Happy Birthday Miss E!

Today we celebrate you, Little Miss E, on your second birthday!

My heart still melts each day when I see you and we cuddle for some nail picking closeness. You still smell so sweet and baby-like to me. All your little parts, curled up on me-you still fit perfectly. Except now, you can get away-and run, and JUMP (a new favorite), and talk ('daddy smells!!" Ha!) . You can play with your sister, too. You will sit and play so nicely by yourself, always exploring a toy to the fullest. You know your colors already, you can count, and you LOVE to sing (CAW!). You make the coolest artwork, using the whole paper and all the colors. And you are still free of the complications that come with older toddlers who need more independence and power struggles. For now :)

You are perfect.

XOXO,

Mommy

Love Languages

Marea's most important love language is that of gifts. And i'm not saying that she knows she feels loved when we give her gifts-she's the lover, giving the gift. The sweet girl will gather up some of her stuff, when she knows someone is coming over, or she is going over to the house of someone she cares about, to give to the cherished person. Mostly lately it's been seashells; some for Grethe when we had them over for dinner, and some for Grandma Carole when she was having a sleepover (She also included a quarter for Grandma Carole). She's gathered things for Grandma Susan, Jackie, Emily.....seems to be when she's excited about seeing someone or something coming up. She's got a whole 'treasure box' now, filled with seashells, rocks, old jewelry, marbles, beads, etc., and these are most often her gifts to others. She's not especially social or friendly in group situations, but the girl simply ADORES the few that she has chosen as part of her tribe. Another thing Marea loves doing lately is going through Grandma Susan's junk. (Not the junk food...although calling her the "junk lady" regarding the junk food seriously cracks us up!) Marea loves looking at all the stuff I have deemed to be 'crap' that my mom has collected over the years. She thinks it is all so beautiful. After a recent sleepover, she returned home with a flowery cross-stitch circle thingie, an wierd looking old doll, a metal bun holder with pearls, and old seashells that I had collected long ago in Catalina. Today they went through all of her old junk jewelry and beads. Marea was in heaven. And Grandma was too; they spent a few hours just looking through everything. Grandma Susan said she is now going to give Marea all her junk in her will. Sounds good to me, as long as I don't have to go through all of it!

Evie has somehow managed to learn most of her colors. I have no idea how this happened as I was quite discouraged after how long and hard it was to teach them to Marea. Of course, Marea was mature in other ways that Evie isn't yet. Marea was very socially mature and could easily put puzzles together. Evie can't figure out a puzzle at all. But she can count a little and knows the colors. I love how everything just happens when it happens. Evie also has quite the musical ability. Ever since Marea took the Music Together class at Hilltop, we've been listening to that CD a lot in the car. Evie can make all the funny sounds at the right times, and has the melody and tune down. It's pretty amazing. I used to despise those songs, but seeing how can I when she's so joyful and happy when she's singing them? She knows the song after just a few notes, and will belt out the chorus. CAW!!!!!

July 2010 updates

So much to do, so little time. These girls keep me oh so busy in such a great way.

So we've been up to a lot. There have been sleepovers...Marea, Evie, Jackie and Emily all had their first sleepover at Grandma Susan's, complete with night swimming and drumsticks at 9:30 p.m. And Marea had a nice, long 24 hour stay with Grandma Carole and Grandpa Bill at their new house. And we had a sleepover here, our first one having Jackie and Emily over for the night. It went well, up to the point that it was 10 p.m. and Marea and Emily were STILL getting up, asking for water. But I suppose that was easy, compared to the sleepovers to come. I like sleepovers. I remember loving them as a kid and Marea loves them too. She's always talking about them, and who she would invite. Harper is often on the list, and Jackie and Emily are always on the list. She loves having people over. For such a quiet, 'shy' girl, she's surprisingly social. Evie is right there now, running and screaming with the girls.

We also had our first outing to the Aquarium with all the girls. Thankfully I had Lauren to help me. Taking all four of them was a lot of work. They like to scatter in different directions. It was hard to keep track of all of them. But we still had fun. Marea likes feeding the birds now. Evie would also like to feed them, but she's a bit too anxious and they just bite her.

We've had several birthday parties, Lauren's annual going back to college party, and lots of days hanging with our 'baby' friends. Summer is busy as usual and going well. We love taking the wagon for a walk, hanging in the garden, playing in the pool, we went to the fair (first ferris wheel ride for Marea! ), summer concerts in the park (and Evie laying on the dance floor), sun dresses all day every day with several changes, babysitting the turtles, baking from the princess and the frog cookbook, breakfast at the yacht club, watermelon eating parties...we keep busy and we have fun. We haven't done too many beach days since it's been the 'bummer summer', but yesterday we spontaneously drove down there for a sea shell gathering morning. Marea loves that kind of stuff. She is perfectly happy just strolling down the beach, checking out all the different shells. And when we got home, we washed them all off in the back yard and then she picked out the ones she wanted to share with her cousins. She's always doing that...choosing things she wants to give to others. She's one generous girl. She's been so wonderful lately.

Evie is talking SO much. She can put 4 word sentences together. Like the other night, when she was up with her fever, and I took her in Marea's bed to sleep with me, and she said, excitedly, "I sleep yea-ya's room!". It was cute, unfortunately it was at about 3 a.m. Her second birthday is creeping up on us, and I am not happy about that. She would prefer to be a big girl, though. She gets mad about sitting in her car seat or high chair, and demands to sit in "yea-ya's' seat. However, I am enjoying her exactly how she is right now. Running, jumping, playing with her sister...just an all around happy all the time kind of girl that is still a baby, for now. And if something goes wrong, 5 minutes on my lap, with her thumb in her mouth, picking at my fingernails, can fix anything.

Its HOT!

Evie is the queen of temperature gauging around here. Most of the time, though, she exclaims, "it's hot!" even when it's not. I guess I must of burned her when she was a baby, because she seems to be permanently scarred. If this continues, I will also be scarred, because hearing her exclaim that every meal I serve her is hot, over and over and OVER again, even when it is not, is pretty frustrating, because she often will not eat whatever it is because it's hot. And of course, it's also funny!!!

She is also starting to disagree with her bedtime. She will yell, "I paying!", and frantically start playing, as if too look busy. It's so hard to pick her up and carry her away to bed crying, even though it doesn't last long. Because it's just too cute.

Four

My baby girl just turned 4 years old.

I think it felt different for me this year because about a week before her birthday, I was cleaning out in her room, and I found myself packing away all the 'shoe jammies', realizing that there would be no more next year. Marea is just too big for them now. I know they still make them in size 4, but really she doesn't need shoe jammies anymore. They are for babies, right? Plus, she doesn't really like them anymore. Once in a while, she may wear them for fun, but she has a preference now, and all the will of a powerful 4 year old to voice it! She likes her princess nightgowns! Nothing else will really do, these days. So as I was cleaning out the shoe jammies, I realized that I had been doing a lot of cleaning out recently, mostly in her room, rearranging and changing things to fit who she is now. I put a lot of the stuff she isn't playing with anymore in Evie's room, and made space for her things in her room. She's into the 'little pieces toys' now, things with itty bitty pieces everywhere! (polly pocket, dollhouse stuff, games, etc). Her fantasy world is really expanding, and it's fun to watch her get into one of her little games, which she seems to play mostly in her head, with a few little props. Bye bye toddler toys, bye bye shoe jammies.

Another thing that is different is that I am relinquishing a little of my control!!! Of course it's slowly been happening, but now I am saying it! Over the past year, I still picked out much of what she wore, and there were several morning battles. But now, I've decided that Marea is a big girl, and who cares if she wants to wear a dress every day! Or, if she wants to change her clothes a few times, then that's okay too. It may be annoying, because it often means more laundry, but she is just doing something that she enjoys, and it's fun and important to her. So i'm not sweating it anymore. She can pick her own clothes, and I will advise her on what I think is best for an occasion, but really it doesn't matter that much. She cares a lot, and she needs that sense of power and control over herself more than ever before. And that is what is most important. I have also given up on my war against the princess dress up thing that she adores so much. I have let those darn princesses into our lives, but not too much, and I think we've found a happy medium. She's got lots of different interests, and the princess thing is just a small part of who she is. And she looks so darn cute in that Tiana dress she got for her birthday!!! I mean come on, it's better than that flowery 'tie dress' (as she calls it) that she wants to wear all the time! I can't believe that the size 4 dress that I bought at the Santa Cruz flea market for $2 when she was one has become her favorite dress. I guess I just knew way back then!! I still like it, but it's ridiculously stained. It's a perfect school dress, I really hope it fits her in the fall. She also fell in love with the pink swim suit cover up I bought her in Mazatlan when she was one. Good thing Auntie Sam just returned from a trip there, and was able to get her a few more in her size! So, i'm not sweating the small stuff anymore. Giving up a little bit of control. And giving her a little more....like, the control to wipe her own butt! I've decided that it's time! Now there's one thing I will happily give up! We're slowly working on it.

This year on Marea's birthday there was no big party. We had a small family party at home. Gary and I decorated the house the night before her birthday, so she would be surprised in the morning. She ended up waking up and coming out that night and seeing everything! Oh well. She really liked the decorations and balloons. On her birthday, we made cupcakes in the morning (froggies in the water), then took Evie to nap at Grandma's house so I could take Marea for a special trip to the nail salon to get her nails painted (see control paragraph above!). She REALLY LOVED that! I was glad to see her so happy to have them painted, since I have made it a special occasion only thing. She had rainbow nails with flowers. Then we went for a fun afternoon swim, followed by an awesome little party at our house with all her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

It was really a special, fun day of celebrating four with my baby girl. She is really becoming a big girl now.

First week of Summer 2010!

Now that Marea is in school, (although only preschool), summer break takes on a whole new meaning. I am excited for summer-what's new about that? I guess I am most excited about all the time I will have with my girls. I've got lots of fun things I want to do with them, and we're off to a great start. Here's week one:

Friday-Marea's last day of preschool for the year. An awesome day with a pizza party and song circle, and we received an incredible journal of her year. Almost made me cry. And then...off to a sleepover for all 4 cousin's at Grandma Susan's house! Complete with night swimming and late night ice cream. Marea was so excited she couldn't focus on the rest of her day because she just wanted to get to the sleepover! Gary and I had our own little party...we went out for drinks with Sam, followed by a late night 'parent' discussion...which is worse, bambi or the simpsons? It turned out to be pretty damn funny. Gary has lost that one!

Saturday-Fathers day celebration/lunch at our house with the Craig family. And it's not even father's day yet!

Sunday-Evie and Gary went to breakfast at the yacht club, while Marea and I went to Marcel and Olivers baptism at the Wayfarer's chapel in P.V. So I kind of got to show her where we got married. She loves hearing about our wedding and seeing the pictures.

Monday-Playdate at Christine and Chloe's with all our 'baby' friends (who arn't babies anymore!) followed by an afternoon of swimming and sun at our own house.

Tuesday-Grandpa Roger's birthday, dinner with the family.

Wednesday-Irvine Park Railroad and petting zoo..we'll escape the June gloom by running to Irvine!

Thursday-Beach day with Mia, Sean and Gabi. Marea's going to be happy to see her BFF's again.

Friday-Back bay nature center walk with the baby friends...i hope to be seeing a lot more of them this summer, I miss the girls!

Saturday-San Onofre with Mary, Geoff, Jonas and Harper...it's kind of a father's day beach day...I guess Gary wants to spend time with us this year!

Sunday-My birthday and Father's day...i'm sure we'll find something wonderful to do as a family.

AND then, My Baby Girl turns FOUR!!!

We're off to a great summer...can't wait!

The Blue Dress

So there's this blue dress up dress at school. Kind of a cinderella knock off dress. Marea wears it almost every single time she's at school. Playing dress up is her main kind of play at school. My favorite. In fact, playing dress up is a part of her life. Although at home we don't have 'dress up' dresses, she insists on wearing a dress almost every day. Clouds and rain are pretty much the only thing that gets her in pants. Sometimes its a struggle, because its just not warm enough yet for a summery sun dress every day. So, one day recently, as we were arguing over what she was going to wear, I said, what does it matter, if when you get to school, you're just going to wear the blue dress anyways? And Marea said "Mommy, you don't like that blue dress". Uh oh. She caught me. So I told her the truth, that I don't. We found a nice twirly dress I had got for her and I said that I liked it much better than the blue dress at school. And that day at school, (we were there together), she didn't put the blue dress on, and someone else did. As I was pushing her on the swing, and the other little girl was walking around in the blue dress, Marea said to me...."mommy, you're going to have to change your mind about that blue dress." And I said, why? And she said...."because it's so beautiful". I'm guessing this situation is going to play out a lot throughout our relationship. I just hope that it goes as smoothly.

Marea has been drawing a ton of rainbows lately. She is really working on them and they're getting better! And for the first time a few days ago, (while in San diego with Mary and Jonas and Harper) Marea wrote her name with all the letters in a line, just as it should look. It was awesome!

Little Miss Firebutt has finally figured out the firebutt thing. She knows that certain fruits mean firebutt. I'm not sure if she knows that's she's the one who gets "FIRE BUTT" and how it all relates in the big picture, but there is nothing funnier than pushing her in a cart in a store, and having her enthusiastically point out and say 'firebutt!' at all the oranges, lemons, grapefruit, juices, berries, etc., that give her firebutt. And actually, the firebutt has been improving! Hopefully it will be over soon and she will enjoy citrus like the rest of us. Speaking of shopping carts...has there ever been a child more difficult to contain in one? Evie never wants to sit in it! It's so dangerous and it's so hard to take her anywhere because she is constantly trying to stand up in the cart. She just can't sit still!

Evie is also very excited to announce "I did it!". She does it A LOT, and it's extremely adorable to hear her exclaim it with joy. She says it about so many different things....putting something in the trash, figuring out a toy, drawing a picture....whatever it is that she has done worthy of an "I did it!". May she always remain that excited to accomplish things!

One of the girls favorite things to do together right now, in the car, is make up songs. Marea say, "Evie, sing, 'i'm a rainbow' , and Evie will say 'i bain-bow', and Marea will say, "Evie, say, 'pretty flowers', and Evie will say, 'pretty floors', and Marea will crack up. It's pretty funny, and it can go on for a long time. Everyone also loves to sing part of a song, only to have Evie finish it. Such as 'twinkle twinkle little...... and then Evie responds with star. She sings a lot their favorite car songs in this way. It's just too cute. I love watching them have fun together.