Reading and Writing

Amber really loves to read books.  She loves to have me read her books and now she no longer needs 5 songs before she will go to bed, now she wants about 8 books read before bed.  My bigger girls love to read too.  Emily and Lauren especially will just be reading for fun when I turn the TV off and tell them it is off for the night or the day.  Lindsey likes to read too, but often she finds something else to do.  Lindsey however loves to read to Amber. 

Amber also loves to copy the girls in doing homework or reading..  she will "write" and call out letters and numbers and other unknown names of things. 

Here are two books she was reading last night... although the story of one went more like Hansel and Gretel, and the other was about the three pigs.

I found it funny looking at her reading, these books.  And I thought we would have to help the kids learn these things.  I guess Amber is learning about it herself.  (Which by the way "We Lived In Heaven" was a pretty good book, and maybe it was just a tool for me at the time to be hopeful of having more children or being okay with whatever the outcome would be.)

Along with reading... like I said Amber likes to do homework.  She happened to do homework on Samantha yesterday.  I went to a few stores today with a pink patch of hair on Samantha and some of the pink stripes still on her face.  Although they did fade quite a bit after her bath. 

Both of these pictures where taken before she had a bath. 

While we were driving around for some supplies for a  project of Emily's, I asked Amber (who was sucking her thumb) if she wanted to play a game.  I asked her if she wanted to play the "I love you more than..." game.  She said no, then I asked about I-spy.  She was okay with that.  I first spied something blue.  She kept asking things and then she said, is it a blue monkey?  I laughed and gave her another hint of what it was that I spied that was blue. 

Background on the "I love you more than..." game :  Long ago I would try to keep Amber quite and occupied at the store so I would say, I love you more than I love speghetti.  I love you more than I love milk.  I love you more than gummy worms....  and I would just keep going on and on with various things.  Now it is a "game" Amber wants to play but now she chimes in and tells me what she loves me more than... unusual it is something really silly like a dead skunk on the road or dirty socks.  Perhaps her love for me will evolve a bit.

Samantha is walking all over the place... she takes things and carries them around with her.  We have lost the remote many times due to her packing things off she likes.  She came from somewhere with a blanket from her bed.  She will take pillows off the couch in the living room and carry them into the family room and lay on them.  The pillows are kind of heavy and awkward for her, but she keeps doing it. 

Samantha is also really big into imitating us... or role play maybe.  There is a book of food we read and now she will pretend to take the food (like I have done) and eat it.  She will also get the dust pan when I am sweeping and try to pick up the garbage with it like I do.  She is funny to watch.  She doesn't talk much, but I know there is a lot going on in there!