Claire Elise, Future Decorator of America (FDA)

Sunday: I put up the Christmas tree while the girls were napping. I put on the lights also. Ellie woke up and helped me decide if the colored lights should flash or be still. She liked the "twinkling" feature, so that's where we have it now. How I determined that's what Ellie liked? She smiled when I hit that option; she cried when the hyper-flashing option started...for that I will always be grateful.

Monday: Claire helped me unpack the ornaments. Well, I was working; Claire was unpacking. Decorating with Claire is a new sport: speed decorating. I worked up a sweat while Claire handed me several ornaments at a time. "Here, Mommy. Here it is. Take it. Take it." The tree looked great!

Tuesday: Ellie sits right next to the tree and doesn't even reach out to touch anything. She likes to watch the lights. Claire has undecorated and redecorated the tree several times by noon. She liked the ornaments with the Peanuts gang. I find ice-skating Snoopy this afternoon in the Fisher-Price Little People House with Mr. Potato Head. I don't even speculate why. Mr. Potato Head and Snoopy go back to their assigned locations until their next clandestine meeting.

Note: I have to say....I went from my "white-lights, matching silver ornaments and bows" tree to a "colored-light (twinkling, nonetheless), homemade and Hallmark ornaments (too many to count!)" tree. I love it! I also hated riding around town looking at Christmas lights. Now I find myself driving through unknown neighborhoods so that Claire gets to see the houses that have cool lights (which she loves). It still doesn't motivate me to decorate the outside of our house though...maybe someday. Nah...

Teddy Bear Picnic

Claire had her first preschool program yesterday. She sang the songs and did the motions all week. She was very excited that Mama Sue bought her a new teddy bear. She chose her outfit carefully and let me put her hair up in a special way...without crying or yelling at me.

We got to school and she did her normal, "Mommy, don't leave me" routine when I left. She put on her teddy bear ears and paraded down the hallway with the other kids. Then the teacher introduced "The Teddy Bears" and the Sunbeam teacher pulled back the room partition .... and Claire was standing next to her teacher crying (Claire is a Honeybee). No bear ears, no teddy bear in her hands, crying and looking very pitiful. She spied Mama Sue and Papa Rex and ran to them (I was on the opposite side of the room). I tried to get her to participate and ended up in the hallway holding and reassuring her.

I'm so proud of my little drama queen. There will be many more preschool programs to come. =)

Wow!

This is SCC's No String Attached Puppet Ministry from their performance at the Pumpkin Patch Carnival. I'm amazed what you can do with a black light and white gloves. It makes me cry every time I watch it. Hope it works for you. Again, wow.....

OK, So I can't figure out how to upload the video. Here's the link to the SCC website. Maybe this will work.

http://www.springscommunitychurch.org/youth/index.php?id=58

Halloween

I really didn't care much about Halloween before I had kids. I mean, I dressed up most years and helped out at the church's Pumpkin Patch Carnival. This year I coordinated all the fun and it was a blast! But that's another story. Here are pictures of the girls. Aunt Dana held Ellie all night, so she was happy (both Ellie and Aunt Dana). Claire ran around the carnival with Mama Sue (Thanks, Mom!) and had a blast, I think. She was so overwhelmed when we got home it took her several hours to calm down and go to sleep. Ellie was asleep long before we got home. Both slept until almost 9:00 this morning. Ellie was supposed to be a punker with her tie-dyed shirt and blue mohawk, but she wet her outfit during her nap, so we had to go with plan B. She was still cute! Thanks, Alex and Natalie, for the make-up.

My little mountain climber

OK, I have to stop hiding things from Claire on the top shelves of the kitchen cabinets. For the 7th time (approximately--the event is a daily occurrence), I have caught her sitting on the kitchen counter with something from the top shelf. She hasn't figured out how to get down from the counter yet and needs help getting down. She's usually very proud of herself for getting the item in question. So now I have two questions: 1) should I be proud of her sense of accomplishment and drive to achieve her goals? and 2) do you know anyone who gives rock-climbing lessons to 2-1/2 year olds? I have a client for them.

P.S. I'd take a picture for you, but I've misplaced my camera. I'm convinced Claire hid it so I can't document her shenanigans.

Drama Queen

The girls and I went to the Venetucci Pumpkin Farm yesterday with Claire's preschool class. Nick Venetucci gives every child a free pumpkin, BUT they have to be able to carry it out of the field. Right.... Anyway, Claire found one she liked and could carry for awhile. Luckily, there were only 2 checkpoints and I carried it the rest of the way. At the first checkpoint, the man asked Claire to carry her pumpkin for a little while. She carried the pumpkin for about 1/200 of a foot, put it down, and threw herself to the ground breathing hard. The man was laughing so hard I thought he might wet his pants. Luckily, he let me pick up the pumpkin and Claire regained her composure. I'm working on getting a copy of the picture to post (her teacher took one while she was on the ground).

My echo

Ellie was crying while I was getting dressed this morning. I must have been repeating the same phrase to her because Claire went over to her, patted her on the tummy, and said, "It's okay, Punkin." Ellie stopped crying. Claire returned to her T.V. watching.