11-15-14

I'm sick today, but I have been lax in updating this blog lately with my sweet memories of my girls.

So here goes!

Anna Claire is loving school! It has been just a wonderful experience for her and I couldn't be more pleased with Ridgecrest's program. She knows all of her alphabet - uppercase and lowercase. She knows her numbers to 20 and is working on numbers to 40. She makes a craft all the time and loves to cut and draw. Her coloring is getting much better and she's learning how to stay in the lines, something that I was beginning to become concerned about over the summer because all she would do a scribble! Ha ha! She loves her teachers, and I love all the extra opportunity she has for fun things to do like field trips, chapel, special programs, etc. Two different adults stopped me Wednesday night and another talked to Andy the next day about how much Anna Claire has changed since starting school. Her attention span has improved and she is learning to follow given instructions much better. There is still much improvement to be had on that front though! :-)

Juliana's speech has really taken off! She can say anything she wants to, when she wants to! Her favorite word for the moment appears to be "no." :-) She loves her sisters, and the time has finally come when Eliza doesn't get a pass on playing with her toys. I wondered how long it would take before she would become possessive with her things with Baby Liza, but the time is now here. For the longest time Baby Liza could do no wrong! She still lights up every time Eliza comes into the room from napping or being away from her, and she loves her so very much! She loves Anna Claire also, and they are really starting to play well together. The kicker is always how much patience Juliana is willing to exhibit, and how much pestering Anna Claire is wanting to do. When Anna Claire stops trying to be the boss and just plays with her like an equal, usually things go okay. it makes me so proud and it makes my heart smile when I see them play well together. I hope that as they get older that they will be very close and learn to play well and have similar interests.

Eliza is turning into a toddler slowly but surely! She wants to walk so bad she can't stand it, but right now she has to settle for standing without assistance. She tried to take one step but it was unsuccessful. She has tried again since then that I have noticed, but she stands and pulls up on everything! :-) She is a joy and everybody loves to be around her because of her happy playful personality! We also get stopped every where we go from strangers to talk about what a beautiful baby she is in what pretty big blue eyes she has! She charms everyone with how easily she smiles! She is babbling a lot also, saying "mama and "dada" and many other little words. Her daddy loves to hear her scream in the shrill way that she likes to do when she is happy! She does love to scream, and it is especially annoying whatever you were trapped in the van with her! Even Anna Claire has been known to say, "Be quiet, Baby Liza!"

Anna Claire is at a trying place for discipline. Her mouth gets her in much trouble. She think she has to comment back to everything we tell her to do. That doesn't always go over so well when you tell her to do something and she says you do whatever it was that you told her to do. You would think she would learn after so many bad endings to that scenario. :-) The other night one of the girls from the youth was trying to make sure that it was okay for her to sit away from us at Wednesday night supper and she asked her once about it, and when she asked for the second time, and Anna Claire responded with a frank, "you're pestering me!" :-O Thankfully the girl thought it was cute, but Mama wasn't quite so impressed. :-)

Tonight Juliana saw Anna Claire's Frozen nightgown and got sooo excited! "Eh-sa!"  (Elsa) "an-na!!" We let her wear it (much to Anna Claire's discontent), and her evening was absolutely made!! It was a good opportunity to talk with Anna Claire about putting her sisters happiness ahead of her own. I don't know if she got it or not, but when Juliana came into the bedroom smiling from ear to ear, Anna Claire hugged her and with some encouragement told her she was pretty in the gown. After that Juliana just absolutely SHOWERED her with love--kissing and wrestling and wanting to be all over her--and thankfully Anna Claire responded happily. They really do love each other!

The way Juliana talks is so cute!!  Tonight's word!! "He-up!!" (Help!) at the top of our lungs repeatedly!