My silly kids

So, Claire is very insistent that she is a "big girl". Any time we ask her if she is any other adjective, she says no, I big girl. We can't call her baby girl, silly, funny, or anything else. She always corrects us. It's pretty silly. So tonight, she was pretty adamant about not going to bed. I started making cookies with the kids before bed, but it got so useless that I ended up just doing one tray, which we ate almost all of before they went to bed. I threw the rest of the dough in the fridge and got back to it after they went to bed. So I was working on that when she got up to ask for a snack. She wanted to "help mom?" She asked very nicely. But I most definitely did not want help, so she had to be content to watch. While we were finishing up, she asked what I was going to do. I said I would make the cookies and then I wanted her to go to bed so I could finish my movie. She started naming all the things big girls do- make cookies, watch movies, watch TV. It was pretty funny. So she went back to bed and came back down a bit later while we were watching our movie. She came over and said "Mom, I big girl. Big girls watch movie." I said no dear and took her back to bed. As we were walking up the stairs, she was telling me again about what big girls do. The fun part was that she was naming them off and counting on her fingers at the same time. According to Claire, big girls "watch TV, watch movie, eat cookie, no go bed". She is always surprising me with what she comes up with. 
Her other new phrases are "favorite", "I love (insert whatever we are talking about)", and "what do?" As in, what are you doing. The last one drives me nuts. She asks constantly. Sometimes she asks multiple times in a few minutes, while we are still doing the same thing. I understand she is just trying to gather information and learn about the world, but it makes me a little crazy some days. I guess I should just be grateful she hasn't learned "why" yet. The "I Love" makes me laugh because she says it about anything. The other day we were talking about the park and she said "I love big parks. I love little parks. I love the park. I love play". I also enjoy the way she says "Little". She can't say it very well, so it usually comes out as "wee". And to make her point completely clear, she usually crouches down and makes herself little and makes a little circle with her hands.
Claire has learned to pedal her tricycle. She loves to do that. The kids usually go out on the porch and ride the scooty car or the tricycle or the bike up and down and up and down. They love it.
Alex on the other hand seems to refuse to talk. He is picking up some words, but not too many. He did learn to sign "Blues Clues" with his hands up by his face and he says "boo". That seems to be his favorite TV show right now. He always asks for it when Claire asks for TV. And Alann taught him to say "oh man" like Swiper in Dora. And he tries to snap his fingers. It's pretty cute. He's starting to get into trains. We have some wooden trains that you can build up with blocks. He gets it out almost every day.
He also has become quite adamant about sitting on the potty. He wants to sit on it every time Claire does. He still hasn't done anything on it, but I'm not about to discourage it.
Alex is still sleeping in his crib. But whenever I put him to bed, I ask him which bed he wants to sleep in, the big boy bed or the crib. He asks for the big boy bed, and lays in it for a bit, then asks for the crib. We are up to about a second laying in the big boy bed. Today he let me cover him with his blanket as if I were putting him to sleep. Someday soon maybe he will switch. I can only hope. I want him to switch to his big bed so he can get used to sleeping in it so we can move him in with Claire at some point. I want him to be comfortable with it first. But sometimes I wonder. If I just took away the crib, would he adjust? If I just put the big bed in Claire's room, would he choose to sleep there? I never know how the boy is going to react. The other day he was doing something I told him not to. So I put him on time out. He did it again. So I put him on time out. He did it again and put himself on timeout. I don't know if he thought it was a game or what. Sometimes when I discipline him, he just screams like Mommy broke his little heart. And other times he is just fine with it. I guess it's just part of being 18 months. It's so hard to believe that he is really almost 18 months old. I think about when we moved here last year, he was such a tiny baby. It amazing how much they change in such a short time. Both him and Claire have really blossomed lately. It's getting to be a bit more fun. We can do things like fingerpaint and all color together. I'm enjoying it.