Keeping up with Alette and Abria

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The Thanksgiving Feast at PreSchool

Oh it was just too cute for words! All the little kids sat in a circle tapping their tom-toms while their teacher lead them in songs. Very few of the kids actually sang as most of them were happily distracted by the Thanksgiving guests. We then joined them for pudding and muffins-Alette's absolute favorite snack. She was just beside herself with excitment, especially when I let her eat my pudding. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Sisters

My two girls are totally in love with each other. Alette is super protective of her sister, hugs and kisses her everytime she cries or falls down. She loves reading to her, wrestling with her, and bathing with her. Abria, for her part, idolizes her bigger sister and follows her around like a puppy. I take her out of her crib in the morning and the first place she heads is to Alette's room to happily pat her head and wake her up.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

While we were driving home from nursery school the other day, Alette asked me 'Mommy, why you never tell me about Thanksgiving?'. In my head I'm thinking of the zillions of Thanksgiving books we've read, the millions of conversations, and at least TWO VERY RECENT Thanksgiving crafts we worked on together. hmmmmmm.

After a rocky start, our conversation went as follows (I'm trying to remember it exactly after a week, but you'll get the gist).
Alette: You know what mommy? I'm thankful for 1,2,3,4,5 things.
Me: like what?
Alette: I'm thankful for my toys, my mommy, and daddy, and sister, and all the things that Jesus gives to me, and my cat, and my friends.

I just love my daughter.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Halloween

The girls had a great time playing at the Children's Garden. Alette got a ton of candy (her main goal for the day). As excited as she was to get candy, she has largely forgotten about it. Somehow though the pile of chocolate is disappearing...hmmmm. She never got around to wearing the long princess skirt I made, and on Halloween, refused to wear her crown or carry her wand. Nonetheless, she looked darn cute and had a great time. Thanks to Auntie Laura and Grandmom for joining us!
Abria was out of sorts all day, hence, she is scowling in most of the pictures. Nonetheless, she was the cutest pumpkin I have ever seen.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Yes, she's 3.

Alette has been excited about dressing up as a princess for weeks. We talked about her costume and she even helped me pick out the materials to make a long princess skirt. She has a short princess skirt, but she really, really, really wanted a long one for her halloween party. Then the day of the big event came....and the long skirt was rejected. UGH. So I bit my tongue, put it aside, and have been a bit steamed ever since. Maybe it'll be put to use this weekend. In the meantime I'll keep smiling and repeating 'she's only 3, it's not personal...'

Sunday, October 25, 2009

It Finally Feels Like Fall

We missed apple picking but made it out to Johnsons' Farm in time to gather a few pumpkins for Halloween. It was cold and blustery, perfect fall weather! Alette ran from pumpkin to pumpkin, rejecting many because they were too bumpy, dirty, orange, green, tall, round, short etc. Finally she found the perfect pumpkin for herself and Abria-aided by my threat of the hayride tractor leaving without us. Within five minutes of being in the field Abria picked up the tiniest gourd and carried her treasure for the rest of our time at the farm. Alette's eagerly awaiting the chance to go to school in her princess costume....only 4 more days.

Monday, October 19, 2009

OC

We spent the weekend in Ocean City with three other families from our church care group. Abria was pretty sick the previous week and we weren't sure if we would make it but her fever broke on Thursday, so we packed up and headed to the beach. With 7 kids under the age of 6, there was plenty of noise and fun. Alette, Andy and a couple of the others did actually make it to the beach and briefly played in the sand.

Recent Words of Wisdom

18months

At 18months, Abria weighs a whopping 28 1/2 lbs and is 34" tall. She is a bundle of energy-she loves dancing and clapping to music, scribbling (unfortunatley not always on paper), chasing her sister, and playing with her toys. She's using more and more words but still communicates primarily by pointing and making the sign for 'more'. She's had a continual cold for the past few weeks, I've never used so much tissue in my life. Morning naps are a thing of the past :( but thankfully she is still taking a long afternoon nap.

Okay, it's not a REAL gingerbread house...

Our attempts at a gingerbread house was a fiasco this year. We mixed the dough, rolled it out, cut the patterns, put it together...only to have it fall apart. So we put it together again....only to have it fall apart again. I even tried to use duct tape and the glue gun. Finally we ditched it. I was determined to have a house for Alette to decorate so we built a cardboard house, then 'glued' on graham crackers with icing. So far it is till standing although the candy decorations are slowly disappearing.

Abria

Our last dr. appointment was not fun. Abria had a major fever and was feeling rather rotten. So the immunizations were put off a week...nothing like procrastinating the awful stuff. She's dropped to the 90th percentile for weight (although with her puffy winter fleece on-below-she looks huge!) and is off the chart for height. Not a huge suprise with a 6ft. tall mom! She loves her books, turning on and off the lights, climbing onto tables, and petting the cat. She's walking....abit. She's still pretty convinced that walking should only be done when holding onto someone's hand.

Abria

Politics According to a 3year Old

I was listening to B.Obama on NPR last week and decided to further Alette's awareness of politics by engaging her in discussion. This is how it went:
me: Alette, Barak Obama was on the radio, he's going to be our new president. Isn't that good?
alette: Obama's good?
me: yes, he is. Mommy and Daddy like him a lot. We think he's good.
alette: he listens to God?
me: I think so. We're excited that he's going to be the president.
alette: I want duck for president.
I think we have a ways to go before she's up to speed on her political saviness. Who can blame her for wanting a fun loving, mischevious duck for president though?

Introducing Abria Hope

During pregnancy I prayed for a quick delivery and a nonfussy eater. Abria came into this world on Friday, July 18 at 9:00pm, half an hour after we arrived at the hospital. With a full head of dark hair, and a voracious appetite, she behaved nothing like her older sister. Abria's now nearly 18lbs, and is a happy, content baby. She loves chewing on her hands, squealing, shrieking, and taking baths. We are still waiting for her to sleep through the night! She doesn't always need to get fed, but seems to delight in babbling and squealing at all hours. Somehow her big drooly smile makes it all worthwhile.