EWP 2.5

Eliza turned 2 1/2 this past week which we celebrated with chocolate ice cream, a birthday candle and a cheerful rendition of Happy Half Birthday To You. She is still bottled lightening and full of smiles. She can always make Xavier burst into laughter. The bottom photo is her pretending she's sleeping - a gag we both thought was still funny, even after the 100th time.

She's learning patience and working on self restraint. We struggle with physical outbursts; "Eliza! Gentle!" is often said. And big news - she's potty trained! It happened really without much ado so I never even got around to blogging about it before. After we came back from Christmas break, we sent her off to school in underwear and 6 changes of clothes and that was that. 4 of us vying for the 1 bathroom in the house though is a challenge. I'm really proud of her. High Five, Eliza!

The Skater Series

Testing out the skateboard on the grass.  I just saw that that there are two week skateboarding summer camps for first graders. Tempting . . .

We are researching summer camps now as early registration is already in effect. I'm experiencing summer camp stress and we haven't even figured out Spring Break yet. There are multitudes of options ranging in cost from about $230-$725. A Week. Yikes! We will probably send her to the camp run by her current after school program although it isn't at her school but she would be with her friend Danika from Montessori. It offers well rounded activities and is the least expensive option. Maybe when she's a little older and has more developed interests we can look into specialized camps. It also makes sense for us to take long vacations in the summer. Club Med Ixtapa anyone?!

Does He Like It?

It's rice cereal time! Mmmmmmmm.
Xavier had his first bite of solid food and the whole family was there for the occasion.
Does he like it? Eliza votes "no."

7 Months

Happy 7 months, Bubba!

Xavier continues to be our patient, mellow, smiley little guy. With two exuberant big sisters, he often has to wait his turn which he does with little protest. His two bottom teeth are growing in giving him a deliciously cute grin, and the top two have started to make an appearance. He's getting closer to sitting up, the next milestone for him before crawling. He also had his first taste of solid food.

And with sadness, he has decided to stop nursing. It was final on Valentine's day which did, in fact, break my heart. He had already surpassed his sisters at 6 months and I had hopes he might make it to 9. I'm trying to pump once a day but I think the end is just around the corner. I love the freedom the bottle gives, but will miss our quiet time together snuggled on the little sofa in his room in the morning and before bed. Knowing that this period in my life is over forever makes the end that much more difficult. Thankfully there is always much to look forward too and he'll always be my baby.

Smash!

Opening to a full house on Tuesday, Addie appeared in her first musical as a mouse in The Cinderella Story. All the kids ages K-5 in the after school program participated in this adaptation of Cinderella, but this time with an anti-bullying message. Cinderella wins the science fair!

Addie wasn't nervous at all and enjoyed the experience of being on stage, much like her theatrically trained Daddy. In addition to the singing, she had one line, "Wow, Macie, they're huge!" (tee hee). The elementary school musical is this spring and all the kinders have a group song so we will have another opportunity to see Addie on the big stage.