One of Isabella's new loves is time. "Ok, I will go but not for three minutes." "Ok daddy, but in 30 minutes." She knows the names for time, but she doesn't understand what time is relative to her everyday life, of course, but we are working on it. I try to set a timer when she says something like that and I try to assign times to certain things like until naptimes that way she can start to grasp the time that she is saying. This is the kind of stuff that I love about having children that are this age. Yes, they repeat everything that you say, and yes, that is definitely frustrating when you have a slip and accidentally utter a four letter word that you wish that your children would never repeat ever. But outside of that, they are constantly amazing you with new and exciting things that you realize that they never knew.
I am very lucky that a large majority of the people in our family realize the importance of education and learning and are constantly helping us grow our children. From their aunts quizzing them on colors and shapes of toys while they play, to drawing letters on this drawing toy that we have, to Grace reading books to them, to my mother constantly teaching them new and exciting things. This, I think, has helped foster their interest in learning. Plus, as controversial of an issue as this is, we do not limit 'screen-time' in our family. We don't watch a lot of TV everyday, but the TV is always on as background noise. However, this has helped both of them to learn new things on their time and at their speed. Isabella spends a lot of time watching educational programs, matching games, puzzles, and things that. Yes, there are times when it feels like she is a crack-fiend on the search for her next fix, but then we just have a break from the phone for awhile and let her focus her attention on other things. This time that she has spent with 'her phone' has helped her to practice fine motor skills, reinforce her letters from an early age, and more easily learn colors and shapes.
When Isabella first started being able to walk around in stores without running off and acting like a fool, we were walking around in Target. Corry and Grace were shopping for new water bottles, and I was entertaining Isabella down on one of the end caps with the coffee travel mugs and she says, "This cup has coffee in it." It was such a simple sentence and six of the ten million words that she said that day but it was just one of those times when you are like when did she learn what a coffee mug was? As much baby fever as I have lately, I LOVE this age that my children are in. It's the age where you can actually see their little brains working to figure problems out. It's the age where they can begin to communicate their problems with you instead of just sounding like a monkey all the time repeating the same sound. Well, Silas is still kind of in that phase, but I am going to blame that on him being stubborn! It's also the first stage that they have been in where I have stopped comparing their development to other children.
In the first few months of their lives, I was constantly comparing their growth and development to other children. Isabella was a slow weight gainer. Silas was an early teether and an early walker but a slow talker. This is absolutely one of the worst things that you can do because no two children are exactly alike. Even the doctors will tell you most items on their development chart have a range associated with them. Like sitting or standing unassisted has like a 9 month to one year range that is 'normal' for children. It's hard to not do it but eventually I think that you realize that it doesn't matter when your child is doing a certain activity, so long as they are doing it according to their normal.
Isabella is now in a stage where you can have a complete conversation with her and she is learning new concepts everyday. This is amazing to me and so fun. I love that she can tell me about things that she did during the day and that, even though half of the time it's to tattle on him, she can recount things that Silas did during the day as well. It makes me feel like I am there more during the day. She is also better able to explain her feelings and what she is upset about instead of just screaming and crying like a banshee when something is wrong.
I love teaching my children of all ages new skills and new information. I love seeing their eyes light up when they practice a skill that they just learned or talk about a subject that they just learned about. It is so exciting to see their brains developing and changing as they age.
What is your most favorite thing that you have witnessed your children learning?
Everything is better with bacon and cheese, right? 
Prep time: 10 mins 
In high sided skillet, fry chopped bacon until crispy. Drain excess grease. Add garlic and paprika and fry for 30 seconds. Add all tomatoes, tomato paste, and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add cream, salt, pepper, and parsley. 
Boil gnocci until they float. Remove from water with a spider strainer and add to sauce. Incorporate sauce and gnocci and pour into oven safe baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. 
