Clarification

I thought I should clarify a point I made in my last post, and add some details I forgot about. The girls will be starting day care on June 2. The day care in Walden requires they be two years old.

Also, I forgot to add a bit about the songs Elise likes to sing. Her newest favorite is "la la la, Elmo Wor!" (translation: La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World...) She also gets really excited when she has Grover on her diaper and chants "Elma, Gogee, Elma, Gogee!" because Elmo is on the back of the diaper. Her other favorite song is the Do Ray Me song from The Sound of Music. When we drove to Steamboat last week to take Grandma Sue to the airport, she sang "Do me me! Do me me!" the ENTIRE way.

That's all I forgot! I hope you enjoyed thoses stories.

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

So here we are, still in winter. Sigh. We were teased by temperatures in the sunny 50's earlier this month but lately we've had lots of snow and even if it does get up to 50, it's freezing. I've decided to put the girls into day care two mornings a week and we are all very excited about it. On one of those days it was warm, we visited the park at the same time as the kids from the North Park Child Center. Elise and Linnaea had the BEST time playing with the other kids, and there are 3 two year olds to make friends with. When the group had to leave, Linnaea burst into tears and Elise tried to go with them. So I think they are ready for some socialization and mommy-free time. They really have been doing so well with learning words, colors, and letters. I estimate they know well over 100 words by now. We're still working on counting to three (we're stuck on two). And I think Linnaea is ready for potty training. Twice this week she's grabbed one of her bath bowls, sat on it, and said, "Pee pee! Pee pee!" So we've got two pink potties coming in the mail from Grandma Sue. Photos to follow.



Swingin' at the park on one of the "nice" days.





Playing dress up.





A picture of Linnaea with a smile--no eye squinting! Her pacifier is her bunny's tail.





Elise channels Olivia Newton-John circa "Let's Get Physical."





The future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades...





Wearing mommy's boots.





Elise truly loves all things music.





Elise explores at the wildlife refuge. We saw lots of poop that day but no animals.





Walking towards the bridge at the refuge.





Linnaea picked this outfit out all by herself.





Today they dressed themselves again. The backpack is Elise's standard accessory.





Linnaea's ready for the beach!





Grandma Sue reads about clownfish.





More dressing up. Linnaea loved Grandma Sue's shoes because they didn't have backs--easy to get in and out of!

Words and More

I am having a lot of fun teaching Elise and Linnaea words, letters, and feelings. They each know about 6 or 7 letters and can sing the first 4 of the alphabet. They absolutely love hearing me sing, which totally baffles Kevin, as my voice is one of the worst singing voices he has ever heard. But my darling children seem to be enchanted by it and continuously ask for more songs, which makes me feel so good inside. They have started to sing along with the Do Re Mi song and My Favorite Things from "The Sound of Music." I put in the movie set to "songs only" and they are completely thrilled to see the songs performed for them. You can set it to "sing along" where the words appear on the screen, and can I tell you how happy I am to finally see the words to the Lonely Goat Herd song?

I also had an amusing conversation with Linnaea at the park on Saturday. It went like this--
Me: "What are you eating?" Her: "Dirt!"

She and Elise also like to point out when people are crying in books. Their work for it is "cuck" and then they say "sad". Linnaea also likes to tell me whenever she is stuck, which sounds like "Guck!"

Well, no pictures this time as Kevin has taken the laptop with him for a week long training in Glenwood Springs. I forget how to load and convert photos on our desktop and really don't feel like trying to figure it out again. It's already 40 degrees this morning so we're going to get over to the park and enjoy the clear blue sky!

Are We There Yet?

We have been having lots of fun finding things to do in the house this winter. Not really. Actually, we've had 3 or 4 days of 50 degrees or higher this past week, which is REALLY exciting. We've been able to go to the park again, although the playground and swings are surrounded by enormous puddles from the melting snow. But we brought the stroller out from the garage and have used that to visit the park, and boy, what a treat it has been. We're already planning some camping trips for the summer and just can't wait.

Elise and Linnaea are at the cutest stage now. Well, every stage is the cutest, right? They love to repeat everything we say, and Linnaea constantly tries to have conversations with us while we have no idea what she is saying. They were very much into hot and cold last week, and love to tell us when something is cold (milk, ice) and hot (bath, oven). They are also extremely into telling us which objects belong to who: Kevin apparently owns the ketchup, cokes, and all the hats, jackets and shoes. I own the phone, the toilet, and the kitchen chairs. They also love the characters on their diapers. For those of you who don't know, Pampers diapers are decorated with Elmo on the back, and a different Sesame Street character such as Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie Monster, or Grover on the the front. They get so excited about who is on their next diaper!

We've been on a few trips to Steamboat Springs to visit the indoor playplace at McDonald's. Those trips are quite fun. We do a little shopping at the Safeway in the racecar cart, then head over for some play time and a cheeseburger at McDonald's. However, it is an hour away so we only get to do that every 2 weeks or so.





Elise love to put on her backpack, shoe, and hat to go around the house.





A glimpse of my new haircut. I'm not sure my hair has gotten used to being short yet.





Elise watches Sesame Street in Linnaea's easy chair.





Elise reads Mommy's book about toddlers. She wants to know when she should start potty training.





I tried to get a nice, natural photo of Linnaea, but I ended up getting 4 in a row of her cheesy fake smile.





Elise can put away some food.





This is how they insisted on being dressed to play in the house. Elise is upset because I won't show her the photos on the camera.





Elise likes to wear her bath towel around the house in the mornings.





The girls "help" Mommy with the dishes.

What We Did For Valentine's Day

We decided to have a two day Valentine's Day celebration. On Friday we went to the library for story hour. We dressed up in our new Valentine's Day outfits and went over to visit our friends. It was definitely an improvement over last time. We sat still in Mom's lap for two and a half books!





When we came home we found Rosie had an accident.





We got Valentine's Day tattoos from Miss Kathy. Elise decided she wants to look like a sailor.





On Saturday we woke up and brushed our teeth. Linnaea has an Elmo toothbrush, while Elise's features Cookie Monster.





After we brushed, we got a piece of Valentine's Day cake Mommy made. Elise was scared of the icing. They both ate about half a piece after a LOT of coaxing.





Then we colored!






Then we got to take a bath, our all time favorite activity. Linnaea is sporting Mommy's old swim cap from the Tri For The Cure she did two and a half years ago. Linnaea kept the cap on during the whole bath.

There's Nothing Better Than Sisters

Elise as "The Coat Monster"



All of a sudden, Linnaea has started to love giving hugs to Elise. She actually cried last night when Elise wouldn't come over and give her a hug! Elise was into it the night before last but lost interest since.

It's the Little Things that Count

Elise and Linnaea reached 20 months old on January 29th and are two little joys (most of the time). I just love watching them play together and by themselves. Sometimes I still wonder what I have gotten myself into, but every challenge is worth it when I look at their little smiles and hear their little giggles and words. They have picked up over a dozen words in the past two weeks: Mommy and Daddy (instead of Mama and Dada), rice, box, backpack, rock, sleep, water, wet, cookie, night, apple, red, blue, brown, etc.

Linnaea has even combined words, which is a big and exciting milestone. She can say "night night Taffy (or Daddy or Mommy)" and yesterday she said "Daddy apple" about the apple Daddy was taking for lunch.

Elise LOVES to sing and dance. Her favorite song to sing is Patty Cake, which sounds like "Pa kee, pa kee. Rooooo. Paaaa. BEE!" Interpretation: Patty cake, patty cake. Roll it. Pat it. Mark it with a B. And she does it over and over without any prompting. Elise also likes to pretend sneeze. I think she got it from one of her favorite books, The Mitten, when a mouse sits on a bear's nose and tickles it with his whiskers, making sneeze "AAAAA Choo!" So she walks around going AAAAA choooo. It is absolutely darling.

They are still crazy about Sesame Street and anything Elmo. They have also started watching The Jungle Book movie and LOVE it. They get so mad when I turn it off.

Lots more is still to come!