baby jesus, the nut

The girls are completely smitten with Christmas right now. They go to a Methodist preschool, and of course, they are learning the story of Joseph and Mary and the birth of baby Jesus.
We have a board book of carols, that came with a CD, and they love to flip thru the book as they listen to their CD of carols. They love Away in a Manger and We Three Kings.

We listen to the CD while we eat. While eating breakfast yesterday, Vivian proclaimed, "Mama, you dosef, I Mary and dis is da baby jeezis." She was pointing to a cashew. Everytime we see Baby Jesus in a nativity scene, Vivian says, "Awww, heeso koot!"

We 3 Kings

I got the girls a Christmas Carols board book that has a CD of xmas carols. We have been listening to the cd in the kitchen, and Sophie likes to read along in the book while listening to learn the songs.

The other day, she said to me, "Mama, you are my star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty sight!" It was quite possibly the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me and I was truly touched.

One more thing - we attended the preschool's Christmas party yesterday, Saturday. We had to wait in a line to see Santa. When it was Vivi's turn, she could barely wait for the kids before her to exit Santa's lap before she was running headlong into Santa as he put his hands out to her! She just loves Santa. Sophie did not want to visit Santa at all - she simply stood back and watched her sister with me while I snapped some photos.

Live Nativity

Tonight we went to a live nativity. It was very cool - I figured it would be nothing more than a manger scene, but it was the whole story, in many scenes. From the angel who came to bear the glad tidings, all the way to Mary holding the baby Jesus.

When I told the girls we were going to go see it, Vivian said, "I wanna see Baby Jeeezus and da kings!" It was hilarious. I mean, where does she get this stuff? They are learning about baby jesus in preschool these days so maybe that is where she is picking it up.

Vivian was in hog heaven with all the animals. There were little donkeys - a mama and baby to pet, sheep, goats, a small strange cow (not a normal one) and even 2 camels! I never knew a live nativity could be so fun, but it was SUPER cold out.

Vivi passed out in the carseat on the way home - it was only 7:30 but she had no nap today. Although she did keep her pants dry all day. Perhaps she is going to go back to being potty trained now?

Holiday Ice Cream

This sounds really gross to me, but they are loving it.
We had some pumpkin ice cream for october time, and now have some peppermint candy cane ice cream for christmas, and Sophie wanted one scoop of pumpkin and one scoop of peppermint. And to top it all off? Sprinkles of course.

Three nights ago I came up with a dinner plan. We never ate dinner together b/c I was still in toddler/infant mode where you try and get them situated and calm in front of food so that you can then eat. Of course, with little babies, you never get to eat while you are feeding them. But I really wanted us to be able to sit down and have dinner together.

Here is the plan.
They now eat on new Corelle dishes we got from freecycle. They are very excited to have "grown up" dishes. I gave away all the plastic plates.
We light taper candles at the table.
We dim the lights.
We put on Ella Fitzgerald music. (Thanks to Ali for this suggestion)
I get all our dinners ready together (mine is nuked and I have fresh salad) and theirs is usually chicken nuggets.
I put some veggies on their plate. (Thanks to Caz for this)
We sit down and say grace and eat together.

We made up a game called the Good Manners game. Each person gets a turn exhibiting either good or bad manners and the others have to guess if the behavior is good or bad manners. Seeing Vivian chew her food with her little lips pursed together as she eats with her mouth closed is priceless! And she is so PROUD of herself!

Tonight's lesson was that if we have to reach across someone's plate, we say , "Please excuse my reach." and "No elbows on the table." Also featured was , "May I be excused please?"
Last night's lesson was "Please pass the salt."

Now they ask if we can light the candles at breakfast!

And after dinner, they each get to blow out one candle. They are becoming pro's at "clearing their plates" meaning taking them to the sink when they are done.

Bye bye earring

Before I tell this tale, I should begin by telling the tale of the pierced ear. On Tues, we went to the mall to see Santa and I always ask Sophie if she wants earrings. I was trying to talk to Vivian about it before this trip to the mall, when Sophie chirped up and said she wanted some earrings. I was THRILLED. We went to Claire's and Sophie was all ready. She had her teddy bear with her, sat in the chair, picked out the crystal flowers she wanted and everything.
There was only one employee in the store, and well, we left with only one ear pierced! It was way too traumatic to do the 2nd one. There were lots of tears. I suggested we go visit Santa and think over the 2nd ear. No candy bribe on earth could convince her to do the 2nd ear.
We left $40 poorer, with one earring.
Well, tonite, Friday night, after many warnings and admonishings, the girls were jumping and wrestling on the bed while I talked to Daddy on the phone, on the bed with them, mind you. All of sudden, Sophie cries out, "My earring! It came out! It got caught in Vivian's hair!" Sure enough, I looked to see an empty hole. I was so angry. I hung up the phone with Daddy, rushed to the bathroom with the alcohol and tried to get that earring back in the hole. It would only slide in 1/2 way easily. I tried as gently as I could, with Sophie's help, she was being very still, but it was no use.
She had one ear pierced for 3 days. Bye bye earring.
They are sleeping in separate rooms tonight. I am not happy.

first thing in the morning

Neither of the girls like to eat breakfast the minute they wake up, but about 45 min after they wake, they are hungry. Vivian likes to ask for lollipops first thing. Then, when we get in the van to go somewhere, she asks for gum - especially in Costco for some reason.

The other day, she was singing "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do". It was interesting, b/c I have not sung that to her in a good 6-8 mos. Her musical memory and intelligence is incredible. She has a very broad repetoire of songs she knows.

One day after she pushed her cousin Ashton down, she told me, "I wannoo say sahwee Asston". She remembers lots of things like that. She says to me, "Are you sad because your mom died?" and "Are you sad b/c G.G. died?"

About a month ago, we were in the grocery store and the person who helped us take the groceries to the car had a strange tic. He would say streams of numbers and information conversationally, but it took you a few seconds to realize it didn't make sense. He was sort of like Rainman or something. It was our first encounter with a special person like this. Sophie just sort of looked at me sheepishly and wasn't quite sure what to do. She was a little scared.
I tried to make conversation by saying, "Isn't this man so nice to help us with our groceries?"
After we said thank you to him, and he went back into the store, Sophie looked at me as I strapped her into her car seat and whispered, "Mommy, I think that many was kind of strange."

I was proud of her that she had an innate sense of tact - she did not shout out anything like I probably would have done at that age, "Hey, what are you talking about???" She was careful to make sure he did not hear her comment and she was naturally nervous about the strangeness. That tells me her intuition is working fine.

Then the next week, we went to the dr. office for my TB test so I can be on the substitute list at the girls' preschool. A mentally retarded younger adult man came in, tended by 2 women. The girls were playing a game on the floor "Jumpin Josie" where I sing a song and they do the actions. When it got to crawling, the M.R. guy wanted to crawl around with them, and they were very scared. Except, I think Vivian thought it was great fun. The poor guy did not know how scary his roaring was, and Sophie jumped in my lap cowering, but Vivian thought it was hilarious.

Also, the other night at bedtime, Sophie asked me about cigarettes and what they were. That was a first.

Sad Days

Grandma Cindy passed away 5 days ago, and her funeral was yesterday. On the day she passed, we went to her house to get some photo albums so I could work on a slide show of photos of her for the service.
Vivian ran to the "prize drawer" and got bracelets out of it. She ran down the hallway, shouting to show me the bracelets - "LOOK, Mama!" So I asked her if she had gotten them from the prize drawer and she said yes. Then she took off, calling "Gwamma Cindee! Gwamma Cindee!" She wanted to show her that she had gotten the bracelets. It was totally heartbreaking.

The prize drawer remains fully stocked to this day. There is a "stash" drawer right beside it which fed the prize drawer. I am so glad the girls will have photos and fond memories of how much their Grandma Cindy loved them.

Today, the girls were playing in the basement, and I called them to come outside with me. Sophie said, "OK, Nu-gie" to Vivian. Nugie is Grandma Cindy's dog's nickname for Nugget, his "real" name. Then Sophie explained to me they were playing Grandma Cindy's Fetch. "I'm pretending to be Grandma Cindy, and Vivian is pretending to be Nugie and she has the Tinkertoy in her mouth!"

Ya Ohn

Vivian is now in the habit of calling things, "my own" or "your own". She will say it anytime she is talking about mine or yours.

Mommy, can you help me with my own pants?
Mommy, is that your own necklace?
Mommy, those boots are your own.
That's not your own!
Mommy, are you working on ya ohn computer?

Sophie talking

Today on the way to school, we were playing "bus driver". Sophie gave me her hand and said, "Here ya go, Mrs. Bus Driver. Here's my ticket for the bus." She then asked me my name. I told her Renee, she reminded me that it is usually Maria when I am the bus driver. We then began to play I Spy. We were playing and chatting and I must have been chatting about something, because Sophie said, "Well, if you don't mind, we must continue our game of I Spy". I thought it was so funny she used the word "continue".

This morning when Vivi came into snuggle in my bed - early - she said my name - Robin - twice. . She may be just beginning to figure out that Mommy has a name.

Landmark Day - no nap

Today marks the first official day - Vivian went all day without taking a nap. She is positively growing up, no doubt about it. . . .
We had a lovely day today shopping at Target. I was shocked and surprised - she was so well behaved and sat in the top of the shopping cart for a good 40 min while we browsed for Halloween costumes. She was just as as good as gold while her big sister was at school. I enjoy having one-on-one time with little Viv.

Like Halloween? Not so much

Sophie has loved Halloween from Day 1. Her first year, she was a pink piggy, but years 2 and 3, she wore a glow in the dark skeleton pj's and wanted her face painted. She has 2 other prs of halloween pj's as well - size 3T. Of course, Vivian gets all this stuff handed down to her. But she wants nothing to do with it!

Vivian only wants girlie, girlie stuff. No black scary skeleton pjs', or orange/black halloween pj's. I even got them matching black turtlenecks with embroidered pumpkins, witch hats, etc. Sophie loves wearing her orange/black stuff, but vivian wants only pink things.

I will end up giving away this Halloween stuff since Vivian wants nothing to do with it. I think she is a little scared by all the Halloween stuff. So different from Sophie.

It's really funny when Sophie says, "But Vivian! You can't trick or treat if you don't wear a costume! And you know what the best part is about Halloween? When you get to go trick-or-treating, and then after your dinner, Mom and Dad tell ya you can have one piece of your CAAANDEEEEEE." (in a singsong voice)

Flying Skull incident

This was a Kodak moment.

We got our box of Halloween decor out yesterday. We did not leave the house all day long. We put our purple LED lights in the front bushes, our glowing skeleton in the yard and our scary Go Away rock out. We are also the proud owners of a flying skull with a propeller and bat wings. It hangs from a thin wire and flies around.

Vivian put her head a little too close to this treasure and ended up with a skull propeller in her hair! It could only be extricated with scissors.

As she was crying with the skull prop stuck in her hair, I said, "Hold on - Mommy will be right back." I had the wearwithall to grab the camera!

So SWEET!

I have been meaning to type this down since yesterday. I have all these moments that I swear I will type down, then I get doing something else, and before I know it, the memory has slipped past and is gone forever.

Anyway, yesterday during bath, we were chatting about her hair. She had worn her hair down for a day, and the beautiful curls get terribly tangled after a day or 2 of wearing it down. I was explaining how her hair gets less tangled and is easier to comb thru when we put it up in ponytails rather than wear it down.

She looks up at me from her supine position (she was wetting her hair) with just her face sticking out of the water and said,
"Well, Mommy, when I see you wear your hair some way, it kinda makes me want to wear my hair that way too."

Pah-za-see

Vivian has been doing #2 on the potty for a couple of months now. No more poopy diapers, but going on the potty has its own set of challenges. Her timing is impeccable in that it usually involves me having to get up in the middle of my meal to tend to this. I wouldn't mind if it were that simple. But often there is feces smeared on the seat or bowl, and since she takes a while in there, I can not just go off and leave her to her own devices. . .
Anyway, I stand and wait for her to be done. She tells me "Mommy- get owut".
I had a brainstorm. I figured this was a good time to teach her to say it politely. So I asked, "Do you need some privacy?"
She nodded and agreed, "Mommeee, I neeya sahn pah-za-see".

Now when she wants me to leave, she asks for pah-za-see.

Help me Pablo

The nap fairy brought Vivian a root beer barrel today. The nap fairy visits our house when children take naps, and if said children line up their shoes by the door, the nap fairy may leave a treat in their shoe. Anyhow, I asked her twice if she wanted my help, which she refused.

Finally, she said, "Help Me, Pablo. I'm Tasha." and she offered me her root beer barrel to open the wrapper.

Usually, I am Abuela and she is Boots or Dora. Lately, I have to be Daddy and she is Sophie. But Pablo and Tasha was a new one. Also, she directs me to be Miss Lindsey and she is Harper Kate, and says, "ba-ba-ba".

no more pullups

So, I am going cold turkey on Viv and doing what every other parent on the planet does - I am taking away the pullups, and putting her in underwear and plastic pants and forcing her to use the potty. This peeing in the pullups out of laziness is ridiculous.

When Sophie was 2.5, exactly to the day (Oct 15) she was done with accidents and pullups.
That date won't be here til Nov 30 for Vivian, but I am sick of waiting. There is no reason to wait any longer. We'll see if I can lead this horse to water, but there has to be some reason why every one else on earth does this to their kids at some point.

Momma - lee mee aloh!

Vivian has been doing #2 on the potty religiously for 3-4 weeks now. Thank G-d!
However, she still wears pullups, and will not pee in the potty consistently.
Only when the mood strikcs her.
I have to wipe her bottom, of course, but she takes FOREVER to finish up.
I wait, and wait, and keep asking, Are you done yet?
But if I go in the bathroom while she is doing her business, she scolds me:
"Mommy - lee mee aloh!"
Yet, each time a new piece drops, she exclaims with glee "Mama! Look!
I do pee pee inna poddee!"

I can hear the breath holding, then the releasing of breath as she pushes them out now.

Yesterday at dinner, she was sitting on her wicker bar stool eating, when the sound of water pouring on the floor sounded, directly under her stool. Her pullup was saturated, and I suppose she was too busy eating to be bothered to get up to pee, so she just did it in her pull up. Gross.

At least urine is sterile.

Be Agraiya!

Vivian is now relishing in the land of pretend and make-believe. She tells me all the time to "be" someone, and then proceeds to tell me who to be.
Sometimes I have to be "Abuela" which she pronounces (agraiya) from Dora, and she is Boots and Sophie is Dora. When she tells me to be agraiya, I have to talk in the low, rumbly, accented voice of Dora's grandma which seems to bring her great pleasure.

The other day, she directed that she was to be her friend, Harper Kate, and I was to be HK's mom, Miss Lindsey.

Currently, the girls are with their cousins spending the night in DC. They were thrilled to be having a sleepover and Mommy is thrilled to get a nice little break while Daddy has been traveling.

poo poo on the potty

Today was a landmark day in that Vivian got on the potty all by herself, and did #2!
She has been going #1 for months now, on and off. She will go for like a week, several times a day, and then, want to revert back to going in her pull-up.
But this was the first time she went #2 on the potty by herself. It was awesome.

We've been keeping a potty chart and she gets a sticker each time she goes and when the line gets filled up (10x) both girls get a treat to encourage working as a team. Sophie gets stickers for random acts of kindness.

Daddy left today for a month. It will be the longest he has ever been away from us 3 girls. :(

New Babysitter

Tonite the girls had a new babysitter. When we got home, we were informed that Vivian was very very upset that Sophie got to wear a new nightgown, and Vivian had to wear "old" pj's. I am going to have to learn to buy 2 of all new things from now on. Hopefully they still have that gown at Target and I can procure a 2nd one.

Bethany Beach

It's Friday night, and we've been at Bethany Beach since Wed afternoon. It has been so fun. The girls were so excited to get to the beach! Although Sophie says she doesn't like to get "all dirty and sandy" at the beach - she prefers the pool.

Vivian, on the other hand, is another story. There is a little pool of ocean water that gathers when the tide comes in and it creates a warm pool of water and shells the kids can play in safely. The waves crash rather hard into the shore b/c it seems they have banked up the beach. For whatever reason, there is a drop off and the waves really crash. But that doesn't stop Vivian from squealing with delight, and trying to run, full speed into the ocean. She loves it.

Today we took them to Rehobeth's boardwalk to ride the Kiddie Rides. Sophie had the biggest smile on her face, and Vivian loved watching us as she went around and around, and waving.

Today, we saw dolphins swimming along the shore. The girls also saw a horseshoe crab with daddy yesterday.

We're staying at Sea Colony which are great condo's for families. Along the private beach are swingsets! It is wonderfully quiet and family oriented - not at all obnoxious with the "beach week" crowd.

Ahnt! AHNT!

Our house is being invaded slowly by giant black ants. There are only like 1 or 2 in sight at any given time, but Vivian is fascinated with them. She came running up to me today spitting "Ahnttt! AHNTTT!" and holding the little creature in her pincer grasp. Poor ant. I wonder if they bite. I guess we'll find out.

When I flushed it down the toilet, she said, Bye, bye, ahnt.

but of course

Sophie is full of all sorts of grown up phrases these days. She says, "But of course, my dear" and "I'd be delighted" and "Yes, sweethaart". She has also picked up talking in an accent sometimes. It is pretty hilarious.

We watch a little girl named Harper Kate on Wednesdays and she thinks Harper Kate is her new baby. When she sees some small baby clothes in a store, she says, "Oh, that would be PERFECT for Harper Kate!"

This morning I told Sophie, "I need it." in regard to getting her ready or something. Well, Vivian totally picked up on the meaning of "I need it!" and has now been repeating it all morning in regard to her breakfast, or anything else she wants; her bottle, some tea, etc. Except she says it with a scowl on her face, "I NEED IT!"

We were playing balloon catch in the basement and she caught the balloon and said, "I GOT IT! FUST!" She is learning how to be the "first" one from her older sister. It is the first time I heard her say "first".

bahn ay, why-o, shah-yee

Vivian knows how to apologize, and if she accidentally hits me or something (which occurs often) she says, Oh, shah-yee mommy. It is terribly cute.

When she wants water, she says Why-o and she just came into the office to show me a band-aid daddy had put on a scrape on her cheek. She pointed to it saying, "bahn-eee".

When her friend Sarah was leaving the house today, Sarah said, "I want to play bubbles."
Vivian replied, "I wan bubbas too."

Today, she was outside and when I called her, she said, "Ahm hi-yee!" (I'm hiding!) She was behind the bushes, which is a favorite spot to play in.

One thing is for sure, the girls can definitely entertain themselves for long periods of time outside digging a stick into fallen leaves.

sark, yuck, etc.

Vivian's language is for sure taking off like crazy. She runs around with a scared look on her face and says, "A sark! sssaarrk!" and starts shaking her head in worry.
Yuck, means LOOK! and she is constantly telling us to yuck at everything!
She also says, "I wan aree-ell" when she wants to watch little mermaid. She points to Ursula's picture on the DVD cover and says "BAT!" for bad.
She recognizes all different types of animals, and loves to point out pandas.

This past weekend, we hosted an engagement party for friends, and some of the parents were in the playroom with the girls. One of the parents informed me, while Sophie was jumping on her trampoline, that she was explaining to them that "she needed her exercise to increase her lung capacity". I thought they were making it up, but sure enough, they were all dumbfounded - she actually said that! I have never told her anything like that, and daddy remembers telling her once about that. Her mind is a trap.

Yesterday I took the girls on their first trip to DC. We went to the Natural History Museum. Sophie did not seem to interested as I pointed out where Mommy used to work, but she did want to see dinosaur bones. The mammals exhibit there is sort of better than the zoo b/c you get to see the animals closer up than at the zoo and they have all kinds of animals, even giraffes, tigers, bears, a rhino and hippo (heppo as Vivian says).

We ate our picnic lunch at the Hirschorn sculpture garden. It was a 66 degree day in March - delightful.