Mama! Tweet! Tweet! Nana!

Friday mornings, Amelia attends a Spanish class at her preschool.  Last week, when I went to drop Amelia off, I walked and and saw all the children gathered around one of the teachers.  The teacher was holding a bird on her hand (perhaps a macaw? or parrot?).  The kids were fascinated.  I organized Amelia (backpack, jacket, kisses, etc) and in the process, Gemma noticed the bird.  I can tell you the exact SECOND she noticed because her whole body jumped.  From that moment on, she turned and wriggled and contorted herself in order to see the bird every moment.


Once Amelia had joined the group, I brought Gemma closer over to see the bird.  We stood back behind the group of preschoolers and admired the bird.  It was only then I noticed that the bird was perched on the teacher's wrist and the teacher was holding a banana in her hand.  The bird was eating a banana*.  Gemma was speechless.  She kept pointing at the bird and telling me "Tweet, tweet, **" almost in disbelief.

When we left, Gemma and I had a conversation that just about melted my poor heart.  We walked out of the classroom and into the hallway.  I wasn't two steps into the hallway when Gemma grabbed my face between her two hands and turned my face so I was looking directly into her eyes.

"MAMA!"
"Tweet, tweet!!!"
"NANA"

This was so adorable.  The best translation I can come up with is:

"Mom!  There was a bird and it was eating a BANANA!  Unbelievable!"

My response:

"Did you see the bird eating a banana?"

Her response:

A big belly laugh.  It is so much fun to have your words understood!

*Although the bird was eating the banana, it was also not a very neat eater.  The kids closest were all squealing and laughing as the bird tossed/threw/dropped tiny chunks of banana every time it took a bite.

** At this point, Gemma calls all animals by their sounds or calls.  Most animal sounds are easier to pronouce than the actual names.  So around here, a "neigh neigh" is a horse and a "meow" is a cat.

Sweet Amelia

Today was Amelia's birthday (well, yesterday now).  She had a wonderful birthday weekend celebrating with all kind of fun activities.  I'll tell you more about it later (or I'll forget and won't tell you), but for now I want to share this sweet conversation I overheard tonight between Amelia and her Great Grandma Gerry.

GranGerry: Happy birthday Amelia!
Amelia: (giggles) Thank you!

(generalized birthday chat)

GranGerry: Did you open a gift from North Dakota?
Amelia: (puzzled look) Yes!  Yes I did!  It was so perfect and I LOVE it!*
GranGerry: Yeah?
Amelia: YEAH!
GranGerry: What shape was it in?  I couldn't tell from the box.  I picked it because it was purple and pink.

Amelia: It is a SEAL and it is WONDERFUL!  I thought I wanted to have the special unicorn Glowy Pillow until I saw this one.  I didn't know how much I would love the seal pillow.  This one is my favorite now because YOU picked it out for me.

Grandma: A seal?  Wow.  I'm glad you like it!





*Several months ago, Amelia mentioned to Grandma that she wanted a pillow pet that glows.  They sell them a variety of places and come in a variety of shapes and colors.  Apprently, Grandma had a little trouble tracking down the Glowy PIllow (as Amelia calls it).  She finally happened across it at the store when she was looking for something else.

Someone is turning 5 today!

Happy birthday Amelia Ann!

Amelia funny

At lunch, I was helping attempting to help Gemma with her cup.  She was insisting on doing it herself and making a giant mess.  While I was trying to prevent milk from coating every single surface in the kitchen, Amelia had this conversation with me:

Amelia: Mom! Mom!
Mom: Whaaa... Gah!  Gemma!  No! Stop! Here!  Let me helppp...argh! No! Let! GO! Blech! (wipes face).  Sorry.  What did you need Amelia?
Amelia: I just finished drinking my juice.  It was delicious.
Mama: Oh?  GEMMA! Wait!  Stop!  Here, I'll hold.....fine.  Do it yourself.  Yes that's right....NO. STOP!  You can't....well.  You just did.
Amelia: Now I'll say it in English so you can understand me (she says this to me like we are having a normal everyday conversation and I am not wrestling with a giant, slippery, stubborn, shrieking, desiring independence type octopus).

Mama: Sure.
Amelia: I just finished drinking my juice.  It was delicious.  See?  Now you can understand me because I told you the words in English. You didn't understand me before because I was speaking in Spanish.
Mama: You were?
Amelia: I WAS!  Isn't that great?
Mama: It was (I have no option but to agree here because while I am certain she was speaking English both times, I was so distracted, I have no idea what else was said or what I missed in wrangling Gemma.).

Backwards Facing Navigational System

This is a compilation of a few things I have been noticing recently that I haven't had a chance to write down yet.  Better late than never, right?


1.  Background: This was in January.  On Fridays, Amelia attends a Spanish class at her preschool for an hour.  We drop her off and then pick her up just a short while later.  Usually I drop Amelia at preschool on a Tues/Thursday and then bring Gemma to our sitter's house.


Gemma and I walked out of the preschool and I juggle her around in my arms to unlock the car.

Gemma: Baby?
Mama: Baby? (I look and do not see any babies around.  The door is open and I start buckling Gemma in her carseat).
Gemma: Go! Go! Baby! (Points out the window).

Suddenly, I realize Gemma is referencing our sitter's granddaughter, whom Gemma refers to as "baby".   Unfortunately, we don't have plans to see them today and Gemma is now quivering with excitement about seeing her baby friend.  I try to explain to her we aren't going there, but it isn't sinking in.

It doesn't sink in until we leave the preschool and turn right instead of left.  The instant we turn right (to go home) instead of left (to go to the sitters house), she is screaming and crying : "NO!  NO!"  "NO!  GO BABY! NO!"

This is crazy to me that at 19 months while sitting in a carseat facing the rear of a vehicle, Gemma can determine the direction we are driving.  Absolutely crazy.



2.  We go to the library a lot.  Once a month the local library has a baby story time in which one of our favorite librarians reads books, leads some rhymes, and sings a few songs.   One of the songs we do every single time is called "Shake and Stop".  The whole group of kiddos are given little tiny maracas.  The song starts and tells the kids to shake their instruments in different ways.  Then it tells them to stop.  Which is totally hilarious to observe.  The parents are trying to stop the noisy shakers and the kids just want to keep on making noise.  The silence only lasts for a few beats and then the shaking starts up again, a pattern which is repeated several times before the song is over.

When we went to story time in January, I noticed that Gemma was able to stop shaking on her own.  I figured it out by accident as I had Amelia and William with me.  I was distracted by something and couldn't get to Gemma in time to quiet her shakers.  But, she did it on her own.

This might not sound like a big deal, but this is HUGE.  This is massively huge because this is the first sign that Gemma is starting to exhibit self control and regulation.  A whole lotta exciting child development has to happen before self regulation occurs.  And it IS exciting.  This child will someday be able to control her impulse to climb the refrigerator and resist eating toothpaste.  It won't be today or even this month (year?), but it is coming.

As the second pause in the song approached, I held my breath to see what would happen.  I was surprised and proud : Gemma held her shakers close to her chest to quiet them.

Uh oh

We learned several new things over our spring break trip to Minnesota:

1. Amelia has grown a lot this winter. I knew she was bigger, but none of her swimsuits from last summer fit her at all. Of course, that is all we had with us to swim! She didn't seem to be bothered by the snugness of the suit, but on my list of things to do is pack away the too small ones and locate the ones I got on clearance last fall.

2. Who knows what was supposed to go here?

3. Gemma can crawl out of her crib. With her sleep sack on (it doesn't have legs. That should make it harder to climb anything. Anywhere). I should clarify here: I have noticed for awhile now that Gemma has been CAPABLE of crawling out of her crib. She scales the couch and all kids of equipment at the park. I knew she could climb out of her crib. She hadn't until this week. I heard a noise and when I went to check on my sleeping baby, I was greeted by her smiling face instead.


Update: huge relief as this skill doesn't seem to have transferred to her crib here at home.

William and his buddy

We went to Quarry Hill to check out their new dinosaur exhibit. On the way in, we were greeted by some very friendly stick bugs. I was very shocked when William agreed to hold one on his jacket. He was careful and gentle, not at all nervous. He is so surprising sometimes! We are very proud!

Spring break fun

As part of our Minnesota spring break, we went with grandpa and grandma to a waterpark near the Mall of America. We let Grandpa and grandma tell the kids - they were so excited!

Of course, the kids were so excited about the hotel room. It had 2! Sets! Of! Bunk beds! Each kid got to sleep on a top bunk- even Amelia was allowed to sleep on the top bunk. Our family rule is that there is no sleeping on the top bunk until 5 years old. Seeing as her birthday is in another 2 weeks, she was allowed. She was BEAMING and handled it wonderfully. As an added bonus, the bunk beds were in a separate room with a TV, so the kids could wake up early without waking the baby. Or mom and dad.

The waterpark was so much fun. There was a lot of attractions that William and Amelia enjoyed and there was a few things for Gemma too. There were several things for bigger kids as well- a surfing section and some bigger waterslides we avoided.

The hardest part was having 2 parents and 3 non swimmers. Keeping track of everyone and having everyone happy was a little challenging.

Interestingly, Gemma wanted NOTHING to do with any of the water fun for the first hour. She did not want to be out down and wanted to be as far away from the water as possible. She hated the lazy river and moved to a deck chair when I tried to sit with her at the edge of the pool. However, after about an hour, she was ready and back to her old self. She wanted to do everything. She wanted to slide, splash and climb. We went down the same slides over and over and over again. I don't have a video, but I know grandpa does have adorable video of her sliding. We will have to work on getting that put up here.

So behind

I have some things on my mind that I would love to get down here.

I haven't worked out in a month and it is time to get back to keeping healthy.

The kids started soccer. We had to buy soccer supplies while in Minnesota last week. The guy at the store thought I was a little crazy when I said our soccer outdoor program starts this week. The soccer field in Minnesota was still covered by 2 feet of snow.

We made a whirlwind trip to Minnesota. We found out we could make it work on Tuesday afternoon and left town Wednesday morning. We were home again Sunday at dinner time in order to jump feet first into this new week.

The summer calendar is calling. I have plans. Big plans. I need an hour to sit down with a giant calendar and all my plans to see if I can jigsaw them all into our shorter summer (snow days=more school into our summer).

Gemma is frustrating and adorable. All at once. I want to tell you about it.

Amelia is almost 5 and is just beside herself with happiness and all the new things she will get to do when she turns 5. Soon. I'll get to it soon.

William is growing like crazy. He suddenly announced that he "isn't really into dinosaurs anymore, I like Legos now." Immediately after he made this epic announcement, he sat down and read a dinosaur encyclopedia for almost an hour. I had to peel him away from it and put it away on the shelf in order to have him eat dinner. He has also recently made a request for his own room. We're working on it.

It was St Patricks day. We are green stuff. The kids think John and I are...crazy. We might be.

Finally, the picture is documenting the largest amount of legroom I have had on a car trip in many years. The black bag is pressed up against the back of the seat in front of it as is the canvas tote bag.

How to write a work email

The new math

William's school has introduced a new math curriculum. This has been met with much parental angst because although it teaches the same concepts, the methods are completely different from how most people were taught*.
Take this math work, for example. William sat down and worked out these two math problems without any help. He was totally confident and proud. I totally do not recognize or understand his work here though.....

*I've done some research and I actually think many of the components of this curriculum are amazing, especially if they work as they are supposed to. So, I am currently undecided about my opinion.

Amelia's artwork

Amelia created this wonderful work of art on her magnadoodle last week. It is, of course, Mommy and me. We are clearly dancing (her words). Amelia is twirling (hence the tel next to her picture) and I am spinning (she sounded out the sn part).

I love her creativity, the precious drawings and the beginnings of her being able to sound out/ spell words!

If oranges are funny....

The night before, Gemma used her orange to have the whole family rolling on the floor with tears of laughter. (See previous entry) Gemma, of course, did it over and over. Why wouldn't you with such a great reaction?

The next day, I turned around to find her waiting expectantly with her strawberry in her mouth. The look on her face says it all. She is hilarious and she knows it. She is just waiting for the inevitable shrieks of laughter.

Amelia didn't want to be left out of the fun....

Guess what?

Guess who is now registered for kindergarten?

She is totally ready. Mama might not be...

Kids are hilarious

Guess who started this trend? Hint: it's Gemma.

Happy birthday uncle Jim!

Birthday cards are so fun. The kids usually get really into signing them and creating pictures. That it, unless there is more than one birthday. Then they do a bang up job on the first one and then refuse to do more.

The kids adore uncle Jim (all of us do, really). They know how much he likes funny stuff, so they all made their best attempt to make him laugh. The result made ME laugh, so I took a picture.

Note: when we were there visiting over Memorial Day, we went to the science center. There was a computerized display about different birds. My kids were gleefully pushing buttons faster than the computer could keep up. No one could read anything. Jim ingeniously discovered if the kids touched in one portion of the screen which allowed the interested parties to continue reading. Which is when he coined the "circle the bob white head" song to encourage our kids to keep touching the part of the screen that didn't impact the reading. This song was such a hit, the kids are still singing it. And they still remember the words and created several pictures about it on his birthday card.

Olympics

John and I love the Olympics. We don't follow any sports or team. We don't have time and are honestly not interested. We don't follow any of the Olympic sports outside of the Olympics either. However, every 2 years we lift the sports ban and watch as much Olympic television as we can. I just love the Olympics.

Most evenings when I am home from work, we have been going downstairs to watch the recorded Olympics. William has enjoyed pieces of the snowboarding and ski jump competitions. Amelia has been the best fan thus far, she's watched and enjoyed everything. William watches for a few minutes and then wanders off to build Legos within earshot. If something exciting happens, he will pop his head up and see what is going on. However, out of everything, Amelia and Gemma loved the ice skating. I was getting ready to fast forward through the skating*, when Amelia hopped up from the couch and began her own performance. It was gorgeous. She was so inspired by the jumps, leaps and twirls. She loved the dresses and the music. Before the segment was over, she was begging for ice skating lessons.

Just after these pictures were taken, Gemma hopped up and joined Amelia briefly in dancing.


* this is going to sound terrible, but ice skating is SO LONG. I enjoy it in very short doses. I'm a much bigger fan of the luge, skeleton, ski jumping, etc that is done and over in about a minute. I'm fine watching 1-2 ice skating routines and then fast forwarding through the rest.

How to get work done

This one is an old one from last year. I was trying to finish a work presentation and Gemma was.....helping. It is important to note that while this video is short, this game of peekaboo had been going on for about 45 minutes (which explains my lack of enthusiasm for the cuteness).

Honestly, it is just as hard to get work done now, although less cute. Now she is aware that the buttons are fun to push and produce immediate reactions from mom and dad. Now I do not even attempt to work while she is awake unless John is home or she is sleeping.