Why Mommy?

Here is Elizabeth's new phrase; Why mommy?

Right now I think it is really a matter of truly wanting to know why. We will see how it changes over the next couple of months.

She finally did it...

Last night Elizabeth went potty in the potty. Yeah for Elizabeth, this was her first time. I put her in some pink princess underwear just to see. She just loved them, of course they were pink. She did really good and was sooooo excited about going potty on the Elmo potty set. She still has a long ways to go, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Now I just need to take the time and really work with her. Well, I needed a new hobby for the winter anyways!

Elisea's Pooping & Potty Training...sort of

Elizabeth came in to were Elisea was sitting and looked at her. I told her Elisea is pooping. She looked at Elisea and then looked at me and turned up her nose. It was like she was totally grossed out that she would be pooping right there in the middle of the floor. Never mind that Elizabeth does the same thing.

Potty training Elizabeth is going to be a chore. I put her in some big girl pants the other day. She had just had a lot to drink, so I thought it might be a good time to try it. I was just testing the waters to see if she was at all ready. She is only 2 and 1/2. Elizabeth stayed dry for almost a whole hour. We (Ethan and myself) were asking her if she needed to go, but she would just say no. After about a hour we came downstairs and I put her in a diaper. Sure enough 10 minutes later she went in the diaper. Maybe it is a good thing she didn't go in the big girl pants and only in the diaper. I don't know.... I'm not a big fan of potty training.

O.k. so I forgot....

Wednesday mornings are just crazy, BSF morning. I'm not used to having to get up and move and out the door with the kids by 8:30am. We usually don't get dressed till around 9 or even 10 some days. O.k. writing this I'm starting to feel a little lazy. Anyways this morning I was so proud of myself, because I had all the kids dressed and was feeding Elisea and it was only 8 am. I was thinking this is great we are going to be early, shocking I know. Sure enough we were early I was able to sit and listen to the the piano and enjoy the Christmas decorations, before BSF started.

When I went to pick up Elizabeth (from her class) I noticed she had different pants on. I thought, she must have wet through. Mrs Cunningham (one of her teachers) came out with Elizabeth and said, you are going to be so embarrassed. I thought what, because of the clothes they put on her, that was no big deal to me. She said "at snack time we notice Elizabeth was wet, so when we checked her we discovered she didn't have any underwear or diaper on". I wanted to crawl in a whole! Are you kidding me, no diaper, what in the world. I forgot to put her diaper on her. I saw a diaper laying on the floor after I got her dressed and remember thinking , what is that diaper doing there I already put on on Elizabeth. I thought she must have gone and got another one out of the closet. Nope that was the one I was supposed to put on the poor girl. I remember taking her diaper off and then Ethan needed something so I got interpreted and when I can back to finish dressing her I must have just put her pants on and thought, good done with Elizabeth. I cann't believe she didn't say anything.

Well I just felt like the worst mom in the world. That brought me down really quick from my "I got to BSF early" high. I think I will be double checking Elizabeth's diaper from now on, before we walk out he door.

So there is a little girl in there somewhere....

Elizabeth spends most of the day playing cars, trains, truck, and what ever else Ethan does. I was wondering if she would ever get into "girly" stuff... you know babies, kitchen, house, dolls, dresses up. This week she started playing with more "girly" stuff. I think some of the reason is that Ethan has been on the couch half dead all week. So, I tried to take some more time to play with her, since her playmate was down for the count. I went through some of Elisea's baby clothes (0-3 month) and found some that would fit her Cabbage Patch & Gerber Baby. Then she picked out new dresses, of course pink, for the babies to wear. Then she took the Cabbage Patch doll (the Gerber Baby was taking a nap) over to the play kitchen and set her down in one of the seats. Then she sat in the other seat and talked to her and fed her cake. It was so cute to see her have her first little tea party. After her nap she brought her doll downstairs and sat her in Andrew's chair looking outside. She turned to her and said "see no (snow) see no (snow)".

Also this week she started a little bit of dress up. She was picking different dresses out of her closet. Each time saying "pretty", "bow?", I guess she needed a bow to complete the outfit.

It sure is fun to watch her use her imagination and play, especially with some girl stuff. I'm looking forward to see how she will play with her dollhouse, she is getting for Christmas.

Blankie Pants

I went upstairs to check on Elizabeth. It was pretty quiet up there which is never a good thing with Elizabeth. I walked in her room and saw this. She had got all her "blankie pants" out and laid them just like in this picture. She was searching for her favorite pair, the white ones with pink, green, and purple stripes. It was intersting to see them all laid out and not in a pile. She took her other pants off and got on her favorite ones all by herself.

Look at her neat work.

Thanks mom but I will choosing my own clothes now, thank you.

Some Updates

Elisea:


She is so close to being able to sit up by herself. Although it does make for a harder fall with Elizabeth pushed her down.


Roll around (from back to tummy and back again) on the floor.


She can grab just about anything now and into the mouth it goes.

She is eating some solid foods; oatmeal cereal, butternut squash, and applesauce. She is really enjoying the squash.




Elizabeth:



She is such a monkey, climbing on everything (Elisea's bed, the table the list is endless). In fact on Sunday when I picked her up they asked, "does she climb on things at home". They had to get her off the picnic table, baby changing table, tables, ect. Pink cast here we come.


She is a stinker. We have to tell her no constantly and multiple times, for everything.


She is starting to really talk.

She loves pink. Anything pink is "Bibeth's". So I guess there is a little girl in there.

Ethan:


He is getting really good at riding his bike and can go pretty fast.


He likes "spiking" the big pink ball when I set it to him. He is getting good at this and can hit is pretty straight.

He loves taking care of his sisters and has really taken on the role of older brother.

"Mommy we have a disaster here....."

Ethan came running to me last night saying, "Mommy we have a disaster here, Elizabeth fell down the stairs!" I immediately jumped up and ran to the stairs. On the way I was thinking I didn't hear any "bump bump....then crying". When I got the bottom of the steps I see Elizabeth upside down (head first) laying on the steps. She was on her Care Bear sleeping bag and clinging to the rail like her life depended on it. The Care Bear sleeping I'm sure played a role in the fall.

Of course I'm thinking I have just enough time to grab the camera a snap a picture for the Blog. I mean a story is always better with a picture right?

Sorry this picture should have been rotated.

(just turn your head)

3 Check Ups

It was time for well child check up. so I thought I would knock them all out at once. Andrew was on vacation which worked out good for me, maybe not so good for Andrew. They all did pretty good, since it was getting close to lunch and nap time. He said Ethan and Elizabeth look to have the same head cold and were running a low fever, which we already knew. They all checked out normal. Elisea got 3 shots. She only cried when they were giving her the shots and then stopped as soon as I picked her up. Good girl. She is a littly ouchy tonight though, hopefully she will sleep o.k. tonight. Here are their measurements:

Ethan (when the Dr. came in he said he is probably the biggest 4 year old that he sees)
height: 43" (93th %)
weight: 44 lbs (95th %)
head: 20 3/4


Elizabeth (2 year)
height 36" (90th %)
weight 32 lbs (80th %)
head: 14 1/4


Elisea (6 months)
height 25 1/2 " (40th %)
weight 15 lb 12 1/2 oz (45th %)
head 16 1/2 (30th %)

After the doctors, Andrew treated us all to a Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. Yummy. It was a rainy day so we spent the day just relaxing around the house. The kids took naps while Andrew watched a movie and read his new magazine. I finished my BSF and other Bible study and did a little laundry.

Dry....

I had some jeans hanging on the drying rack inside to dry today. Here is my conversation with Elizabeth about the wet jeans.

Elizabeth: "net net" (meaning wet)
Me: "yes those jeans are wet"
Elizabeth: "Bibeths net" (Elizabeth's wet)
Me: "yes Elizabeth's jeans are wet"
Then Elizabeth runs out of the room, returning with a dry washcloth.
She rubs the wet jeans with the washcloth and very proudly turns to me and says:
"towel dry"

Smart girl.

Monkey Girl

Elizabeth loves to hang on and pick around the posts of the tree house. It makes me so nervous. She can also climb up the slide all the way to the top. I worry about that girl. I see the emergency room in her future.

Updates...

Here are some updates of what the kids have been up to lately.

Ethan:

He is so excited about turning 4 because "then I will be in the four year class" (at church). In fact last week he came with us to big church and then went back for Kids Time. He did great sitting in church.
He still loves playing with his trains.
He says that red is his new favorite color, not orange.
He likes to dress himself and pick out his own clothes. He will were a blue short and blue shirt and come down saying "look I match". He especially loves his fun socks, even if they don't match. He says "look I'm a cool dude"! Well maybe not.
He is giving up the nap.


Elizabeth:
Is talking more every day. She will repeat about anything you say. Some of her new words are; thank you, blue (every color is blue), purple, pink, hop (help).
She is also a monkey. Hanging on everything, climbing up the slide, all the way to the top. Ethan can't even do that.
She also still loves the train table.
She still loves her babies and blankie.
Not doing a real good job staying in bed at bedtime. She will go running for those stairs when we come in and find her out of bed. Like, the gig is up run for the hills, retreat!

Elisea:
She is doing so much better during the days.
She will finally take a pacifier and it will calm her down.
She is going to sleep on her own now, with just a little bit of crying.
She still isn't real happy with the carseat, but does good about 60% of the time.
She love watching the kids and having them around her.
She does good in the exersaucer.

I'm sure there is more but that is off the top of my head. They are such good kids.

Elizabeth is 2!!!!

This is her saying I'm 2.

We had her birthday party last night with all the family. Jon and Clarice even got to come, via skype. That was fun because they got to watch her open the koala gifts they got her.


Andrew made a cute pink care bear cake for his little girl. It was a "darn good looking cake " quoting Andrew. She was excited about it and Ethan said "its a pink bear". The twizzlers that made up the rainbow on the tummy of the bear caught her eye pretty quickly.

After dinner and cake, we got into the presents. We all went in on a double swing for her, so I wasn't expecting many presents to open. Of course she had plenty of presents to open. It was a little crazy, since she was really fascinated by some of them and would have played with them forever. But, you have to keep shoving more in her face, her open this one. Oh, well she got to play with them this morning. She was truly blessed with great gifts from everyone.
Here is the list of her presents:

• Grandma and Grandpa; 3 dresses, 2 pairs of p.js, cup & plate set, headbands, butterfly bag
  
• Grandma Becky; wooden stacking rings, lion flashlight, bubble machine, jeans and a shirt, clown bank

• Great Grandma Bennett; 2 necklaces, and 6 bracelets, jewelry box, $5

• Great Grandma Harris; gold locket necklace (one of her old ones), $2
• Great Grandparents Dillavou; card w/ $2
• BAST; Strawberry Shortcake baseball hat, green shiny pom poms, ball net game, glow sticks

• Jon & Clarice; koala beanie baby, koala shirt, koala book
• Mom, Dad, & Ethan; double swing

Their were many highlights but the hat and all the jewelry stayed on the rest of the night and were put on first thing this morning. She took the flashlight into "The Cave" (Ethan's closet) this morning and they are both enjoying the bubble maker. They also played with the stacking rings this morning. She also really enjoyed the swing and sat on it first thing this morning. Elisea and Elizabeth played with the pom poms.

All in all it was another successful birthday party. I think she was a little overwhelmed by everyone and all the fuss of the birthday party. She did spend some time throughout the night just sitting by herself somewhere. She had fun playing with everyone though. Thanks to all who attended.

Sweet Girl

Elizabeth is such a sweet little girl, most of the time. Today we (Elizabeth, Elisea, and myself) were sitting on the floor having a snack while watching gymnastics that I had taped from the night before. There were about 5 fish crackers left when Ethan got up from his nap and came downstairs. He plopped down on the couch and had definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Elizabeth was happy to see him and went over to greet him warmly. Then she came and got the bowl of crackers and gave them to Ethan. After he started eating the crackers she turned to me and said "Eon juice". What a sweetie. I said "Ethan what do you tell Elizabeth?" He replied in his grumpy voice "thank you Libbeth"I hope she stays this sweet.

Random Updates

Andrew told me I should record some of the funny things our kids are doing and saying lately.

Ethan:

• Calls Elizabeth "Libbeth"
• Loves "beat down time" which has all the fun sayings "bring it on brother", "bring you down to China town", "thats what I"m talking about"
• Jumping in the water and can swim with his life vest on
• Still likes trains
  

Elizabeth:

• Calls herself "Libbeths"
• New words she can say: pees (please), let go (lets go), E-on (Ethan), no, papa (grandpa)
• Likes to play upstairs by herself, or with Ethan
• Loves her play kitchen
• Has the sweetest little curls
  
• Still likes her babies
• Running more side to side then forward
  

Elisea:

• Sleeps through the night till around 5am
• Doesn't scream in her carseat anymore
• Still likes to sleep on her belly, but will sleep on her back now
• Likes to sit up and can hold her head really steady
• Starting to get some hair, still has the blue eyes
• Starting to use her pacifier

I'm sure there is more but that is all I can think about now.

Clean up Monday

The strong storm from last night left the yard covered in sticks and branches from the trees. A ton of them. After another grumpy morning with Elisea, I decided to take out my frustration with a walk. It was a multi-purposed activity. Elisea stopped fussing, I got some exercisers, I cooled down, and the kids got a wagon ride. I was pretty proud of myself, I walked a 15 minute mile while I was carrying Elisea in the Bjorn and pulling Ethan & Elizabeth in the wagon.

Ethan got right to work helping me clean up sticks with the green wagon and Elizabeth played in the pool with bucket of water. After lunch we continued our clean up efforts and this time Elizabeth really pitched in. She was a good helper and really stuck with it, which is unusual for her. She usually losses interest in these activities really fast. I think we will be cleaning up sticks for a while. It took 3 wagons full just for the back yard.

Ethan thought he should walk a little bit on our walk tonight. He did really good holding my hand. Since we were walking at a fast pace he was almost jogging. He walked from the interstate to the house. He was saying "I'm getting tired, I'm stressed". I guess I talked about being stressed a little to much, I'll have to watch that!

Elizabeth had a new word tonight. "hosanana" but she was saying "nannan" We call the branches that have leaves on them still hosanna branches. It is really cute.

Elizabeth's Vocabulary

Here is Elizabeth's list of words she can say:

• Daddy & Mommy
• Mama (grandma)
• Zeke
• E or Eon (Ethan)
• Bible
  
• Nigh Nigh (night night)
• ouchy
• nay (horse)
• quack (duck)
• bee (which is any bug)
  
• baby (for a baby and what she calls Elisea)
• mine
• juice
• pup (cup)
• oh o (when she drops something)
• signs please and thank you
• no
• ball
  
• doggie

It seems like a lot when you list them. She is really trying to talk. It is funny because she will be jabbering about something and pointing and Ethan will say oh do you want to do this or do you want that. They really have a secret language or understanding.

We had a full morning. Elisea had an appointment to have her brace check out. All the kids did really well they enjoyed watching the fish in the tank at the doctors. Elisea's brace was fitting fine and there was no adjustments needed. After the appointment we headed to Kohls to exchange some dresses that were to small for Elizabeth. Once again the kids did really good. After that we headed over to Jefferson Pointe for a bagel and a walk around while I feed Elisea in the car. After I got done feeding her I went to meet them so I could do a quick diaper change for the girls. When we got up stairs Ethan starts talking about going to see a train.
Me: "what train"
Ethan: "the train that goes round and round".
Me: "there isn't a train here".
Ethan: "the train that goes in the wall."
Which sparked my memory that they have a train in the children's department that goes around in and out of the wall. The only other time Ethan was in Von Mar was when I was feeding Elizabeth when she was a baby. He was about a month short of his first birthday then. Man he has a good memory. Andrew says we need to keep pumping him full of those Bible verses.
Then it was on to Meijer. I'm tired just typing it. By now Elisea was tired of being in her carseat and the fact that I forgot her pacifier was started to show. But we made it through Meijer and only forgot pretzels.

We picked up a Subway on the way home since it was getting late. Elizabeth went down for a nap and Ethan played in the pool and sandbox while I feed Elisea and then put away the groceries.

Andrew went for a run when he got home and then we had dinner. We had popsicles on the patio after our dinner. Everyone enjoyed the cool treat. Elizabeth did really good with some help from Daddy. Ethan was eating his slow (of course), so I told him"just take a bit". He said " I don't want to take a bit it is freezing". After having popsicles we all needed baths and then we headed off to prayer meeting at church.

Rebecca Belth was at prayer meeting tonight so she watched the kids so I could go into the meeting. After the meeting Ethan wanted to run down the big hill. They just put in a ark playground at the bottom, he hadn't seen yet. When he did see it it was a straight beeline, as did Elizabeth. They both had a good time playing on the playground, until Elizabeth fell off the ladder. She had been doing pretty good, then boom. That was our sign to leaves, everyone was getting tired.

We ended the night putting the air conditioners in because it was so sticky in the house. It is supposed to be 90 tomorrow and through the weekend as well. Welcome to summer.

One Smiling One Talking or At Least Trying

This is a late post for Tuesday, yesterday.

Tuesday was our caught up day since Becky was her on Monday. I had laundry to put away so we did that and the kids played upstairs. I was holding Elisea when she pulled her head up and looked at me. I talked to her and she gave me a little half smile, which turned into a full smile. It was so cute to watch because it was like she was really working at getting that lip up. She gave me a few smiles, then she got sleepy and it was time for her nap. We came downstairs and did our story and then headed outside.

It rained really hard on Monday night, so there were a lot of puddles and everything was really wet. The kids had fun playing outside. Of course the pool was a big hit again and Elizabeth didn't seem to mind the cold water as much. At lunch we saw some frogs in the pond, that caught both of their attentions.

It is a little tricky getting in from outside and down for naps. Now they are both wet and covered with sand. I sent Ethan upstairs with his underwear and shorts, while I finished getting our lunch dished in from the table. When I went upstairs they were both on his bed and he was swinging his underwear around over his head. I told him to put his underwear on and to go find his shorts. I thought I would put away some more laundry while he found his shorts. He kept running into Elizabeth's room in just his underwear and I would tell him, "Ethan were are you shorts, go find your shorts." He would respond with "o.k. I'm looking for them and I can't find them." I told him I was not going to help him find them, that was his responsibility. After 20 minutes of this same conversation, I said let go look on your bed. Amazingly there they were, the missing shorts.

We had a nice "quite" evening inside when Andrew got home. He was pretty tired and tried to take a quick nap. Dinner time was stressful, since we had chicken burritos and it took Ethan an hour to eat.

We went for a nice long walk and the kids ended the day with another dip in the pool.