Thursday, October 20, 2016

Ellie is 3!

The strong-willed, tantruming 2 year old is mellowing slightly.  Hooray!  We are getting a little more cute, excitable, bubbly Ellie.  When she gets excited she hops up and down.  She now talks a mile a minute on the way home from preschool just like her big sister.  And her mop of blonde curls and cute little face can make me stare at her in fascination.



She's still have trouble with her s + consonant words.  But we are making progress.  Instead of substituting in an f sound she's mostly dropping the s.  So Smarties was farties but is now marties. And her hands are no longer "fall" but 'mall.  Her shoes are 'parkly instead of farkly.


She is still super shy in new situations but it is improving.  She can ask cashiers for stickers now.  She doesn't clam up as much in big family gatherings.  Meet n great day at preschool was still tough for her.  She wouldn't even look at her teachers from last year, whom she loved!  She turned her head away!  And she didn't talk to anyone except me the whole time we were there.  But she easily went and played with toys during Daniel's session and the beginning of her own.  At least she doesn't cling to me the whole time or scream and cry.  And she definitely enjoys school and was looking forward to her first day.  She was frustrated when Daniel started a day before her.


Big happenings:
-First movie on 7/7/16 - Finding Dory


-Potty training:
In the evening on July 13th, Ellie decided she was ready for underwear and earned her first potty training sticker!  The next day she went through countless pairs of underwear and 2-3 pairs of shorts. But she eventually had success with #1 and #2!  She continued to make improvements over the next few days.  We were gone in Maine for a few days at the end of July.  But on August 3rd, she completely filled up her sticker chart and earned the prize of her choice, a green rubber ducky.  (Thanks Amazon for fulfilling that unusual request).


- Birthday
We had her party on July 23rd with all of our family members.  She requested an Ariel party (Little Mermaid).  We pulled out the slip n slide from last year's party and filled up a pool too.  The kids managed to squeeze in some water fun between rain drops.


-Started in the 3's at preschool 8/17/16
She has Ms. Jan, who was also Claire's 3 year old teacher, and Ms. Courtney.  She was ready to go her first day and had to be prompted to tell me good-bye.  She gets in school mode and we become invisible!  Her teachers report that she did well her first week.  Although she may have been reserved at first, she was actually talking to them and her peers!  I made the schedule so she would be home alone with me on Mondays thinking we'd have nice mommy and Ellie time.  She would have preferred to go to school!  But she did enjoy going to the playground (her usual request) or art time or the mall.  She tolerated errands with me better as the year went on.


-First season of soccer - 9/2016
Ellie did well on her first day!  I was worried about her shyness.  She was hesitant to get started but once she got out on the field she did well. She did get sad when someone took from the ball from or she didn't get to score.  Subsequent Saturdays went worse.  She wanted me on the field with her, would refuse to go out, or would play but with tears streaming down her face.  She did better when Jeff was there so I had him take her for the last weekend.  I stayed home but his parents came to watch.  And she did perfect!  No hesitancy!  Stinker.


Cute conversations and language stuff:


Ellie: (I'm helping her with a kids crossword at a restaurant)
Me: Ok this one is something that chickens lay. What comes from chickens?...
Ellie: Celery!




Asks: Why this ____? / Do you know why ____ is my favorite?

Answers: 'Cuz

I wish I want

After peeing in the morning comes back to breakfast table:
I had big pee pees!  I don't have big pee pees all the day. I have little pee pees and big pee pees. 

You're joking us
Is Daddy sleeping or at work? Or a medium?
Me: Yes, a meeting. Daddy is at a meeting.







Big 3 year old!

Climber from Grammi and Paaps

Birthday spread with crab croissants

Little Mermaid themed cake






Playing at the pool

Earned her ducky for potty training!

Posing at the Smith-Gilbert garden

Sharing with her brother.  She can be quite sweet with him!

Cruisin' during tiny tot time at the skating rink

Meet n greet day at preschool

Playing during Daniel's meet n greet

Trying out kids yoga

Ellie time at the bagel place during Daniel's
first day of school

Ellie's turn.  First day of 3's!

Hanging up her bag

Settled in with Play-Doh. 

 Lazy Friday morning while these 2 feel like getting along. Ellie is multi-tasking by building an "astronaut" with the magnet blocks while wearing her princess dress and listening to veggie tales

Cuddled up with Claire

Brave enough to pet the goat at the zoo


Playground time while siblings are at school


Claire got her first weekly homework packet yesterday. Both Ellie and Daniel tried to climb in the chair with her to watch her work! And Ellie wanted to help color. 😂 Soooo, we started family homework time. Cutting practice for Ellie and coloring for Daniel.


My blonde babies playing at the playground




Apple picking

Someone got tired!





Little soccer player


Cousin princesses at Stone Mountain in Sept.










Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Daniel at 20 and 21 months






July 30 - Sep 30, 2016

Language:  He's adding words at a rapid pace!  He's also putting two words together often and imitating words like crazy.

New words at 20 months:
thank you (geh gum)
okay (OHt kay or OH kay)
ketchup (cheb-up)
Grandpa (Gampa)
Claire (Cay uh)
Ellie  (Eh dee)
Grammi (Gammi)

21 months:
keem up (Clean up)
Says good when asked "How are you?"
diaper (dap dem)
cuz (He said 'cuz in answer to a question just like Ellie does!)
Um...
'Ch out (watch out)
Bumpty (bumpity bump on his bottom down the stairs)
Nuffin (nothing)
Poop! (said from his crib as soon as you walk in to let you know he has a dirty diaper)
pinched lip No!  (He does this pinched lip no that sounds like newwww)

-Lots of Ellie influences in his vocabulary this month!

Teeth:
All four of his canines are slowly coming in to give him a mouth full of teeth.  But it has been causing consider crankiness all day and driving us all crazy.  Fortunately they haven't messed up his sleep too much. There have been some overnight wake ups occasionally.  He also developed an ulcer/canker sore inside his lip that may have been a factor in the extra crankiness and wake-ups one week.  He loves brushing his teeth, but won't let me help very much.

Sleep:
He's falling asleep later these days.  He will play and talk in his crib until 8:30 or even later if he napped late.  His wake-up time is all over the place.  If his sisters make a lot of noise and wake him up he's up at 6:45-7.  If left on his own, he can sleep until 8 or 8:30.  His afternoon nap is usually 2-2.5 hours, with a wake-up in the middle to cry for a few minutes.

Sizing:
He's 32" inches tall and around 28 pounds.  He's in 18-24 month clothes and wearing size 6-7 shoes. His foot must be slimming down because he has a few pairs that aren't wide!  He was in size 4 diapers but at the end of September we toyed with moving him up to size 5.

Preschool:
Daniel started preschool!  He is in the wee 2's with Ms. Trish and Ms. Teresa.  He is doing so awesome.  He was so ready.  The teachers love him because he adapted well and is easy for them.  They had a lot of criers.  Daniel had a few tears at drop off the first or second week but was easily engaged and then fine the rest of the day.  I think he is just easy going and happy for them, which makes a difference when you have your hands full with cranky toddlers.

We also heard multiple comments about how smart he is.  I was confused as to how you can tell with a bunch of toddlers.  I think it's mostly because he understands routines and understands and follows their directions.  For example, when asked to put their plates in the trash, Daniel carried his right over to the trash can.  His teacher also commented that she was offering him different colored crayons and he shook his head no at multiple until she got to one he liked.  At my blank look she added "That's great!  It means he knows the difference.  Other kids would just take whatever I handed them."

Other fun stuff:
We've been up to a lot these 2 months.  Claire started school August 1st and preschool started 2 weeks later.  So we had some time to fill for just the little 2.  Jeff and I took them to a local botanic garden and the Tellus Science Museum.  I also took them took the skating rink for toddler time.  We visited Chattanooga with some of Jeff's family.  Labor Day weekend we also did our annual apple picking trip and then had all the Schulzes over for swimming and grilling.  In September Jeff and I took advantage of their Fridays off and took them to the zoo and the Atlanta Botanical garden.  I took all the kids to Stone Mountain for RV camping with my family to learn the gender reveal for my brother and my sister-in-law.  We are getting our first nephew!

Bubbles at the Smith-Gilbert garden
Strolling with Daddy
Here's Daniel having a fit.  He was so cranky!
He was just stumbling around crying so we
left early. 
Riding around the skating rink during Tiny Tot time
Checking out a giant turtle shell with Grandpa
at the Tennessee Aquarium.

Giant dump truck at the Tellus musuem
Choo choo!
Meet and greet day at the preschool
First day of school!

Dropping off for his first day. 
Just being cute and building towers
At the zoo, checking out the meerkats
Playground time
A big bite of a fresh picked apple
Bad boo boo!  Daddy thinks he fell and hit
the stone stair outside
Soccer spectator as both his sisters play this season 

Ice cream during a lunch date with Mommy and Ellie
Building at the Botanical Garden
Here Daddy!
Noodles!  It's what's for dinner.
Snuggling with Paaps, waiting for the
laser light show at Stone Mountain