Favorite Things: 2 Years 4 Months

It is amazing how much Emma and Ella have changed in the past 4 months (since their Bday). Here is a list of their new favorite things:
Thomas the Tank Engine: every morning we watch Thomas on TV while Mommy gets dressed.Thomas and Percy are our favorite engines. We also like Harold the helicopter.
Babies and Puppies: We like to take care of our babies and animals. We feed them, wash their clothes, give them baths, and put them to bed. We especially like to take them for walks in their strollers. Most importantly, we take them everywhere we go, and we have to have our babies and puppies when we go to sleep!
The Pool: we love to play in the baby pool, and we also like swimming in the big pool with Daddy. It is really funny when we fall in the pool and get all wet!
ABC Magnets: we love to play with our fridge magnets. We sign along with the letter songs, and point out letters everywhere we see them.
Songs: we love to sing our favorite songs. We know all the words and motions to: Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ring Around the Rosie, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.
Books: Ella's favorite book is Time for Bed, Biscuit and Emma's is Thomas the Tank Engine. We read them every night before bed. We also both like Goodnight Moon.
Puzzles: we love puzzles. We can do the kind with the little knobs and some wooden puzzles with big pieces.
Art: we love to draw, color and paint. We also love stickers. When we are outside, we like to draw with chalk. Sometimes we draw all over the furniture on the deck. Luckily, chalk washes off in the rain!
Food: we've discovered milkshakes and cookies. MMMmmmm!!!
Outdoor Toys: we like to play outside on the deck. We like the Sit and Spin, the sand table, blowing bubbles, the teeter totter, and the slide. We also love to climb, but we need a bigger play set, and we like our tree swing - it is fun to sit in it together.
TV: we have also discovered TV. Mommy will only let us watch a little bit each day, and we have our favorite shows. We like to watch Sesame Street, Thomas the Train, and Wonder Pets. We still like our Baby Einstein videos - we usually watch them in the car - and now we also like Little Einsteins. We like it when rocket takes off on a mission.
Dress-Up: we like to dress up in our winter hats and mittens in the middle of summer, we like to wear Mommy and Daddy's shoes, and we like to wear our princess/fairy skirts and wings. We also love to wear chunky necklaces.
Jumping: we love to jump! We jump on the ground and on Mommy and Daddy's bed. We jump on the couches, even though we're not supposed to! We even jump in the pool. We also love to jump on Mommy and Daddy!
Bailey: we love to play with Bailey. We like to hug him and give him a kiss, and we like to throw the ball so he will go get it. Bailey is 12 years old, and sometimes we want to play with Bailey, but he doesn't want to play with us! We are learning to be gentle when we play with Bailey so we won't hurt him. We call him "Be".
Planes and Trucks: We are fascinated with planes
and trucks. We point and say "up, plane" every time a plane flies over our house, and we see trucks everywhere when we ride in the car. Emma makes a very good "whoosh" noise when she shows people how a plane takes off.
Buttons: we love to play with Mommy's button collection. We sneak into Mommy's room and line up all the buttons from the button bowl on the bed. Sometimes Mommy gets out the button jar and we sort the buttons in ice cube trays or muffin tins. It is a lot of fun - there are so many ways to sort buttons!
Bugs: Ella is fascinated with bugs and other crawly things (like worms). She picks them up to show them to Mommy, and usually squashes them and then cries because they don't move anymore! Oops!
Boo-Boos - Emma and Ella get a lot of boo-boos, especially Ella. Mommy has to kiss all of our boo-boos to make them better (no matter how small), and sometimes, Ella kisses her own boo-boos!

Some Things We Don't Like:
sand on Ella's feet
sharing our toys (although sometimes we do)
going to bed
stinky diapers
most veggies
shopping
dirty hands or feet
bees (any flying bug) in the house (but they're OK outside)
thunderstorms
vacuum cleaners
Mommy's hair dryer
strangers

Teamwork

Emma and Ella work together as a team. Sometimes, they come up with very creative ideas together. For example, Emma and Ella like to wear Mommy and Daddy's shoes. One day, Emma and Ella took all of the shoes out of Mommy and Daddy's closet and lined them up on the bed. Then they tried all of the shoes on and walked around in them. Daddy's shoes are hard to walk in because they are so big. Another time, Emma and Ella came downstairs for breakfast, but on the way they stopped on the landing to examine the old cookie cutters in the basket on the stairs. They decided to take all of the cookie cutters out and piled them all on the bottom step. Then they put them all back in the basket. They were very proud, and had a great time making animal noises for all of the different cookie cutters. Teamwork comes in handy at naptime when the girls do not want to go to sleep. Instead, they work together to get into all kinds of trouble. One day they took all of the books off of their bookshelves and put them in a huge pile on the floor. Another day they took all of their clothes out of their dresser. Another time, they filled up the shopping cart and baby buggy with toys from the playroom, then filled their cribs with the toys. There was no room to go to sleep! The girls dump and fill all kinds of things. They have even used little buckets and watering cans to empty all of the water from the baby pool - they watered the driveway, the sidewalk, the plants, the grass, Mommy and Daddy, themselves, the water table - until all of the water was gone! Then, of course, they wanted Mommy to fill it up so they could do it again!
Emma and Ella also like to draw. They have Color Wonder markers that (supposedly) only mark on special paper. One day, Daddy was reading the paper in the living room while the girls played in the kitchen. They were very quiet. That is always a sign that trouble is brewing. Mommy walked out to the kitchen to find that the girls decorated the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Even though they used the Color Wonder markers, you could see the marks on the wall. What a great example of teamwork in action! They were very proud of their picture, and then they helped Mommy clean it off. Luckily, when Emma and Ella make a mess, they are good cleaners, and help to clean it up. Emma and Ella also work together during playtime. They will often work together to finish a puzzle or a stacking toy. Sometimes Ella or Emma will point out where a piece goes. When they work together to accomplish something, they clap when they are done. The amazing thing about teamwork for Emma and Ella is the fact that they don't have to talk about what they are going to do. It's as if they know exactly what the other one is thinking. It is fun to watch them in action, even when they work together to make a mess!

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