Arwyn is so excited about being such a great little helper these days. She likes to bring Leia her milk cup from the kitchen to the couch after I have filled it. She helped me clean up my bedroom by putting all of Daddy's dirty socks into the laundry hamper. And she's always ready to give a helping hand with any sort of pick-up project around the house. This week while pointing up at the fruit basket and trying to explain to me what she wanted, she said the full word "ba-nana" rather than just "nana" as she was previously doing. Unfortunately, she has picked up a nasty habit of hitting everyone when she gets frustrated, which isn't good. She's also been a little sick and waking up more at night and early in the mornings. We did have a very successful sleep transfer from Nana's house back to ours after a late dinner one night; she went right back to sleep with no milk feeding and no tears. I was so happy! I'm loving how I can talk to Arwyn now, asking her questions, giving her choices, and getting a very emphatic "yeah" as a response. We had a couple more naked potty tantrums this week that resulted in her peeing on the floor. She's starting to say the words poop, or indicate when she has to pee, and has a lot of interest in going to the potty, but then she gets scared when we actually try to sit on it. It will be very interesting to see if she ends up potty training early, which seems possible based on these new actions. But I do seem to remember Leia having a little early potty interest that then fizzled out for another whole year.
Leia is doing so much better at calming herself down when she gets upset and angry. And it's really cute because she recognizes that she's done it, announces it, and looks to me for some external recognition. I do always compliment her, but clearly it's a good reminder that I need to be a bit quicker with the positive reinforcements in all aspects of her life. I know I'm doing better, but I can always do more. She got a cold this week, and mostly lost her voice, so one day when she was crying, she got all concerned about the funny noises that she was making when she was trying to stop crying and calm down. They were related to her lost voice and she couldn't control them despite her best efforts to control herself, so I could see how that would have been very disconcerting for her. We had a few days in a row of sleeping issues again this week. She spent the night at Nana and Poppy's and insisted on sleeping downstairs in the family near some toys she had set up (rather than in her normal bed). Apparently she woke up in the night and started crying, which she never does, so Nana had to go lie down with her, and they concluded that she got confused and scared about where she was. Anyway, after that, every time we tried to put her to bed for the next few days, she was having issues (or were they just excuses??) about not wanting to go to bed because she was scared to be in the dark, worried she'd be confused, or claiming she couldn't sleep before she even tried. Oy, what a pain. I think we got past it in about a week though. Nana took Leia and I to see the Nutcracker Ballet in Truckee. I showed her some videos on YouTube ahead of time to explain the storyline and introduce her to the dancing, and after watching them she was so excited to see the show. It was a full two hours, and she did a great job of sitting through the whole thing, although it did get a little tough at the end. I kept her interested at the end by telling her the name of each dance that was left, which were all named after different kinds of candy. She loved all the costumes, the fact that there were kids in it, and especially all the great ballet dancing. We got Leia a new "big girl" booster seat with harness this week, which made her very excited, especially because it had cup holders! She was really funny with me one day when I finally accomplished something that had been difficult for some reason, and so she says to me, "That's it girl, you got it!" It was so funny to hear that come out of her mouth to me! And for the first time ever she actually showed restraint with her Santa present when we went to see Santa at the SVPUD. Everyone else ripped theirs open and was playing with it, but she took a little peek but decided she wanted to wait until we got home to really check it out. Too funny.
Silly poses!
Version 1 of Leia's Gingerbread house drawing. This one has a nice green wreath on the front door, as well as a candy yard.
Version 2 of Leia's Gingerbread house. This was her attempt to make it "big" like mine. She kept doing this same basic outline and scrapping it in anger because it "wasn't right."
Version 3 of Leia's Gingerbread house. This one has people with bodies, which is exciting because that was her next skill set to learn...4 year olds draw people with bodies!
The two cutest pass holders on the mountain!
Once again, a pro patient at the dentist. She had the whole office cracking up with her sophisticated chitchat conversations about everything, and the other mom's in tears when she announced that she's just growing up so fast!
Password = Leia
Leia is the ballet teacher, while Arwyn and I are the students. She's only take 2 ballet lessons, but she seems to have retained an amazing number of moves!
Password = Arwyn (below)
After pissing Leia off by not doing her ballet class, Arwyn is such a sweet little sister and tries to cheer her up with the cutest hugs ever! Even Leia can't help but grin:)
Arwyn is very empathetic...so good at giving her big sister some hugs, rubs, and snuggles when she needs it.
And a good hug so easily turns into a good smash session too!
Password = Arwyn
Arwyn was pretty pleased to finally have a chance to put ornaments on the Christmas Calendar all by herself without big sister Leia grabbing them away or telling her she was doing it wrong!
Look who found a new pair of shoes in her closet!
Leia's birthday card to me. She said it reads "Happy Birthday Mommy" but I'm also seeing some letters that look "LOVE," so clearly it's up to interpretation.
Arwyn's "Jackie O" Dress.
Always cute and on the move!
My annual birthday picture with Arwyn...she's still cooperating.
And this one's even better because we got the laugh!
Actually, Leia likes a good mommy snuggle still, so here's another good birthday picture!
Emmett doesn't look interested in an Auntie snuggle, but he's still cute.
Family photo for our Aunt Joanne in the great new hats she knitted for the kids...thank you!!
Final picture of the Gingerbread house Leia made at school before we all helped devour it.
Arwyn really likes doing downward dog pose...maybe because she's so good at it and like showing off!
Wrestle hugs!
Giggly girls!
Three generations of girls enjoying a great holiday tradition, The Nutcracker Ballet.
Leia loved all the great dances and costumes, and was very intrigued about the idea of a live show rather than a movie.
Checking out the Sugarplum Fairy right up close...Leia was so impressed, and now she wants to do something where someone will give her flowers!
Password = Leia
Inspired by having just watched the Nutcracker, and finally having her student Arwyn participate, Leia the ballerina was in full effect again!
The Dirty Dancing Fly-away with Daddy and Arwyn!
The move is a bit harder with Leia, but I suppose still easier than a full grown adult, so Daddy's getting off easy I think!
Sometimes we have to get creative at dinner time.
"Leia, I am your father!"
Leia using The Force to stand up against Scary Daddy (aka, Darth Vader).
She is a force or she has the force?
Bi-color masterpiece by Arwyn.
Leia's attempt to copy Daddy's snowman...he said she did pretty much all of it, he just may have helped with a line here or there.
I like seeing the progression in snowman skills here.
I think this is my favorite snowman of all; we really love this unattached style!
According to Leia, this is a picture of "Leia in her elevator costume, with Arwyn (the little person), surrounded by a bunch of bubbles." Awesome!
Check out this tough girl, still psyched about carrying her own skis!
Arwyn headed up the Funitel to ski the upper mountain for the first time!
Poppy came along to help us with this big adventure.
Pretty awesome crew to share a lift ride!
Arwyn is pretty stone faced with all parts of this process, except the actually skiing, and then she's all smiles!
Waiting for the Tram!
Arwyn's first popsicle!
Leia won't ski without the promise of an after-skiing ice cream, but I've convinced her to settle for a popsicle sometimes.
Daddy's view from over at Northstar.
It's a Leia-foot Snowman!
And two little Arwyn-feet reindeer!
We got to do another fun Santa visit, this time he came to the fire station in Squaw.
All eyes are on the big man!
So many interesting things to check out around here.
Arwyn's first and only Santa present for the year...this was the only one she actually opened, on Christmas day she just kept yelling "No!" when we offered them!
She was just as nervous as last time...this guy must have some serious clout!
Just a little sneak peak for Leia, then she packed it back up for later.
We've been doing a lot of drawings, now finally we got to make a real gingerbread house!
Yep, someone's excited!
Gumdrop placement is serious business.
I think she's got it just right.
Whoa Arwyn, first hit-the-deck tantrum over not getting a turn to decorate the house!
Ok, this is supposed to be fun for the whole family, Arwyn and Daddy get to help too.
Arwyn was pretty pleased with herself for doing a very good candy placement, and Leia didn't even yell!
Concentrate, it has to be just right!
And here it is, the final product!
"I wear my sunglasses at night"...thanks for the sweet new shades cousin Jordan!
Now Mommy has The Force, and Arwyn is quite impressed!
Gotcha Arwyn!
So fun playing with Daddy's new Light Saber!
18 Month Photo Shoot
Look how tall she is now!
Checking out "Da Belly!"
Yep, when your belly sticks out, it makes a good cushion!
She still loves that tongue!
There's that smile I love!
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