Arwyn turned 17 months old this week, and continues to be more and more of her own little person with needs and desires. For example, she went through a phase this week where she kept refusing to wear diapers. She would try to rip them off whenever possible, and poor Josh ended up stepping in a pile of her poop from one of these episodes! He had already cleaned up a pee and the small poop that she pointed out to him, but she didn't tell him about another big pile that he eventually found with his foot! Oops! She continues to be on the early waking plan, and it doesn't seem to matter if she gets long naps or short naps, or whether she goes to bed late or early. So aggravating. Plus, she seems to be having lots of belly aches (or something) because she's sleeping poorly at nap time and waking up in the night. But the good news is, even if Arwyn has a lot of early and undesired wake time, at least she is really fun and easy to hang out with. She's just turning into my little morning buddy who loves to hang out, dance, and go through all my cabinets and drawers in the bathroom while I get ready. She's happy to entertain herself as long as she can be with me, so it's no problem for me to get my stuff done and have some nice company at the same time. Despite her increased language development, she's doing a lot of "na, na, na, na!" in response to stuff we try to make her do that she doesn't like. She's learning the joys of winter snow play, and is having fun sledding and building snowmen. We had a really fun time playing with Cousin Emmett this week, both inside and outside, and it was a great lesson in sharing for all! Arwyn loves to give her sister Leia such great hugs, and you can really see such a positive impact on Leia's mood when she gets a good Arwyn hug or snuggle. It's so fun to watch them build this bond. Arwyn has recently picked up the skill of doing her own art, and thanks to the fun bath crayons we got from Uncle Worm last year, she's becoming a budding bathtub artist! As much as she loves to put on her own shoes, she also loves to deliver other people's shoes to them and have them put them on. It's actually quite helpful, as soon as I'm done getting my clothes on in the morning, she always delivers me my shoes at just the right time!
Leia continues to surprise and amaze us with her sophistication and proper use of new concepts. This week I about fell over when she said to me: "Mommy, Levi is not my friend anymore. I call him mean Levi now. He takes my toys away from me, and I just can't respect that." Aside from the fact that it was extremely hypocritical, it was just so hilarious to hear those words come out of the mouth of a 3 year old! Leia also drew the most amazing picture on the bathtub wall this week. It was a person, but the new level of detail that she added to so many different parts was amazing: a mouth with teeth, a chin, cheeks that she described as "angry cheeks," eyes with irises, hair, a nose, arms, and legs that actually come out of a body instead of the head. Plus she used so many different colors for each different part. Besides it being her most advanced drawing of a person that I've seen her do yet, she also seemed to acknowledge it as an expression of her current feelings because she said it was a picture of "angry Leia," and she said it had "angry cheeks." She wasn't particularly angry at the time she drew it, but I know she's been angry and frustrated a lot, so it was cool for her to get her feelings out in such an expressive way. We kept complimenting her great picture, and asking her if it felt good to get her anger out like that, and she seemed to indicate that it did. And on another positive note, Leia is finally starting to cooperate more with her morning sunscreen, which has really made the morning routine so much easier for me. I just tell her she has to cooperate if she wants her Jake Fruit, and a couple mornings when she didn't cooperate I didn't give them to her, and now she almost always does. I feel like I always had that Jake Fruit reward out on the table, so I'm not sure what changed, except that we only have to do the face now that it's winter (but that was what she hated the most) and she's getting a little more mature in some areas. But not in all areas, because she's back to being very insistent about getting instant gratification for things she wants and getting mad at me for not providing. Luckily she's using her calming technics from school, and I'm using my eye contact acknowledging techniques from my school, and together we are getting her calmed down rather than going into a full escalation. We had a very successful first swimming lesson this week. I was worried because it came right after a marginally successful make-up gymnastics class where I bribed her to participate with ice cream and she finally did, but only thanks to some very patient and persistent coaxing by her normal gym coach. Anyway, I was worried we'd have the same issues with swimming, but we arrived to find that both McKenzie and Annabelle were also signed up for that same class, so she instantly felt happy, more comfortable, and ready to participate. She even agreed to not use her floaty. She also cooperated at dinner this week by eating her purple cauliflower. She kept insisting it wasn't good, but after I made her take only 1 bite, she scarfed down the rest, admitting that she actually liked it! Well duh, we don't feed her anything that's not tasty! And on a funny note, for the first time ever she regretted a decision to fight me about wearing fancy shoes to school. I was only humoring her for the car ride and was going to make her put on her "Fast Shoes" once we got to school, but then in the car, she discovered that her little black flats had blistered and bloodied her heel. "Oh, I wish I never got these shoes!" I had to document that statement because she'll never say it again; she always wants more shoes!! I was laughing.
Leia continues to surprise and amaze us with her sophistication and proper use of new concepts. This week I about fell over when she said to me: "Mommy, Levi is not my friend anymore. I call him mean Levi now. He takes my toys away from me, and I just can't respect that." Aside from the fact that it was extremely hypocritical, it was just so hilarious to hear those words come out of the mouth of a 3 year old! Leia also drew the most amazing picture on the bathtub wall this week. It was a person, but the new level of detail that she added to so many different parts was amazing: a mouth with teeth, a chin, cheeks that she described as "angry cheeks," eyes with irises, hair, a nose, arms, and legs that actually come out of a body instead of the head. Plus she used so many different colors for each different part. Besides it being her most advanced drawing of a person that I've seen her do yet, she also seemed to acknowledge it as an expression of her current feelings because she said it was a picture of "angry Leia," and she said it had "angry cheeks." She wasn't particularly angry at the time she drew it, but I know she's been angry and frustrated a lot, so it was cool for her to get her feelings out in such an expressive way. We kept complimenting her great picture, and asking her if it felt good to get her anger out like that, and she seemed to indicate that it did. And on another positive note, Leia is finally starting to cooperate more with her morning sunscreen, which has really made the morning routine so much easier for me. I just tell her she has to cooperate if she wants her Jake Fruit, and a couple mornings when she didn't cooperate I didn't give them to her, and now she almost always does. I feel like I always had that Jake Fruit reward out on the table, so I'm not sure what changed, except that we only have to do the face now that it's winter (but that was what she hated the most) and she's getting a little more mature in some areas. But not in all areas, because she's back to being very insistent about getting instant gratification for things she wants and getting mad at me for not providing. Luckily she's using her calming technics from school, and I'm using my eye contact acknowledging techniques from my school, and together we are getting her calmed down rather than going into a full escalation. We had a very successful first swimming lesson this week. I was worried because it came right after a marginally successful make-up gymnastics class where I bribed her to participate with ice cream and she finally did, but only thanks to some very patient and persistent coaxing by her normal gym coach. Anyway, I was worried we'd have the same issues with swimming, but we arrived to find that both McKenzie and Annabelle were also signed up for that same class, so she instantly felt happy, more comfortable, and ready to participate. She even agreed to not use her floaty. She also cooperated at dinner this week by eating her purple cauliflower. She kept insisting it wasn't good, but after I made her take only 1 bite, she scarfed down the rest, admitting that she actually liked it! Well duh, we don't feed her anything that's not tasty! And on a funny note, for the first time ever she regretted a decision to fight me about wearing fancy shoes to school. I was only humoring her for the car ride and was going to make her put on her "Fast Shoes" once we got to school, but then in the car, she discovered that her little black flats had blistered and bloodied her heel. "Oh, I wish I never got these shoes!" I had to document that statement because she'll never say it again; she always wants more shoes!! I was laughing.
The monthly photo shoots are getting harder and harder...She just won't stand still!
But she sure if silly, cute, and smiley!
17 Month model pose?
Ready for a fight or signing for milk?
One the move again, charging after the photographer!
She always likes a good belly tickle!
Still pulling out those hair clips on me!
Always to busy and interested in things around her.
Starting to like caring for baby dolls!
My little reader...she'll be brilliant for sure!
Family outing to the Holiday Tree Lighting in Truckee.
Leia's class decorated this tree, but we were a little late, so we took a bunch of ornaments off and let Leia put them back on.
Watching with awe and wonder as Leia shows her what Christmas is all about.
Oops, Leia's taking pictures again!
First swim lesson in the new WARM water Truckee pool...so much nicer!
Arwyn is ready for a little snow adventure.
Sisters snuggling in the sled.
There's a lot more snow than last time...not too sure about all this.
Nice and wet, good for making snowmen!
Emmett came out to play with us too.
Cousins making snowmen and snow angels.
Arwyn liked being bigger than our little snowman!
Thanks for playing with us Emmett and Ryan!
My little ambidextrous bathtub artist!
Leia's self portrait masterpiece called "Angry Leia." So proud of all her attention to detail and her expression of emotion!
It is always so much fun drawing pictures in the mermaid lagoon!
Yes Arwyn, I do think you are gorgeous.
Stressful night with two parents trying to recreate a hairdo we hadn't seen with only Leia's frustrated descriptions...apparently this was not correct but we got her to accept it anyway!
Not going to let low snow conditions stop a good sled session for these two!
Password = Leia
First snow of the season and Leia's first time going down on a sled by herself!
Daddy Day snowman.
Tough day for poor old Dad!
Pretty sky.
Stylin' in stripes and strutting her stuff!
Arwyn always wakes up before Leia, and after she gets her fill of Mommy-time, you can tell she starts to miss her sister...so cute to watch her run up and give Leia a huge bear hug when she woke up!
Another shot of those great sister huggies!
Roar, she's a dragon! You can always count on our amazon daughter Leia to squeeze into the smallest outfits possible...yep, this size 9 month costume still fits!
Exciting day getting fitted for boots for the season!
Arwyn's not sure what this is all about, but she does like new shoes, so hey, she's game!
"Mom, check me out in these crazy new shoes!"
Testing out the new equipment in the backyard! Leia insisted she's ready for big girl poles!
And she found herself a very handsome chairlift for the ride back up!
Password = Leia
First time on skis for the season for Leia was in our backyard, and she insisted she needed big girl poles.
It's a 3-man Daddy sled, and the grins go from ear to ear!
Password = Leia
Arwyn and Leia pile on Daddy for some fun sled runs!
Here's a cool cat.
Here's a little angel.
The artist hard at work.
Masterpiece complete. Hands say: "All done!"
Ta-da!
Christmas card spoiler alert (but not ours, we don't send them)!
Emmett had the biggest and most perfect grin in every single picture I took...guess he likes to take pictures!
Emmett and his Dad.
Here's your Christmas card: "Happy Holidays from the Transues!"
And per usual, Arwyn looks better in one and Leia in the other, so here's a second shot.
Nana, Poppy, and the grandkids...
Emmett is still smiling, not even flummoxed by his pissed off cousins!
Alright, one more where no one will ruin Emmett's good looks!
One big happy family!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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