Happy Halloween!

Early.

Because that’s SO my style.

Here are some pictures of the girls in their costumes from a friend’s party this weekend. 

Some quick things about the girls:

Lily is obsessed with Emma these days.  She adores making Emma laugh (which is so sweet), and tells me NOT to tell Emma to “be gentle” with her because she doesn’t mind when Emma pulls her hair and grabs her skin (which is a bit sweeter than I am with our notorious grabber).  Lily continues to love school, and still loves playing “talk” (of course).  For months now she has been obsessed with the show “Little Bear,” which is an obscure Canadian show that was conveniently cancelled 12 years ago.  (Santa is super-excited about that, I’m sure).  Lily is hilarious, and loves to tell jokes and stories.  She has an incredible imagination, and is as sharp as ever.  She is learning to write her name in school.  She is much more interested in coloring, and is working hard to stay in the lines and fill in her picture completely with color. 

Emma is crawling like a champ, pulling up, sitting back down gracefully, and cruising all over the place.  She does NOT like sitting still anymore, which makes taking pictures more difficult.  After a brief fussy period while her molars were coming in (she’s up to 10 teeth now), she’s back to her usual happy self.  She’s more opinionated these days (as she should be at this age), but she’s such a sweetheart as long as she’s not being made to lie on her back (at which point she flips from “happy” to “shrieking banshee who pounds her own head with her hand in frustration”).  She loves it when Lily plays with her.  She says “mama” sometimes when she wants me, and has said “bye bye” while waving a couple of times.  She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, and her impressive fine motor skills let her pick up and consume the tiniest pieces of litter at will.  Thanks to my quick reflexes, though, I am happy to report that I was able to get the dehydrated worm out of her hand milliseconds before she got it in her mouth.  Huzzah!

Niven’s Apple Farm

Michael, Emma, and I joined Lily and her class for their fieldtrip to Niven’s apple farm today.  Lily had so much fun picking apples, going on a hayride, wandering through the corn maze, playing in the playground, and running around with her friends.  Good times!

Bananas!

Yes, folks, that’s the secret to our stylish hairdos.  So easy, even a baby can apply it!

Emma’s application of her preferred hair “product” may have helped with the styling, but I will say that she has the oddest part…er…parts.  She has a part on each side of her head, so she often ends up with a {less extreme} mohawk.  It’s a battle of the parts, that I think will only be resolved when her hair long enough to overpower one side.  I’m pulling for a part on her left side so Lily’s hair bows can be re-used without being upside down, but there’s a funny swoop in the front that indicates her right part may win out.  Stay tuned for the resolution of this OH-SO-INTERESTING conflict.  ;-)

Boinging out

One of my favorite Lily-isms lately is when she tells us that something is “boinging out.”  She had some peeling skin on the bottom of her foot from an old blister, and she kept telling us that her skin is “boinging out” and needs to be fixed.  Cracks me up.

First day of 3K!

Lily started 3K today at Immanuel, and she did AWESOME!  She was so excited to go (which was exciting in itself because she cried every time she went last year).  Her teachers said she did very well, and didn’t cry at all.  She told me she ALMOST cried, but didn’t.  :-)  I’m so proud of her – she has come a long way from last year!  After we got home, she asked me if she could go again sometime, and was excited to hear that she gets to go twice a week.  Let’s hope her enthusiasm sticks around!

Just to remind you, here’s what she looked like on the first day of school last year – what a difference!

9 Months!

Here are some recent pictures of Emma so you don’t forget what she looks like!  She turned 9 months old on August 29th.  She is such a sweetie!

Learning to point…

Trying to learn to clap…

Thinking about trying to learn to crawl…

And my personal favorite…

Today I love…

Here are a few notes I have made from the last month or so of things that make me happy.

I love…

…how we finally get to use scented detergent!  Lily has sensitive skin, and we had to use dye-free, scent-free soap for THREE YEARS!  Emma doesn’t have the same problems and Lily has outgrown them, so we FINALLY get scented laundry.  Woo hoo!

…how Lily says, “Mommy, should you show Emma things?” as a nice way to get us to leave her alone. 

…how Lily has somehow learned to make the most sweet, plaintive “Please? Please, Mommy? Pleeeeease???” speech when she wants something, and puts her elbows together instead of her hands.  I don’t know where she learned this, but she says it SO sweetly that it really is hard to resist.

…how Dumbo only takes 20 minutes to watch after we skip all the clown parts and parts where someone is being mean or sad.  Poor Lily is SO sensitive, and doesn’t like to watch any show where people get angry or sad or get in trouble.

…how Lily reassures us if she doesn’t want to read a book we suggest, “No, I promise, we’ll read it after nap.”

…how Emma has accumulated a plethora of lovies that she sleeps with (a lamb, a small blankie-like lovey, and now a kitty).  They all get the characteristic lovey-stink very quickly, so we now collectively refer to them as “the stinkies.”  Stinky lamby, stinky blankie, and stinky kitty (a.k.a. Imp – more to follow on that one later).

…how Lily re-writes history.  She told us the other week – “You know what my first word was?  Talk, talk, talk!”  We cracked up over that one.  Lily also loves telling us how she used to say things as a baby (i.e. “I used to say ‘mih, mih’ for Mickey and ‘brow, brow’ for ‘brown’”…if you say so, Lily!)

…how toothy little Emma is getting – 6 teeth – four top and two bottom with two more coming in on the bottom any day now.

…how much Emma ADORES Lily.  She will ignore everyone else if Lily is doing anything remotely interesting, and just lives for attention from Lily.  I love just as much how Lily has been responding more to Emma over the past month or two.  Early on, Lily was just sort of indifferent towards Emma.  Nice enough, but just not interested.  Lately, she has been more interested in trying to make Emma laugh, and they have started having turn-taking screaming fits that they think are hilarious.  My ears aren’t as pleased, but my heart is.  I just love seeing them have fun together.

…how Lily has been very careful about making sure Emma only has toys that are safe for her to hold [i.e. gnaw].  I certainly can’t trust a 3 year old to be vigilant enough to watch her, but I love that she does want to protect her sister.

…joking with Lily about feeding her Emma’s formula and cereal.  Laughs every time.

…how Lily wouldn’t tell me to ignore Emma, but is always making “helpful” suggestions, like, “Mommy, maybe if we give Emma this fun toy, she will want to play with that and then you can play with me!” Or, “Emma can be this character because it’s not too small for her, and then you can be this one, Mommy, and we can all play ‘talk’!”  Thanks, Lil.  I was wondering how I could fit more “talk” into my day.

…Emma’s obsession with cats (or, probably, any small animal).  She gets SO excited every time our cats walk into the room, and desperately wants to grab them.  She succeeds sometimes because our poor kitties are so neglected that they are willing to let even Emma pet (i.e. rip the fur off of) them.  I have a video I need to find of Sophie letting Emma pet her…poor Sophie.  Like we needed another cat obsession in this house!

…Emma’s love of dancing!  She understands the word “dance” without any motions to prompt her, and will start rocking back and forth to dance in her seat if you ask her to.  Even more, she loves to be held on your hip while you dance around the room with her.  BIG open-mouthed smiles.  I have very fond memories of dancing around the room to “Hey, Jude” from the Olympics opening ceremonies with both kids and Michael.  Family dance party!

…Em’s BIG open-mouthed smiles!  This kid is just so happy to see people, and will light up when you look at her.  She will stalk people out in public and stare at them smiling until they acknowledge her. 

…Emma’s “MAMAMAMAMAMA!!!”  Last week, Emma started saying “MAMAMAMAMAMA!!!” whenever I went out of her sight.  We tested it a few times with Michael holding her while I leave, and she definitely is using it to indicate that she wants me (she doesn’t cry like that unless I am leaving the room).  Like we need another Mommy obsession!  ;-)  She stayed with a sitter who isn’t a family member for the first time last night while I went to Lily’s preschool orientation (Michael was out of town), and she did cry for me for a while.  Lily did GREAT, though, so that is much progress over when she was younger.

…how well Lily has been doing with gymnastics and with dance – especially the fact that she goes to class without me with NO protest!  Such a big girl.  This summer, her gymnastics class switched from Mommy-and-me to just Lily participating with me watching from the balcony.  She wasn’t excited about the change, but has handled it beautifully.  She took a brief summer session of dance (Tap and Ballet) this summer at Let’s Dance, but I wasn’t that pleased with the space (given that I have a child to wrangle while Lily is in class), so we switched to Dancer’s Corner for our fall classes.  She started on Wednesday, and did so well, and I also think the waiting area space will be much better for Emma. 

…how Lily has been doing better, at times, at playing with her friends without me.  She still takes a while to settle in (especially if there are a lot of kids), but she has been able to play “talk” with a few friends lately, and has really enjoyed that.  As we were leaving one playdate, she told me: “Mommy, I can play talk with my friends all by myself! I don’t need you anymore!”  My first thought was “Ouch! My baby doesn’t need me?”  My second thought, was “WOO HOO!”

…how Emma has been a great eater so far.  She isn’t picky and we still haven’t found a food she won’t eat (in spite of some green bean faces).  On my “do not love” list, I’d put that Emma has started spitting baby food back at me as soon as I put it in her mouth. I think she has decided that she just wants “big girl” food! 

…Emma’s first tantrums.  I won’t love it so much later, but her little baby tantrums are just adorable.  A week and a half ago we took a book out of her mouth that she was trying to chew on.  This apparently broke her heart, as she then collapsed, sobbing on top of the book.  Repeatedly.  Hilarious.  She loves standing (while holding onto something), and whines for help in standing if she’s sitting.  She does NOT want to be horizontal, however, and will instantly sob when you lay her down to change her diaper (not as cute).  She isn’t crawling yet, but is starting to think about it.  :-) 

…Emma’s first progress on baby sign language…and regular language.  I am not very consistent with teaching, but I think she has started signing “more.”  The sign I use the most with her is for “milk,” but she shows early promise of being more like Lily when it comes to signs, and is mocking my attempts by just saying milk instead of signing it.  We’ll see, but I think she’s starting to say “meh, meh” for “milk.”  If you recall, Lily also rejected my sign language efforts, and just started saying “mo, mo” for “more” once I really stepped up my signing efforts.

__________________________________________

Just to let you know what we’re up to these days, I’d say, “too much!”  We’re over-committed, but I’m going to see how it goes before we start cutting back.  After Lily’s summer dance class, my plan was to have her pick between dance and gymnastics.  She said that she liked dance the best, but I have to say that I like gymnastics because it gives Emma a chance to visit with the other babies without the big kids around.  (and, obviously, it’s great exercise for Lily!)  A few of our friends do gymnastics with us, but we are the only ones doing dance.  So…we’re doing both for now.  Mondays is gymnastics, Tuesday will be preschool, Wednesday is dance, Thursday preschool, and Friday is playgroup.  Lily has been in the same playgroup (with some members coming and going over the years) since she was 11 months old.  Her preschool class will be her entire playgroup (except for one child who is going to another preschool) plus one child who was in class with Lily last year.  Lily just met her teacher today, and doesn’t seem resistant to school?  That’s about as high as I’m setting the bar this year since she still protested at the end of last year.  Fingers crossed that she does well!  I’m looking forward to being able to take Emma to a library class some while Lily is in school, and we’re also going to try to do a playdate every other week for the little kids while the big kids are in school.  Busy, busy!

__________________________________________

Finally, I’ll leave you with a closing quote from Lily:

L: Mommy, I love you a lot, even though I love daddy, too.

Me: I know. You have enough love for everyone!

L: No, I don’t. I’m running out.

Get your orders in soon, folks – we don’t know how much more she has!

Microwaver

Mimi and Papa gave Lily a book when they were visiting, and she was asking if she could put it somewhere.  We told her of course she could – it’s her book.

Lily: This is my book? So I can do whatever I want with it? [Thinks for a few seconds.] Well, I can’t put it in the microwaver!!!

I know I’m biased…

…but I could just eat her up with a spoon.

*This is from a few months ago…not sure why it didn’t publish, but this was from Emma’s “skinny phase.”  :-)  Too cute.

To the moon

A couple of months ago, we read Lily a book about a bear who gave the moon a birthday gift.  When we were finished, I asked Lily what birthday gift she would give to the moon…

Lily: I would give the moon “Daddy and Emma.”

Me: Why?

Lily: Because I want Mommy to do everything.  I want Mommy to wash me, I want Mommy to read me books, I want Mommy to play with me…

Shorts

At the end of the Dumbo DVD, it started to play some of the old Silly Symphonies shorts.

After the first one, Lily asked if we could now watch "pants."

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

On April 16th, Michael celebrated his birthday with a few special gifts from his girls.  First, a framed photo of an interview I completed with Lily regarding her daddy.

Her responses crack me up, so I think I might have to keep up this tradition and see how her answers change.

I also had the girls make him some footprint butterflies on a canvas (although I may steal this as my birthday present from my birthday back in March).

Finally, Lily made one of her famous mixed-media collages on a canvas.  This girl LOVES glue, and after I bought a gallon from Amazon, she can finally squeeze to her heart’s content as she repeatedly reminds me, “you can’t say that’s too much glue, Mommy!   You can’t tell me to stop now.”

And, of course, no Michael Bogle birthday is complete without pizza, so takeout from Pizza Hut topped off the evening. 

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Horsin’ Around

Today, we went up to Tryon, North Carolina to Lily’s friend Ana’s house for a pony ride!  Lily has been so excited this week about going, and our hosts didn’t disappoint.  Lily didn’t hesitate to brush the pony and feed the horse apples and carrots, while she waited for the time to ride a pony. 

Ms. Jasmin recognized Lily’s eagerness, and Lily was second to ride.  She didn’t hesitate for a second!

After everyone had gotten a chance to ride, Jasmin (Ana’s mom) had the horses do some jumping, interspersed with some playful galloping by the horses. Lily was enthralled.

On the way home, we discussed how Ms. Jasmin used to ride the horses when they jumped and galloped, and Lily said that maybe she could take lessons and learn to do that.  She had so much fun!