Thursday, October 18, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The Things They Say (and Do)
It's been a long time since I've done a real update on what Piper and Josie are really up to these days, aside from the quick picture and recap of places we've been. When I was writing the monthly updates, it forced me to sit down each month and talk about how their personalities were emerging, what kinds of new skills they had acquired, and what they were doing that was really challenging us (always something!).
As they approach three, I found myself googling "strong willed child" the other night after a particularly rough day. Each day, I strap on my seatbelt and hold on because I truly don't know what we're going to get. Naps? Piper, most of the time; Josie, not so much. Early wakeup? Seems to be happening more and more frequently. Eating the meal I make for them? Piper, never! Josie, pretty good.
There are, of course, so many sweet moments. They hold hands when walking somewhere together, they give Blue boy impromptu hugs and kisses on the nose, if I hurt myself, they ask over and over if I got a boo boo and if I'm okay. They love their baby cousins, Mia and Emery.
Piper was the child prompting me to do my google searching the other night. She is smart, sweet, and unbelievably stubborn. There is nothing that truly means "no" to her. Move her candy up high so she can't get it? That's okay, she drags the chair over and climbs up the fridge to get it - right in front of us. Threaten to put her in time out? No problem, she truly doesn't care. The only thing she takes seriously at all is taking away her baby doll. (The other day, I asked her several times who she loves more, mommy or baby doll and the baby doll came out on top every time).
I still think she could make a heck of an engineer someday. She likes to figure stuff out, such as the clasp on grandpa's watch, how to open a package (with a knife, of course), and how to make water spray all over the bathroom. She's not all that interested in traditional toys - give her a broom and dustpan any day over her stuffed animals. She's obsessed with the color "yeyow", frogs (which she'll be for Halloween), school buses, and the 17-year-old cat across the street, Fanny. She's a monkey and doesn't hold still for one single second. She absolutely hates when something is out of place. Josh says that she is the reincarnation of his childhood self. She's a riot.
Josie is becoming quite the performer and has quite the vocabulary. She starts out a lot of her conversations with "sooooo" and used the word "otherwise" in the right context at the park the other day. She asks almost every day when she can take the dancing class and the singing class (not until she's three). She likes to put on her "singing shirt" and perform for us. She's very emotional and up, up, up one second, then all the way down the next.
She's all but given up her nap, but is usually just fine with sitting on her bed with a stack of books during quiet time while I finish up my workday. She's also very smart (of course, I am partial) and will "read" through each book with her own version of the story. If she is awake, she is talking. She picked a princess costume for Halloween (shocking!). She loves her sister and told me the other day she's her "best friend".
We are going to attempt to teach the girls to ski this winter, or at least get them up there a few times. It's going to be crazy chaos and we can't wait! I think that's all for now.
As they approach three, I found myself googling "strong willed child" the other night after a particularly rough day. Each day, I strap on my seatbelt and hold on because I truly don't know what we're going to get. Naps? Piper, most of the time; Josie, not so much. Early wakeup? Seems to be happening more and more frequently. Eating the meal I make for them? Piper, never! Josie, pretty good.
There are, of course, so many sweet moments. They hold hands when walking somewhere together, they give Blue boy impromptu hugs and kisses on the nose, if I hurt myself, they ask over and over if I got a boo boo and if I'm okay. They love their baby cousins, Mia and Emery.
Piper was the child prompting me to do my google searching the other night. She is smart, sweet, and unbelievably stubborn. There is nothing that truly means "no" to her. Move her candy up high so she can't get it? That's okay, she drags the chair over and climbs up the fridge to get it - right in front of us. Threaten to put her in time out? No problem, she truly doesn't care. The only thing she takes seriously at all is taking away her baby doll. (The other day, I asked her several times who she loves more, mommy or baby doll and the baby doll came out on top every time).
I still think she could make a heck of an engineer someday. She likes to figure stuff out, such as the clasp on grandpa's watch, how to open a package (with a knife, of course), and how to make water spray all over the bathroom. She's not all that interested in traditional toys - give her a broom and dustpan any day over her stuffed animals. She's obsessed with the color "yeyow", frogs (which she'll be for Halloween), school buses, and the 17-year-old cat across the street, Fanny. She's a monkey and doesn't hold still for one single second. She absolutely hates when something is out of place. Josh says that she is the reincarnation of his childhood self. She's a riot.
Josie is becoming quite the performer and has quite the vocabulary. She starts out a lot of her conversations with "sooooo" and used the word "otherwise" in the right context at the park the other day. She asks almost every day when she can take the dancing class and the singing class (not until she's three). She likes to put on her "singing shirt" and perform for us. She's very emotional and up, up, up one second, then all the way down the next.
She's all but given up her nap, but is usually just fine with sitting on her bed with a stack of books during quiet time while I finish up my workday. She's also very smart (of course, I am partial) and will "read" through each book with her own version of the story. If she is awake, she is talking. She picked a princess costume for Halloween (shocking!). She loves her sister and told me the other day she's her "best friend".
We are going to attempt to teach the girls to ski this winter, or at least get them up there a few times. It's going to be crazy chaos and we can't wait! I think that's all for now.
Book Roundup (the best of the summer)
I've been meaning to write a little recap of some of the best books I read this past spring/summer. I probably got through about a book a week, which is pretty good for me these days. But there were a few really good ones. I like to look back at certain periods of time and remember what I was doing when I was reading a certain book. So here is my list:
Wild: I have a weird obsession with books about long distance hiking. A Walk in the Woods is still my all-time favorite book. This one wasn't a funny story and the author wasn't particularly likeable (it was a memoir), but I could not put it down. I was reading this right after we flew into town to move here - we were still staying at my parent's house.
The Fault in Our Stars: I read this just a few weeks ago. It's a young adult novel, so I avoided it for weeks, but the positive reviews on Amazon eventually persuaded me to get it. It's about cancer kids. How uplifting! No but really, the writing was so good - the dialogue between the kids in this book made it hard to put down.
Gone Girl: This book has been all over Facebook. Everyone has read it, including my parents and Josh. It was a thriller of a book about a seriously dysfunctional marriage. Quite the guilty pleasure. I read most of this when we were camping up in Challis, Idaho.
Scott Jurek's book, Eat and Run, was another Challis read. I cruised through this book in a couple of days. He's one of the world's best ultramarathoners and also happens to be a vegan. It's a pretty unusual combination and it was interesting to hear how he does what he does. He gave some really good advice on following a plant-based diet and almost convinced me to try an ultra one day.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: I'm reading this right now - more than halfway through it (thanks to a couple of nights of persistent insomnia, yay). So far, I like it a lot. It's a story about a guy who decides to walk the length of England to visit a dying ex-coworker.
Wild: I have a weird obsession with books about long distance hiking. A Walk in the Woods is still my all-time favorite book. This one wasn't a funny story and the author wasn't particularly likeable (it was a memoir), but I could not put it down. I was reading this right after we flew into town to move here - we were still staying at my parent's house.
The Fault in Our Stars: I read this just a few weeks ago. It's a young adult novel, so I avoided it for weeks, but the positive reviews on Amazon eventually persuaded me to get it. It's about cancer kids. How uplifting! No but really, the writing was so good - the dialogue between the kids in this book made it hard to put down.
Gone Girl: This book has been all over Facebook. Everyone has read it, including my parents and Josh. It was a thriller of a book about a seriously dysfunctional marriage. Quite the guilty pleasure. I read most of this when we were camping up in Challis, Idaho.
Scott Jurek's book, Eat and Run, was another Challis read. I cruised through this book in a couple of days. He's one of the world's best ultramarathoners and also happens to be a vegan. It's a pretty unusual combination and it was interesting to hear how he does what he does. He gave some really good advice on following a plant-based diet and almost convinced me to try an ultra one day.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: I'm reading this right now - more than halfway through it (thanks to a couple of nights of persistent insomnia, yay). So far, I like it a lot. It's a story about a guy who decides to walk the length of England to visit a dying ex-coworker.
Happy 60th Birthday Bubba
Side note: With all of these birthdays (we've also celebrated grandma Shirley's and Grandpa Dick's birthdays), the girls are pretty much obsessed with their birthday. They ask me almost everyday "is today my birthday cake?" Needless to say, they don't understand the concept of "in two months" or "in December". Also, with Halloween coming up, and all the talk of skiing in the mountains, then Christmas, they are a little confused. Here are a couple of things they've said about the upcoming festivities:
- Santa Clock lives up in the mountains; he's gonna come down when we go trick-or-treating
- When its my birthday cake, I'm going to dress up like a frog (Piper's Halloween costume)
- I want a birthday cake with a yeyow Elmo on it (hmm, okay)
Happy Birthday Josh (and welcome to your late thirties)
Josh had a birthday last week. His 36th. I told him this qualified as his "late 30s". He strongly disagreed with me on that!
Like any good birthday, we celebrated for four days with a day off work, some hiking in Bells Canyon, an overnighter to Park City, and some cake and ice cream with our families.
Family gathering at our house:
Josh and I had a lot of fun hiking up in Bells Canyon - just the two of us and Blue. It was absolutely beautiful up there with all the fall colors. We screwed up though. It is a watershed and we weren't supposed to have Blue. We were informed of that after hiking up the canyon for more than an hour. OOPS.
Happy birthday love!
Like any good birthday, we celebrated for four days with a day off work, some hiking in Bells Canyon, an overnighter to Park City, and some cake and ice cream with our families.
Family gathering at our house:
Josh and I had a lot of fun hiking up in Bells Canyon - just the two of us and Blue. It was absolutely beautiful up there with all the fall colors. We screwed up though. It is a watershed and we weren't supposed to have Blue. We were informed of that after hiking up the canyon for more than an hour. OOPS.
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
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