Little Helper

Lucy really is a huge help for the most part. She never minds throwing diapers away, taking things to recycling, taking dirty laundry to the hamper or taking her dirty dishes to the kitchen. Most of these things are even automatic these days. She will also set the table, clean up toys (even Harper's mess), and wipe down the table.
Her favorite ways to help are by feeding the dog, watering the plants, sweeping the bathroom or kitchen floors or "cleaning" the tv which usually just consists of her leaving a lot of finger prints all over the screen, but it is done with the best intentions.
Lately she has really wanted to help with real things with Harper. Not just tossing diapers or fetching burp cloths. She is now in charge of afternoon snack. When they get up from afternoon nap, Lucy goes and gets out two bowls and a snack. She fills the bowls, puts them on the table and gets Harper to her chair. I help Harper get set up and then must leave them be. Lucy "watches" Harper and helps her with her cup. She refills her snack if need be and then when snack is over she will clean up the mess, get a wash cloth, wipe Harper down and then pull out Harper's chair for her. Sometimes she helps her down, sometimes Harper just falls out of the chair and sometimes, not very often, Harper gets down gracefully by herself. This little 15 minutes of playing boss is Lucy's favorite time of day oftentimes. She is so proud and really happy that she has helped me.
She likes to dream of taking over the cleaning of the bathroom. A job Ian will happily reliquish one of these days. I'm hoping Harper loves to do dishes. And maybe the third will love to give foot massages. Now that's the life. Why do you think we are having so many kids?

I can read!

Lucy is rapidly moving closer to reading. Some things are just starting to make sense to her all of a sudden. For months I could ask her what sound a "P" makes and she would get it right. Then I would ask her what sound as "S" makes and she would make the p sound again. It just wasn't making any sense to her. Not any more. All of a sudden she is understanding basic phonetics and starting to memorize "sight words"- those are the words that many kids just memorize because they are so constant or so often repeated in easy to read books. She can now spell Mom, dad, stop, Lucy, Harper. She can also sound out many other words.
Don't get me wrong, she isn't picking up books and reading and we are just in the beginning stages, but the interest is there and she is constantly asking me to help her spell out things. She also loves to see a word and sound it out and "read" it to me. It makes her endlessly happy and she will "read" the same word to me over and over again all day long. Today she even sounded out dog and cat all by herself.
On another note, her writing ability has drastically improved as well. Not only is she able to write more letters but she has the ability to draw some basic pictures as well. Now all of the artwork you recieve from Lucy will have lots of "i, H, L, o, c,T, and p's" written on them- those are her "notes" to you. Her drawings all have her stick figure people on them, suns, bugs, fish, flowers, grass, and her version of hearts on them. I love her "people". They are the cutest with their big round bodies, stick legs and arms and faces drawn at the top of the bodies. She takes all of this work very seriously and is proud of each and every mark on a picture, especially signs or cards for people. She puts a lot of thought into what figures go into each drawing.
With all of this drawing comes color choices. I should say lack of color choice. Lucy loves black. When we have done paint your own pottery, I always know which piece is hers because it has the most black on it. The other day she was working on birthday cards for two of her friends and I suggested that she use only happy colors on the card. When she asked me to clarify, I said maybe red, orange, blue, green or purple would happy for a birthday card. She replied, "Well, black makes ME happy. I'm sure my friends like black,too." It's her art, I won't dictate or censor it, but I apologize in advance if your cards all look like sympathy notes. I just hope that her love affair for black stays in her artwork. I just can't imagine my blonde little Lucy coming home 15 years from now with black lipstick, dyed black hair, black clothes and nail polish. Maybe if I don't discourage the black now, then I won't be seeing so much of it later.
On the flipside, if she has ever, I mean ever, asked you your favorite color, you are stuck with it for life. She pulls out pink to use for Bon Bon, blue for Gramzie, Pop Pop, Grandma and Pops and red for Grandpa. You are forever assigned those colors, "because they are your favorite." I will be forever seeing green- good thing it's my favorite.

A Day Late

Lucy dragged out the pom poms and ran around the house cheering "C-A-T-S!" for an hour today. She happy hopped her cheers, she tried to teach Harper, she tried to, uh, teach me. Of course, the Wildcats season ended last night. Where was the spirit the past few days? She's all about calendars these days, perhaps a game calendar will come handy in the fall. She's got a bit more time to teach Harper the cheer before football season starts.

Parade Day

Hugs at the St. Pat's parade.

Daddy's little girl

A little toothy

Well, we are teething, again. Harper decided to be a total monster today and has been skipping meals the past day or so. I finally decided to check her mouth, and there it was, a jagged, sharp little tooth beginning to jut out. The good news, it is breaking through, the bad news, we have a lot more to go after this one.

A friend for each

We had our friends Caroline and Parish over a few days ago. Both girls loved having a friend over and I loved seeing Harper able to play with a buddy the same way Lucy used to. There was lots of taking stuff out of each other's hands, lots of trading of sippy cups and absolutely no sharing. Parish and Lucy pretty much just ignored the little girls and went about their own business, which revolved around rockets, bean bag chairs and cheese curls.

A day at the playground

With a body like that...

My kids love to be half naked, or just plain naked. I guess a lot of kids are the same way, but it still puzzles me. Lately, Lucy asks to take off her pants all the time. She says "My legs are hot". Even with 40 degree weather outside. Harper likes to crawl at top speed with her naked buns working at top speed. Around our house, diapers and princess underwear seem to be the unofficial uniform. Here's Harper begging for snacks in her diaper. With a body like that, who could say no- give that kid a goldfish cracker.

Feathers and tutus

Harper loves different textures of fabrics and I have been letting her clean out the dress up trunk to check out the fabrics and costumes. She loves the feathers, although they make her eyes itchy. She also loves satin and the princess dresses that have glitter on them. And the fireman's hats that crinkle when you press down on them.

Faheys visit

I never posted any photos of Lauren, Damon and Max's visit. As you can see, it involved including Max in the girls' daily (or hourly) tackle sessions, a trip to the American History Museum and time at the playground where Max took his first glide on the sings. He seemed to really like it and both of the girls liked swinging next to him. Lauren hoped that Max would be inspired by seeing the girls run around that he would jump in, instead, they tended to jump ON him more than he had planned. I guess that's what happens when you are the low man on the totem pole. It will be his turn next year to pile it on.

Waiting for Gramzie and Pop Pop

Here is Lucy waiting at the window for Gramzie and Pop Pop to arrive last Wednesday. It reminded me of all the photos that I have of her on Reggie's perch, or a stool or a chair where she was still barely able to see. I will try to find one of those photos and put them side by side. She has gotten so much taller lately and can reach things that she was never able to before. She can even help cook some without needing her stool.

Harper, on the other hand, is trying to learn how to stand on the stool. No balance, no attention span, and the inability to stand still don't get her very far, but she tries anyways. Reggie just pushes her out of the way and Lucy claims it is "her window". In time, she'll be the one tall enough to see and the one big enough to push her little brother or sister out of the way. In the meantime, it remains Lucy's window.

Now, that's funny

Lucy was trying to telly me "jokes" tonight. They all consisted of her saying something ridiculous and then repeated it in a "say what?" type of voice. For instance, she would say, "what do you get when you see a dancing apple?" I say, "what?" and she says (in a "what you talkin' about Willis?" voice) "dancing apple? It's a joke!"

I never got the joke, but she certainly thought it was funny.

What was funnier was what happened earlier.

Harper was playing with the giggle ball- a ball with two sides, one Burt, one Ernie. The ball shakes and giggles when you push a button on one of the mouths. If you push one side too long, the other side starts saying "Is it my turn, yet?" Lucy thinks otherwise.

She swears that the ball says, "Did the car turn, yet?"

I told her that didn't make any sense and told her what it was really saying. She argued with me for about 5 minutes, all the while, I was playing the saying over and over again. We took it to Ian who agreed that I was correct. She continued to argue and I played it one more time and she stops, smiles and says, "I was just teasing you. It was a joke!" Nice cover and we all got a nice laugh out of it. In a town of politicians, we just might have one on our hands. Flip flop.

Booty sleep

Some girls need beauty sleep, Harper needs booty sleep. Her new preferred sleep position is with buns in the air, tucked into the corner of the bed, thumb in mouth. Of course, this is after those buns have gotten into trouble for messing with the miniblinds or for peeking out the window to see what's going on on the street below.

Afrique Queen

I took Lucy and Harper to see Afrique! at the Natural History Museum last week. It was a African inspired drum and dance group that was loud, loud, loud. The girls loved it. They danced, clapped, sang and, in Harper's case, tried to be louder than the drummers themselves.

Lucy is very used to going to these types of performances, along with magic shows, puppet shows, variety shows, etc. And she is forever disappointed that she has bever been chosen to go on stage for any of the volunteer parts. Usually, we are in a small room with anywhere from 15-50 other kids and the performers always choose older kids since they don't get up on stage and freak out. Afrique!, on the other hand, was in a huge auditorium with probably 500 people.

On this particular day, she hoped aloud on the way to the performance that "she never gets picked". I told her she just needs to get her hand up in the air and let them know that she really wants it. Well, last Thursday, her wish was granted. And boy was it. Now, they let all the girls come on stage that wanted to, but not all were chosen to be front and center. Can you believe that she didn't even flinch getting up there with dozens of other kids, most middle school age? Well, she didn't. And here is her performance to African drum beats, learning an African tribal dance. She is front and right of center, in the red. She was congratulated as she left the stage and then when we left the auditorium by complete strangers. I can't wait to show this to her years from now!

Twinkly

Harper is starting to sing Twinkly Twinkle Little Star with us when we sing it to her. At first you can't really tell what she is saying and then there it is- the tune of the song and little words that sound like "Dindle, Dindle..... ar". It's a start and it is super cute, especially since it is mostly sung when she is getting ready to sleep, in a tiny sweet little voice.
She is completely loving "Itsy Bitsy Spider", too. She knows the hand motions and tries to block the spider from crawling her leg, then she turns her hand on you and tries to crawl up your neck.
She is getting so big and is trying to let go to walk, it won't be long now. She walks behind her "mail cart" up and down the street and can cruise from furniture to furniture. She is also trying to get to standing from sitting, in the middle of the floor without assistance. She isn't getting much farther than one leg up with that one, but at least she is trying.
She, indeed, is our little star! And that's something to sing about.

Bionic Dog

Reggie is turning into the bionic dog. About every other year now he needs something major. This time around it's mouth surgery for an absess. His cheek is swollen and getting larger by the day. He is now not able to eat super crunchy things like dog bisquits because it hurts him. We keep promising him a yard in his near future if he would just react properly to the antibiotics and avoid the surgery. He had heard that one before, then we moved into a condo where he spends his days running from kids and going to the bathroom while on a leash. I don't think he is going to cave on this one.

Melon?

Lucy has a new name that she throws around. It started with "Alex" and now Alex has a friend: "Melon". These two names are tossed around quite liberally. They are the names of some of her little animals, imaginary friends, etc. Melon even made a special trip to Mt. Vernon with Lucy and Gramzide and Pop Pop where he was pushed around in an empty stroller and then, when Harper needed the stroller back, Pop Pop had to carry Melon on his shoulders. It is a ridiculous name and nobody knows where she got it from, but we are sure that Melon will provide many juicy stories in the future.

Not shy about it

We went to the library today to kill time between gymnastics and Harper's doctor's appointment (no, she is fine, both are healthy as can be. we are just tired of waking at all hours of the night for the past week and wanted to rule out ear infections. Harper does not have any reason to complain and so she will have to cry it out. I digress...)
And while we were at said library a dad came in with three little boys, one of whom was about 5 years old and apparently terribly shy and not wanting contact with any other kids he did not know. Harper did not get the memo. It was as though this kid had a target on him. Lucy and I were sitting on the couch reading books and Harper was playing on the floor when they came in. The little boy expressed his not wanting to have to even walk past us and his dad sort of coaxed him to another corner of the room. But there was a problem. Harper hadn't said hello yet. She promptly crawled at warp speed over to him. He whined and cowered and tried to escape. It was now a game. She scrunched her nose, giggled, squealed and crawled like lightning over to where he hid. This went on a few more times (even after I replaced her right back in front of Lucy and myself) and yet, she could not get enough of this kid. She thought it was great that he would run and hide from her.
It only ended after he relaxed and realized that she was a baby and just interested in what he was doing and showing off her baby tricks. As soon as he stopped running, she lost all interest. Boys as playthings, I'm sure it won't be the last of that game.

Matching fish

I am sorry to say that we went swimming yesterday with the girls in their new matching swim suits and I did not take a single photo. It is a bit challenging taking photos and making sure that neither daredevil drown, so I opted for no photos. Next time, maybe.
It was a sight, though, and all loved the new suits. Especially the girls. Lucy loved that they matched, Harper loved the skirt on the suit and the feel of the fabric.
As usual, Lucy turned purple and was ready to get out of the water after about an hour. Harper on the other hand, was taken out of the water protesting the entire time. I stripped her down on the side of the pool to take off her nasty wet diaper and she kicked and mouthed to me the entire time, trying to get back to the water.
It could be a long, wet, tiring summer with these two. Lucy likes to be independent in the water and Harper wants to do whatever Lucy is doing. Plus, Harper is a little daredevil. She'll be the one that is dangling one toe over the deep end while laughing at me as I scramble to catch her before she drowns. Of course, Lucy is a tattle tale so that will help. Can you hire personal lifeguards? I may need one in about 2 months.

Shopping with mom

Lucy and I had our first shopping trip today. Not our actual first trip to a store, of course, but our first "I'm paying, now pick out what you like" outting. You see, Lucy is very choosy with her outfits. I had bought a couple things for her a week or so ago and she recieved some things in the mail a few days ago. Much of it she loved, the other stuff elicited comments like, "I will never wear that" or "I don't think I really like that" or "I don't like that color. Or that shirt or those pants. You need to find me something I will like." So, we did just that. There really isn't any rhyme of reason to her selections. They don't involve characters or a particular color or style. I made the returns and handed her her very own gift card and let her choose what she wanted. She was already concerned about sizes, opting always for the hangers that had "green numbers" (2T) instead of the ones we needed, the ones with pink 3Ts. I guess she wasn't ready to move up a size- just like a girl.

We were needing a snack but also needed to hit another store to pick up a bday gift for Aunt Taylor, which Lucy was super-excited about choosing. We took the selected items to the cashier, Lucy paid and we took them to the car, in the rain. We had bought a bag of chips in the store, Lucy sat in the passenger seat of the car and we ate a little snack. She thought she was so big sitting in the front. Then she said, "I wish I could be a raindrop. They look like they are having so much fun sliding down the windows." I agreed. Then she added, "Thank you for bringing me shopping. I'm having a really fun day." Me, too.

Little Elephant

Harper has discovered the joys of spitting. Well, she has known this particular joy for months now, but now she understands the ability to get a reaction out of any one of us. If she hears anything that sounds like spitting, razzing, elephant noises, etc, she promptly responds with her own version. It will leave you soaking wet, in Harper slobber, and is not always such a great trick (when her mouth is full of cheese, for instance). The reactions go something like this: Lucy responds with her own elephant and razzing noises; Ian usually encourages it by making noises of his own and laughing; and I usually remind everybody that spitting is not a very nice trait, all the while trying not to smile at the fun she is having. I wake to elephant noises, I clean up after them at mealtimes and I am covered in their aftermath several times a day. An elephant is a tough pet to keep.
On the other hand, Harper has not let go of her inner-monkey either. This usually comes in the form of very loud screaming and jumping around. She loves to join in on loud noises. When we are at the gym for Lucy, she loves to squawk when the kids get loud. When we are at the indoor pool, she outdoes the children splashing around, even if they are years older than she is. At home, Lucy is no contest for how loud a Jefferies girl can be. Being loud is pure fun for her. I'm sure our neighbors do not feel the same way.

Breaking through

Harper has another tooth coming in. Well, we think it has actually broken through and is now not so painful. A few days ago, a totally different story. Harper, usually a pretty smiley, sweet, happy kid, turned into a biting, crying, mean little tot. She would be sitting in my lap happy as can be and then arch her back, throw her head into my chest and bite me. Then she would raise her head, look me straight in the eye and smile. Then cry. It was a long few days when you factor in the not-able-to-sleep through the painful nights factor. There is nothing like having to get out of bed, only to be bitten on the shoulder by your teething 10 month old, at 3:30am.
Speaking of being 10 months old, Harper is really becoming a little toddler. She is constantly on the move, she repeats sounds, words and phrases all the time, even if it is mostly mimicking. She is also learning all of the requisite "tricks" that babies learn- reaching up to show us "high" and reaching to the sky to show us "so big" and waving bye, bye or wiping her mouth (or your mouth) with a napkin. She is beginning to show preferences to her baby dolls and stuffed animals and even colors when given the choice in balls or cups, etc. She loves fabrics and will drape Lucy's clothes or dress up clothes over her face to feel the different fabrics. She eats all her snacks at the "little table" with Lucy and now attends storytimes with her big sis as well. She loves to get people to laugh, she loves rough-housing and loves cuddling. She screams and heads for the little table when she sees a bag of goldfish crackers come out and she screams and yells "mo mi" (more milk) when she sees her bottle being prepared. She holds her hands up when she wants to be held and she is stubborn as can be when she wants to do something and is told no (such as playing with the stereo, removing the door stops from the wall, attempting to tear up library books). She loves to swing, get tossed into the air and be tickled. I suppose these are typical for a 10 month old and I suppose that Lucy went through all of these same things at about the same stage, but they are new to Harper and we love experiencing them with her.

Poser

So I stopped photographing Lucy, per her request, but much to her chagrin I kept photographing Harper. So, the tide has turned. She now wants to jump into most photos and even requests me to take her photo at times. Case in point, I was taking video of her at gymnastics and she began cheesing for the camera, as though I was taking photos. Not to be outdone, Harper began grabbing the camera and showing me her teeth, and snorting. I guess they are both ready for their close-ups.

Who needs hot cocoa?

We had 6 inches of snow fall upon us Sunday night and were therefore "snowed in" all of Monday. To pass the time Lucy and I went outside and were joined by Ronin. They had had enough after only a shortwhile and decided that they needed to take the fun inside. To warm up? We made snow cones. You see, whenever I make Lucy hot cocoa she gets super excited and then lets it sit and get cold and refuses to drink it. It's just not her thing just yet. So I went with scooping up snow and adding flavoring. It made her infinitely happy and she is ready for one at all times now (and reminds me so about every hour).

Caught with her pants down

It has been noted that Harper can be a bit of a rascal when it is her naptime. She is just too busy to settle down but too tired to stay up so she ends up just getting in trouble. This includes pulling anything she can into her bed, bouncing up and down, talking, trying to bend the mini-blinds back that are on the window next to her bed and whatever other mischief she can manage to get into. See for yourself. This is the first time this happened, but not the last. Harper is small anyways and with all the crawling, climbing and cruising she does she is not getting any thicker, just widdling away so she has a hard time keeping her pants on. Unfortunately, she thinks that this just adds to the fun. She wears them on her head, she plays peek-a-boo with them (by herself) and she tosses them around like a ragdoll. Eventually she decides to go to sleep, with or without pants. It's tough being 9 months old. You have to be really inventive with the ways you get into trouble.

Ice Skating-?

When you live in a small space, it is cold outside and you have run out of activities, anything sounds like fun to a 3 year old. Here is Lucy "ice skating" in our living room in her skates made out of waxed paper and rubber bands. We actually got nearly 30 minutes of peace out of the acitivity which was complete with twirls and jumps and pummeling of little sister.

He's Baaaack!

Ian was in London, England last week. After a week of managing the girls on my own, he was certainly a site for sore eyes. Very tired eyes, actually. He got home and within a couple hours he was passed out on the floor and I was asleep on the chair. No big deal? Well, I awoke to the sound of the girls fighting. Yep, we fell asleep on the job- both of us. And of course, Lucy didn't want Harper messing with some toy and Harper was determined to get said toy. Just a small milestone that Ian missed while he was gone- sisterly fighting. Lucy better watch out, Harper is a little monster, she is stubborn, determined and a bit wiley.
But back to the reason I was writing this entry. The girls missed Ian terribly. In fact, he had only been gone for about 3 hours last Sunday when Lucy was told to "knock it off". Really, he hadn't even been gone as long as a day at work and she was pouting and really laying it on thick: "I miss Daddy. Harper misses Daddy. We are so sad. I feel like I want to cry. Harper wants to cry, too. Aren't you so sad, Momma?" The right intentions, just maybe a little premature 3 hours after his departure.
But when he returned there was nothing artificial about the reaction. She had made him a sign, she was watching out the window for his taxi, she was jumping up and down and she was so excited to see him. She just wanted to sit on his lap and take him in.
Harper was a little more subtle. She was having a snack in her high chair and she sort of just smiled and stared for a few minutes. Then she little out the little piggy face we know and love- snorts and crinkled nose and giggles and a big show for her daddy.
And then, we passed out and they got in a fight. Just your average evening around here. Welcome Home, Ian!