The girls have been playing so well together lately, it's like a dream. There are still fights, but lots of the day they are good playmates. I see why having children closer together can be nice - provided you survive the first two or three years first. We ran to get a few groceries and Willa wanted me to take a picture of her hugging June. June ALWAYS wants to hug, so when Willa reciprocates, it's very fun for her. I hope they always love having a sissy.
Willa loves finding ants and potato bugs when we play outside. Usually the ants don't survive her handling. I like to think about it from the ant's perspective. Their just scurrying about their work when out of the sky, like a Greek god, this hand and fingers swoop to pick them up (and then squish them on accident). She often shows me the crushed ant in her palm and asks if he is sleeping. She let June in on the action and at one point June had five or six dead ants and one or two live ones on her hand. We were outside another day after that and June started crying that she wanted two ants for her hand!
At the zoo, Willa wanted to put her arm around June.
Doing things together without being annoyed at each other. It makes me so happy.
We went up to Utah last week for a wedding of a USC friend. I drove up to my brother's in St. George after church on Mother's Day. My parents were there and we had a nice evening, then we all drove up to Centerville together on Monday. It was very nice to split the trip up and especially to have grandma with us for the long leg of the journey! I also recommend Scipio as a rest stop on the way up. There is a little petting zoo and a Dairy Queen attached to the gas station. Get some gas, pet some animals, and then get a little ice cream cone as you get back into the car (after washing your hands). It's also a little more than 2/3rds of the way to Centerville (if you're coming from Vegas). Two-thirds is a magic number, they've done studies about how work days or meetings seem shorter if you break closer to the two-thirds mark instead of half-way.
I spent the week in Utah with the girls and then Ryan flew in on Friday night for the wedding on Saturday. One of the first things on my list was to get us all haircuts. Willa came with me to our curly salon. I can't recommend enough getting your hair cut by someone who actually knows how to cut it. He took some inches off of mine and gave Willa a cute bob. There are a few holes in hers because some of the hair was quite short in some places. She did a great job of sitting still and only needed a few pep talks and reminders that it wouldn't hurt.
The next day, I took June into my mom's regular salon for a trim. I would have liked to take her to my place, but since I was planning to leave it long, and just wanted a little trim, and her curl hasn't really settled in since she still has a lot of fine baby hair, I decided to save a few bucks. The cut is okay, but it really reminded me of why I love curly cuts so much. I just hate when people wet your hair down to cut it. You never go out with wet hair, that's not the "done" look, so why would you cut it that way? You should cut it while it's dry so you can see how it hangs and falls. So, June's hair is totally even on the bottom now whenever she's all wet and in the bathtub, but during the other 23 hours of the day it still looks a little scatty-wompus because some of the hair curls and waves differently when it's dry. I'm not sure where I'll go for her next haircut.
She did look adorable sitting in the chair, though, and Willa worked hard giving her encouraging words and sometimes bossing her around to keep her head in a certain place.
She started out very brave, but started to get a little nervous towards the end. It was a little confusing to her. Still, it's a lot more even on the end and thicker since we got rid of some scraggles. Here's to new haircuts, I think all three of us are looking pretty good.
Willa came out of quiet time this past Thursday pleased as could be and very proud of herself. I believe her words were something like, "Mommy, I cut my hair short like Bridgett's!!" I honestly can't remember my exact reaction, but it probably involved some shock and disbelief. Sure enough, she had taken scissors and whacked the heck out of her hair on both sides of her face. There were long locks of hair falling off and if I pulled my fingers through her hair then handfuls of cut hair came along with them.
But, she was SO pleased and excited. How could I be annoyed or angry or mad? The only thing I felt a little sad about is that she has wanted long hair for quite a while and has vehemently refused any suggestions of getting it cut. We went swimming with Bridgett about a week ago, and she had cut her hair to shoulder-length. I had even suggested since then to Willa that it would be nice to cut her hair short like Bridgett's, but she was adamantly opposed. I guess children can change their minds quite quickly!
Her pleasure and reactions were so hilarious that all I could do was laugh. We went up to her room to see the damage and of course the floor was covered in hair. She then told me that her map to China had instructions on it to cut her hair. She's been very into adventures lately, especially going to China, and will pack a bag to go on her trip. She has this piece of paper that she was practicing her letters on a few days ago that she has taken special care of and put in a special place each night, and this is her map to China. I asked her if she would read the instructions for me. I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I did.
I called Ryan at work and told him the story and we couldn't help ourselves, we just laughed and laughed into the phone for quite a while.
I'm glad I was able to keep my cool, because what's really the problem if she wants shorter hair? It's also a childhood milestone that we've now passed through. Now that the excitement has passed, I've talked to her and said that if she wants short hair, she should always tell mommy so that we can go to someone who has bigger scissors (one of her complaints is that her safety scissors were pretty small for cutting hair). I also told her not to ever cut June's hair - we'll see if that one sticks. She gave me a weird look and almost acted like, "Hey, thanks for the good idea, I hadn't thought of that yet!"
Honestly, I felt a little sad throwing away this soft, thick, beautiful hair that she had wanted long for such a long time, but on the other hand I'm excited for her to have a really cute and short bob for the summertime. It's hard to see the haircut in the pictures, but it's very short - probably around her ears on both sides, long in the back, and also long on top where it was pulled up in a little braid! Since it's curly it blends a lot, but it still looks like a pretty terrible haircut. We're going up to Utah next week for a wedding and I already had an appointment for my hair, so I called and he is going to cut Willa's too. I'm debating about chopping hers myself just a little bit so it's not quite so uneven, but I also just want to wait for the experts. My curly cut person did a great job on Willa's hair last summer and cut it dry. Another big positive out of this is that she isn't afraid of haircuts anymore. She told me several times that it didn't hurt when she cut it. Getting her haircut has been a major fear for the past few years, so I suppose the lesson is, if your child is scared of something, just let her do it to herself.
I'm only two months late posting about June's birthday party! Really, it was pretty low-key, we had Rebecca and Brandon over and the Thalmans. Though, whenever you add a few extra people to our small house it quickly feels very boisterous. June loved the attention and having other kids to play with. She really loves Abby Thalman, who's seven and the perfect age to give June absolute attention and control and enjoy herself while doing it.
We had spaghetti for dinner because it's easy to make, a pretty standard crowd pleaser, and I can't remember what else. I made this amazing chocolate cake that my friend introduced me to. It is definitely the best chocolate cake in the history of chocolate cakes. She brought it over to our house when Willa had surgery and I got the recipe and have been making it ever since. The density, the moisture, the chocolate-yness. It's perfection. It's also super easy. It's a Betty Crocker cake mix that contains pudding in the mix, an additional box of chocolate pudding mix, 1 1/2 c sour cream, four eggs, 1/2 c oil and 1/2 c water, and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I do half semi-sweet and half milk). It's sooo easy and it's extremely delicious. For the frosting, I use the recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder box, which is so fudgy and good. I made it for a baby shower at Ryan's work and it's been the talk of the office ever since.
So, the cake was delicious and June knew just when to blow out the candles. She's such a different personality from Willa and not shy at all! In this picture, she's wearing a dress-up dress because all the girls were doing it and she wanted to too, which explains most of her life (wanting to do what the older kids are doing).
I should add that we already had a little mini-birthday for her at my mom's house the week before. We flew to Utah to take advantage one last time of the under two years old lap sitting policy. My mom made a cute butterfly cake.
Here's a short little clip of June getting into her new rocking chair. It's super short because I actually meant to be taking a picture, but it shows her exuberance for life!
Here's another short video of her singing "Happy Birthday" the next week in the car. She's pretty good at singing it now after her birthday and watching the Elmo's World birthday episode over and over.
Monday, April 20, 2015
June is just growing and changing so much. I feel like I always want to write about something new that she is doing, but it feels like she does something new almost every day. She is a big two-year old and yesterday after the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting, instead of wailing in dread about upcoming nursery like she normally does, she gave a half-hearted whimper and then allowed Ryan to lead her away.
She says so many words and speaks in sentences and thinks she's the biggest girl on the block, except when she's interested in being the baby. Several weeks ago she had a major level ten freakout, on a scale of 1-10, when baby Toby was visiting and was using her bouncy chair. She got the most upset that she ever gets for quite a while. I took her upstairs for a lot of the dramatics but finally, she passed through the fire of adversity and came through stronger and more mature. When we came back downstairs she noticed that Toby had gotten out, so she climbed in and wanted to be bounced in it for the next several days. Since then, we have had Toby and some other babies come to visit and they have all had to use the bouncy chair and she hasn't fussed about it once. She's always quick to point out when they leave so that she can climb in and get bounced, but she's resigned herself. She LOVES to have me tell her that she is my baby and to play rock-a-bye baby with her.
June really loves her pacifier and it is becoming a bit of a problem when she wants to have it around the house all day instead of just in bed. Sometimes I'm really strict with her and sometimes on hard days a baby just needs her comfort. She also very much loves her softies and her pillow and reading books together before bed.
June loves Willa and often tries to hug and kiss her when Willa is upset and crying. She has a zero track record of this ever working and mostly she makes Willa more upset, but I think it's adorable to see her trying to hug and kiss her. Willa sees it as a gross invasion of personal space and privacy when she is most vulnerable.
June is doing better at eating food when we sit all down together as a family and she does try most things now. We still go through a lot of cold cereal, but I've noticed it slowing down. She has a big sweet tooth and always notices when Ryan is trying to sneak a little treat out of the pantry. She runs over to him and tries to pry his fingers open. We're currently using jellybeans as our bribe treat of choice. Small, not messy, and once of them makes her happy. Willa has even started calling them "reverent jellybeans" because I offered her one during family prayers if she would fold her arms and participate.
A sweet moment of sister cooperation, Willa is tracing June's hands.
One day after preschool drop off, I ran into another preschool mom at the store. She was trying to navigate with a three week baby and this little boy who is June's age. I plopped Mason down in our cart with June and the two of them had a grand time through the entire store.
My girls have been so sweet these days. We have rough moments, but mostly I'm just loving and drinking in being their mom right now. Willa is still independent, stubborn, and a little self-conscious, but I also see so much growth and maturity. The other day we were hurrying to get going and she was putting her socks and shoes on by herself. Trying to hurry us up, I surreptitiously started putting the sock and shoe on the other foot hoping she wouldn't notice. Well, of course she noticed but instead of totally losing it, she said, "Oh, you remember Mama, that's my job." It was such a calm response! In still in shock a little bit about it.
She's got a lot of love to give and a lot of excitement for life. I hope she always stays excited and young. I love that right now she's more interested in Octanauts than in My Little Ponies right now and that she loves Dr. Seuss books and Mo Willems. They seem much more innocent and childlike than Barbie books or princess books. Of course she likes those too, but she forgets about them pretty quickly and loves to come back and back to Pigeon and Elephant and Piggie. In fact, she has all of them memorized so that she can "read" them with us. She probably has over fifteen books that she can recite to us at any given time. Of course, she's extremely frustrated whenever we get a new one because she tries to read it right away, but doesn't know the words and gets angry if we try to help her. I've noticed that she's started recognizing and trying to sound out words. She'll get the first letter and then guess at a word that begins with that letter. I can't believe that she's figuring these things out!
Here we are at Savers having just found her new bicycle! ( Ignore the transition lenses on her glasses!) Ryan and I were talking this morning about whether not she wishes she had a new bike or even knows the difference between a new and second hand one. I'm sure if she saw them next to one another she would know, but I like to think that we're still creating good memories with shabbier things. I hope she looks back fondly on driving out to the second hand store to find her a bicycle and how excited we were when we found a purple one that was just the right size. I'm not against buying new things, I love new things, but I also love deals and it feels great to pay $8 instead of $80.
Willa has been really into making these crowns. She draws them, cuts them out, and then decorates them. She even came up with the idea of taping a strip of paper around the back.
Willa sure is having a lot of experiences lately! This past Wednesday she learned how to ride a bike. The Thalmans were coming our direction to see Kim's grandpa in the hospital so they dropped off the children and their bikes at our house. Willa has been asking for a bike "with pedals and no training wheels!" For quite some time and had even mentioned it earlier that morning. I have just put her off, thinking that we might get one for her fifth birthday in October.
Even when the Thalmans unloaded their bikes I didn't think Willa would try it, but then Kim plopped her on Bridgett's bike and the rest is history. She has been very steady on her strider balance bike for quite a while, so when Kim put her on the real thing she balanced fine but didn't realize that she needed to pedal. As soon as we told her (and kept reminding her) to pedal, then she was off. The first time with Kim, Kim wasn't really holding on to her, just touching for reassurance. On her second try I helped her, but again it was really just touching for reassurance and reminding her to pedal, I even took my hand off a second or two. On her third try, I let go and got out my phone to video it. She was a little stressed when I let go, but got really happy when she realized that she was doing it.
I texted Ryan the video and he replied, "What? Without me?!" It was almost without me too, it happened so fast! Ryan was excited to get home and Willa was more than excited to go out and show him what she could do. They spent some time out practicing together and by the end of the evening she could start up on her own, make turns, and was basically just biking laps up and down the street.
The Thalmans were leaving the next day for California, so they graciously left Bridgett's bike with us so that we could have something to practice on. The next morning, I put off a long-procrastinated trip to Savers. We took stuff to donate that had been sitting in the garage because they give you a 20% off coupon when you donate. I wasn't expecting much, but low and behold, there was one, small, purple bike there! It was $10, then 20% off :). It's definitely used and one of the pedals is a little broken, but I figured it would do us for a while. If it was really horrible, it was only $8 lost. We got home, took the training wheels off, pumped the tires up, and Willa was off! The bike still needs a tune-up from Rob, but it was worth $8.
Ryan came home during his lunch that day to ride with Willa. Hooray for living six minutes away from work! She was having the best time and still loves, loves, loves to ride her bike. I can't believe how steady she is! She's actually much steadier than Bridgett, who has been riding for a few weeks, but learned from training wheels. I was 100% convinced on using a balance bike before, but now I'm 150% convinced, if that's even possible. Learning to ride was a total joy, no tears, no falls, no frustrations. It made it the happy experience that we all hoped to have when we were little but that we never did because we all had training wheels first. It was such a difference to have her hop on that bike and already balance it, whereas with training wheels once you take the trainers off, you still have to learn to balance and ride it.
This is a video from the second day when Ryan came home during lunch. You can see how steady she is!
Ryan and I were just so happy for her. We both remember when we first learned how to ride a bike. It's a seminal experience of childhood and she's had it and it was positive! It's also so strange to us that she could be making memories right now that she will actually remember. So, three cheers for Willa and three cheers for balance bikes!
