Convincing Grace

I'll write more about Easter sometime soon, but as I was editing pictures, I came across this series that was too cute. We headed to church 30 minutes before mass started on Sunday since we didn't have a reserved pew like we do at Christmas time, and considering that and a longer than normal service, the kids deserved solid A's - for, as my sister-in-law said, no one had to leave and no one needed a snack! After church though, Grace had had enough - all the poor girl wanted was to have some lunch at Grandma's table! Regardless, we tried to convince her to participate in some picture-taking; I'd say we were moderately successful.

Cute kiddos - but where's Grace?

Maybe we can bribe her with a treat - we'll put Max in charge.

Grace, considering....

And considering some more....

Fine. But, I'm not looking at you.

Enough.

See, I am pretty cute, aren't I.

A Short One-Act Play (Characters = 2)

As many of you know, last spring/early summer we struggled with Liv getting out of bed numerous (17 max) at bedtime. Once asleep all would be well; it was just the getting to sleep part that was so difficult. After talking to numerous people and getting over my "mean-mom" dilemma, we decided to "lock" her in her room (aka - using the video monitor to watch her jump out of bed while I raced frantically up the stairs in time to hold her door closed). This method took 3 days to work where we encountered a sad sort of knocking on the door as she requested sweetly to come out, followed by some crying, and finally by actual request to "lock the door tonight please, Mommy." Amazing.

Well, since it's been almost exactly a year, our slightly bigger, and much more intelligently smart Livy has decided to test the waters once again. After complaining to each other for the past week about how annoying it is that's Liv's getting up again, Brian and I decided to revisit our old methods.

And, by the way, I am typing this as I'm holding my post outside her bedroom door right now - the joys of laptops and video monitors.

Here's a record of tonight's episode (and I seriously hope there will be no re-runs).

(Setting: Liv's bedroom after reading 4 books, singing 2 songs, going potty, taking a drink of water, and checking for monsters in the closet.)

Me: Night-night Liv. Remember, if you get up tonight, Mommy's going to have to lock the door.

Liv: (Quiet in bed for 2 minutes - just enough for Mommy to run downstairs, grab her book and computer and the monitor. Getting up and running to the door) Mommy, I can't sleep.

Me: (Taking Liv back to bed) Okay, Liv, now Mommy is going to have to lock the door. (Leans down for one last kiss.)

Liv: (Grasping Mommy's neck as tightly as possible while lying down, then holding on as Mommy tries to stand up completely - beginning to whimper when Mommy disentangles her arms) Noooooo, Mommy, I love you....I REALLY love you!

Me: (Trying really hard not to laugh) Livy, I love you too, but it's time to go to sleep now.

Liv: (After being in bed for 1 minute, running to door while Mommy stands on the other side, holding the doorknob tightly in her hands) Mommy, I can't get out. My door is locked.

Me: (Mommy, staying strong, does not reply.)

Liv: (Going to her reading light and turning it on) Mommy, my light is on. Mommy, it's really bright in here. (Shuts light off and climbs back into bed when no response is given.)

(Intense crying, whimpering, ahhhh-ahh-ahhh-ing, and all other types of 3 1/2 year-old- I'm-trying-to-test-who's-in-charge noises heard from the room).

Liv: (Amidst all the noises and the occasional yawn that's covered up by more noises) Mommy, I really have to go potty....Mommy, I just bit my cheek....Mommy, I really miss Daddy; I really need him....Mommy, I am so thirsty....Mommy, there's monsters in my closet....Daddy, I miss you soooo much....Mommy, you're not being nice to me....Mommy, but I love you.

(Mommy vacillates between laughing, making frowny faces, almost crying in a "I-know-this-is-for-the-best" sort of way, and eventually sits down on the floor with her computer and opens it up to start typing a blog entry. All is quiet for 10 minutes as Mommy types. Thankfully, she doesn't go downstairs, because a now stealthier Liv gets quietly out of bed and races to the door. Mommy gets her hand on the doorknob in the nick of time.)

Liv: (Running back to bed with a longish sort of wail) Mommy, I love you....Mommy, I love you....Mommy, I really love you. (All crying stops 15 long seconds later...all quiet on the Olivia front.)

(End Scene)

Total Length = 10 - whoops, scratch that - 15 minutes. Stay turned for future minute updates.

Awwww, but isn't she so cute - gotta love that dimple.

Weekends...

Weeks around here have been awfully busy these days. Speech practices have been nuts at school as I worked with students to get ready for district speech last weekend, and tennis (plus his regular job) is going full swing for Brian. Despite the busy days, our weekends have been nice. Here's an update on what the last couple of weekends have entailed (although unfortunately I don't have any pictures of my mom, Thyme, and the girls...my mom and Thyme watched them while I was at speech last Saturday and Brain was in Indiana for tennis).

#1 - Potty Training: Hmmm...how do I describe how this is going. Well, after holding her potty for nearly 3 hours in the morning, Grace had an accident. About one hour later, when I ran downstairs, I heard Grace saying "poopy." Yikes! I ran back upstairs as fast as I could only to discover that Grace had gone on the potty - no accident! "Wow!" I thought, "I have a miracle child who potty-trained herself!" Well, three accidents later, I realized I wasn't quite so lucky as I thought. :) Anyways, Grace, I've decided, will potty-train when she wants to - that's just her personality. We've been doing a lot of "no-diaper times" in the evenings and have had no accidents and 3 volunteer potties - not bad, I guess. We'll keep working on it. (And a random fact - Grace weights 25 pounds (25 percentile) and is in the 25 percentile for height too, but I can't remember how tall that is right now.)


#2 - Drawing: Liv is so into drawing these days. Lately I've been trying to get her to draw objects. While she's mostly into experimenting with various letters and is fairly obsessed with her name, I finally got her to draw a picture of our family. Pretty cute. (BTW - She also counted to 40 for me tonight - so cool to hear!)


#3 - Playing outside: We've been cooped up in our house for too long! I'm so ready for spring, and so are the girls! We've been doing our best to get outside for periods of time in the weekends, and I hope we'll be able to do the same after school hours fairly soon. (And, deep down, I know I should be thankful since in other winters we've still had a foot of snow on the ground at this time!)

Anxious for Spring

Maybe I really shouldn't say I'm anxious for spring because it felt like spring had already arrived today! After nap the girls and I headed outside - it was 47 degrees! I love being able to get outside with them - we have many great toys, but any toy gets old after being played with all winter. Plus, I've been feeling like the TV has been on a bit too much at our house these days, so it's great to be able to get outside to distract the girls from whatever it is they want to watch (Disney movies are a big hit at our house right now). I heard today that next week the 40 degree temperatures are to continue - sure, it may be rather brown and ugly out right now - but I'll take it!

The Many Faces...

The many faces of Miss Gracie...


Last weekend the girls and I spent some time at my parents since Brian was out of town for tennis. It worked out great - I got to spend some time with my friend Lindsay up in the Cities on Saturday, and then Sunday morning we headed up to Fridley for my niece's baptism. The girls were real troopers and did a great job with all the traveling. While visiting, Gracie had fun making faces in Grandma's big mirror and spending some time bonding with Simba the cat - and I truly to think they both enjoyed it. Maybe these cute cuddly pics will convince Brian to give another kitty a try! :)

Learning...

Olivia has started to share some of her learning with me. I've had to be quite creative to get this out of her on occasion - mostly pretending to miss-count, miss-match, and miss-identify in order to get her to correct me. It's been fun seeing some of her new knowledge and abilities come out despite the shyness - actually, I'm not sure it's always shyness, maybe it's more of a I-know-you-want-to-know-what-I-know-so-I'm-not-going-to-tell-you-ness. If that makes any sense at all!

Recently, Olivia's really been interested in showing me she can write her entire name. We have had lots of O's covering everything in the past, and many Ol's, and Oli's, a few backwards Olivia's, and some serious "a" practicing, but not much of the entire name (the right way, that is). But, this weekend, with the encouragement of some new markers, construction paper, and cards, Olivia went name crazy. We even addressed all of her school Valentine's Day cards - I thought we'd get a jump start and do a few, but Olivia stayed focused and enthusiastic, so we finished all 16. Regarding name-writing, she does pretty well - only needing the occasional reminder that the "l" doesn't need a dot like the "i" and a little help with the letter "v." We certainly didn't give her an easy name to learn to write with so many lower-case letters that have a lot of lines in them!

Not bad according to this proud mommy! :)
Notice the "O" practicing in the upper left.

Grace getting her 2-cents worth of attention!
And, no, she's not bleeding from the mouth...that's just marker - I swear.

More Birthday Pics

It's about time I download some of Gracie's birthday pictures! I think it's safe to say that everyone had a fun time! We'll definitely be making a few more trips over to the pool this winter! I'll let the pictures tell the story....

Olivia and Grace

Olivia's friend from Saint Benedict's - Kelby

More fun times with Miss Mya!

Time for cake!

Presents!

Snuggle time on the couch:
Grandpa Roger and Ivy, Mya, Olivia, Pat and Elliot, Thyme and Max

Another celebration with just the family on Grace's official birthday.
Grace needing a little help from Liv - those trick candles are tricky! :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Gracie!