Parenting First #872

I've officially made my first call to poison control. 

Why, you ask?  Because one of my children (any guesses??) decided to "drink" the toothpaste out of the tube while I was getting her brother up from his nap.  When I asked her why, she said, "I was thirsty and I couldn't find a cup."  Really???

She was fine.

In the meantime, I just grew a few more gray hairs.

Growing Up Three

Not to be left behind, Briggs also continues to grow and change so quickly.  He is making new connections, saying new words, and doing new things on an almost daily basis.

He is now a sturdy, steady, all-the-time walker.
He knows how to turn around to crawl off furniture and down stairs.
He loves to climb on playground equipment and go down the slides on his stomach.
He can feed himself with silverware.
He has over a hundred words that he uses to express himself or identify things.
He LOVES cars, trucks, tractors, trains, and buses.
He loves to play with his sisters, chasing them and wrestling with them and always wanting to be included.
He now goes in the church nursery without crying.
He usually lets us know when he has a messy diaper.
He is starting to do simple puzzles.
He sings songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Baby Mine", and "Let It Go."
He says grace before meals.
He asks if his food is hot by pointing and saying "hot?"
He will say "night night" and "love you" at night before bed.
He now sleeps with his stuffed Cookie Monster, snuggling it as he goes to sleep.
He gets upset if someone is having a cookie or ice cream or treat and he doesn't have one.

My snuggly, sweet, lovely baby boy is making his way into toddler-hood.  It's fun and exciting and sad all at the same time.

Growing Up Too

Staley isn't the only one growing up right before my eyes.  Adelie has very recently been maturing and changing rapidly.  We've turned a corner with better listening, fewer tears, and improved behavior.  (Oh, so refreshing!!)  But that's not all...

She can swish and spit with fluoride without swallowing it.
She can count to 30 (combining 13, 14, 15, 16 into 14, 14, 16).
She can spell her name.
She knows all her colors and shapes.
There are way fewer tears in her days.
She got to attend Vacation Bible School, dance camp, and story hour this summer...and loved them all.
She can usually get dressed and undressed by herself.
She only sleeps at naptime about half the time now.
She tries to use critical thinking skills to reason out why things are the way they are.  It's pretty amusing and often far off base, but I love that she's trying to understand things.
She can color in the lines.
She can snip with scissors.
Her drawings are beginning to actually look like things.
She will get to go to pre-school in the fall.

I love this age with the boundless enthusiasm, unabashed love, and sweet innocence.  I'm not sad to be leaving behind the endless drama, but it does make me a little sad to know that the rest of what makes this age so magical will slowly leave us too.

Growing Up

She has a loose tooth.

She bravely got her Kindergarten shots without crying.

She is too big to go to the church nursery in the summer, now sitting in "big church" with us.

She just attended her last ever pre-K summer story time.

She can count by 2s, 5s, and 10s.

She can tell time on a digital clock, and is learning to tell time on an analog clock.

She can do addition, subtraction, and is starting to do some multiplication.

She can read words (not yet books) and loves to practice writing.

When Adelie asks questions about Jesus or heaven, she can answer them.

She is riding a 2-wheeled bike all by herself.

She doesn't want to hold my hand anymore when crossing the street.

She refuses to wear her puddle jumper for swimming.

She paints her own fingernails and toenails...and does a good job.

We can discuss daily clothing options without tears.

I can tell her "no" without tears.

Actually, we make it through most days without tears.

She is sweet and opinionated and helpful and stubborn and social and loving...and growing up way too fast.

Tomorrow

As we were getting ready for bed after the fireworks on the 4th of July, Adelie and I had this conversation:

Adelie:  "Is tomorrow July?"
Me:  "Yes, tomorrow will still be July.  But it won't be the 4th of July anymore.  Tomorrow will be July 5th."
Adelie:  (throwing her arms in the air with excitement)  "And we'll go trick or treating!!"

I love this girl and her enthusiasm for life...even when it's misguided.

Fourth of July

We had another lovely 4th of July full of family, food, and fun.  Our 4th of July recipe is pretty easy to follow:  get dressed in cute themed outfits, enjoy the parade with friends and family, eat too much at Uma and Papa's after-parade cook out, nap/rest, enjoy more family time, and then finish off the day with the fireworks.  Oh, and take lots of pictures along the way.

Briggs loved the 4th.  He spent the entire parade waving, clapping, and pointing out all the cars and tractors.  And he was enthralled by the fireworks, sitting so still on Uma's lap to watch the entire show before cuddling in to fall asleep at the very end.

The kids were so excited to have cousins and friends to watch the parade with and play with at Uma and Papa's.   And getting to enjoy the fireworks with their cousins was just icing on the cake.

The cousins posed for a pretty darn successful annual 4th of July picture.

(Probably should have had Adelie take off those sunglasses.  :))

Now that Staley and Lila don't get to play together every week at pre-school, they were so excited to have a fun day of playing together. 

Staley watched the parade and the fireworks without covering her ears or wearing ear protection.  Progress!!

On the other hand, Adelie wore Staley's ear protection for the fireworks and declared that she didn't like them because they were "too loud."  She was also very concerned that the fireworks were going to fall on her.  Her favorite parts of the day were the parade candy, playing with her cousins, and the glow jewelry that she wore for the fireworks.

All in all, it was another fun, festive, family-filled 4th!!

Neat

Staley:  "Mommy, you're really neat."
Me:  "Thanks, Staley.  I think you're really neat too."
Staley:  "Yeah.  Like you are always putting things away.  And when you put my new sheets on today, you even folded my blanket and put my bear next to my mermaid."

I guess it's still a compliment.  Right??