ABC's and 1,2,3's

On September 6, Emma and Ella will start pre-school! They will go to school on Tues. and Thurs. while Mommy teaches freshman English at York College. Emma and Ella are ready for school. They know the letters of the alphabet and their sounds. They love their Leapfrog fridge magnets, and they like to point out letters on Mommy's shirts and anywhere else they see them. The first time they did this back in May, Emma and Ella were wearing their PJs and playing with the magnets on the fridge. Ella's PJs said Adorable, and Emma's said Cutie. Emma pointed to the "E" on Ella's shirt and said "E", then pointed to the "E" on her own shirt and said "E". Mommy was amazed!!! Since then, they point out letters all the time. They recognize the letter of the day on Sesame Street and like to watch Cookie Monster eat the letter. Daddy is working on counting with the girls. He holds up his fingers and they try to copy him. Unfortunately, their fingers don't want to cooperate, so they need a little help getting them in the right place. but they can count to five with Daddy, and recently, they recognize the number of the day on Sesame Street. They know they are two and will hold up two fingers (with some help to get them up) when asked how old they are. They are starting to understand big and little. They know all the motions and words to Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider. We sing them a lot when we are in the car or waiting in a restaurant. We also love to sing Ring Around the Rosie and fall down with Mommy. Ella like to rock back and forth to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. We both love 5 Little Monkeys, especially the part where the alligator snaps the monkey out of the tree. We like to paint, especially when we use our easel outside. We ask for different colors and Mommy gives them to us. We know most of our colors: our favorites are blue, pink and purple. Yes, we are ready for preschool! We can't wait to learn more new things!

Big Girl Beds!!

In July of 2007, Emma and Ella made the move to big girl beds! It's been quite an adventure. First of all, we had to get the beds. Our car is not big enough to fit 2 girls, 2 mattresses, 2 box springs, and 2 beds (even on top), soooo....Mommy had to sit and babysit a set of mattresses will Daddy and the girls dropped off the first set at home, then came back to get the second set. We had to tie everything to the top of the car, which took awhile, so Emma and Ella watched videos in the car (Little Einsteins and Baby Einstein). After all the mattresses made the trip home, we had to go get the beds. We got them at Kmart, and as it turned out, we had to wait and wait and wait for the second bed, which was in storage somewhere in the back of the store. By this time, Emma and Ella were stir crazy, so they ran up and down the aisles of Kmart. It was not a good thing. Finally, we got everything home, but then we had to take down the old cribs (which by this time were completely destroyed), and put the new beds in the room. All together, it took about 7 hours to buy the beds and get them set up in the room. Both girls liked their new beds with their princess sheets and pink quilts. The first night, they slept in their beds the whole night through, but they woke up at 6:00, an hour earlier than usual. This went on for a few weeks. As they woke up, they destroyed their room. Emma and Ella took all the books off the bookshelves, took all the clothes out of the dresser, took all of their animals out of the hanging animal holder, etc. Sooo, Mommy took everything out of the room for a few days, then put back a box of books and some animals to play with when they wake up. Now the girls wake up and play quietly in their room until Mommy or Daddy comes to get them aournd 7:30 or so. Usually, Emma is reading and Ella is playing, but sometimes Emma and Ella are sitting together reading. The hardest part of new beds is going to sleep at night. Emma is very afraid to go to sleep by herself, so after Mommy reads a book to each girl, Mommy lays down with Emma for a little bit. Emma talks and talks and talks, telling Mommy all about her day. Ella talks, too, but mostly Ella listens to Emma talking while she arranges her animals in her bed. Ella has to make sure al of her animals and babies are in the right place before she goes to sleep. Finally, Mommy leaves and Emma usually cries, but then she quiets down and goes to sleep. In the beginning, Emma was waking up around 3 or 4 in the morning and coming downstairs. She would seem a little confused, and Mommy thinks she was sleep walking. Mommy would take her back to bed and wait for her to fall back asleep. Now, Mommy closes the door at night so she doesn't get hurt if she wakes up in the middle of the night. So far, Emma is sleeping through the night and if she wakes up, Mommy comes to see what is wrong and she goes back to sleep. It has been a big change sleeping in big girl beds - for everybody! What a big step! Mommy is a little sad, and the first night the girls looked so very small in their big, big beds, but now it is very nice to see the girls sleeping side by side in their big girl room!

We're Talking!!!!

By July of 2007, Emma and Ella are talking quite a lot. They use each other's names all the time. Emma talks in short sentences. Her first short sentence was "Up, plane" and her first full sentence was "Ella shut the door" (we are already tattling on each other!). Ella knows over 50 words that she uses independently. Both girls call Bailey "Be". It is amazing how every day brings a new word or phrase. The girls are changing and growing so fast - it is hard to believe they were just tiny babies only 2 summers ago!!

Emma Watches Snow White

In July of 2007, Emma got a cold. On a rainy Sunday, Mommy, Daddy and Emma were all sick at the same time! Everybody had a sore throat and Emma had a bit of a fever. Mommy decided to put in a movie, so, Emma got to watch Snow White for the first time. Emma sat on the couch with Mommy. We covered up with a blanket and watched Snow White on the big TV. Emma sat and watched the whole thing while Ella played. Emma loved watching the animals as they helped Snow White clean the dwarves' house. At the end of the movie when the Prince comes and gives Snow White a kiss, Emma's eyes got very big, and she clapped when Snow White woke up! Mommy cried thinking how magical it was to watch it for the first time with Emma. What a special day! Now we have to watch Cinderella....

A Visit to California

In June, we went to California to visit Grammy. It was our 6th trip on an airplane!!! The trip there went well - we were busy on the plane and we didn't take a nap (poor mommy and daddy), but, about 2 blocks from Grammy's house, Emma got car sick! Soooo, the first thing we did when we got to Gram's was the laundry! Grammy was sooooo happy to see us - we grew a lot since last Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend playing in Grammy's house, then Ella got sick. Ella stopped eating and by Sunday, she had a fever, so on Monday Mommy spent the afternoon with Ella in the clinic waiting to see the doctor while Daddy and Emma went to the pool. Emma loved the pool and spending time with Daddy. Ella had a fun time in the doctor's waiting room, playing with stickers and running back and forth. Finally, Ella saw the doctor, who said she had a very sore throat and gave her some medicine. The next day we went to Disneyland. Poor Ella did not have a very good time. She was still not feeling well, and when we got there, we put on suntan lotion since it was very sunny. Ella rubbed it in her eyes and cried and cried and cried. Ella cried for the whole first hour we were there! Daddy and Emma went on the rides together while Mommy held Ella. Finally, Ella took a short anp in her stoller. When she woke up, she felt better and went on a few rides. She really liked the train and both girls loved It's a Small, Small World. We went to Mickey's house, where we watched the laundry go around and sat on Mickey's furniture. Ella liked driving Mickey's car. As we were leaving, we got to see the parade. It was a short day at Disney, but we will go again next time we visit California. The last day of our vacation, we went to the beach. Ella was feeling better, but, Ella did not like the sand at all!!! Emma had a great time playing in the waves with Daddy while Mommy and Ella sat on the beach blanket. Ella played with the sand from the blanket. She was happy as long as her feet did not touch the sand. All in all, it was a tough vacation for Ella and Mommy, and a great vacation for Emma and Daddy!!
June 2007