Why do they grow up so fast?

Some days they aren't growing up fast enough. Other days I just want them to be little babies again.

Ellie is standing by herself. She is walking along furniture. She will probably be walking by her first birthday at the end of April. She's so cute!

Note: I went out to take a picture of Claire riding her toy on the couch, but I missed the moment. Leather furniture is quite durable.

Fashion Plate Claire strikes again!

Claire LOVES to play outside in the backyard! Now that she can open the back door herself, we have had to establish some rules about playing outside. 1. Sam must be outside with Claire. She's really good at getting him to go outside with her. 2. She must be dressed. Shirt and pants required. 3. She must come tell me she is going out. 4. She must have shoes on. If it's snowy, then boots are required. 5. If it is cold or snowing, a coat is a must.

Perhaps I should have been more specific about the show rule, but, as the evidence shows, she does have shoes on.

This picture makes me laugh because it is the epitome of who Claire is. Note 2 different shoes on the wrong feet.

Note to paranoid Moms who may be reading this: Our fence is too high for anyone to climb. The gate is locked from the inside. Every yard around us has outside dogs, so nothing is coming or going over our fence without a lot of noise. I check on her frequently.

Does this look right to you?

This is Ellie sitting on the back of the bookshelf. I'm not sure how the bookshelf ended up like this.

Sisters

Sometimes they are so cute you could just pinch them! On this morning, I was getting dressed when I heard Claire talking on the baby monitor. I go into Ellie's room and Ellie is sitting in her bed (actually I think she had her legs stuck between the bars) and Claire is talking to her. Claire only recently started talking in full sentences where you can actually understand her. Well, I could mostly understand her, but no one else could. She was telling her baby sister, "Is ok Eyyee. Mommy's comin." (phonetically so you get her speech patterns). So sweet.

Of course, this is all before we go downstairs and Claire starts yelling "NO EYYEE. DAS MINE!" I hear that a lot. At those time I want to pinch someone, but not because it's cute.

It's not fair!

It's not fair that I understand EXACTLY what my almost 3-year-old is thinking. I can look in her eye and know exactly what she is thinking. Good thing she is still in awe of this "gift." Someday she won't like it. And she's quite the actress too.

Let me set the scene: I am working (as is the norm these days) in my office, which is right off the living room (aka playroom). Ellie starts to scream. Not a hurt scream, just a "I'm really pissed off right now" scream. I walk out and am able to capture the moment above. Ellie is trapped under Claire's chair and can't move forward because of the couch. She can't move sideways because she's too big. She can't move back because Claire is blocking her with her feet (and probably kicking her also, but I didn't witness that part). Claire is enjoying her TV show and paying, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Ellie is screaming right underneath her. Claire just looks at me (before I can say anything) and says "Ellie is stuck." Right....Ellie is in for a rough life. I'm going to have to help her toughen up somehow. Naw...Claire will do it for me.

Note: Ellie has this freaky ability to get a foot worked out of her sleepers. She wiggles it out between the snaps. It's weird. In the picture above, her foot is out.

Claire is potty-trained too now. Kind of. She will potty at preschool, but when she comes home she asks for a pull-up or diaper. When I leave her big girl panties on, she wets them. I think out of spite. Someday her therapist will explain it to me.

Claire's first obscenity

Should I be excited about the fact that my almost-3-year-old has mastered her first curse word? Probably not, but I still think it is funny. OK, I am not the most proficient cusser. I have my favorites, as do most people, but I typically keep it pretty clean. Or so I thought.

Claire wanted to watch TV in our bedroom a week or so ago. The DVR and TV have issues and frequently "locks up." The only resolution is to crawl under the dresser and flip the switch on the surge protector that they are both plugged into. On this morning, I turned on the TV and nothing happened. Knowing it was "locked up," I proceed to get on my hands and knees to flip the switch. During this process (and being 40 with 2 small children, it is a process), I hear Claire say "Dammit." I look at her in shock and she has her hand on her forehead, which makes it pretty funny. After flipping the switch and regaining my composure, I tell her that's not a nice word.

Well....the next day, Ellie dumped over a bin of toys. And Claire.....slaps her hand to her forehead and...you guessed it..."Dammit!" She IS using it appropriately, so I should be proud, right?
Yes, she is sitting INSIDE the toy bin Ellie dumped.

I'm sorry.....

I have been slacking off in my documentation duties as of late. Here is my excuse: I'm busy.

That's my excuse and I will try to be better about posting stories and pictures. Being a mom, wife, cook, housekeeper, friend, employee, business owner, student, volunteer, driver, personal assistant, teacher, and dog poop picker-upper takes a lot of time. Only a mom would truly understand! Long live Starbucks! =)