Sunday Update

Or - alternatively titled -
why Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers Don't Mix



Green Goop? Ella was painting, Ella needed to go potty, Mommy needed to turn on light in bathroom, Mommy left painting on the floor unattended for 10 seconds to turn on light, Anna eats paint...so not cool - toddlers and pre-schoolers don't always mix.




Busy Busy Busy week around here...physical therapy, dr. appointments, deadline for work and other, actual fun stuff.

Had some friends over last night for the first time. The girls had a blast stayed up way too late. The grown-up girls had a blast - we also stayed up way too late! The best part is that she is a scrapbooker too. She looked at all the things on the pages she was supposed to and commented on the 'things' I think people should comment on - touched the things she was supposed to touch - very very cool! I think the boys had fun too, didn't see too much of them. After dinner they finished putting up the swings and the girls stayed outside swinging until almost 10, at which point they came in and promptly stripped down in the living room and put on their princess dresses. Terribly cute!!! (I'll see if I have a good pic.)

Please ignore the messy playroom - all three girls were having fun.






Ella Update: So close to reading tons of things. She's got a group of probably twenty or so sight words, figuring out word families, playing with rhyme - all of that great stuff that goes along with emergent readers. Gotta Say, I absolutely love this!!! Last night before she went to bed she made Sam sit and listen to her read a book - there were about ten words she couldn't/didn't want to get - couldn't be more proud of the little munchkin! :)

Signed her up and paid for ballet. The studio is quite close to us, supposed to be very good. Had to go in and try on all the different types of shoes to see which would actually fit her foot. No luck, they suggested Payless and Hooray! We found some real leather shoes to fit!!! I was really worried we'd have to do special order or something. I cannot wait for class to start and neither can Ella. Everytime we drive by, "Mom is it ballet school today?" "I'm so 'essited to do ballet!!!" She really really wants the tap shoes, not sure if she knows about tap class, but she loves the shoes. I really would have to special order those :( Oh, and she's grown over an inch these last two months!!!

All of her 2T pants and dresses are now waaaay too short, inappropriately too short - like in just the last week. I've had better luck finding adjustable waistbands in the 3T and 3s so that is good. She still fits into Anna's clothes, they are just too short. Last week Ella wore a pair of pjs she called her, 'capri pajamas' because they went to her calves - super short but she insisted. Fine, whatever, go to bed...Anyway, tonight Anna is wearing the same pjs.

Anna Update!!!!!!! Getting so big and so brave. Taking 3 or 4 steps at a time. Adorable! Finally gaining a bit of independence and playing by herself for a few minutes at a time - which We Love!!! The biggest thing is her vocabulary has Exploded! She knows a ton of verbs: comb your hair, clunk, scratch, pat, kiss, hug, eat, walk etc. etc. and the one we realized tonight she knows is Clap. So very Cute!!!

We've been having difficulty figuring out what she's saying - more? all done? cheese? all look pretty similar in Anna language :) So we can't figure out what's she's telling us. Tonight Sam figured out she was clapping when she was excited! How adorable is that?!?!? Let me tell you, pretty stinkin' adorable! Her understood vocabulary (receptive language for those who care) is giant! She knows so many things. She's also trying to talk a bit - almost everything comes out as 'buh' but not all ;) We've got milk, "mik" Ella, "llll-aaaah" - which most of the time elicits a response from her sister.

Oh, one thing about the Ella. We were on a playdate on Friday and every single time Ella walked away Anna started hollering for her, "lllll-aaaah! lllll-aaaaah!" over and over and over again. Kind of like if Ella doesn't see me put Anna in or out of the car, "But Mom, where's Anna?"

What other words does she say, balloon, light, there's others I think, I'm just blanking on them now. She's got a pretty good sign vocab - I think my personal favorite is when she signs 'water.' So cute with those chubby little hands! Almost as good is when she signs eat. Such a little personality! (okay, seriously, how many times can I type cute in one post!)

She's also getting very interested in figuring things out - how to take lids off and on, open and closed, lights off and on, shapes into the shape sorter. She's got such an individual personality and it is just showing more and more every day!

So things are good here. I have crummy pt at 7:30! in the morning tomorrow - yuck. Sam has to be in Seattle on Friday. Cannot believe we are so close to Anna's first birthday. So very excited to have a party for her!!!! What else? Oh My Gosh! Is anyone else thrilled that we have our 11 year anniversary coming up?!?!? So excited, especially as our 10 year was incredibly exciting - but not so couple-centered :) I should set up a sitter for this this week. What else is there? Since it's Sunday I'll just tell you all that I adore Sunday. Regardless of how many other baths/not baths they have during the week we do Big Fun Bath on Sunday nights. The girls are so sweet and chubby and cuddly. Then on Monday morning their hair smells so yummy! This week Ella has French which she is starting to enjoy more and more as one of her little friends speaks French - so she about flips out from excitement when he talks to his maman.

Wait! One more funny story. Tonight at dinner Anna is drinking her water, again. Throwing her cup, again. Mommy and Daddy are less than thrilled with this activity, again. She started to throw her cup on the floor and I very kindly, but sternly told her, "Anna, no throw!" She, of course, took this to mean toss it immediately to the floor. Ella pipes up, in a perfect Eyeore voice, "She's a baby. She throws things." Sam and I were laughing so much, and didn't really care that she'd thrown up cup on the floor anymore.

Okay - off to spend time with Sammy as the girls are in fed, clean and in bed! Wahoo! I'll post pictures later :)



P.S. - PT is for my left shoulder - Yes I know I promised I would take care of it last year. I was totally wrong and tardy and procrastinating. Guess What Though? My shoulder is feeling much better after three weeks - next week we start the strength training :(