vaughn can count to all the way to twelve, but he always skips five, seven, and eleven. seems like he doesn't like prime numbers. he also can say the alphabet to f, but skips d and e. he still loves trains. often stealing cars and engines from mom's house and sharing his dinner with them. he knows the difference between steam and diesel engines, and most of the names of the thomas the tank trains (percy and james are his favorites).
vaughn's vocab and grammar are getting better, too. he has starting using pronouns. when vaughn pretends to be a baby elephant and mom will grab his the bottom of his shirt, vaughn will say 'let go my tail.' we went blueberry picking the other day, but vaughn did most of his picking out of everyone else's buckets. when dad protested, vaughn replied, 'let me have those berries.' i fear we didn't pick enough since vaughn has to have berries almost every day. 
mason is two weeks old now. he's a pretty good baby, only fussing when he's hungry. he even sleeps in four and five hour stretches at night. it's surprising how well he sleeps during the day since vaughn is always talking loudly or trying to kiss him. he can already hold his head up for a little bit, and i've had to clip his fingernails a second time.
not only did he love it because it was chalk, he also loved the 'wittle box' in which it came. it was small and light enough for him to carry and even had a handle. vaughn has inherited his mother's (sadly not his grandmother's) talent for drawing. after i draw something for him, usually elephants and cows, he draws the only thing he can on top of it. after mom drew a picture of mason, vaughn covered it in 'nakes.' 
thank you for the chalk aunt carol, vaughn insists almost everyday that we, 'draw vaughn chalk.' and thank you and aunt beth for the delicious coffee cake that was delivered early yesterday morning by fed ex. there's nothing like having breakfast waiting for you on the doorstep at 8 am. 
