Leia has really made leaps and bounds in her artistic development recently. She made the most awesome painting this week that was a dress design for a wedding dress for me. At first she felt like she had messed it up and was about to toss it in frustration (per usual), but I recommended she try fixing it and she did. It turned out so perfect and realistic, it's hard to believe that she ever considered it to be wrong. It really does look like the bust of a fancy princess dress, and she drew in the whole ensemble to match (necklace, bracelet, watch, earrings, hair pins, etc.) She really wanted to have it crafted in real life based on her design. Leia insisted on going to the Truckee Tree Lighting this year (despite my attempts to avoid it) because she wanted hot cocoa with marshmallows. I mentioned how I thought she didn't really like hot cocoa, but she insisted that she did. Of course when we got there, she realized it was actually chocolate and didn't want it at all, yet she still kept insisting that she liked it. She did want the accompanying marshmallows and candy cane. In the end I figured out that she was basically confused about the fact that hot cocoa is just a different name for hot chocolate, and all she really wanted was the marshmallows. She gave all her hot chocolate to Arwyn, but decided later that she wanted to drink it after all, but then drank a little and still didn't really like it. Arwyn wanted the chocolate, but was then pissed that it was too hot to drink and that all her marshmallows were melted and gone, so we had to go back and get Arwyn a cup full of marshmallows just like Leia. What a bunch of nonsense I had to deal with!! Leia had her first swim lesson in her new Seahorse group, and it was the first swim lesson that I got to watch since last year. She did great and I watched her swim a pretty good distance all by herself. We all had a pretty bad morning on Saturday because everyone was being super whiny and uncooperative with me. I was in a bad mood because Leia was really rude and poking my face first thing in the morning to try to get me out of bed rather than snuggling with me for 20 minutes like she'd been doing all week. We all had a huge clash of anger, which I regret but was not able to control. Later she said she was only being mean to me because she missed Daddy so much. I thought that was a pretty accurate assessment (they had been pretty well behaved all week, but I could tell they were starting to miss him more and more), and was completely amazed that yet again she was able to have such good comprehension of her mental psyche at such a young age! I've been learning in my new child raising class that kids shouldn't earn allowance for doing household chores, just like parents don't get paid for doing housework. Rather they should just get an allowance for being part of the family, and they should do chores because it's part of their family contribution, and it makes them feel important and significant. Well Leia hates cleaning, which is the only real chore I ever want her to do, so I have been stressing about how I would get her to do more chores. And I didn't want to give her an allowance before she shows that she will work, but I didn't want her to think the allowance was linked to the chores. Well, all my stress was for naught because the second I used the words "Family Contribution," Leia jumped at the chance to help! We pulled out the paper and went through the whole list of options for each age. Leia preferred the choices that had pictures to go along with it (not surprisingly, since the rest were just uninteresting words I was reading), and chose to watering plants as her family contribution. This is actually a good choice because I hate watering plants, but it only happens once a week, so I realized that if I want her to do more stuff on a daily basis, I'll need to put together my own picture chart of the chores that I'm more interested in her doing. Leia was in a really social mood this weekend, and really wanted to have a tea party with other people. I finally agreed to make a play date with Audra, and both girls were so excited. They all played and shared really well together, and we introduced Audra to the art of a proper tea party for the first time. Later Leia told me that her favorite part was when the three girls were up in Audra's room playing house all by themselves. Funny because that was my favorite part as well because I actually got to chat with my friends for a bit! That morning Leia was so excited to get going to Audra's that she didn't want to eat her breakfast. I explained that we usually have snacks at Audra's and if she didn't sit and eat her breakfast, she wouldn't be able to have any snacks. She definitely understood the consequences and still chose not to eat. Not surprisingly, she was so pissed when we got there and couldn't eat snacks! And so were the other girls because our gracious hostess chose to withhold snacks from everyone equally rather than enduring the torture of listening to Leia scream!
Arwyn had a blast running around, jumping up and walking along the low walls, and drinking hot cocoa at the Truckee Holiday Tree Lighting this year. She's been in a little funk with napping these days. She always says she's tired, but then she keeps saying she doesn't want to nap and cries pretty hard when I leave the room. She still falls asleep and takes a decent nap anyway, but without fail, if she's crying when she falls asleep, she'll awaken and pick up right where she left off! We had a playdate this weekend with the Shirleys, and Arwyn was giggling so hard with Audra and Jesse; she sure does love playing with them! Arwyn is always willing to lend a helping hand, but she too was excited to jump on the Family Contributions band wagon. I tried to have her wipe down all the chairs with a wet rag, but after all the excitement of Leia's watering, the whole chore thing was losing interest, so she did a pretty cursory job. We'll just have to practice a little more. Arwyn is still asking to read and do her puzzles for Mommy Time. She's so fast and confident with putting those puzzles together these days, until she gets tired that is. She's also still asking to breast feed when she get tired and cranky, even though we have been done with it for over 2 months. Her favorite books these days are "Fidgety Fish" and "Tinker Bell." She has me read the Fidgety Fish about 20 times in a row! She's also starting to want to actually pick the TV show that she and Leia will watch. Super Girl is her first choice, which is unfortunate because it's actually a rather scary adult show. She still only stays interested in the TV for a short time, and then gets up to pursue other more interesting activities.
Arwyn had a blast running around, jumping up and walking along the low walls, and drinking hot cocoa at the Truckee Holiday Tree Lighting this year. She's been in a little funk with napping these days. She always says she's tired, but then she keeps saying she doesn't want to nap and cries pretty hard when I leave the room. She still falls asleep and takes a decent nap anyway, but without fail, if she's crying when she falls asleep, she'll awaken and pick up right where she left off! We had a playdate this weekend with the Shirleys, and Arwyn was giggling so hard with Audra and Jesse; she sure does love playing with them! Arwyn is always willing to lend a helping hand, but she too was excited to jump on the Family Contributions band wagon. I tried to have her wipe down all the chairs with a wet rag, but after all the excitement of Leia's watering, the whole chore thing was losing interest, so she did a pretty cursory job. We'll just have to practice a little more. Arwyn is still asking to read and do her puzzles for Mommy Time. She's so fast and confident with putting those puzzles together these days, until she gets tired that is. She's also still asking to breast feed when she get tired and cranky, even though we have been done with it for over 2 months. Her favorite books these days are "Fidgety Fish" and "Tinker Bell." She has me read the Fidgety Fish about 20 times in a row! She's also starting to want to actually pick the TV show that she and Leia will watch. Super Girl is her first choice, which is unfortunate because it's actually a rather scary adult show. She still only stays interested in the TV for a short time, and then gets up to pursue other more interesting activities.
The bust of a wedding dress design by Leia, with matching necklace, earrings, watch, and hairpin.
The first snow angel of the season!
Leia was so excited to wake up to snow. She insisted that our Mommy Time be spent outside playing in the snow.
Leia's first attempt at the Monkey Bars...she made it to the second rung.
Meeting our new friend Baby Amina.
Looking cute in her kitty cat hat from Aunt Joanne. (I'll have to get a better picture to show off the ears.)
Fun story time with Aunt Stacia and Emmett.
So many fun animals to ride at Audra's house!
The master of ceremonies pouring the first tea.
Arwyn loves snuggles with her Auntie Megan.
Group cheers to Audra's first tea party!
Happy campers.
Password = Leia
Sometimes Leia's a little shy, but when she's feeling good in her skin, this girl loves to perform. Here she is on her very own microphone singing a brand new song she just made up, in hopes that I will learn it from her.
While on his trip to Copper Mtn, Josh was happy to be reunited with his former athletes, the Duffy Brothers.
