Merry Christmas!

Mabel and Stella became more and more excited with anticipation as Christmas drew near. I was a little nervous to put wrapped packages under the tree, because I wasn't sure if they could stop themselves from opening them. I waited until 3 or 4 days before Christmas to put things under. Not a single package was opened early, and they loved looking at the tags to see who each was for.

We saw Santa Claus from a distance when we went shopping in the mall. Both girls were riding in a shopping cart as we walked through the mall with Grammie. We came upon the area where kids could sit on Santa's lap. It wasn't very busy and Santa's lap was empty. He spied the girls riding in their cart and smiled and waved. Mabel instantly ducked and hid behind Stella. Her head was buried as far down as she could get it. Stella just froze and tried to draw her head down like a turtle, but she wouldn't taker her eyes off of him. That was about as close as we got to Santa. Mabel didn't sit back up until we were well past him. Stella just kept her eyes pinned to him as we walked away. Both refused to go talk to him, not even for candy.

A few days before Christmas, Mabel and Stella got to go on a daddy-daughter shopping trip. When they got home in the evening, Mabel just couldn't help herself from telling one little secret. "We got you enim-menims!" That was the only thing that she let slip. I got the best Christmas gift of all, Mabel decided that she wanted to be potty trained. It was like a miracle. Two days before Christmas she just got up from watching tv and ran to the bathroom. She climbed up, peed, wiped, flushed and then came and found me and said "I get an enim-menim". I was just stunned, very happily stunned. I gave her two m&m's, though I felt like she deserved the whole jarful. She's only had one little accident since then, and Maggie was gracious enough to clean that one up. Good doggie. She's even dry during her naps and frequently at night time. Yay, Mabel!

climbing the wall

A new milestone has been reached today by both girls. For the past year, Mabel and Stella have watched longingly as other Hotchkiss faculty kids and students get to climb and sit on the wall between the main building and the front circle drive. The wall is between 3 and 4 feet high and in the interest of safety I decided that I did not want them up there. I figured that when they were capable enough to climb up on their own, then they would be less likely to fall off and get hurt. They are so small that I thought we were another year away from this even being an issue. I underestimated them. Stella looked at the wall and hauled herself right up and was very pleased with herself. She was beaming as she walked across it. Mabel wanted it too, but she had to work a little bit for it. She tried a couple of times with no luck and then pleaded with me to help her up. When that didn't work, Stella came over and tried to give her a boost but it still wasn't working for her. I figured that we'd give it a try some other day, but Mabel does not give up easily. She walked to the end of the wall and tried grabbing both sides of the wall and hooking her ankle up over the corner. She was so excited when she had made it to the top that she gave a little hop and said "I did it!" and then started running (ah!) down the wall to the other side.

nice to meet you

Mabel wanted to sleep in Stella's bed tonight. Only once before have they been able to successfully fall asleep in the same bed together. Things generally start out nice and quiet with their heads at opposite ends of the bed. But after a few minutes that starts to deteriorate into giggling and poking and steamrolling each other until it becomes full blown laugher and there is no hope of sleep in the near future. Tonight we gave it another shot. Mabel was really insistent, so I gave in. They both like to have their backs rubbed in their own ways: Mabel likes to have her back actually rubbed and will say "rub my back" and then turn over on her tummy to make it happen. Stella likes to say "rub my back" but then when I start to rub her back it's too tickley for her so she just says no and pushes my hand away or turns over so her belly is up. After rubbing their backs for a bit I stopped and let them try to fall asleep. They laid quietly for a few seconds and then Mabel stuck her hand out across the bed and told Stella to hold her hand. Stella reached over, grabbed her hand and said "nice to meet you". This prompted Mabel to say "nice to meet you" back, which was followed by lots of giggling and more nice-to-meet-yous back and forth. And I couldn't stop laughing either. Where did they get that from???

To the Beach!

We made it to the beach in Misquamicut, RI on Saturday. Packing and leaving is always a challenge, but it's all worth it when we finally arrive. We are staying in one half of a duplex which has a deck overlooking the water. Meg and Tyler are staying in the other half. There is a Tim Horton's restaurant right below us on the first floor of the building. They are not open yet, but they are close. I'm hoping they open while we are still here.

Our first two days were rainy and overcast, but the sun has come out and we are loving it! Mabel loves to be in the water. She squeals and screams in delight when the waves wash over her feet. She likes to walk down as far as she can into the surf and let the waves roll around her tummy. Stella loves playing in the sand. She digs and fills buckets and collects sticks. She even let Nutmeg bury her in the sand. She laid down and was covered up to her neck in it and had a big smile on her face. Yesterday we took the girls on their very first bike ride. Bill strapped bike seats on the back of our bikes and baby girl helmets on the baby girls' heads and we were off to explore town. We rode past the beach house that we stayed at two years ago when the girls were barely six months old. And we stopped and played for a while at the playground area that's just down the beach a little way.

Today was another fun day down by the water, which happens to be right below our deck. Mabel and daddy played with the beach ball, kicking and throwing it to each other. Stella and I sat on the blanket and played in the sand and rocks.

The hello birds

Walking along a strip mall this afternoon we came to a store front with a window full of sleepy little puppies. Of course, we had to stop and take in the cuteness. Most were sleeping but there were a couple of cute fluffy ones that would look up at us and take a step or two before nestling back into their bed of paper shreds. We went into the pet store to try and get a better view of the fuzz balls and found something even better.

In a large black cage right up next to the puppy window sat two very large green parrots. They took one look at Mabel and Stella and said, "Hi". Mabel and Stella said "hi" right back and added a little wave along with it. And then girls and birds continued to greet each other for about five minutes.

The birds were way more interesting than those sleepy little puppies. When we came home Mabel climbed up into her daddy's arms and just started talking about the "hello-birds" that said "heh-wo" (complete with the sing-song voice) and they were "grin boods" (green birds)

groovy dentist appointment

The girls had their first dentist appointment today. I tried to prep them a little to let them know that we were going to see a dentist who was going to look at their teeth and brush them. Stella was the most apprehensive about it. "No dentist", she kept saying. We picked up Grammie on the way there. That always makes them happy.

The dentist saw each girl one at a time. Mabel was quiet, but very very tense. The dental assistant who was trying to clean her teeth kept saying how strong that she was when she would clench her jaw. Mabel would hold my hand sometimes during the procedure and she would squeeze as hard as she could. I was surprised at how hard she could mash my fingers. The dentist said that her teeth looked very clean, were "groovy" (bumpy surface, i think) and a little crowded.

And then it was Stella's turn. She was the exact opposite from Mabel. It would be inaccurate to say that Stella was relaxed. She was more unclenched and a bit loud. Loud enough for the dentist to close the door. The dental assistant took a positive spin on it. She said that it was a whole lot easier to clean Stella's teeth because her mouth would open wide when she cried. Stella managed to keep it closed when the assistant was trying to put fluoride paste on her teeth. Afterward she kept spitting and saying, "yucky". Then she started licking my shirt to try to take the taste away. Stella's teeth are a little less crowded than Mabel's but are very clean and groovy.

bee sting

Mabel learned a little more about bees today than she would have liked. One was inside the house on the window behind the couch where the girls like to play. It was really scary because both girls started screaming at nearly the same time. I thought that maybe they had gotten burned by the heater, but they both kept talking about bees and Mabel was holding her wrist and trying to scratch at it. Sure enough, after a few minutes a little welt started developing on her wrist with a tiny red spot in the middle. I found the bee on the window, captured it in a cup and let it go outside. We talked about how the bee was scared because it just wanted to go home and couldn't get out of our house. We also talked about not touching bees anymore, but I think they already figured that out. The welt went away really quickly. There were no traces of it after about a half hour. I was thinking that maybe she didn't get a full-blown sting, because the bee still had it's stinger attached afterward.

Egg coloring

It was a good thing that the weather was nice today. It meant that we were able to color easter eggs outside. If we had done it inside, I fear that our kitchen floor would have been permanently colored pink, blue, green and murky brown.

Teo, the four-year-old who lives on the other side of our dorm, came over to join in the fun. Mabel and Stella loved dunking the eggs into the cups. Stella liked to pull them out right away and put a new egg into the cup. Mabel didn't bother pulling the eggs out, she just kept plunking new eggs on top of the ones already in there. She managed to get four eggs into a single cup and then moved on to filling up another. After all the white eggs were colored, they re-dipped the colored eggs, making some really nice colors and patterns. By the time we were finished, their hands were just as colorful as the eggs. They loved it.

the Easter bunny is a little scary

The Easter bunny made an appearance at our local CVS. We went to go see him. I tried to warn the girls that it was a big bunny that we were going to see. They were very happy about getting to do it. I wonder just what they were picturing in their heads when we were talking about seeing a really big easter bunny. Whatever it was they were picturing was nothing like what they actually saw. Mabel was a little startled when we walked in the door of the CVS and saw a giant white bunny with creepy eyes and a purple vest sitting all alone on a wicker chair. My plan was for them to sit on the bunny's lap, Santa-style, and have their picture taken. Their plan was to stand about fifteen feet away from the bunny and stare at it. I can hardly blame them. The bunny creeped me out a little too. There was something wrong with it's eyes. They were dark openings that did little to disguise the human eyes peeking out from within the bunny's head. And he didn't move much. He sat straight ahead with his head very still and his hands perched on the arm rests. Every now and then a hand would raise up and wave back and forth. I think it was trying to say hello. It was clearly a very nervous bunny. He made everyone around him nervous.

The girls and I managed a compromise, they sat on my lap while we got our picture taken next to the bunny and they didn't have to look at him or pet him.

A Sandbox is Born

We brought home 650 pounds of play sand from the local garden center. It's very nice sand, soft and clean. Mabel and Stella helped push over the bags of sand into our sand box under the slide. After it was filled, they were both a little hesitant to climb right in. They didn't like getting dirty. Mabel said "fa-fa di-di" and sat with her feet up in their air. This translates to "flip-flop dirty". And she didn't like it... at first. After we played in it for a while they both began to accept it. I really like our sand box. I think I'm going to have just as much fun playing in it as the girls will.

Ouch!

Stella and Mabel have this fun little habit of lifting their legs and hanging when we try to hold hands and walk together. They do it the most when we are actually trying to get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time. Stella did this again when she and Mabel and Daddy were walking back in from exploring the golf course. This time, it caused her elbow to dislocate. She didn't cry at first but did after getting picked up to come into the house. She stopped using her left arm and just let it hang at her side. She would cry if we tried to bend her elbow. After about a half an hour of not using it and still crying I took her to the emergency room.

They call this elbow dislocation "Nursemaid's elbow". I guess because nursemaids were always dragging about their uncooperative tots. The doctor popped her elbow back in place and she screamed for a while afterward. We came home and she still wasn't using her arm. So the next morning we went back into the ER to have it checked again. The doctor tried doing the pop-it-back-in maneuver a couple of more times and then wrapped it up in a splint and sent us home with a number to call if it didn't improve. After being home for about an hour she demanded that I take the splint off and she gradually started using her arm again.

It's still tender, but it's much much better. Now, if only she would stop dangling when we hold her hand. I have to make sure that I only hold her right hand and that I let her drop when she buckles her legs.

a new song

Stella seems to really like singing. She's got quite a little repertoire of songs that she has created. The latest is her variation on Happy Birthday. Today she was singing "happy to you, happy to you, happy to you" and bouncing her little head as she sang. Mabel started singing along with her.

We've had many opportunities to sing happy birthday in the past few months, the latest was for Justin's birthday two weeks ago. We called him, which woke him up, and Mabel, Stella and Zach and I sang to him. It was the first time Justin has been away on his birthday.

Hey Stella

The novelty of jumping out seems to be wearing off a bit. For the last three nights they have gone to sleep nicely.

A couple of nights ago I woke up at 2am to Mabel climbing out of her bed. As I was heading up to her room, I heard her say "Hey Stella" (hey ta-ta). So I moved more quickly trying to prevent her from waking Stella too. When I opened the door I expected to see both of them awake and ready to play. But that's not what happened. Mabel had climbed into Stella's crib, snuggled up next to her and fallen asleep. Both of them on their tummies with their legs tucked under, like frogs. I wanted to take a picture. They looked so sweet snuggled together. I covered them with a blanket and they slept the rest of the night together.

Crickets

The last five nights have been exhausting. Trying to keep the girls in their beds has been like trying to keep crickets in a box with no lid. One hops out and then when I'm trying to put that one back in, the other one hops out right behind me. These particular little crickets of mine think it's really funny. They laugh and laugh while they hop around and out of their beds. Tonight was a welcome relief from crib hopping. Maybe they were just really tired, or maybe the fun of hopping out is starting to dwindle. Stella tried only once to get out. Mabel didn't try at all.

I love my little crickets.

Oh yes, she did.

I was hoping, really really hoping that she would forget all about climbing out of the crib and not ever do it again. But, at about 2:00 am Bill and I wake up to Mabel roaming around our bedroom. I pulled her into bed with us, but had to take her up to her bed around 6 am because she was so restless. Her immediate reaction to being laid in her bed was to climb right out. She's fast. Very, very fast. I was so tired that I just gave up and put her in her bed and closed the door and tried to go back to sleep. She was not tired anymore and wanted to teach Stella what she had learned. At 8:00 am I went up to their bedroom. Both girls were out of bed and happily playing. They were clearly having a good time, their room was a disaster. It looks like we're beginning a new era. Time to think about toddler beds, I guess.

Oh no, she didn't

After complaining in her crib for about 20 minutes about having to go to sleep, Mabel decided she'd had enough and climbed out of her crib and walked downstairs. She had such a big smile on her face as she was coming downstairs that it made me want to applaud her achievement and tell her what a great job that she did by successfully climbing out of her bed. I decided that would be a big mistake. I'm hoping that she forgets that she can do that. Let's just pretend that it didn't happen.

Stella was so tired that she fell asleep while Mabel was crying before the escape. She is so good at going to sleep. As long as she has her binky and her belly button, she can usually relax and fall asleep pretty quickly.

One, Two, Three

We've been working on counting lately. They can definitely count to two and sometimes three. Mabel displayed her skill when we were reading a book which had a picture of two bears. She pointed back and forth to each bear saying, "one, two... one, two... one, two".

a nap solution?

Both girls have been having a really hard time getting to sleep for their naps lately. Sometimes I put them to bed when they are acting really tired but then they bounce around in their cribs for up to three hours. I know that they are not ready to give up their daytime nap. I've tried letting them go without and it is disastrous. They get really cranky and stumble around. It's not good. I've thought of trying to wake them up earlier so they would get sleepy for their nap around 11 am or so, but that means I would have to wake up earlier too. I'm not a fan of waking a sleeping child and I don't want to have to set my own alarm clock to do it either. I just have to get them to fall asleep earlier.

My solution is this: put onsies on them so they don't strip all their clothes and diapers off, put aluminum foil up in the skylight window so it blocks the light, close the other window shades, and hang a curtain up in between the cribs so they can't see each other and play their bouncing games. Today was the first time all things were in place and it was a success. They fell asleep before 2:00. I'm going to try to get them to have lunch before noon so I can get them into bed by 1:00.

Two for #2

This is another TMI update. Stella has been successful for the past two nights with going #2 in her potty. Yay! I hope this continues!

itsy bitsy baby girls

Last week we went to their two-year-old doctor check-up. They passed with flying colors and didn't even need a shot. The doctor says that they are doing very well, but would like to see Stella's weight increase proportionately to her height. They are both on the small end of the scale. They are around 40% for height. Mabel is still at 20% for weight, but Stella has dropped down to 5% for weight. Stella doesn't love eating like Mabel does. I bought some PediaSure last night to supplement her diet. Maybe that will beef her up a little. She had two bottles of it today in addition to the regular food that she eats. She likes it with chocolate mixed in. I'm hoping that the PediaSure will relieve a little of my stress about Stella's diet. She's a very particular eater. Not only does she have to like what she's eating, but she also has to be in the mood to eat whatever it is. Sometimes she loves bananas and will eat a whole one, other times she spits them out. She does that with all of her food. It's a mood and flavor thing. Maybe she has really sensitive taste buds. She refuses to eat anything sour, like oranges, peaches or pineapple. One of her favorite foods is sweet potatoes. I'm so glad, because those are very very nutritious. We discovered that she loves fried clams when she shared some of Grammie's when we went to lunch with Aunt Jen after dance last Thursday. Grammie kept putting them on her plate, one at a time and they just kept disappearing. She also loves french fries. She is definitely her daddy's girl.

Tiny dancer

Stella loves to dance! She stands up in her high chair and dances when Strawberry Shortcake songs come on the dvd. She reaches her hands up in the air one at a time and bends at the waist side to side. She hops around the kitchen floor to the music with a big smile on her face. Last time at dance class she was very very happy to be there and was dancing so much that she had to sit down and take a little breather! It was so cute because Mabel came right over and sat down next to her.

oh, she's a funny one

We all went out for dinner at the Great Barrington Brewery. They have delicious food. The girls didn't agree, however, and ate none of their pasta. The did enjoy their chocolate milk. We piled into our respective seats in the van, Mabel and Stella into the middle seats and Zach in the way back of the van. Stella noticed Zach getting in and announced that he was there. She points and says "Zach, Zach, Zach" until I acknowledge that she sees him. I said "yep, Zach is getting in the back". Mabel picked right up on the rhyme and tested it out. She said, "Zach in the back" and a very big grin developed on her face. She liked it. She thought it was funny. So she kept saying it over and over. "Zach in the back, Zach in the back, Zach in the back." She was so delighted with the sound she had discovered. It's going to be fun to watch her sense of humor develop.

sit

That's what they tell me to do when I lay them down for a nap or at bedtime. And they point to where they want me do it. So we all kind of agreed upon a little deal. I will sit, in or near the rocking chair, if they will lay down in their beds. I'm such a sucker. Usually one of them will hold up their end of the bargain, but often not both of them at the same time. So, what to do? Punish them both for the misdeeds of one? Pretend that I don't see it and hope they both lay down? Keep reminding them of the deal? I can't decide, so I end up trying them all.

Do The Strawberry Shake

The past few weeks at Thursday morning dance class have been going much better than before. I used to have to go in with the girls and they would either cling to my legs or they would dance around with the other girls, but only if I were dancing with them. Things improved a little when Stella started bringing in the Strawberry Shortcake music CD that her daddy made for her. Grammie and I would joke around saying that I need to start working on making a purple princess dress for me to wear in the recital. Thankfully, their teacher was willing to "boot-camp" them and deal with the crying while I waited out in the waiting room like all the other moms. After a few minutes they had pretty much forgotten about me and were starting to really enjoy their class. Whew! The purple princess dress was starting to become less of a joke and more of a terrifying reality. Now every time we get to class, Stella holds her hand out waiting for me to give her the CD. Then she runs straight in yelling "bobby-cake! bobby-cake!" and hands it to her teacher who starts it right up.

Crash!

We've been reading "In a People House" lately. It's a great little Dr. Seuss book that has a little mouse and a bird scurrying around naming all the things that one would find in a people house. As they are perched atop a pile of dolls and dishes, a teapot and trash the mouse hollers "Look out below! I'm going to CRASH!" We really got into it one day and I started acting out the crash and Mabel thought it was hysterically funny, so I kept on crashing. A few days later we were walking in the main building heading home from the dining hall. Mabel tripped and sprawled out on the floor and just laid there for a few seconds. I thought for sure that she was going to burst into tears. She looked up at me, got a huge smile on her face and said "CRASH!"

Tonight she was having a drink of water from her sippy cup and the last few drops from the spout landed on her face. After blinking away the water she looks up and says, "CRASH!" She thinks it's funny enough to intentionally let the water dump out on her face saying "CRASH!" every single time.

potty potty potty!

I hope I don't jinx things by talking about it too early. But I just want to be better about documenting stuff that happens.

About two weeks ago we decided to try again with potty training. So far there has been interest and ability, but no real desire from either girl to be done with diapers. ///// ,,jhtffrrfdxdzrgg vtg 'yt[tb;;gfokkiuhhh7u

lkjm,kbbggjjj,htv nbhjjhmikk9ll9m hmmnfvv bgfbg m,k

(that was mabel getting on the computer trying to tell her side of the story)

Today, I believe that Mabel really wants to be potty trained. She woke up last night crying, which is not all that unusual. This time she was saying "potty, potty, potty". I felt her diaper and it was dry so my sleepy brain concluded that she was wrong and didn't go potty. It occurred to me later that she had to pee and it woke her up and she wanted to go in the toilet. Today she told me that she wanted to go potty - and she did! Then 15 minutes later she had a worried look on her face and said that she wanted to go potty and sat down and pooped! Stella followed suit after naptime and walked over to the potty seat and did her business like it was just an ordinary sort of thing to do. After she was done she just looked in at it in a contemplative way, like, "hmmm...so that's a poop."

three word sentences

Mabel has graduated to genuine three word sentences. She says "more apple juice please" and then graciously says "thanks" after I fill her cup.

bless you mommy

I sneezed and that's what Mabel said. It melted my heart. And made me want to sneeze again.

Ba-Ba-Bobby-Cake

The girls love Strawberry Shortcake! Aunt Kelly gave them a Strawberry Shortcake dvd before we left Utah last summer and they have recently developed a strong fondness for it. Stella started singing a STrawberry shortcake song a few months ago. It went something like this:

"ba-ba-ba-bee-shee...hmm-hmm-hmm...ba-bee-shee". And now it sounds a little more developed:

"ba-ba-ba-bee-keek...ba-ba-ba-bee-keek" with plenty of head bobbing and nodding.

And if you've never had the pleasure of watching a STrawberry shortcake movie, then you should know that the opening title song sounds a little like this:

"Straw-ba-ba...ba-ba-ba-berry...Shortcake"