JEB: 21 Months Old!

Life with June Bug just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter. She has a ginormous heart and is turning into quite the little comedienne. Junie brings us so much joy everyday ... We love this little girl to pieces! Here's what Sweet June has been up to as of late:

• Talking more & more (e.g., "reading" books and, my favorite, imitating Santa by saying, "Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!")
• Requesting to "snuggle Mommy"
• Promptly informing us when she's pooped and then requesting a change. (June sometimes will go as far as to bring us a clean diaper and wipes.)
• Trying out the potty chair. She's had a few successful visits to the bathroom, but she's still a ways away from any serious toilet learning.
• Playing (and wrestling) with Ellen. These two have become great buddies in recent weeks and, for the most part, play very nicely together. (I often feel like a third wheel.)
• Working on her incisors. This poor girl has had a heck of a time with teething, basically since birth. We're hoping her four canines finally pop through so we can have some reprieve until her 2-year-old molars come in.
• Enjoying naps/bedtime. June loves her crib and getting "cozy, cozy" with her buddies: a stuffed mouse named Squeakers, a stuffed monkey named Bananas, a stuffed rabbit named Hops and a little stuffed doll named Teeny, Tiny Baby. June also must sleep with two small "owl blankies," a stripped blanket and a polk-a-dot blanket. And, of course, her paci, which we're hoping to get rid of in the next month or two.
• Eating well. June still loves eating anything with red sauce and waffles.

Size-wise, June is still wearing size 3 diapers, size 5 shoes (though she's probably ready to start wearing some size 6 shoes) and size 18-24 months clothes (though a few size 12-18 months items still fit her).

EVB: 4 Years + 1 Month Old!

Ellen is proving to be a rockstar 4-year-old! We're just one month in, but I have a feeling that 4 is going to be a great year for EVB. She has been doing a wonderful job being a better listener and managing her frustrations when things don't go her way. It's so nice to see Ellen exhibit a sense of maturity I wouldn't have thought she was capable of just a few months ago. We are so proud of our little lady! Here's what else EVB has been up to:

• Perfecting buttons ... still working on snaps
• Asking lots of questions about death and heaven, which we do our best to answer
• Being a big helper to Mom & Dad (setting the table, picking up after herself, getting dressed without too much dawdling, etc.)
• Talking a lot about her next birthdays, going to kindergarten ... and high school ... and college. (She couldn't believe it when I told her that most people who attend college choose to LIVE at school!)
• Working on her flossing skills (Ellen loves the awesome pick flosses she got during her recent visit to the dentist.)
• Requesting to take more soccer lessons. (Ellen just finished her first session of pee-wee soccer, which she loved!)
• Excelling at swimming lessons (Ellen received a glowing mid-session report card!)
• Getting excited for CHRISTMAS!

JEB: 20 Months Old!

Miss Junie B. is 20 months old! (It's crazy to think that June is the age Ellen was when I got pregnant with June ...) JEB is just the best. She is the sweetest, most lovable little person and she only gets sweeter and more lovable by the day. I know there will be many times in the future when she's not so lovable, so I hope this current phase lasts for a really long time! Here's what Junie's been up to lately:

• Talking more and more, of course. She's using longer sentences more often (e.g., "Here you go, Mommy," "Oh, there it is ...," "I love you, Daddy," and "Are you OK, Ellen?")
• Counting. June can count to 13 or 14, but for some reason poor Number 2 is often omitted.
• Showing greater understanding for where people are, where we are going/what we will do when we get there (e.g., if I tell June that we are taking Ellen to school, she'll start talking about seeing teachers, or if Ellen is at soccer with Adam and I ask June where Ellen is, she'll say "soccer ball.")
• More singing. June has mastered the Mickey's part of "Mickey's Countdown," which we listen to (way too often for sane adult ears) on CD in the car. It's hilarious to hear the perfectly timed "hot dogs," "oh boys" and "swells" from the backseat. It makes Ellen giggle uncontrollably, too. :)
• Loving waffles. June typically houses one waffle during breakfast then says, "Mo 'awful' peez?"
• Complimenting the chef. June loves to take a bite of food, then say "Mmm ... 'licious.'" (June recently tried M&Ms for the first time, which she though were especially "icious.")
• Reading. June has started to "read" her books out loud to herself.
• Having an opinion about what she wears. June has many winter hats but she will only wear her beloved mouse hat.
• Walking on tip toes ... our little ballerina
• Learning her colors. June does best identifying pink and when she's unsure of a color, she defaults to guessing blue.
• Standing on furniture. June has yet to meet a couch or chair she can resist standing on. Despite numerous tumbles and scaring Mom & Dad half to death, she has escaped mostly unscathed and, unfortunately, undeterred. 
• Loving everyone. June has been sharing more and more unsolicited "love yous" and hugs and kisses with all of us. (My favorite is when she specifically requests to "snuggle" ... it's impossible to resist!)
• Mimicking conversation. June has taken to saying, "Soooo ..." during lulls in the conversation at the dinner table, something I often do.
• Requesting diaper changes. Lately when June poops, she'll come find me and say "change." We brought out the little potty chair for practice/fun, but I know we still have a long way to go before serious toilet learning.
• Being awesome. Seriously. I'll say it again, June is at a wonderful stage that I wish would last forever!

Halloween 2013

Ellen and June had an awesome Halloween! In fact, we all had a ton of fun. Ellen kicked off the festivities on Wednesday with a Halloween party at school. She was so proud to wear her sea turtle costume and had a blast seeing what all of her classmates were dressed as. We (mostly Adam and I) carved pumpkins Wednesday night ... Ellen and June refused to touch the pumpkin cuts and they're still too young to wield sharp objects, but Ellen did advise me on the shapes she wanted me to carve for her jack-o-lantern's face.

On Thursday, we rushed through dinner and got changed into costumes as quickly as possible so we could get plenty of trick-or-treating in before bedtime. June wasn't too crazy about wearing her seahorse costume at first, but eventually she gave in and complied as long as we left the hat piece un-velcroed.

Ellen couldn't get to the neighbors' houses fast enough! Unlike previous Halloweens, she was not at all apprehensive about marching up to people's doors, ringing the bell and saying, "trick-or-treat" and then, "Thank you; Happy Halloween!" just like we had practiced. As she'd leave one house, she'd yell "Their lights are on; I think they're home!" as she bounded up the next driveway.

To our surprise, June was also very into trick-or-treating. She proudly sauntered up to the doors with her treat bag (or "purse" as she called it) on her arm and managed to say her own version of "trick-or-treat" and "thank you." She would then yell, "bye" at the top of her lungs and wave enthusiastically all while flashing her trademark cheesy grin. She melted a lot of hearts with her adorableness, but she was all business going from house to house.

We called it quits after hitting most of the houses on our side of the street since it was getting cold and we needed to get back to hand out candy at our house. This was almost as much fun as trick-or-treating. Ellen loved watching out the window for kids and giving them candy when they came to our door. June, on the other hand, loved helping herself to our candy bowl and shuttling pieces of candy into the playroom to "feed" her dolls/animals a treat. She then would find a new home for the candy in her trick-or-treat "purse." (I had to sneak them back into our bowl to ensure our supply didn't run out!)

Ellen and Adam headed out for Round Two of trick-or-treating and then I took both girls over to see our friends who live close by. After that, it was back home and off to bed. Such a fun night! We can't wait until next year!

EVB: 4 Years Old!

Where does the time go? I can't believe Ellen is already 4 years old! Ellen kicked off the birthday festivities last week when she passed out treat bags to her friends at school. Then, Sunday (her actual birthday) was the big day with her Toy Story-themed party. EVB had a great time celebrating with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. (I'm guessing we have only another year or so that we can get by with just a family-only party ...). It was a super-fun day and Ellen felt so special because of all of the attention (and awesome presents) from those who love her most.

Here's what our big 4-year-old has been up to as of late:

• Taking an even greater interest in June. Ellen is figuring out how to get June to do what she tells her to do play with her and go along with all of her grand ideas for pretend play. Several times a day I hear Ellen say, "Hey, Junie, can I tell ya somethin'?" (Ellen gets very frustrated when June doesn't "listen," but she tries her hardest to be patient.)
• Baby talk. I hope this is a short-lived phase.
• Still loving preschool. We had EVB's first conference recently and it was fun to hear that's she's doing well. :)
• Excelling at her early childhood screening, which is a prerequisite for kindergarten
• Starting soccer! Ellen will be learning all about the sport with Dad on Tuesday nights as part of Woodbury's Pee Wee Sports program.
• Resuming swimming lessons. Ellen is about to start her Pike class at the Y.
• Being scared of movie/story villains ... EVB shrieks in fear at the mention of just about any movie and she nearly went into convulsions during a recent trip to Home Depot when we had to walk past the animated Abominable Snow Monster holiday lawn ornament on our way to the checkout.

Ellen is such a fun, special girl. We're confident that 4 will be a great year for our little lady and we cannot wait for all the fun that is sure to come our way!

Up until this picture, Ellen did a good job of sitting like a lady for most of the day in her party dress. :)

Birthday donut!

 

June was more than happy to help Ellen celebrate with a donut of her own.

First of many birthday presents (a toaster set from Mom, Dad & June).

The Kid Table

Special Birthday Girl!

Let's do this.

Ellen did a pretty good job with all the cards/presents.

Goofball

The Disney Princess computer Ellen has been coveting for many months!

Birthday bounces!

EVB's fun cake!

Ellen, apparently, has FOUR boyfriends.

The weather was so nice that after the party was over, we were able to enjoy some birthday bubbles outside!

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. :)