JEB: 19 Months Old!

We checked off another monthly milestone for our littlest lady and life with June could not be more fun. This girl is an absolute riot. She's talking so much and her sweet personality has really been shining through in recent weeks. I wish I could bottle this stage forever! Here's what little Goonie has been up to:

• Like I said, talking a lot. Our new favorites: "baby," "Elmo Woh" ("Elmo's World"), and "OK" and "yeah," which are June's response to pretty much any question you ask her. And, we are no longer "Mama" and "Dada;" we now are always "Mommy" and "Daddy." And, June calls Ellen "Elle-Belle," which is super sweet.
• Spelling her name: "J ... Ooh ... N ... E ... Joo!"
• Praying. June clasps her tiny hands when we say our dinner-time prayer and participates in the "amen" part. :)
• Lots of singing. June's old standby songs are becoming more developed and she's added some lullabies to her repertoire. 
• Loving hummus. It's especially cute to hear her say the word "hummus" considering she has a bit of a lisp.
• Working on manners (remembering to say "please" and "thank you")
• Mimicking using the bathroom like a big girl by pretending the bathroom stool is a a toilet
• Still giving lots of hugs and kisses
• Imitating a frog hopping across the house, complete with "ribbit" sound effects.
• Insisting on reading books with Mom or Dad immediately upon waking up ... This needs to happen even before a diaper change!
• Jumping on the couch (and giggling when you tell her to stop or sit down)

Also, June (and Mom) survived Mom's (long-overdue) first night away during a recent trip to Vegas! Success all around!

EVB: 3 Years + 11 Months Old!

Less than a month to go until EVB's 4th birthday ... Yikes! Lots to do (most importantly, getting Ellen to make up her mind about the theme of her party!) as we savor the final weeks and days of our little lady being 3. It's been a busy and exciting month for Miss Ellen. Without further ado, here are the highlights, which include a few "big girl" milestones:

• Finally finding the courage to jump off the diving board at Omma & Boppa's pool. (After she did it for the first time, of course she couldn't get enough ... too bad Ellen acquired this new skill at the very END of summer!)
• Graduating to a bigger bike, complete with training wheels. All it took was seeing the older neighbor kids zipping around on their two-wheelers for Ellen to eagerly move on from her giant trike.
• Ditching her junior dining chair for a regular, adult-size chair at the dinner table
• Doing great at preschool. Ellen has been having lots of fun making beautiful artwork, learning important things like taking turns and standing in line, and making new friends. (EVB's favorite buddy is a little boy named Carson. They're apparently so tight that they even take trips to the bathroom together.) Oh, and Ellen got in trouble for the first time at school. There was a pushing incident ... EVB hasn't been too eager to talk about it, but I think she definitely understands that she did something unkind and, more than anything, I think she was mortified that she disappointed her teachers and Mom and Dad. :)
• Showing an interest in spelling/reading. Ellen is constantly asking how to spell various words and likes to try to identify words on the pages when we read books at bedtime.
• Lying. To date, EVB's fibs have been pretty harmless, but I'm worried about what the future might bring because this girl has one amazing poker face.
• Still taking great care of June (when she's not tormenting June by invading her personal-space bubble). Ellen's new favorite thing is having June sit in her lap to look at books and I've even caught her trying to lift June up a few times. :/

All-in-all, Ellen is ... well, she's Ellen. And we love her just the way she is. :)

JEB: 18 Months Old!

June Bug is officially a year and a half (and halfway to 3)! This seems like a big milestone for our goofy little girl. June continues to amaze us with all of the new things she learns and does each day. Here's what J.B. has been up to as of late:

• Talking up a storm. We're at the point where we can no longer keep track of the words/phrases she knows because there are so many. She understands absolutely everything and says most things. My current favorites are "teacher" (because it sounds so sweet when she says "tee-cha" in her little voice), "bath" (which comes out as "baff" at the top of her lungs, usually while running buck-naked down the hallway toward the tub) and "here you go" whenever she hands us something.
• Reading lots. Like Ellen, June absolutely loves books. She enjoys being read to as well as "reading" on her own for long periods of time. It's especially fun now because June can request specific books either by saying a word or two from the title or referencing something in the book so we know exactly which book she's talking about. Junie's favorites these days are: "Where's Spot?," "Jamberry," "I Love You Because You're You" and "My World."
• Singing. At times, June sings better than she can speak ... She can sing a good portion of "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Five Little Monkeys Swinging from a Tree," "Row, Row, Row You're Boat," "The Hotdog Song," "Pat a Cake," "Baby Bunting," "The ABCs" and the theme songs from "Elmo's World" and "Doc McStuffins."
• No longer using a high chair. At home, June now joins the three of us at the table by sitting in her booster seat.
• Getting more efficient with using utensils.
• Wearing "big girl" clothes. In other words, wearing clothes intended for someone her age. (I decided that enough was enough and packed away the last of the 3-6-month clothes even though some of the shorts/pants still fit.) June still is sans hips, but she seems to be filling out everywhere else. :)
• Teething, of course. June is ALWAYS working on new teeth, but I think the poor thing still has just eight (four on top and four on the bottom) even though I was sure her molars had come in a few weeks ago ...
• Continuing to make progress in the "can't-stand-to-have-mom-out-of-my-sight" department.

We have June's 18-month well visit in early October ... can't wait to see how she's measuring up!

Ellen's First Day of Preschool

Miss Ellen is officially a preschooler! We can't believe she's big enough to go to school, even if it is only two mornings a week. EVB's first day at St. Ambrose went great. She was very excited and had no problem whatsoever during drop-off time. She's a brave little girl! She's been a little tight-lipped about everything she did her first day, but I've managed to gather the following details about her activities in the Caterpillar room:

• At "circle time," Ellen sat on the "O"/octopus and "F"/flamingo squares and her teachers sang the same "days of the week song" that mommy sings.
• She had an English muffin with jelly and milk for snack.
• A few friends were sad and cried because they missed their moms and dads.
• Ellen played on the playground where she steered one of two steering wheels while playing "captain."
• She used the bathrooms/sinks that are "just her size."
• She did a schoolhouse art project using cut-up shapes.
• She took a drink from the drinking fountain.

Best of all, Ellen keeps saying that she can't wait to go to school again. Woohoo!

EVB: 3 Years + 10 Months Old!

The countdown to 4 years old has officially begun! Ellen is starting to get excited about her upcoming birthday and, more importantly, her birthday party. As of now, Ellen is planning to have a "Madagascar"-themed party since she recently watched (and loved!) that movie.

Aside from enjoying the final weeks of being 3, Ellen has been busy enjoying the warm weather while she still can. EVB recently moved from her tiny trike to a larger, "big girl" trike. She's been working really hard on her pedaling skills and her stamina increases with each ride. (Mom and Dad are thrilled about this after one too many family jaunts in the neighborhood that included Ellen complaining she was "too tired" to pedal and resulted in us having to push and/or carry her trike home, in addition to pushing June's stroller!).

Ellen still has a wonderful imagination and is starting to get the hang of role playing during her pretend play; it's fun to hear her come up with pseudo names and storylines for herself/her stuffed animals and baby dolls.

As always, Ellen is entertaining as can be and we're relishing (mostly) every moment with our "baby" as she gets closer to being a big 4-year-old. :)

JEB: 17 Months Old!

June is quickly approaching the year-and-a-half milestone and this was a big month for our little lady ... Junie B. is expanding her vocabulary at a rapid pace and she seems to be taking on a different look and adopting a change in personality, too.

We've commented multiple times over the past month that June's temperament has leveled out; she's much less intense and much more easy-going. It may be just part of her normal toddler development, but I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that she's been eating better and (finally) drinking adequate amounts of milk. She's definitely filling out and, with the physical changes, she seems to be acting more confident and secure. June is doing much better with being on her own (aka not literally attached to me) and appears to be experimenting with her comedic skills. There's been lots of silly dances, facial expressions and playful teasing from June, which is very fun to watch (and a welcome change from her screaming fits). June still has her moments of intense frustration and bone-chilling cries (thanks, in part, to the molars she's working on).

June also continues to be very concerned about Ellen's emotional state. If Ellen is even the tiniest bit sad or upset, June will come running from wherever she is in the house to hug her big sister and pat her on the back. And, wouldn't you know, June's hugs are sometimes the only thing that can get Ellen out of one of her funks.

I mentioned June's ever-expanding vocabulary ... here's a list of just some of the new words she says  on a regular basis:

• Ma (Milk)
• Frog
• Slide
• Hot
• Hi, guys
• Uh-oh
• All done 
• Omma
• Hot Dog (in reference to the Hotdog Dance on "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," not tubed meat)
• Socks
• Shirt
• Bath
• aah-vuh (Love you)

June has also added a killer elephant noise to her repertoire of animal sounds. :)

Breakthrough this month: June rediscovered her love of swings!

Ice cream-induced brain freeze.

A hug from June is all (a naked) Ellen needed to stop fussing and oblige to Mom's request to get dressed.

EVB: 3 Years + 9 Months Old!

EVB is just three months shy of her 4th birthday ... I wouldn't believe it except for the fact that she already looks like a 4-year-old. Ellen continues to grow taller (I swear she wakes up taller every day) and take on even more of a big-kid look. Ellen has had a great month. Here are some highlights:

• Loving her dance/tumbling (always pronounced by Ellen as "dance-slash-tumbling") at the Y. Ellen enjoyed class time on her own, always insisting that she be dropped off while Mom worked out and June went to Kidstuff (the Y's childcare). Although I wasn't (ahem) "allowed" to observe her, EVB was always grinning from ear to ear when I picked her up after class.
• Policing everyone's manners. I've been reprimanded more than once recently for accidentally saying "butt" in the presence of Ellen. EVB is VERY serious when she tells me that "butt" is not a polite word and that I should instead say "bottom" or "buns." Likewise, Adam has been told to now refer to the private parts of the buffalo statue at the Minnesota Zoo as "frank and beans" (he's a mature one, that Adam ...). Besides the impolite choice of words, Ellen insists that it is not good manners to talk about private parts. And then there's poor June who gets scolded by Ellen for not saying "please" and "thank you" ... EVB doesn't quite seem to understand that June is not yet capable of saying these words. :)
• Having a strong aversion to bows and buttons. I never realized how many little girl clothes are adorned with buttons and/or bows (both functional and purely decorative). This has made getting dressed each morning very challenging!
• Sharing random thoughts. My recent favorites from the backseat of the car include: "Mom, God gave me just a little smile because that's what I wanted" ... "Mom, dolphins don't have feet"... and "Mom, my stuffed animals don't have bones."