Pre- preschool?

Today was my first attempt at a little co-op preschool with Liliana and some friends. Kids under 3 have an attention span of exactly 4 and a half seconds. I guess since 3 of the 4 have regularly attended nursery at church, I assumed they'd like sitting in a circle to sing songs and play some games. Wrong! Even though I kept each activity very short and had play breaks in between and offered a wide variety of things to do, it was more like I was singing songs and playing games with the other mothers than anything else. We were talking about our bodies and what they can do. I made up a little song/chant about great things our bodies can do (clapping, jumping, flapping our arms, etc.) and thought they'd enjoy acting those things out, but got very little response. We talked about how our bodies can show when we're happy and sang "If you're happy and you know it" with various movements to show our happiness - again, minimal reaction. All 4 kids were into coloring pumpkin pictures with happy and sad faces, so that seemed to go well. I bet they'll get used to it and more engaged as we continue our attempts at our co-op preschool.

I noticed Emmett's third tooth on the bottom popped through last week. He's up to 7 now. My baby just keeps getting bigger and bigger every day. He looks more like a little toddler boy than a baby now. How the time flies.

Conversation with a 2 year old

Liliana to me: "Wiggle your ears, Mommy."

Me: "I don't know how. Only Daddy does."

Liliana: "I want Daddy to stay home with me with no Mommy. I want her go to work."

Thanks, kid. Now that's loyalty for you!

Lili-isms

Last night as Liliana sat on the potty, she looked at me and said, "Pretty soon I will be a boy."
"Just a minute, I want you to tell Daddy," I responded. I called David in and had her repeat herself. He looked at me with a confused grin. "Why do you think you'll be a boy soon, Liliana?" I asked.
"Because I am."
My only explanation is that she is surrounded by boy cousins, a brother, and mainly boys in her nursery class at church, playgroup, and her preschool co-op that we're starting. Also, her cousin, Mason, had been here earlier that day and since they are both potty training, they would follow each other into the bathroom with real interest in what one or the other was doing in there. I asked Liliana, "Don't you want to be a girl like Mommy?"
"No," was her simple and very quick response.
"I'm sorry to break it to you, Liliana, but you're a girl and that doesn't change, honey."
No response. I guess I'll never know what she thought about that!

Words of Lili-Wili

Some days I let Liliana jump in the bath with me while Emmett is taking a nap if I didn't manage to get showered before David heads off to work. Today I put Liliana in the tub first while I finished gathering towels, clean clothes, etc. When I came in the bathroom, ready to shower, Liliana said, "Mommy, I don't want you get in the bathtub because I want to pee in it." I assured her that I didn't want to get in either if that was the case.

Later, while Emmett was still napping, she said, "I want Emmett to go away forever."
"But won't you miss him? Don't you want him to stay so you can play with him?" I asked.
"I want him to go outside. He can look for his daddy at his work," Liliana replied.
"Emmett is just a baby. He can't even walk yet. He would get lost if he tried to find his daddy outside all alone," I explained.
"Ok. Emmett can stay and play with me," Liliana decided.

Farewell Fangs

As of last week, Emmett's center top teeth have really started coming through, so he no longer looks like he could be Dracula's son. Since vampires appear to be "in" right now, it was kind of fun to joke about Emmett being one of them with his silly little fang teeth on top. None of the pictures I took really do his hill-billy vampire grin justice, so we'll just have to remember how funny it was.

Emmett is getting braver with his standing. He will let go of whatever wall, person, or furniture he is steadying himself with in order to get his hands on a toy or reach to be picked up. He can only balance for a moment though, so don't go thinking he's about to walk any day now.

Liliana continues her antics. She's talking up a storm and parrots every word or phrase she hears - especially the ones we don't want her to repeat! It's amazing how bad some things sound when they come out of a two-year-old's mouth. I thought I had such clean language because I'm not a swear word user, but even some of my expressions of annoyance make me cringe when I hear my little one repeating them. "Stupid thing", "dang it" and "jerk" are definitely not as innocent as I once believed. It's amazing the things I learn and change about myself by being a mom!

Nearly there

The kitchen remodel is almost done. We installed brand new cabinets last month, had measurements taken for our counter tops, and then waited while the counters and sink were made. This morning they were installed and once David gets off work he will connect the plumbing to the new sink, put in the new faucet, and connect the dishwasher. I should have a beautiful and complete kitchen before I go to bed tonight!

In other news, Emmett has figured out how to get up the bottom step. He is hesitant to continue going up the rest of the stairs, but we definitely have to watch out because the ability to get up them is there! He is in such a hurry to move around and climb up things. He uses just about every surface to pull himself up to a standing position now. He's getting brave, too, because he'll move from holding on to one wall or piece of furniture, to grab another. I guess he's just determined to keep up with Liliana, whom he seems to think is the greatest person in existence. :)

David's new job at Microsoft is going great. He loves having his own office and access to free drinks all day long.

Liliana's aunts, uncles, and cousins are all in town for my brother's open house and Liliana is having a blast playing with everyone. Each morning she wakes up asking for an aunt, uncle, or one of her grandparents!

Standing for Something & Running from Mommy

Tuesday morning we came in to get Emmett out of bed and guess who was standing up with his hands on the crib rails? Since then, he has been pulling himself up on just about every surface or person he can get his hands on.
Liliana was being a trouble-maker the other day so I told her she could make a choice: listen to mommy or go to her room until she was ready to listen. She ran down the hall loudly saying, "I not listening to you!" and slammed her door loudly. Within a few minutes she said, "I'm ready to be sweet," and I let her out of her room. At least she accepted one of the decisions I had offered her. Oh, what will the future hold?