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.