Quirks and Updates

One of the most fun things about having kids is watching their little personalities emerge.

I have yet to see how Baby Sis’s personality will develop, but she is already showing that she’s content, and cuddly, and funny.  DSC_0492

Her older sisters are so different from each other.

Most of the time, Miss is my serious girl. She’s very intense and somewhat perfectionistic. She wants things just so, and can get very upset when things don’t happen the way she envisions them. She is stubborn and persistent and smart and funny. She enjoys school time and loves art and music. She’s not a big snuggler, though when she is in the mood, she can give the best hugs anywhere. Today she climbed up in my rocker with me while I was rocking Sis, and she just kissed and hugged her baby sister over and over. It was precious to watch them love on each other.

Lass on the other hand is a bit more of a free spirit. She isn’t terribly particular about most things. She’s more of a pleaser, both with my husband and me, and with her big sister. She is quite sensitive, and when she’s scolded, she often begins to cry and says, “You hurt my feelings!” She is my snuggly, lovey girl. She gives lots of spontaneous hugs and kisses. At least once a day she walks up to me, gives me a sweet little hug, and says, “I love you Mommy.” She cries when my husband leaves for work, saying, “But I love my Daddy! I don’t want you to go Daddy.” She yanks on my heartstrings all day long, that girl does.

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My big girls have their funny quirks too.

Though I just described Lass as the free spirited girl who isn’t particular about things and Miss as my perfectionist, when it comes to their bedrooms, they are totally the opposite.

Lass is super picky about her bedroom when she goes to bed. She doesn’t take any toys to bed with her and she will not go to bed if her toys are not on her bookshelf in a certain way, if her Froggy isn’t sitting correctly in her chair, and if there is anything out of place on her floor.

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Miss on the other hand is a total slob in her room. She goes to bed with at least half of her bed covered with various toys and books.

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She often leaves toys all over her floor. I have to prompt her regularly to pick them up and put them where they belong. And she isn’t too particular about how her things get put away.

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They are so different, but they are the best of friends. And Sis is playing with them more and more.

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Much of the time during the day I stay near them and secretly watch and listen to them play together.

They are so imaginative. They seem so in sync as they make up games and stories together. They are so chatty with each other. They each have funny ways they pronounce words, which never fail to make me smile.

Miss says, “lasterday” instead of “yesterday,” “with-about” instead of “without,” and “breakthist” instead of “breakfast.” She is starting now to begin pronouncing these words correctly sometimes, and it makes me kind of sad. I love “lasterday.”

Lass has a hard time with some letter sounds and combinations of letters, as is common for her age of course. She can’t quite pronounce her “Rs” and “Ls” and has difficulty with the “SK” sound combination. So the word “squirrel” comes out sounding like “swoyo” and “scared” is “swared.” Like her sister, she is already starting to correct these mispronunciations on her own.

Baby Sis is starting to talk too. She signs “all done” and “milk,” and also uses the “milk” sign to mean “more.” She says “Meh-Meh” for milk, “Da-Da,” and “Mama.” She often tries to imitate other words we say. And the biggest news about my littlest girl is that she is walking!

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And falling.

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But walking!! Such a big girl.

One of the reasons I write this blog is to record the moments of my girls’ lives and their milestones and quirks. The funny little things they do and say. I don’t ever want to forget “lasterday” and “swoyo” and Sis signing “milk” for “more.”

I think one of my most important duties as a mom is keeping record of my girls’ moments. Our family. Our history.

These things make up my life. They form my happy place.

 

 

 

Milestones for Sis

This little snuggly peanut just got her first tooth yesterday.

Okay actually, I can’t be sure that it first popped through the skin yesterday, but that’s when we noticed it. Er, my husband noticed it.

I have been checking from time to time, thinking that she would be getting a tooth soon. So I know it hasn’t been too long since that little chomper broke the skin. I’m just not 100% sure it was yesterday.

But yesterday is the day that will go down in her baby book as the day her first tooth came in. Is it awful that I don’t know for sure? That I haven’t been checking every day like I did with the other two (or at least with Miss)?

Thing is, she’s just such a happy baby she hasn’t even been fussy. She’s been chewing pretty hard on her toys for a while. And she’s been pretty drooly. So I thought she might be getting kind of close to a tooth, but she never acted like her mouth bothered her. She’s such a mellow girl, I just didn’t know. Now I do.

In addition to her new tooth, she’s been trying out some new food.

So far, she’s not really a fan. She has had avocado (that’s what she’s eating in the pictures), applesauce, and mashed banana. She hated the applesauce (sour puss face and huge full-body shudders and all) and flatly rejects the banana. She ate the avocado pretty well.

Not that you can tell from these photos…

We’ll be trying sweet potatoes and some squash soon. Maybe she’ll like those more.

 

A (Long Overdue?) First Hair Cut

Miss is three and a half years old, and before today, she had never had a haircut.

I’ve been toying with the idea of having her hair cut for the last six months or so.  I just haven’t been able to get myself to do it.  I know she has been needing at least a trim, but I so loved her long hair.

And somehow, it seemed like getting her hair cut was such a big girl thing to do.  Like it would be the for real end of her babyhood.  Yes, I know she’s three and a half.  Her babyhood is past.  But it seems like just yesterday I was putting in her first pigtails.

I’ve never been much of a hair stylist.  Pigtails and ponytails or a barrette on the side about round out my hairstyle repertoire.  Even with my own hair, that’s about the best I can do.

I was quite proud of myself for styling this adorable bun when she was a flower girl last summer.

Fortunately for me, she went through a several-month-long ponytail period in the winter and spring.

Lately, she hasn’t wanted to let me do anything with her hair.  She almost never allows me to put her hair in pigtails or a pony anymore, and it’s been a bit difficult to even get her to let me put in a barrette.

So, I’ve been thinking for a little while I really ought to go ahead and have her hair cut.  But I was still a bit hesitant to do it.  Good thing my girl knows what she wants.  She told me a few weeks ago that she wanted her hair cut.  I waited just a bit before actually scheduling an appointment, to make sure she really wanted to do it.  When she mentioned it again last week, I went ahead and made an appointment.  She was so excited.

She did a great job sitting still for the stylist.

She didn’t like the clips in her hair, but she was okay with them when I told her they were only temporary.  This is the part where I almost cried.  And yes, we saved the first cutting of hair.

I love her little shy smile.

I was very relieved that she loves it.

I love it too.  She looks so grown up.

What I Loved This Weekend

I’ve been loving lots of things this weekend.

– Family time watching, and explaining, the Olympics.

It was nice, even though Miss repeatedly asked to watch something else.  “I don’t really like this sports,” she’d say, making a bid for “Super Why!” or “Sesame Street.”  She did get into watching fencing a bit though.

– Pool time yesterday morning.  I’m so bummed that almost all of my photos were extremely over-exposed.  Most of them were even worse than this:

I guess my favorite lens isn’t so great for sunny day at the pool photos.

We did have a great time.

Pool time is always capped off with an ice cream picnic on a towel.

– Somebody is four months old.

She’s been working hard on rolling over.  She managed to go from her belly to her back a few days ago.

Today she mastered getting from her back to her belly.  We were in the midst of lunch preparation craziness when Lass looked over to where Sis was lying on the floor and said, “Sissy-Girl woll ovuh!”  Yes, that’s right.  The first time she accomplished this milestone we missed it.  I turned to look at her and there she was on her tummy, head up and looking at all of us expectantly.  Of course once Lass pointed it out, we all cheered and whooped it up appropriately.  I don’t think she minded the slight delay.

I don’t know how in the world four months have gone by already.  Here’s to a beautiful weekend.  Hope you had one too.

Doing Summer

We’ve been doing summer a little differently this year.  Last year we spent several days each week at the pool in the mornings, and were outside playing constantly.  This year, with the arrival of Baby Sis, plus Miss having school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, swimming on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and our standing play date on Fridays, and with naps in the afternoons, well, we haven’t been outside as much so far this summer (except for the two weeks we’ve spent at the Farm already, of course).  This summer we’ve been chilling out around the house a bit more when we are home.   

It’s different, but still fun.  The big girls have taken to putting on their own dance parties.

The little baby play table next to Miss is what she was playing the music on.  My little budding DJ…

Lass initially just wanted to watch.

I won’t dance.  Don’t ask me.

But of course she started to get into the music before long.

And eventually really let loose.

Miss is really into playing her games and being crafty.

She and I made the “crown” she’s wearing from rolled up strips of a Snow White page she colored and yarn.  The idea came from our summer babysitter, who brought over this craft and made necklaces with the girls one day.  Yep, I now have a babysitter who does crafts with the girls.  Her own crafts, that she prepares and brings with her.  And cleans up.  This is huge.  I love this.

Baby sis is just such a little lover.  She’s the happiest little baby.

She has started to giggle a tiny bit.  Here is the progression of one of her giggles:

Miss takes an art class on Wednesday mornings before her swimming lesson.  Yesterday Lass and Sis and I  ran a few short errands and then sat outside and had a snack while waiting for her class to finish.

It was the perfect spot for a little snack picnic.

So far summer has felt very full.  Maybe it has been a little too full, with school and swimming and art and play dates and travel and all the other day to day stuff that has to fit in there too.  But it has been good.  Today was Miss’s last day of school for the summer, so we will have a bit of time freed up for pool and park mornings or just playing outside in our own yard a bit more.  Tomorrow we leave for Kentucky to visit my parents.  My Grandma will be visiting them too, so we will celebrate her 90th birthday and have a family reunion this weekend.  I can’t wait for her to meet Sis.  My parents haven’t seen her since the week after she was born.  She’s three months old today.

It’s gonna be a great trip.

Three

Yesterday was Miss’s third birthday.  She’s three.  I can hardly believe it.  It seems like it couldn’t have been that long ago that she came into my world and made me a Mama.

I wonder if I will have this incredulous feeling every year, as time flies by and my girls get older.  Holy cow, Miss is six! How is that possible?  and OMG, I just can’t believe my little Lass is 10, and so on.  I suspect I will.  I suspect I will continue to cherish every new stage my girls reach, while simultaneously feeling just a little bit shocked, maybe a teeny bit sad, that they are growing up.  Each time one of my girls has a birthday, I think back on the day that she was born and I savor my memories of those first moments of seeing her, holding her, and marveling at every tiny detail of her.  I look at how much she has grown and I am amazed.  These girls amaze me in their new developments all the time.  I suspect they always will.

We were out of town visiting family this weekend, and unfortunately both of my girls had bad colds.  Miss woke from her nap shortly before her birthday party started, and it took her a little while to warm up.  She had been feeling yucky for a few days, and was resistant to the idea of even having a birthday party.  She did get into playing with her sister and cousins eventually.

We had a Care Bears themed party and I had been so excited for her to enjoy it, but she just wasn’t feeling it.  When it came time to sing “Happy Birthday” and blow out her candles, she was not having any part of it. 

Poor thing refused to blow out her candles, so we had to ask one of her cousins to help.

I hated that she was feeling so badly.  She even said, at first, that she didn’t want any cake or ice cream. After I got some and offered to share a bite with her, she changed her mind though.  She ate most of “my” piece of cake and almost all of my ice cream.

Notice her poor upper lip and under her nose.  She has been refusing to let me put anything on it but chapstick, and she wipes or licks that off almost right after I put it on. 

My birthday girl perked up a bit more when she started opening her gifts.

A few months ago, after she first saw the movie “Snow White” and we read books like “The Little Mermaid” and “Sleeping Beauty” a few times, she said that she wanted “A Snow White, a Sleeping Beauty, Ariel without her tail, a prince, a queen and a castle” for her birthday.  So that’s what she got.

But the biggest gift hit?  The Yo Gabba Gabba beanie babies I had ordered for her for Christmas.  They were back ordered and didn’t arrive until late January.  She is currently sleeping with all five of them.

Lass had a pretty good time at the party as well.

Overall the party was a success, I think, though I wish my girls had been feeling better.  I’m hoping they will be back to their energetic, happy selves very soon.

Speaking of very soon, in only about five weeks or so, we will expand again to a little family of five.

I’m so eager to meet little Sis.  Tonight I’m thinking about the Birth Day of my eldest, while happily anticipating the rapidly approaching Birth Day of our newest little one.

The First Week of Preschool


Yesterday was Miss’s first day of preschool.  She was excited, though a bit apprehensive.

When she got to school she did a great job of getting into playing with other kids at first.  Her teacher told me she had a bit of a hard time a few times during the day, and Miss told me herself again, “I cwied because my want you.”  Overall it was a pretty good first day though, I think.

Lass and I spent some fun time together.  Rather than drive the almost 30 minutes back home, we went to a local cafe where there are lots of toys and kids to play with.

They also had a little free music class that we got into a bit.  She seemed to enjoy her one on one time with Mom.

We were both happy to go get big sis though.  Miss was pretty quiet about her day at school, but I tried to make a big deal out of what a big girl she was and how special her first day was.  Here she’s holding up her back pack before we got in the car.  She’s also holding a Wish Bear Care Bear that my Auntie got her. She takes that thing everywhere with her.  Fortunately I convinced her to leave it in her back pack during her school time.

We went back to the cafe where Lass and I had spent the morning for a special “First Day of School Lunch,” complete with a special “First Day of School Chocolate Chip Cookie Treat.”  

After lunch I watched Miss interact with some older kids in a new way.  She walked up to them and said, “Hi.  What are you doing?”  Then she proceeded to play with them, and even asked them to play catch with her.  Her teacher had mentioned when I picked her up that day that one of the things Miss had a little bit of trouble with at school was initiating play with the other kids, so I wondered if this new behavior was a result of something her teacher had taught her just that day (her teacher confirmed this when I took her to school this morning, and I was really excited to be seeing new skills already).

Today was the second day of school, and the last of her school “week.”  It was both better and worse.  It started out worse.  When Miss woke up and I told her we had to get going to get ready for school, she said, “I don’t wike it Mommy.  Can you come to school with me?”

We managed to get ready and head out to school, only for her to tell me again and again (in the parking lot as soon as she realized where she was, right inside to door, at her designated coat area, etc.) that she didn’t like it.  She grabbed on to my legs and buried her face in my knees.  It was not fun. Then she said, “I don’t want that girl to grab me,” in response to which her teacher explained that another one of the really young students had been trying to hug Miss and play with her the day before and Miss had gotten upset.  So her teacher and I talked to her about this and how to handle it, and then her teacher mentioned that they were going to play with a water table that day.  She perked up at that.  My girl loves to play with water.  However, she was still super clingy and wouldn’t let go of my legs, so I asked the teacher what I should do.  She suggested I take Miss over to choose her “job” for that day.  They have a job board with lots of different classroom chores on it, and each child gets to choose their job for the day and clip a clothespin with their name on it to the job of their choice.  Keeping with the water theme and something I know she loves to do at home, I asked Miss if she’d like to help water the plants that day as her job.  She smiled and agreed and clipped her clothespin on the board.  She loves water.  She loves plants.  Bingo.

Photos from today after school.  She’s wearing the new tutu I made for her last night.
As we were putting her clothespin on the board, she saw the other kids playing and got excited to go play with them.  She barely remembered to give me a kiss goodbye.  But I did tell her I was leaving and gave her a kiss and off she went to play.  So far, so good.
Then I kind of screwed it up.  I saw another mom I know as I was walking out the door and stopped to chat with her for a minute, in view of the door.  Miss saw me and I heard her start crying.  It was all I could do to not run back into the classroom.  I got a panicky feeling and felt my body lean towards the door, as if, independently from my mind, it almost had to go to her.  But I didn’t.  I knew it would be better if I just left.  I trust her teachers.  And it all turned out okay.  
When I went to pick her up today, she was smiling and telling me about the fun things she had done that day.  She loved the water table and her snack and doing their daily yoga pose.  And the best thing? Several times since leaving school today she has said, “I wike it Mommy.”  Next week will be easier.

A Snake and a Cake

We had Lass’s birthday party on Saturday. We are at the Farm, and are so lucky to have such a wonderful place to have a party. A perfect example of how things often happen here is that one of the girls’ cousins found a snake shortly before the party started and brought it up to the house. Everyone was shying away from it, except Miss of course.


She thought it was pretty cool.

It was a dead snake,


but she didn’t care. I love, love, love that my girls can have experiences like this. Miss was not squeamish in the least about holding that snake, and that makes me smile.



Something else that makes me smile is a first birthday party. I like birthdays. I like celebrating my girls’ birthdays, but there is something just a little extra special about a first birthday.


It’s seeing the look on the face of my littler girl, who has never really had cake before, when she sees it for the first time. A special little cake just for her.


It’s feeling her excitement when everyone sings a song all together, just for her.


It’s this look of “Can I really? Really?”


And then the laughter and joy in watching her gradually try it out


and finally dig in.




She spent a few minutes just squishing her hands in the cake, loving the feel of it.


And then she remembered, “Oh yeah, this stuff tastes good too!”






I love this!


Getting ready to dive in…


Yum!!!







Washing it all down.




How many shots does it take to get our little family photo with everyone looking at the camera and smiling? Not so easy with a 2.5 year old, a 1 year old, and a cake sitting in front of both of them. In the first attempt, we did pretty well. Lass had already had her fill of cake. Unfortunately, Miss hadn’t gotten her piece yet, and she couldn’t take her eyes off Lass’s totally destroyed cake.


Second try? Miss stole a pinch of cake, and Lass didn’t like it too much.


Third try? Lass decided she’s better eat more before her sister got it all.
Oh well. They’re great photos anyway. Thanks to my Auntie for taking them (and for coming to the party from 3 hours away… and picking up the cakes…)


Big sister finally got her cake and ice cream.




She even shared with Grandpa.


And the clean up effort.



It was a wonderful day and a perfect party. So many family members came to celebrate with us, and that always means so much to us. Huge props to my in laws for letting us have this special event at their Farm. I know Lass won’t remember this day, but I’m thrilled to have these great photos to show her when she gets older. And the day is indelibly imprinted in my memory, just as Miss’s first birthday party a year and a half ago is. I love a first birthday party.

Happy Birthday Lass!

My baby turned one today. She has been such a beautiful addition to our family.


She is the perfect sister for Miss. She laughs at her at all the right times, gives lots of love and hugs, and tolerates Miss’s ever increasing “muggings,” I mean hugs, fairly well.




She is such a happy girl and brings so much fun and laughter to our family.












She’s my little snuggle bear and I love how much she likes to cuddle.






The past year has just flown by. Today was for celebrating our beautiful Lass.


So, we went to the small local zoo for a play date. It was kind of dingy and pitiful, but the girls didn’t know that.


Goats and cows? Right on!




We also saw llamas, a wolf, elk, a lynx, and some monkeys. Lass is not a huge fan of her stroller, so I was really happy that she was riding in it at the start of the outing. Then we got to the monkey cage, where those noisy things scared the crap out of her, and I had to wear her the rest of the day.




I just had to share the photos of Miss climbing on this turtle. The park I went to when I was little had a turtle just like this, which I had completely forgotten about! Ah, the silly things that will make me nostalgic…


After dinner we had ice cream for a birthday treat, and then Lass opened a few of her presents. We are going to the Farm on Friday and having her party there on Saturday, so we’ll take some of her presents there with us, but today she opened the bigger ones that we don’t want to take.






She really didn’t even seem to care that we didn’t get this put together yet.




I got this Dora dollhouse from Ebay for a steal! The girls played with one of these a few months ago and loved it, and I loved that they could both easily play with it together and that it folds up pretty compactly. Score.


Naturally Lass tried to climb it.




Happy Birthday Lass.

Big Steps

One of the hard things about moving around the country for school and other stages of professional training is that you end up making wonderful friends and then missing them when everyone inevitably moves on to the next stage of life (the real job stage). I’ve lived in Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, and North Carolina, before finally settling here where my husband found a great job. I miss my friends from all the places I’ve lived. I don’t see them often enough. Fortunately this past weekend we had a fantastic visit from some of our closest friends we met in North Carolina. It was so fun to see them. It’s always good for the soul to spend some time visiting and talking in the comfortable way that old friends do. The girls really enjoyed playing with our friends’ kids too. It was a special weekend.

It was special in more ways than one, since Lass took her first steps on Friday!
We tried to get photos and video footage, but naturally as soon as my husband grabbed the camera, she stopped stepping.

She’ll be walking all over before we know it. I’m planning her first birthday party, which is so hard to believe.
Little sister is getting so big.
And big sister is too. She will most likely be starting preschool twice a week this fall. I say most likely because I am not completely sure I’ve managed to fully commit myself to the idea. I found a fabulous preschool. I really like the owner and her vision for the school. I love the way they teach there. I really think Miss would love it, but it makes me a little anxious to think of leaving her somewhere else for three hours twice a week. I think it will be a great experience for her, so I know I will get over myself and enroll her. I’m pretty sure… This is a big step for me.
I’m also thinking of enrolling her in a dance class in the near future. This girl loves to dance, as you might have noticed from my multiple posts about family dance parties and videos of her dancing. This weekend we happened to have the TV on when “Angelina Ballerina” came on PBS. She had never seen the show, but she was fascinated.
Right away she asked me to get her a tutu and she started trying to imitate the dance steps.
Plie
Pirouette
Arabesque
Not bad!
We’re gearing up to go visit some more friends from my graduate school days in Kentucky. Two of my friends are getting married and Miss is going to be their flower girl. We’ve been getting her dress fitted and watching You Tube videos of flower girls so she’ll have some idea what to do, since we won’t make it down in time to go to the rehearsal. I can’t wait to see Miss as a little flower girl! And I can’t wait to see my friends on their big day.