Lillian reading

Oatmeal- First Solids

Lemon Face

Lillian is 3!

We had a Dino themed birthday for the Dinosaur Train fanatic in our house! Of course the teacher in me came out and we turned it into an educational experience.  The kids wore dinosaur tails, listened to a dinosaur story and then searched for dinosaur bones! Each one had a "kit" with a rake or shovel and a paint brush to brush the sand off the delicate bones (I made bones out of salt dough using sand molds).

 

The birthday girl above and the dino party below: 

RRROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRR

It's a baby Stegosaurus!!!!

Halloween fun!

I know, I know, "how can you already have costumes done before October? and for 2 kids?"  I did some sewing for Lillian's birthday so I just did ALL the sewing for October at the same time when I had the chance.  Greg would take Lillian out for the day and I'd get lots of time in to get projects done.  This year's birthday and Halloween theme are dinosaurs!  We visited the pumpkin patch the day it opened and took pictures of Charlotte in her costume.  The same day we spent the morning in urgent care with Lillian for a pulled elbow (part of her elbow popped out of place) so she was in a splint and sling for the day.  She is 100% better now but it took a few days for her to feel comfortable to move it....she was more scared of it hurting again.  The doctor tried twice at putting it back in place and never heard it pop so we think the sling and splint did it.  We still plan on visiting again so I know I'll get more pictures of Lillian. 

September

I haven't blogged in a while and realized an entire month and a half has gone by without a post! so this will be a bit condensed.  Charlotte can roll in both directions and loves her jumpy. Lillian is quite the talker..... yes she was before but now you can have full on conversations with her!  This month we took a trip to visit my parents and took the train. It was a great visit and there are too many pictures to upload.


At the end of the month we went apple picking in Julian and had a blast.  Lillian really enjoyed their size as she could "eat them like [we] do" instead of having me slice them into pieces.

 Another big event, Lillian got her first haircut! Imagine that, just a few weeks short of turning 3.  I was 3 before I got my first haircut and my mom keeps saying her hair is just like mine was. We found this cute little shop called Pigtails and Crewcuts that specializes in kids cuts. They have fancy chairs to sit in, they get animal crackers and prizes.

Below is Miss Charlotte exploring some grass while Lillian plays at the park on the beach near our favorite weekend eatery.

Weekly Accomplishments

Charlotte has started rolling over and we have stopped swaddling because of it.  She can only roll onto her tummy right now and doesn't know how to get back over. She is quite the talker and I can tell we are getting into the depths of competition for attention.  Lillian has begun screaming in a sense like Charlotte does so that leads to some fun afternoons!  As you can see in the video below Charlotte often makes noise at Lillian.  This video was taken the first time it happened and I wasn't sure if she enjoyed it or was angry but I figure as long as she is content in any sense then she's ok.  She has had enough experience with Lillian to know if she really doesn't want her to do something then she just cries.  We were out getting an ice cream treat earlier this week after dinner and Charlotte was not in the mood to be messed with (if I recall correctly she had a doctors appointment earlier in the day and had received shots).  It only took Lillian leaning over her car seat before the pouty lip would come out.  If Lillian touched her then she cried.  So I'm learning more and more about their interactions together (although I will admit it is scary to ride it out at times.....)

During Charlotte's nap times, we have been focusing on number counting with Lillian.  She can count to 20 almost on her own (the teens give her trouble and that is common with kids; they don't seem to follow patterns of the 20's, 30's and so on).  We have been focusing on counting each object.  Sometimes I'll pull out a muffin tin, put numbers in each one and she has to count out that many to put in the "cup".  I also just got a number go fish game and we play it only from 0-5; I think the game has cards all the way up to 12.  She hasn't totally gotten the concept of asking and focuses more on the match.  We only play with 2 cards each and I have her lay her cards down (when we first started we all laid our cards down) and I talk her through what she has to say and how to figure out what number is on each card.  With more practice I'm sure she will master 1-10 very shortly!