Like Mother, Like Daughter

I heard the girls yelling at each other downstairs.  Then Greg putting Annie in time out.  Greg came upstairs, into the room where I was nursing the baby and sighed, exasperated, "She is so much like her mother!"  I laughed, "What did Annie do?"

"She told Ellie that her teeth were going to fall out.  Ellie was freaking out and crying about it, I told Annie to drop it, but she wouldn't.  I told Ellie it was fine, her teeth wouldn't fall out, but she was too worked up . . ."
"But . . . her teeth will fall out."  Greg's eyes rolled, as I proved his 'like Mother/like Daughter' point.  "She had a point," I said, "why didn't you just tell Ellie it's normal and that's what's supposed to happen to teeth?" 
"I was just trying to get her to calm down . . . but Annie wouldn't drop it!"
"I don't get why you'd tell her that her teeth wouldn't fall out . . . baby teeth do fall out . . . "  I think at this point he just walked out of the room, since he couldn't put me in time out too :-)

Annie and I really are a lot of like.  And not just our attachment to logic and being right all the time. :-) I think that's the reason that her drama doesn't really get to me, while Ellie's freak outs get to me.  (Whereas all of Ellie's drama rolls right off Greg like water on duck feathers, but Annie frustrates him to no end.  I don't know if I should be worried about that, when he's comparing the two of us.)  :-)  Anyway, I 'get' Annie.  Not just our 'oldest child' tendencies (like torturing younger siblings with true and less-than-true 'facts' . . . like when my sisters and I told our youngest sister Lacy that we were all adopted, but she was actually Mom and Dad's biological child.  This upset her greatly.  Then she pointed out that she looked just like the rest of us, and we told her that Mom and Dad had her genetically altered to look like us so she wouldn't get suspicious.  We were good siblings.)  It's not just her bookish, teacher's pet, show off for adults, precociousness that reminds everyone of me when she was a kid.  But the one similarity that makes me the happiest is this . . .

The reading late at night by flashlight until Mom & Dad threaten to take it away.  And sometimes even after that.  I don't know if this sight will ever not make me smile.  :-)

In fact we've worked nighttime reading-by-flashlight into her bedtime routine. She was really getting to where she didn't need to go to bed as early as Ellie.  But I wasn't ready to give up the simultaneous, early, bedtimes.  So, we made a deal.  After they were both in bed, she could read with her flashlight for about 30 minutes once lights were out.  She's so freaking cute about it -- she has a little digital watch, and you tell her a time to quit, and she's really usually pretty good about stopping on time. Sometimes, you just get wrapped up in a good book though, and she woke up the other morning and told me, "Mom, you said I could read 'til 8:15 . . . but last night I was reading, and before I knew it, it was 8:20!  Sorry about that!"

(Oh, later today, Annie upped the tooth thing.  When Ellie came running in to my room crying, "I don't want to die one day!  Annie says I'm going to die . . . probably when I am old!  But I want to be 10 or 11!"  Sigh.)

In other child news, Isaac had his 18 (almost 19) month appointment today.  The doctor was totally blown away by his verbal skills, as he informed her at one point that the exam was over by taking her hand, moving it off him and saying, "All done now" and telling her, "Baby Owen sleep carseat" and pointing at his sleeping little brother in the carseat.  He also told her, "Sisser Annie, Sisser Ellie, at school."  She was very impressed by his vocabulary, and he really spent half our time there just crying, so she didn't even really get to see how awesome he is. The other day, I was picking up some dirty clothes in the kids' rooms, and Idaac pointed out to the washer and dryer and said, "Start laundry now, Mom."  When did my 18 month old start telling me what to do around the house . . . in complete sentences!?  He's such a little mimic, and we're pretty used to him rambling off long sentences he hears, but when he comes up with them completely unprompted, it still surprises me!  (You have to remember too, Ellie was in speech therapy at two years old 'cause she would only use about 10 words regularly -- so this is a whole new world!)  Anyway, besides milestones, the big focus was obviously growth.  And this kid is growing!  He's really shot up recently, which makes me feel better about the food I prepare and serve ALL day long . . . he's much taller on the charts than he was at a year, and heavier too.  At 27.2 pounds he's less than three pounds smaller than Ellie.  And his head size was at 94% on the charts . . . I told his doctor, "Wow, that's all?  I actually kinda thought it would be off the charts now." She responded, "No, 94% is on the charts . . . we don't consider them off the charts until they hit the 95th percentile . . . " and we both started laughing.  His height went from 29% on the charts at a year, to 53% now.  His weight went from 19% in weight at a year old, to 63%.  That is a big jump!  So it wasn't just his younger brother being born that made Isaac suddenly seem ginormous . . . it was the fact he's now ginormous.  :-)   

Since we were leaving the house and all, I got the boys dressed in one of their matching outfits.  They're so cute . . . 

That same day I took a picture of Owen that reminded me of an expression that Isaac would make as a baby.  So, I had to pull it up and compare them, and it amused me how similar the expressions were.

 

 Aunt Talina was over watching the girls while I took the boys to the doctor's office.  With all five grandkids in one place, we took some pictures for Grandma and to send to Uncle Cody on his mission, since he's never seen these two little ones in person . . .

Note Passing

I've always been a note passer.  In fifth grade, my best friend and I created an entire secret coded alphabet so we could pass notes without anyone being able to read what we wrote.  (We got fast at it too, being able to write nearly as quickly in code as in the regular alphabet, and to this day I can remember about 6 or 7 letters from it.)  My family is particularly guilty of passing notes in Church.  (Playing tic-tac-toe, number games and the 'dot game' also fall into this category.)  The first year of marriage, I carried a small notebook with me in my scripture case, and each week I'd trick Greg into getting into long winded written conversations with me during Sunday School.  I am officially a horrible influence.

And, like so many of our bad habits, I'm passing this one on to my kids.  :-)  Today was Stake Conference, and while my Dad had to rush off to fix Star's broken furnace, and Greg stayed home with a sick Isaac and a wilder-than-we-want-to-deal-with-in-a-2-hour-meeting Ellie, my Mom, Annie and I headed off, just us girls, to our meetings this morning.  It wasn't long before Annie was writing a letter to Cody, and then wanting ideas of what to write in her notebook.  To this day I'm convinced one of the reasons Annie recognized all her letters so early was because for the first two and a half years of her life, we lived in my parents Ward, and my Mom would write letters and words and names with Annie throughout Sacrament Meeting to keep her quietly entertained.  Well, today I wrote out a couple math problems for Annie, keeping them simple as to not frustrate her and cause any math-related-drama during the meeting.  But soon, my Mom was writing out problems for her, and my Mom is able to 'push' Annie a lot further than I can without tears or whining, and Annie was having fun working out math problems with Grandma.  When one got 'too hard', Grandma just bribed her with a new necklace if she'd attempt the problem, and Annie had it solved in no time . . .

The 'too hard one' was adding three numbers, instead of just two.  The problem in the middle, second row from the bottom was when Annie wanted to challenge Grandma and gave her a problem of her own to do.

 I am fairly confident that if I just let Annie attend Church with my Mom each week, I would not have to teach her anything until Junior High . . .


Grandma and Annie went on to carry on a long one-sided conversation on paper (my Mom would ask questions in writing, that Annie would have to read and then answer), and eventually the topic came around to Annie 'earning' a prize for Ellie as well (since she'd already earned a prize from doing her first page of math.)  Annie said she was willing to do ONE last math problem with Grandma, in exchange for Ellie getting a matching Christmas necklace to Annie's promised new one.  Here was the problem Grandma came up with . . .

Grandma is very tricky.  :-)

Here's a couple pages of notes from Grandma to Annie . . . 

I already mentioned Annie knew her letter because Grandma constantly wrote them for her during Church, but I should also mention I think a huge part of her ability to read came from my Mom writing her out stories and notes from a really young age . . .

The nice thing about having a 'village' to help raise your kids, is that they sure learn a lot more this way!  There are things my parents teach my kids to do that I wouldn't have even thought they were anywhere near ready to learn . . . my parents don't seem to have any of those same preconceived notions about what and when kids can learn.  I would be like, "It's too early to teach them that," and my Mom & Dad are more like, "Teach it to 'em, then they'll know it."  Which is also why Annie is currently creaming most of the extended family in the card game 'Mormon Bridge'.  Grandpa taught it to her, and it turns out she rocks at it.

Annie's First T-Ball Game

It was cold, windy and at some points raining, but all in all, Annie had a blast at her first ever T-ball game.  She loves putting on her baseball cap and shirt and getting to be a 'baseball player like Uncle Cody.'  Look at her cute little shirt, with the giant B and the Bee on it . . . any guesses on their team name?
Nope.
Not that either.
You'll never guess . . .

Yeah, it's the Mets.  Weird, huh?  :-)

Oh well, we just called them the Bees at the game last night anyway.

Annie's favorite part of the game was when she was the last batter up in the second inning -- she got to run all the bases for her 'grand slam', and she looked so freaking excited :-)

I mentioned it was cold, right?  It was like super cold.  Isaac spent half the game back in the van.  Soon as the game was over, Greg put his big ol' jacket on Annie, and she thought it was the coolest thing ever.

  

 Here's Ellie cheering on her big sister . . .

 And Isaac and Mommy

 

And unrelated, I got a new haircut.  I like it.

These three videos are of Annie's first time up to bat, and her subsequent run around the bases :-)

(The second video includes everyone trying to get Annie to run to second, while she stands there confused on first.)  :-)

She finally got the running thing heading to third . . .

 

Cuddle Bug

Annie is my snuggly kid -- she'll curl up in my arms and just let me hold her as she wiggles deeper into my lap and lets out a little sigh of contentment.  I love it.  After hurting her ankle yesterday, she cuddled up to me after we got her bandaged up, and I rocked her back and forth while she calmed down.  Then I rubbed her back -- until she told me that as much as she likes me to rub her back, she thinks she prefers the rocking. (Ellie thinks that being held and cuddled is a fate worse than death -- she's trying to move, how dare we try and hold her still!) :-)  The other day, I'd just gotten Isaac down for a nap after an afternoon of 104 degree fevers (and a 101 degree fever for me), and I decided to lay down for a bit.  Ellie had gone four days without a nap now (someone's trying to drop the nap for good -- I'm not too happy about it), and she was grumpy.  So I tried to coax her into lying down for a bit with me.  "Come on, Ellie . . . come cuddle with Mommy and watch Elmo," I said from the bed.  "No, that okay," she said, then walked to the top of the stairs and yelled at the top of her little lungs, "ANNIE! Get up here right now!"  She goes stomping down the stairs, as I call after her, "It's okay Ellie, Annie doesn't have to come up . . ."  I hear Ellie angrily yell at Annie again, "Go upstairs now . . . Mom wants to cuddle with someone!"  

I told Annie she didn't need to come up, she could keep coloring.  But she did come up after a bit, and she did cuddle with me.

Ellie never did come up to cuddle.  Nor did she nap that day.  That girl just has too much to do!  :-)

Where I'm Again Convinced One of My Children is a Prodigy . . .

I know I'm like genetically programmed to think my children are geniuses and all . . . but is it just me, or does Annie color pretty darn well for a four year old?

Annie can spend hours coloring -- these are just some pictures from yesterday and today that she's been working on.  (Taken with my crappy non-smart-phone camera . . . the idea of getting out the nice camera, taking all the pictures, downloading the pictures and then resizing large files down in Photoshop all seemed like a bit much, and I was feeling lazy.)

Ellie on the other hand -- her coloring seems to mainly take place on furniture, Mom's books, anything the library lent us, things we've borrowed from people, and walls. 

Isaac just wants to eat crayons. 

So Fancy

When climbing up on to the top bunk very early this morning (to clear any thrown up on bedding -- 'cause that's just how much fun we had last night), I came across something that made me smile.  Greg screwed a 2x4 on the side of Annie's top bunk that filled some of the gap between her and the wall.  Carefully written along the top edge of said 2x4, in Annie's very best handwriting, is the phrase, "I love being fancy." 

It just made me smile.  I wasn't even upset that she was writing on furniture.

Which is good -- I needed to smile.  'Cause the rest of the night was horrific.  Isaac was spiking 103 degree fevers and was so congested he could barely nurse.  Ellie's sick and coughing and her face and pillow were covered with dried green snot this morning.  And poor Annie, she's coughing so hard (even with the humidifier going full blast and turning their room into a swamp) that it was making her throw up. 
And my throat hurts so bad that I can barely swallow.
How is it we are all so sick, but each of us with completely different symptoms!?
Getting a tad bit sick of the pox placed upon our house . . .

Tech Savvy

Annie was barely two years old when she passed up her Great Grandpa with her technological prowess -- she mastered using the computer mouse. While my Grandpa refused to hook one up to his computer for years and played solitaire entirely with shortcut keys.

Somewhere between two and three, she passed up her Grandpa Robert. He was looking at his new phone and asked aloud, "How do you take a picture with this?" Annie sighed, walked over and took a picture, saved it and handed the phone back without saying a word.

At four, she's gaining on (and possibly passing up) some of her Aunts and Uncles . . . today, without any help, she sent me a picture message from my brother's phone. She took the picture, got in to the 'send' area, typed in my cell phone number (which she has memorized) and sent me the picture.

So, I'm thinking by 5 years old I can forget about paying for any tech support on my computer, 'cause she should be able to handle that for me, right?

Sunday Family Dinner

My Mom is an overachiever. Which means that despite having a hysterectomy earlier this week, she still planned a Family Sunday dinner today with all the grandparents over. Greg and I headed over a little early, to try and help out, but of course she already had almost everything done. As crazy as I thought she was planning a big meal the week of surgery, it was great to have all the grandparents around to get some pictures with Isaac. Plus, it's always fun to get together with my family and hang out. And, it gets me out of the house, but to a place where everyone plays with my kids and cooks my family a good meal. Works for me!

My cute little boy

Here's Isaac with Great Grandma

Grandpa Robert (or 'Bobby' as Ellie randomly started calling him awhile back) working out Isaac's biceps. Grandpa assured me that if Isaac exercised more, he'd sleep better at night.

My sleepy little boy with his Mama

Isn't he like the sweetest thing ever?
And, I'm happy to say I did my hair today. Straightened it for the first time since giving birth. Felt very human. :-)

Isaac with another Great Grandma

Greg freaking out all the Great Grandmas by flipping Ellie around in the air

Great Grandpa with Isaac

Isaac chillin' with Aunt Talina

Ellie and Mommy mugging for the camera . . . Ellie's ever-present 'cheesy smile'

Ellie with Daddy

Grumpy Ellie

Talina and Isaac again

Cheesy Annie

Grandma Karine holding Isaac while Great Grandma works the laptop, checking out the internet to read her grandchildren's blogs -- something I never thought I'd see.

Uncle Cody pretending to be asleep with Isaac. Isaac wasn't very good at pretending to sleep -- Cody kinda sucked too :-)

Have I mentioned the amazing sandbox my parents put in their backyard for the girls to play with? It's awesome. It's huge and the sand is literally a couple feet deep. Cody and Annie have been working in it all summer -- building walls and towers and flooding it at every chance.
I put Annie in there to try to show some scale, but I don't know if it truly does the sand structures justice.
The walls around the outside of the 'lake' are over a foot high in most places, and the towers range from short to huge.

It probably doesn't help too much, but for some perspective, the yellow boat in the lake (half hidden by one of the towers) is like two feet long.

Annie and Ellie could hang out with Cody all day every day, if he didn't have that pesky 'work' thing getting in the way of their fun and building.

Two Peas in a Preschool Pod

Annie's last day of Preschool was today. She just looks at me confused every time I try and explain the concept of 'summer vacation' . . . like "Wait, we need a break from school!? It's only the greatest part of my week! Why do we need a vacation from it?!" The kids did a cute little program, showing off many of the songs they'd learned this year.

Annie and her best friend, Sarajayne, were of course sitting right next to each other. Here's just a few pictures I took.

Ellie loved all the singing, and kept standing up in the 'audience' every time the older kids stood up, and she was 'singing' along, including trying to keep up with the actions, to all these songs she'd never heard before. It was all very cute.

Edited to add a couple videos of Annie singing some of their favorite songs from the year:

More Motherhood Guilt

Greg and I, for the life of us, can't figure out how to get our children to bed. For awhile it was all working perfectly -- we'd put them down around 7:30ish, they might talk a minute or two, but they'd fall asleep. It helped that it was dark outside. Now, we get them down between 7:30-8:00, and we're lucky if they're asleep by 9pm. (Stupid sun.) The talking, fighting, screaming, singing, crying . . . all brilliant stalling techniques on the part of our little girls. We don't really have much at our disposal -- we walk in and tell them to be quiet and go to sleep. And then leave. 'Cause really, there's not much more we can do. Our ultimate trump card is 'the hall.' When one of the children, in particular, is keeping the ruckus going, after a very stern warning will get taken out of bed and set up on a makeshift bed out in our hallway on the floor. Annie hates this with a passion. Last night when Greg was putting Ellie down for bed she asked if she could sleep in the hall. Sigh.

Annie was relegated to the hall just a few nights ago. She screamed and freaked out and yelled a lot about us not being a nice Mom and Dad, and sobbed, "Why is everyone so mean to me when I'm so nice?!" After about a half hour of such dramatics (non-freaking-stop) I was about ready to go postal, so I upped the ante. "Annie, you have two minutes to calm down, then I'm moving you to the bathroom and you will sleep in there." I set a timer. No change. I grabbed several big, fluffy blankets, and lined the bathroom floor, carried her and her pillows and blankets in there and laid her down on the bathroom floor. She flipped out. She was screaming about her horribly mean Mom, and yelling, "You can't make me sleep in here! This room is DANGEROUS!" I told her to knock it off before I shut the door to the bathroom so we didn't have to hear her screaming anymore.

Good thing she doesn't know the phone number for any child protective agencies . . .

She did fall asleep though. She quieted down right away, and fell asleep eventually. And slept all night. And the next night when she started to freak out, I mentioned the bathroom floor. She was quiet and asleep in no time. (Ellie on the other hand was happily laying out in the hall on the floor, singing to herself.)

Spring Dance Recital

Annie had her last Dance Recital for the season. She's really enjoyed doing dance, and loved her beautiful costume (and it only cost us $25 for her costume for this recital -- how freaking adorable is it for 25 bucks!) Annie did really well (as in she got up on stage and loved being up there, and followed whatever steps the little girl next to her was attempting) and she was beyond adorable up there. Ellie also did very well, staying very happy and content the vast majority of the time, despite the fact we didn't get home 'til almost 10:30 that night.
Wanna hear the part that makes me a horrible person? :-) I had printed invitations for the event, with a beautiful photo of Annie in her dance costume on it, and given them to all her grandparents, aunts & uncles, and all the great grandmas. Then I realized a week or two later I had the wrong recital time on there, so I sent out an email to everyone about the time change. No problem, right? Well, except apparently my Grandma had decided to come to it (she's never been to anything like this before with us, and she never mentioned coming, despite us seeing her a few times in the last little while), and I hadn't called all the great grandparents about the time change ('cause I honestly hadn't even suspected any of them had even thought about coming!) So my 85 year old Grandma got there for the 5PM show. And spent the next two hours freaking out that I'd like gone into labor or something and that's why we weren't there. She was very relieved when we all showed up at almost 7PM. And then she sat there through another entire dance recital, meaning she was outdoors through five and a half hours of dancing and intermissions. Um, oops! I felt horrible. Good one, Hilary! (She seemed to enjoy herself though!)

Anyway, at least she did get to be there to see Annie dance in not one, but two adorable numbers. Here's Annie before the dance recital started.

Annie on stage during her first dance number.

Check out those moves!

Our little ballerina!

Awwww, for cute!

Coming on stage for the finale . . . she loved all the bowing and kissing!

Good job Annie! We were all so proud of you!