-wem". "Hold you. Wil-wem. Hold you." This is his request to hold his brother. The correct pronouns aren't always attached to the request. "Kiss you. Wil-wem." This is followed by a big slobbery kiss right on the mouth. And while he's slobbering we may even hear "Lick you. Wil-wem," as John Stephen licks the top of William's head like an ice cream cone! Of course, there is always "Hug you. Wil-wem" as well. Did I mention John Stephen loves his new brother... maybe a little too much!

As for the John Stephen's big brother, he has always been called some form of "Ben-min" or "Ben-ben" or something like that. I never could determine exactly what he was saying but I knew exactly who he was talking about. But as much as we want him to grow, it was quite sad to hear John Stephen actually say "Benjamin" yesterday.

While my mother was here helping with William after he was born, there was nothing sweeter than to hear John Stephen greet her with "Hello, Gwand (Grand)!"

"I like... I like..." John Stephen says as he tries to decide what he would like to have.

When seeing two of something, John Stephen will describe it as "two ones."

In the car, we tell the boys to "buckle in" when they get into their car seats. John Stephen has decided that the opposite must be true too. He wanted me to come to the back of the van to help him so he told me to "Buckle out. Mommy."

One of the cutest things about the way John Stephen talks are the pauses he uses. Oh, and he has the best facial expressions as he's saying it too! His big eyes will look one way or the other and he'll nod his head. He's trying to piece all the words together for complete sentences but he's not quite there yet. While holding his cup, he'll say something like "Milk. In it." Or he'll try to repeat a common expression but only get part of it. He'll say, "Quite yet. Quite yet," when he really means "Not quite yet." I wish I could think of all of his examples because he is so cute in the way he talks!