Happy One and A Half!

I'm HOW old??

It is hard to believe we have been a family of four for 18 months.  I have to say that LittleL.G. is the best thing that happened to our little family of three.

She is the one who wakes up smiling and laughing and always wants to say "HI!" and "pat" everyone and everything.  She's the first to brighten a dull moment with a funny dance, some spinning, jumping or running and can make all of us giggle with her "funny face".  She loves Elmo, Mickey Mouse, stickers, drawing, macaroni and cheese, being naked, slides and going "AH-SIGH!"

(the "funny face")

She is sweet and loving and takes expert care of all her dollies (though they are almost always naked).  She can also be headstrong and can definitely hold her own against MiniM.E.

At times she is daring and independent and will run off to play by herself at a playground,  but she can also be a mama's girl and has spent many hours cuddled on me like a baby koala.

There is no telling her she isn't four and a half like her sister and she loves MiniM.E. fiercely.  She imitates all that she does and wants to do everything MiniM.E. can even if she's too little.  She asks for her when she isn't around and gets excited to see her when they've been apart.

If I thought it was fun to watch my first little baby grow into a little girl, it is even more fun the second time around... even if I don't have as much time to document it or talk about it or sometimes even realize it is happening.

A Happy 5th Birthday Party

Today we celebrated our friend H.'s 5th birthday.  Which feels almost unreal.  Five?? We all celebrated H.'s very first birthday together.  And every birthday since.  It is a nice tradition and it is fun to see the girls grow together, but sometimes it seems like it's all going by much too fast!

I think what makes the 5th birthday party a bit hard to swallow is MiniM.E.'s excitement to grow up faster.  "H. is five today! I'm almost five too.  I can't wait to be five.  Can you believe I'm almost five? Don't I look like I'm six today?? You know how now I wear size five.  I bet when I'm five I'll wear size six!!" ...and it goes on.  But I think today she understood just a bit how I feel because in the car on the way to the party she said, "Mommy, I'm a little sad that LittleL.G. is going to be two when I turn five.  I think I want her to stay one.  Does that make you sad too, Mommy?" And of course, it does make me a little sad that my babies will be two and five. But as much as I want them to stay this way it is so rewarding watching them grow.  And at least I have another six months to prepare!

Swimming Lessons

MiniM.E. had her second swimming lesson today.

Which is a huge deal. First off, because she repeatedly told me that she DID NOT want to take swimming lessons, and secondly because she has to get in the pool with someone else while I AM NOT in the pool.

But she totally blew my socks off by getting right in the water with a college student on the day of swim evaluations.

Then at her first lesson I was worried things weren't going to go well because she was paired with a male instructor and she takes much longer to warm up to males than females, but again- got right in and did a great job!  She was one of the only ones in her class to put her head under and she even jumped in at the end.

Today I was worried again because her instructor was different than the class before.  But again, she did a fantastic job.  I suppose after her first two times at the pool I should have known not to worry. Today was an especially great lesson for her because the other girl who shared her instructor refused to get in the water, so MiniM.E. basically had a one-on-one lesson.

Hoping to have a swimmer by the summer!

Field Trip to the Fire House

Today was MiniM.E.'s school trip to the firehouse.  If you remember last year, it didn't go so well. Funny that she was so miserable last year because for months after our trip she played fireman by putting on her snowsuit and a backpack.  It lasted well into the summer, which seemed ridiculous, because who wears a snowsuit in the summer and Gram and Grumpy finally bought her a REAL fireman outfit, which was much more appropriate for the weather.  She was still into firemen at Halloween when she dressed as one with LittleL.G. as her sidekick dalmatian.

Leading up to this trip, with all her fireman practicing, I didn't expect any balking, but sure enough, a few days before the scheduled trip, she was determined not to go. I was a bit worried since a crying four year old feels a lot different than a crying three year old.  But she was great!  Zero tears and lots of fun.  She even went into a fire truck and let a fireman help her down!

Successful trip to the firehouse!

SNOW?!?!

IN APRIL?!?! NOOOOO!!!!!

So LittleL.G. was NOT thrilled at being shoved into a snowsuit and brought out in the windy snowy day.  At least we finally got use out of her snowsuit... MiniM.E. on the other hand, was beyond excited since we hardly had any days to play in the snow over the winter.

Before LittleL.G. lost it completely (shown above) we managed to get in a sled ride (real work out for Mommy pulling 60lbs of kids on a couple inches of snow), which both girls enjoyed.

I was able to shovel a path on the driveway approximately 9 feet long before LittleL.G. insist I hold her.  And MiniM.E. played and played and played in the snow.

Today proved a better day for snow play.  It was much milder and not windy so LittleL.G. tolerated the snowsuit.

And MiniM.E. played and played and played in the snow.  And of course, ate it.

And just to warm things up, here is an adorable photo of MiniM.E. INSIDE at dance class yesterday.

Hello April

And thank you for bringing such lovely weather.  For one day...  Friday we spent as much of the day outside as we could since the weather was going to get cold for the weekend (and snow next week??!!)

LittleL.G. has been asking to go outside every day since she can see the play set from her seat at the table and from the back door.  "Sigh! Sigh!" (slide) multiple times a day.  It was nice to finally let her play out back.  And for the first time she did the slide by herself.  She couldn't have been more excited or proud of herself.

Of course even on the nicest days there's time to play doctor:

Then over the weekend since it was colder we went bowling, the girls' favorite indoor activity

And had our friends' over for pizza.  Since it got late, everyone got in the tub. You know you've got a great friend when they help you rinse after a shampoo.

Playgrounds and Other Stuff

That happened at the end of March.  And now it is April, and I am far behind on the blogging game. I haven't taken as many photos, I rarely even get a chance to sit down at the computer to look at said photos, and I certainly have no time to carefully choose and edit the ones I want to share.  One and a half (almost) and four and a half (almost) are clearly parenting intensive times.  So here are some left over March photos.  Happy April!

LittleL.G. sliding at the Skidmore playground

first outing at West Side Rec of the year

so proud of climbing!

sliding at Gavin Park

flying a plane 

holding hands... aw!

jumping

a visit with Baby J. - even LittleL.G. wanted a turn "ho! ho! baby!" (holding the baby)