Play Time

One of the cool things about having two kids is it gives you a whole new perspective on how children behave at certain ages.  The stages are the same, but how the child acts within those stages can be very different.  Ela skipped crawling, for example, but crawled up and down stairs for a long time.  Lily, on the other hand, crawled until she figured out that walking meant she could hold things.  Now, she only wants to walk up and down steps, too.
The girls are very much alike in many ways, but their differences stand out more to me because I see them all the time.  The place I see these differences the best is when they are playing.  I learn so much about the girls from play time in general, but especially when they play pretend.  I have been reveling for awhile now in the joy of hearing Ela tell me what she is playing when she pretends.  Lily has just entered the phase where I can tell she is playing pretend, but dont always know the story.  It's a very exciting step for her. 
Ela's pretend games focus almost exclusively on animals.  The monkey is hurt, the dog is hungry, the elephant is scared, and she is there to save the day.  She is sweet and caring to her animal friends.  Lily is similarly sweet and caring, but her friends are babies.  She holds them, covers them with blankets, plays peekaboo with them, and takes them endlessly in and out of the stroller she got for Christmas.  She says good night to them when she goes to bed.  It is something of a relief to me that they differ in this way because it means that they don't have one favorite toy that they fight over.  Lily's favorites are all babies, and Ela wants the animals.  Only rarely do they fight over one of them, and it usually doesn't last. 
The other thing I've noticed about the girls is that Lily's play seems much more realistic than Ela's ever was.  When Lily plays in their kitchen, a spoon is always a spoon.  With Ela, the spoon was almost never a spoon.  Instead it was a worm, or a wand, or medicine.  Lily plays with the things as they are, Ela assigns roles to toys depending on what is going on in her mind.  It's very interesting to me. 
Another exciting step for the girls is watching them start to play together.  Lily has been interested in playing with Ela for awhile, but Ela has generally opposed this idea.  She has actually become convinced that whatever she wants to play with, Lily is trying to steal from her, even when Lily is halfway across the room completely engrossed in something else.  Lately, though, she has opened to the idea that they could have fun together.  So far, this is only true in the car, but it's a start.  I enlisted her help one afternoon to try to keep Lily awake until we got home so she could have a good nap.  Once Ela understood how to do it, she made it her priority in the car during almost every trip.  She asks Lily what animals say or where her nose is, she plays peekaboo, and the giggling is priceless. 
Some of this pleasantness has transfered to how they interact in the house.  Now when Lily gets a bonk and is crying, Ela tries making funny faces at her to cheer her up.   Sometimes it even works!  Similarly, Lily will pat Ela's back when she's sad, or give her a kiss, though that usually doesn't make her feel much better.  I am so excited to see them at least try to get along.  We should have a lot of fun as they get to know each other. 

Happy New Year!

Yes, I'm back.  Sorry about the long silence.  The end of last year was busy to say the least.  October began with a family reunion in Ohio, followed immediately by Zack's visit home.  I spent my time during those two weeks trying to enjoy every minute with him, with a great deal of success.  When he left, it was suddenly Halloween.  Then I think I blinked and missed most of November.  Suddenly it was Thanksgiving and I was running an 8K and then eating delicious food.  Then there was Christmas to prepare for, which was complicated by trying to send something Zack would appreciate (mission accomplished) and the process of trying to make things both special and even for two little girls who don't really need anything.  By the time I got all that sorted, it really was Christmas, and I was playing bells and enjoying family and eating even MORE good food.  So now it's a new year, and we're counting down the weeks until we get to see Zack again.  And to distract ourselves in the mean time, I've got a few things planned to keep us busy.
First up is the somewhat ambitious New Year's Resolution I've set for myself.  My goal is to run 500 miles before the end of the year.  I figure now that I've started running, I need a solid goal to keep me going.  That, combined with the occasional 5k or something that looks interesting, should do the trick.  I have attempted to talk Zack into joining me, and while he readily agreed that 9ish miles a week was nothing for the moment, he's not sure that he can keep it up once he moves to the ship, so time will tell. It may or may not be the year of 1000 miles for us.  So far, we're both on schedule.
At the moment, my folks are off having fun, so Ela, Lily and I are house sitting.  I'm also helping out at the church where Mom works, covering for her a little bit.  It's my good deed for the month.  Ela is becoming a pretty decent dog letter outer.  Since Mom has a tendency to cook for me when she's home, I find myself suddenly much busier than usual.  :-)
Once Mom and Dad get back, my room mommy duties will be heating up for a little while.  There's teacher appreciation, followed by a Valentine's party I agreed to help with, and then the biggest fundraiser of the year for preschool.  Before we know it, there will be birthdays to plan and homecomings (don't know yet exactly which order, but we'll sort it out).
So things will still be going awfully fast, but I am going to try to get back into the habit of writing.   I hope to post some pictures of my girls before they become unrecognizable.  Happy New Year everyone!

Ela Goes to Preschool

I really don't know where I went last month, sorry about that.  We're rolling into the fall routine now, so I should get back to the blog a bit more now.  I wanted to post a picture with this, but my camera is being uncooperative so I'll have to settle for some stories about Ela's grand return to preschool.
Preschool started Wednesday, but we've been building up to it for weeks now.  I had a parent meeting a few weeks ago, and when I was telling Ela about it, I asked her if she was excited about being a frog this year (that's her class name).  She replied, "Yes! I'll be a good frog.  I'll go ribbit! Ribbit!"  I nearly fell over laughing.
Last week, there was a room visit day, and Ela had  fun looking at all the new toys in the room.  She seemed less interested in the kids than I expected, but on the way home, all she could talk about was how she wanted Kate to come play at her house.  We haven't ever done a playdate with anyone who couldn't just walk over, so I'm looking forward to setting that up. 
This year, Ela's class gets to use the carpool at preschool, meaning parents just drop them off and teachers walk them in at the beginning of the day.  At the end of the day, the teacher brings them out to the car too.  The parent never has to leave the car, which for me and Lily, is awesome!  The school has a great system, so it all runs very smoothly.  Today when her teacher brought Ela out, she told me that Ela likes to eat lunch.  I had to double check and make sure she was bringing me the right child, since Ela doesn't eat... ever.  What we figured out was that she doesn't really eat much, she just really likes sitting at the table with the kids, and she's always the last one done. 
I know Ela's enjoying preschool because she sings on the way there.  Ela is not a performer by nature, but she'll sing to herself when she's happy.  On the way to school lately, she's been singing "This Old Man."  I've been impressed by her counting ability as the verses go on, but she doesn't really know all the words, so she makes some up.  Her version goes something like this (I'll start with a middle verse to give you the idea with the counting):
This old man
He played five
He played knick knack on his lunchbox
with a (mumblemumble mumble) BONE
This old man went rolling home.
This old man
He played .... one two three four five six...
He played six
He played knick knack on his carseat
with a (mumbledybumble) BONE
This old man went rolling home.
If she's having half as much fun in the class as she is getting to and from it, then I'm happy. 

I Work Out

Before I was chasing kiddos around, I used to go to the gym in Japan.  I liked it for several reasons: 1) it was free  2) the yoga instructor was awesome 3) They had American TV, which I could watch on the eliptical when I needed a USA fix.  When I got pregnant, I had to take it easier, so the gym slipped out of my routine, but I totally meant to go back to yoga and/or a gym when we got to DC.  I even did the research to find one.  My conclusion: it was way too expensive.  I mean, membership was one cost, childcare another, and then you paid for the classes separately too.  I could handle just walking.  And on walking alone, I managed to lose my Ela-weight and get back to what Wii Fit called "normal"... just in time to get pregnant again. :::sigh:::
When we moved to Cary, I went on a gym hunt again.  This time, I found a place that had affordable membership fees that included both childcare and classes.  Win!  So I joined.   And I have to say I love it!
I love that the gym will watch my kids when I'm ready to pull all my hair out.  I love the girls.  They're good girls, but we all need a break from each other.  The gym provides that without me having to pay them huge sums and without any preplanning.  When I find myself resisting the urge to scream, I can  just go to the gym. 
Also, I can take a shower there without an audience.  I know, this is crazy, but I honestly look forward to the occasional shower at the gym.  Why?  Well, Ela has started showering with me on occasion in the morning.  And even when she isn't there, Lily freaks if she can't see me.  So there is always at least one little girl observing my cleaning routine.  It's no big deal, but it is nice to occasionally wash myself without the girls.  If you're a parent, you probably get this, right?   Anyone? 
So the fact that the gym has childcare actually is providing me with extra motivation to go, which means I'm making some serious progress on the whole get fit thing.  I have never been that strong or even remotely athletic.  I took a barbell class on a whim, since it was included anyway, and now I'm hooked.  I'm starting to get a little muscle tone.  I don't ever plan to be a body builder, but it is kind of cool that I can do it.  I feel much more comfortable around weight machines now.
In fact, the only class I've tried that I didn't enjoy was Zumba.  I know, I know, everyone loves Zumba.  Not me. I am not a dancer.  I never have been. And I don't want to shake any of me in front of anyone.  So Zumba is not my thing.  I'm glad the rest of you love it though.  Keep going!  :-)
Mom and I have also made plans to run an 8k with my sister (okay, may be not with so much as at the same time as) in November, so I downloaded the Couch to 10 k app, and we've been doing the runs.  Now that it's a million degrees out, the treadmill at the gym is the only reason I can keep going.  And I can now say that I can "run" (slowly) for 20 minutes straight and not drop dead at the end.  Never before in my life has that been true. 
With the membership to the gym, I got a heart rate montior kind of as a "thanks for joining" gift.  So now I have multiple ways to measure my improved health: the scale, the montior's numbers during runs, and how I generally feel.  All show improvement.  I feel really good about that.
Another thing I like about the gym is the people watching.  I recognize a lot of the people there now, because it's not that big of a place.  I make up names and back stories for them.  It's kind of fun.  Don't tell them, okay? 
I look forward to the prospect of going jogging with Zack when he gets home, and even just the look on his face when he sees me again.   He is a big factor in my whole getting fit mindset.  Somehow, the fact that he's gone makes it easier to do.  He loves me no matter what my scale says, but I feel a lot less like a sissy when he's not here running three miles a day.  It gives me a long time to focus and work towards his level.  And knowing how excited he'll be when he gets back is a great motivation for me. 
So despite the incredible odds against it, I've become a gym person.  I miss it when I can't go.  I look forward to it when I plan to go.  And it's starting to show. 

Fun with the Grandparents

Over the last few weeks, the girls and I have been spending some time with their grandparents. It's been a lot of fun for all of us.
First, we got to go to a picnic at John Deere, where my dad works, to celebrate its 175th anniversary.  It was quite a big to do. There was ice cream, crafts, bouncy toys, face painting, or knee painting in Lily's case...

...and of course lots of tractors and mowers to play on. Ela has read a book about "Allie Gator" about a millions times, so she was especially excited about meeting Allie.  But she was happy to climb on anything that might move.  I'm so proud that I have a girl who likes tractors (and trains). 

The surprise high point of the picnic, though, turned out to be a bouncy slide. This thing was super tall, and looked scary to me, but Ela really wanted to try it (having been scared out of the regular bouncy toys by the fact that she could barely stay standing in them).  Convinced that I would have to retrieve her, I decided to let her go and watched as she climbed the ladder to the top of the slide.  When she got up, she was hanging out as far from the edge of the slide as possible.  I braced myself for my own trip to the top, then called to her to come down the slide.  To my great surprise, she threw on a big grin, and dove down...

Several trips later, she was still making the face of terror and giggling like a maniac. So I guess I have a future roller coaster rider on my hands.
A few days after the picnic, we headed up to Winston Salem for a visit with Zack's folks.  It was warm and a very short visit, so we kept it low key.  Ela's favorite part was a trip to the pool.  We tried to convince her to go to the indoor one, but she really wanted to come to the neighborhood outdoor one, so we slathered on the sunscreen and off we went.

Lily hasn't really been in many pools, so while Ela ranged all over, gradutally getting braver, we worked on getting Lily wet without upsetting her.

I'd say we had some success. By next year, she'll be chasing her sister around.

It's really nice being in North Carolina full time.  We love that visiting family isn't such a big production just now.  We intend to make the most of it while we can!

The Same But Different.

It has always amazed me how two little kids can be so very much like their parents and yet very different from each other. Zack and I have often discussed how much either Ela or Lily is like one of us, either physically or in attitude or preference. Yet the girls are very different little people. Lily eats anything that holds still long enough, Ela lives on air. Ela wants to snuggle all night long, Lily needs her space. It's really interesting to me to watch how they grow and emerge as their own people.

The differences between my girls really were apparent last week in one specific way. Ela hates having her hair touched, much less put up into a ponytail or washed. It gets tangled fairly easily, and she is convinced you're hurting her from the moment you approach her head. I finally got tired of the constant battles and took her in to get a super short haircut.

She actually sat very still for the cut, fascinated by the pieces of hair as they fell. The resulting cut is adorable (I'll post pictures when I get my computer back). Ela loves it and spent the rest of the day prancing in front of mirrors. She still complains when I approach with a comb, but it takes much less time to brush, so the battles are at an end.

When we got home, Ela went to her room for quiet time, and I set to work getting Lily to take a nap. I got her all snuggled in my arms, and she presented me with her little, soft hairbrush. Amused, I ran it over her little fluff of hair. She loved it. I brushed her hair until she got so relaxed she fell asleep.

There may be fun girly hairdos in my future yet.

A Disclaimer and a Zack Update

Before I even start, I want to warn my lovely readers (I think there's more than one of you) that all posts regarding Zack while he's away will be incredibly vague. This is for three main reasons:

1) I only know what he tells me, and I seriously doubt he'll have time to write long, detailed e-mails about his life.

2) The internet is public, and I don't want anyone to think that what I write as speaking for anyone other than me. It's really easy for the casual reader to assume that since I'm writing about a military situation, everyone must go through the same stuff. This is almost entirely untrue. I'm not writing about military life in general, just my life (and Zack's) which happens to be affected by the fact that he's a service member. Our situation is not universal, please don't take it that way.

3) The internet is public (in case you forgot). Anyone can read this, including people looking for the kind of information a detailed account might give for less than friendly reasons. I don't want to help them.

Call me paranoid if you like, but I really do worry about what I say, who sees it, and how they interpret what is meant to be just my flippant musings. SO. If you are one of the many friends or family reading this, and you want more information, contact me in a more private setting. I'll be happy to tell you whatever I can (which honestly might not be much anyway). For those with slightly less interest in all the nuts and bolts, these posts should suffice.

Zack e-mailed recently to tell me that he arrived in Afghanistan. The travel was long and jet lag is rough, but he's there now and getting down to business. He seems to be settling in nicely, and he's already too busy to write much, but I'd pestered the heck out of him before he left about getting me his address ASAP, and he wrote to send me that. If you want it, you know how to reach me. He has not yet told me what is and is not appropriate to send, so for now I'll be sticking to letters. It's probably too soon for care packages anyway, right?

I was relieved at how upbeat Zack sounded when he wrote. He seems to be excited about the work he'll be doing, and much more satisfied with his decision now that he's there, so all is well for him.

I'll write a post like this every so often with updates.

Potty Time

That's right, folks. We're finally turning our attention to that potty that Ela got when she turned two. We've actually done a little training before now, but never very seriously. No one ever told me that potty training is as much about training Mommy (and Daddy) as it is about training the child. Not only was Ela not motivated, her parents weren't especially motivate either. Plus there were tons of reasons not to mess with it. Between getting a new sister and moving, Ela's had plenty to adjust to in the last year. So the potty training took a back seat. But not any more. When Ela joins the three year old class at her preschool, she has to be trained. She loves preschool. I love preschool. This is suddenly important. So we started getting serious, just in case it took a really long time. I decided that Thursday was the best day of the week to start because we don't have to be anywhere between Thursday and Monday. This left us four days to get good at this whole potty thing. We've been talking up big girl underwear for practically a year now, so I just pulled out some and put them on her. Timing is, of course, a challenge, but so far we've been very successful! Each day we last a little longer without an accident. And yesterday, she even left the house without incident. As I type, it's been twenty-four hours since her last accident. I think she might even wear big girl pants to Church tomorrow. If that goes well, may be she can even wear them to preschool! The most annoying part of all this is the sitting around the house. It's only been two days, and I'm already dying to get out of here! I want to hit the gym, or go shopping (which I usually hate). Anything to just leave the living room. But Ela is terrified of public bathrooms, so we'll sit tight for a bit longer until she can be trusted for the occasional long stretch. My diaper bag will need repacking: only one size diapers, but spare bottoms for our big girl for awhile. I'm so proud of my big girl!

Settling In

Over the last few weeks, we've gradually been settling into a routine that will be the norm for the next year. It was my intention to find us lots of activities and to start into them as quickly as possible so we'd be too busy to spend much time missing Zack. I think I've accomplished that. For my own sanity, I joined a Bible study, and I was delighted to discover that our new church has a bell choir, so I'm ringing again, which is nice. Then, in order to combat my tendency to eat when I'm sad and to reclaim my body from my girls, I joined a gym. I wanted to do this in DC, but here it's actually affordable, especially since childcare is included in the membership. So swimsuits should be slightly less scary this summer. Ela goes to preschool twice a week. I want to get her going on either a piano lesson or dance class too, and we started doing story time at the library, but they took March off, so we'll have to get back next month. Lily doesn't have any activities of her own yet, but she's learning to like story time at the library and is getting used to the childcare center at the gym. The new house is starting to feel like home. Ela still calls it her "new house". I haven't found any part of it I really don't like yet, which is a very good sign. It took some work, but we got the car into the garage, and that was super exciting for me. Both girls have napped in their car seats in there while I've been inside getting things done. And not hauling groceries through the rain is a really nice perk. I've also fallen in love with our patio out back. Ela loves being out there, and I can be anywhere downstairs and watch her as she plays in her sandbox or gathers pine straw or draws with sidewalk chalk. Ela also loves that she can let Dory in and out. I have to be careful to lock the door when I go upstairs or she'll just let herself out one of these days. Of course the bedroom wars started up again when we moved, but Lily is almost sleeping through the night again. Ela seems to like her new room, but still tries to sneak in with me in the night. She had a really bad dream the other night, and now she knows the magic words to get into my bed. I need to get her a new bed to replace her current one, since it broke in the move and is currently propped up on books. In the mean time, I'm not encouraging her to sleep with me, but I'm not declaring a full out war yet, since it'll just get worse when the new bed comes. Zack, for those of you who are curious, is still in country for a little while for training. He seems to be enjoying learning about a new branch of the military. It certainly keeps him busy! I might get to see him one more time before he goes abroad. I'm at least confident that we have everything under control here. Time to start looking for adventures!

Bath time in a Navy house

The other night, Ela took a bath at her Grandma's. When bath time was over, I was patiently instructing her to pick up the bath toys one at a time. I pointed at the little yellow barge that was floating in a corner of the bath.

"Okay, Ela, now pick up the boat."

Ela looked at me with a very serious face and replied, "It's not a boat, Mama, it's a ship."

Zack would be so proud.

New Year's Top Ten

Lots of people have done top tens about the past year. I realized, though, I've already blogged about those things, so here's the top ten things you can look forward to seeing on this blog in the next year, in no particular order.

1) The big move - We're moving to North Carolina in the next month or so. That will almost certainly make for a post or two soon.

2) Ela - She does so much cute stuff, she will certainly be featured here, along with her accomplishments and activities. On the list of potential topics are potty training and preschool.

3) Lily - Her big sister will be going to preschool, so she and I should get a little more quality time. This might lead to me writing more about her. Milestones that are likely to turn up here include walking (she might even crawl, unlike her sister) and turning one.

4) My Waistline - Once we get settled into our new home, I'm planning to throw myself into a new exercise and diet regime to get rid of the last of the baby weight. My secondary goal is to look and feel better than ever by the time Zack gets back from the mid-east. I'll probably share my progress or lack thereof.

5) A Visit from Zack - Zack will be gone for most of the year, so he probably won't feature here much. Writing about him will only make me miss him more. However, he will get to come back for at least one visit, and I will write about that.

6) Creative Activities - I'm still trying to clear out my yarn stash, so I'll probably post a bit about what I make. I'm also hoping to do more crafty stuff with Ela as she gets old enough to participate.

7) Cooking Adventures - With Zack gone, I'll have more range in the kitchen. This is a chance to try some new recipes without fear of him starving if they don't turn out. :)

8) Dory - The dog has actually already moved. She's staying with my family until we join her. I'm sure her name will pop up here from time to time.

9) Family Fun - Being back in NC will mean having more family close by and more chances to hang out with them. We're all looking forward to that.

10) Lots of Outings - We'll miss the plentiful sightseeing opportunities of DC, but we'll still be getting out and doing exciting things from time to time.

It should be an exciting year! Stay tuned!

A Truce in the Sleep Wars

We've been doing a bit of traveling, and every time I go to my parent's house, I'm reminded of how much progress we've made on the sleep front with Ela.  One year ago at this time, every sleep time was a battle.  I was exhausted just by the thought of the hour I would spend on an average night trying to get our eldest to sleep.  Then, she would sneak into our room as soon as we went to bed and keep us awake thrashing around.  It was always worse when we traveled, which is probably why I'm reminded of it when I put her down in her own bed at my parent's house.  Now, when she curls right up and I get to go downstairs and be social, I'm always extra grateful, but back then, my night effectively ended at 7:00 when I started putting her to bed. 
When Lily was born, I was determined that she would learn to sleep in her crib.  I never kept her in a bassinet in our room, even, for fear that I'd be tempted to just bring her to bed.  I think my regular mid-night trips to her room were somehow soothing for Ela, because she started staying in her room when she'd hear me coming down the hall every few hours.  For a few months, Lily was the one keeping me up, and Ela took a break. 
Lily, as it turns out, is a child who sleeps, for the most part.  At two months, she began sleeping through the night, and I could have danced for joy.  I haven't had regular, full nights sleep since Ela was born.  I was not expecting to get them again until both girls move out.  Lily gave me hope that may be I could expect a little better sleep a little sooner.  Then Ela began amping up her midnight battles again.  She kept leaving her bed, bedtime was a battle, and I was getting really, really tired. 
Then, in August, I stumbled on some advice from another mom on a list serv I'm on.  She spoke of magic words that had revolutionized bedtime at her house.  The magic words were, "If you stay in bed, we will leave your door open."  At the beach this summer, we tried them. 
I don't know how we lived before the magic words. 
It took remarkably little time for Ela to figure out that she'd rather have the door open than closed, and that she could get that by staying in bed.  We had to close her door a few times, but it's been months since we've resorted to that now.  Bedtime goes so smoothly, I don't even really mind her stalling tactics anymore.  And even her stalling tactics have gotten less serious now that she knows she can get to us any time she needs in the night.  This little bit of freedom has made her a much more reasonable sleeper. 
We use our new magic words both at nap time (which we call quiet time) and bedtime, but here's the catch: I know she doesn't stay in her bed when ordered.  At quiet time, I can hear her toodling around upstairs.  I suspect she leaves her room on a nearly daily basis.  I find evidence of her trickery all the time: open drawers in her room, doors that I know I left open are suddenly closed, or toys that were on the floor are in her bed.  Once I even found evidence that she'd been climbing my chest of drawers, though not enough to punish her.  The thing is, there's no screaming, and I can close off my room to prevent further climbing, so I really don't mind that much.  Also, when I come up stairs, she always runs right back to her bed so as to "not get caught."  The part of me that wants to be a perfect mom worries about what I'm teaching her by not trying to catch her in the act, but the more realistic part of me recognizes several things. 1) I am getting more sleep, which will lead to better parenting for the most part and 2) breaking rules is part of growing up.  She learned very quickly how and when to break this one, and I think we're all pretty happy with the results.
So now I get some quiet time every afternoon, during which Ela may or may not sleep, but certainly leaves me alone and I can listen for her from right below.  Lily sometimes even graces me with a nap at the same time, which means I get a little Mommy time right in the middle of my day.  This has greatly improved my morale. 
And every evening, we go up for bedtime confident in the knowledge that by 8:00, Ela will be secure in her bed, and if she chooses not to sleep for another hour after that, it won't cause extra crankiness in me.  Either way, I'm not likely to see her again until 7:00ish in the morning, when she decides that it's safe to leave her room and come wake me up. 
All this is amazing progress for Ela, and I'm very proud of her.  Lily doesn't sleep through the night all the time, but the fact that she'll sleep in her crib gives me hope that the battles for sleep won't be as fierce with her.  Also, now we know the magics words.  If only there were magic words for potty training, too...

Mommy Tales

We've been traveling and having so much fun lately, I haven't had a lot of time to remind the world that I have the cutest daughters ever.

 

See? Cute, right?   For evidence of Ela's cuteness, check previous posts, or just read some of these stories.

Ela is at an age where she says something funny about every thiry seconds. I almost always forget what she's said before I have a chance to write it down or share with the world.  For example, today she visited me in the bathroom while I was getting dressed to inform me that I was the big Mommy, and she was the little Ela.  I have no idea where this came from, but I was amused.
Ela loves Dora the Explorer.  Since we have netflix, I let her choose which episode she watches, and while she hasn't picked up any Spanish, she has learned a few things about the world from them.  One of her favorite episodes is a story called "Catch the Babies."  In this episode, one of Dora's challenges is to find three apples to feed a horse so the horse will move and let Dora pass.  About every morning for breakfast she eats an apple. The apple always leads to the same train of thought for her.  She says "Ela wants apple.  Horses eat apples.  Ela wants to watch Dora catch the babies."  I love listening to how her mind works.
While Ela hasn't picked up any Spanish, she is learning a little Japanese at the moment.  One of her current favorite books is one that my students in Japan gave me when she was born.  It is about animal sounds and which animals make which sounds. I read the Japanese to her and then translate.  She's reached a point now where she repeats the animal names back to me, and she won't tell me the animals in English, even though I know she knows them.  She seems determined to figure out the strange words.  It's interesting. 

Lily is at a disadvantage when it comes to cute stories since she's still learning the basics.  She's still precious (as evidenced by the picture) there's just less to tell.  She's recently learned to sit up on her own, and so she spends a lot of time sitting in places playing with whatever toy I can convince Ela to let her hold onto.  She's teething, so everything goes in her mouth.  Lately, she's been making some great smacking sounds, playing with the new teeth. 
Lily is also a little Daddy's girl.  She lights up whenever she sees him.  One of my favorite things about her is that she can smile and cry at the same time, and often does.  It's like she doesn't know how to stop smiling for long enough to tell us she's sad.  It's funny. 

So we're enjoying our happy girls and taking a little rest this week after the busy month of October.  More stories to follow. 

School Days

In January, we'll be moving again (such is the Navy life). Zack has taken orders that will send him to Afghanistan. We girls are going to move to Cary, NC to be close to family. When we move, we've planned to put Ela into preschool at the church where my mom works. There are lots of advantages to sending her there as opposed to any other preschool.  Mostly, it's good because we know the staff and we know they'll be good with her.  Also, it's right where Grandma works, so they can "carpool" so to speak once in awhile. 
This week, we were visiting Cary, and the preschool gave us the go ahead to send Ela to her class just to try it out, even though she's technically not signed up to be there until January.  (This would be another of those advantages I was mentioning.)  So Monday morning, we got her up and dressed, showed her the lunchbox that will hold her snack, and off we went to preschool.

Ela embraced this new experience relatively quickly.   She carried her lunchbox proudly, and marched right into the room full of other kids to play.  She came back out once to find me, but was easily redirected back into the room.  They tell me that she came back to look for me once again after I left, but wasn't too upset that I was gone. 
After her first day, she hung out with Grandma in the office until her work was done, and came home with her.  She had paint in her hair and wouldn't tell me anything about her day (she is two, after all), but from her babble, I gathered that she'd had a good time and learned a little about the class.
On Wednesday, Ela went back for another round of preschool, and was very excited about going.  She brought home the pumpkin she'd painted on Monday, and I think she enjoyed it all greatly.  I'm hoping this trial run will make things easier in January when we move.  She'll have so much change at that point, I want her to at least be familiar with something.  We'll see if it works.  I just can't believe she's big enough to send to school!

Dinner Time

Our littlest girl is growing up!  This week, we introduced her to rice.  She's still working on her feeding technique, but she loves the rice crackers that I found.  (I thought they only existed in Japan, so I was delighted to find some here.)  So far, we're only giving her food at dinner time.  Some evenings, she'll take the cereal, others not.  When she does eat, she sleeps even better than usual.  In the next few days, I'm going to pick a vegetable to try her on next.

Lily is also teething.  Her first tooth popped out this week, and I'm certain there is at least one more hiding just under the surface, based on her fussiness lately.  Since they've recalled the teething tablets that Ela used, we're in search of a new way to ease her pain as the little pearly whites break through. 
I just can't believe how big my baby's gotten!  Time certainly flies.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Ela's hair is getting long.  See? We can even get it into a ponytail now.  It's very cute when she lets us touch it, but she almost never lets us touch it.  It gets tangly, and she thinks we're going to hurt her.
This week, Ela announced that she needed a haircut.  This surprised me because she hate haircuts, like everything else hair related.  I asked her about it, and she said she needed a haircut and a lollypop.  Then I understood: she remembered that after her haircuts, the stylist always gives her candy.  I figured she'd drop it, but all week long she asked about her haircut.  Her bangs were looking a bit shaggy, so I decided today to take her to get them cut. 

Ela was very excited when I told her we were going to get her haircut.  She kept repeating, "Ela get haircut.  Ela get lollypop." as she put on her clothes, found her shoes, and went to the car.  In the car, she announced she wanted a yellow lollypop.  She hurried into the Hair Cuttery.  It wasn't until they called her back that she realized something important: they were actually going to cut her hair.

As I lifted her into the chair, Ela got pouty.  The stylist was very chill about it.  She gave Ela  a comb to hold and kept up a nice distracting chatter as she separated and trimmed up her hair, starting with the bangs (which are the hardest part).  She talked about the baby, the comb, the pictures on the cape she was wearing to protect her from the hair, the girl in the mirror, and of course, the lollypop.  Ela continued her insistance that she wanted a yellow one, which led us to discussing what flavor it would be.  All the same, we barely got the girl through her trim without a tantrum. 

Finally (really it didn't take that long), the cut was done, and Ela was set free.  Instantly, she was happy again and hurried to the front of the store for her lollypop.  Yellow, as it turns out, is "banana split".  Ela demanded I open it right then.  We paid for the cut and went out the car to go to Target.
At Target (a short drive across the parking lot), I pulled Lily out of her carseat and fed her while Ela enjoyed her treat.  By the time Lily was done, Ela had also finished her lollypop. 

She said she wanted another haircut.

She wanted a blue lollypop.

:::sigh:::

How I Celebrated My Birthday

My parents came up to help us celebrate my birthday. First, we got some family pictures taken. Here's a snapshot.  The professional ones are coming later.

Then we went to Mount Vernon.  The year long pass was totally worth it.


After that, there was Greek food. 

And, of course, cake. 

If the rest of this year is as good as the weekend, it'll be a super year!

Beating the Heat

Ela has been enjoying the pool this summer.  Dory just found a way to  enjoy it too.

Little Miss Manners

Lately, Ela has been acting more and more like a two year old, and they don't call it the terrible twos for nothing.  To combat the frutration we all feel when Ela has a temper tantrum, we've been talking a lot about manners and encouraging her to say those polite words we  all love.  "Please" has been the big challenge.  She doesn't understand why she should have to add an extra word to her sentences when just saying what she wants usually gets it.  So, like all parents, we've resorted to bribery.
Every time Ela asks for something, I ask her to say please, but usually I give her what she's asking for whether she successfully uses the word or not.  After all, I want her to continue to eat broccoli, for example, so I'm not about to dissuade her by insisting on manners at that moment.  However, if she asks for something we don't really want her to have, like ice cream, we insist that she say please first.  This has, of course, led to a few more temper tantrums, but it's also led to a few more pleases.  In fact, Ela now sees please as an automatic pass card.  She seems to think that as long as she says please, the world is hers for the taking. 
On the whole, this attitude works out pretty well.  It means that some mornings, Ela announces, "Eda want eat cereal say please." and I can praise her manners excessively and give her the cereal.  The problem arrises when I can't, for whatever reason, fufill her desire.  If, for example, she askes for watermelon pleeeeeeease, and I don't have any watermelon, we have a problem.  No matter how patiently I explain to her that the words were right but I really can't help her, she takes the rejection personally.  Also, sometimes I just don't want her to have ice cream, or a cookie, or whatever.  If she ate precisely zero of her dinner, I'm not about to give her dessert.  So when she says please in that situation, we have to up the stakes and demand that she first eat her chicken.  She doesn't like that much.  I'm sure you can guess the results.
And then there are the times when Ela forgets I can't read her mind.  She'll approach me repeating "say please!  Eda say please!" over and over, clearly expecting a result.  I'll tell her that I don't know what she wants, but that usually makes her more angry and she ends up having a fit because she doesn't realize she never told me what she wanted.  Those are probably the most frustrating situations for us. 
On the whole, though, I think we're making progress.  Ela says please more and more often without prompting, and sometimes she even throws in a thank you. 

Harry Potter

One thing about being a parent: going to the movies is not as easy or cheap as it used to be.  (Let's face it, it's not that cheap for any one.)  Since we now have to go to the trouble of hiring a babysitter to go see a movie together (or drive to NC for grandparent support), we don't go to the movies very often.  However, I am a Harry Potter addict, so it was very important to me to see the last movie in the theater. So last weekend, we hired a sitter. 
Because the sitter wasn't entirely sure what time she'd actually arrive at our house (she had a CPR class in the morning), I opted against buying tickets before hand.  My theory was that it was long enough after the opening date that it shouldn't be an issue.  That way, also, if the babysitter was late we could catch a later showing.  This was probably a bad move.  The babysitter arrived right on time, and we found out that she had another job later in the evening.  With assurances that we'd be home with plenty of time to spare, we set out for the theater.
Our problem was that it was a million degrees outside that day.  So everyone and their uncle had gone to the theater.  We arrived at the theater, and a minute after we got in line, the show time we needed sold out.  The next time would be too late for our sitter.  Our options were to either a) see another movie (none of which sounded any good by comparison) b) go home and give up or c) do something completely different. 
I was not satisfied with any of these options, as my heart was set on seeing Harry Potter.  I mean, I'd just finished rereading the seventh book the night before, and when were we going to get a sitter again?  So I pulled out my phone and found another theater near by.  We hopped back in the car for round two.
The next theater was at a mall.  I dropped Zack off and found parking, then met him in line.  The good news was they had a show time that would still get us home in time for the sitter (barely).  The bad news was the theater had broken A/C.  They had signs up everywhere warning viewers that the theaters were "very hot".  But this was a Harry Potter Emergency, so we went for it.
Every employee we spoke to reminded us of the heat situation (remember, it's a million degrees outside, too), but we decided to brave it anyway.  We got our popcorn and sodas and headed in.  The theater was not that hot.  It was warm, but not warm enough to deter a nerd like me.  Zack doesn't mind heat, so he wasn't bothered either (or he's really a great husband and pretended).  We really enjoyed the movie.  I won't give anything away; I'll just say it was awesome. 
When the movie ended, we called the sitter to appologize and work out how to get her to her next job on time, but it turned out that the other people had asked to push their time back.  So that worked out nicely too.  Apparently, we were just meant to see the movie that day.  So it turned out to be a really nice date afternoon.    I love happy endings!