Olivia recently played the role of an angel in her pre-school Christmas pageant. Her line that she said was "Do not be afraid, for on this day a baby is born in a bed of hay. Even though he is so small, this baby is the king of all." She was a true angel up there and she wowed us with her ability to say that whole line loud and clear. We have the entire pageant on video though it didn't come out very clear on the iPhone. The kids all sang so many songs complete with hand motions and it was very cute. Olivia's teacher this year is Ms. Chrissy and she is a great teacher. She told me that Olivia is an "old soul". She went on to say that she is confident Olivia could teach the class in her absence. lol! I said, I hope that doesn't mean she's too bossy at school. Ms. Chrissy, says no, Livy keeps that in check. So that's good!
Olivia has recently started to sound out and read some words. A couple months ago we were sitting at the snack bar in Target and Livy said, "Mommy, you have to sip your drink." I was like, "I am sipping. What are you talking about?" She said, "See mom, the sign says, S-i-p Sip! And she was right. Above the fountain drinks there was a big sign that said "Sip. Refresh. Enjoy." She can read all kinds of consonant-vowel-consonant words, words with consonant blends like "clap" and "lamp" and even some two syllable words like "Kansas". She is also starting to write words with her own creative spelling by sounding them out, as in the word "mrmad" for "mermaid". She enjoys all kinds of activities and has been taking ballet and tap, gymnastics and swimming lessons. Earlier in the fall she enjoyed taking a daddy/daughter soccer class with Kyle at the Y on Saturdays.
Olivia loves classical music and begs me to listen to it in the car when I try to pass by it on the radio to find something else. (Maybe she is indeed an old soul?). I am amazed by her ability to pick out specific instruments of classical songs heard on the radio. She'll say, "Go back. I want to hear that violin part!" She likes imagining what kind of scene would go with the music- usually involving unicorns, princesses, knights, dragons, rainbows, cats, mermaids or hot air balloons (those are the same things that she likes drawing pictures of) She recently made a book all about cats getting married. She loves ballet too and has watched the full-length Swan Lake ballet on youtube several times in starry-eyed amazement. She loves dress-up, especially putting on princess gowns and and twirling around the living room. We took her to the movie theater for the first time with Henry and Louisa and Laura to see Frozen. She loved it so much that she has been acting it out ever since. Nanny and Bop gave her the doll castle set from Frozen and Grandma and Grandpa gave her the Anna dress-up clothes so she is all set. She also still loves playing with her favorite stuffed animal, Oreo Kitty and her favorite baby doll, Bitty Baby. If you ask her, she will probably tell you her favorite foods are soy beans, lima beans, persimmons, pancakes, and creamy crab soup. She likes all different kinds of books. One day she said, "My favorite book is Helen Keller and my favorite part is when she was wild and no one could control her." That cracked me up! She also loves Little Critter books and The Little House on the Prairie picture books that are based on the actual series.
Eliza learned how to walk across the room at 17 months and has been walking everywhere ever since. Actually, the first time she walked across the room she told me, "Say bye bye, baby." That was a very bittersweet thing for me to hear. She really gets around quickly now. She is learning more and more words every day and speaks in many two word phrases like "Puppy running" and "empty cup."
She asks, "Daddy home?" when we get home from school and park in front of our house. She talks about all of the people that were here over Christmas and it is especially cute to hear the way she says, "Unca Logan" who she was not too sure about at first but now she loves. After her cousins had already gone home, she was still waking very early at Grandma's house and asking, "Henry wake?" "Drew wake?" She saw Livy asleep in our room and said, "Kiss Livy." So cute. The most I've heard her say is four words together and I can think of one funny example. She picked Henry's name in our cousin gift exchange so she helped Kyle pick out a Ninja Turtle to give him. Then, when she saw it sitting in the dining room she kept asking, "Open Ninja?" and I was like, "No, that's for Henry. We have to give that to Henry." Then when Olivia came over she said, "No open Henny Ninja!"
Eliza wants to do everything that Livy does. When it was time for dinner the other night, she crawled up on the bench at the kitchen table and said "Eat here." I told her she was too little to reach and she had to eat in her high chair. Plus we were all going to eat in the dining room. She pitched a fit when I put her in the high chair but I just put food on her tray and walked into the kitchen. I hear Livy start talking to her and Eliza stop crying. Livy then comes into the kitchen and whispers to me, "I made Eliza stop crying because I told her that she is in a big girl chair! I told her she must be a big girl to sit in that big chair!" Little moments like that make me realize what a good big sister Olivia is. Eliza says "'Mere Livy" for "Come here Livy" whenever she wants Livy to come to her (like to come and join her sitting at the piano). She tries to play right along with Livy and the other "big kids". When Livy and Drew were playing, Livy called out "Who wants to go to the park?" Eliza called out, "Park!" and started chasing after Livy and Drew.
Eliza's personality and sense of humor is coming out more and more. When she does something she is proud of or when she appears in a room she says, "Ta da!" She loves playing a game where she pretends to fall asleep and then says, "Pop up!" She has her baby dolls act this out, too. At bed time, we tell her everyone is going to sleep and she likes to make funny comments about all the animals and people going to sleep. She says, "Scooter Honk shoo, Chance Honk Shoo, Livy Honk shoo."
Eliza nods her head in approval whenever she likes something she is eating. Her current favorite foods are chips and queso dip, any kind of soup, any kind of berries, pancakes and scrambled eggs. "Soup" and "dip" are two words she requests frequently. She loves listening to music. She loves all kinds of animals and loudly makes the sounds that go along with them when she sees them. She likes puzzles and loves books, especially Good Night Moon and the Gyo Fujikawa Babies book. She loves the moon and asks to go out to see it at night. She loves baby dolls as much as Livy and those are the most fought about items in our house. Eliza will definitely stick up for herself when someone tries to take a toy away from her without asking. But for the most part she is very generous and easy-going for a toddler. She loves passing out chips, cookies, etc. to share with other people. Her teachers at school say that Eliza is "the sweetest little girl". She is "always smiling" and "so easygoing." She has had a great transition from the babysitter to the day care. Olivia is always so happy to see her there. When I bring Eliza with me to pick up Livy at the end of the day, Olivia calls out, "Everybody! My little sister is here!!" I've even heard her say, "Come touch her soft baby cheeks!" And they all come running up to Eliza. I have to pick Eliza up to save her from the masses. If I pick up Olivia first, all the kids are disappointed that Eliza isn't with me.
We joke that Eliza is Kyle's mini-me. One time we were driving in the car and Kyle asked, "Doesn't anyone want to go to Blimpie and get a sub? Eliza immediately piped up, "Blimpie! um hmm!" This was especially funny because she has never been to Blimpie. Kyle often rises early with Eliza and lets me sleep in in the morning. He says she asks to smell his coffee beans every morning and she says, "ahh."
Our girls are growing and changing all the time but I'm hoping I've written enough here to capture a little bit of what they are like now at the end of 2013.
