Lucia talks about school

Today was day three of Lucia's preschool experience. She went Wed/Fri last week, and the director suggested she go every day this week to help ease the transition and make it more of a routine. So off we went this morning and she was fine in the car, started pouting when we got there, but then walked right in without glancing over her shoulder. Here's the report I got of her day (captured while she was taking a potty break - and finishing her snack - right after we got home). Some of the expressions (facial and verbal) are priceless.

Little Mermaid

Almost impossible to believe that this little girl would hardly put her face in the water at the beginning of the summer! So, so proud of Miss Belle!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lucia!!!

More to come... I love this kiddo!
















Lucia's birthday prep

Pumped Up Kids

We had an awesome dance party tonight, mostly to the tune of "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People. I had heard the song profiled on All Songs Considered on NPR several weeks ago, then it popped up in a friend's Facebook post where Isabelle heard it. It's been stuck in our heads since and I think we may have played it 4 times consecutively for this little dance party tonight. Makes me smile (the music and the dancing)!!

Redefining Minimalism

I told Belle she needed to take off her new clothes and put on an apron before painting. Guess the ellipted "and put on something else" that I intended between those two commands didn't come across.



Also, my trust in a 4-year old's ability to handle paint unsupervised was a bit misplaced. When the quiet got too loud, I turned around and half the kitchen was splattered in purple dots (she figured shaking the brush violently was a good way to get it dry). I was sitting at the kitchen table six feet away and had paint on the back of my shirt.

However, after a bit of clean-up and some redirection, she produced this masterpiece. [I believe it may be a self-portrait... or one of her sister.]

Flamenco Rudolfo

Take one dress from Nicaragua, partial Spanish lyrics from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, a 30 minute Skype session and add Isabelle. What do you get? Flamenco Rudolfo. [And a little imp in purple provides comic relief.]

Sound Swimming

The girls and I took a quick trip to Topsail in June. Ahhh!

Isabelle's end of the year performance

Isabelle changed preschools at the beginning of April to Maracas Bilingual Montessori and we couldn't be happier.  Last week was the end of the school year, so they had a performance that involved several group songs and individual recitations from each of the kids.  Of course my video battery ran out before Isabelle got up there, but our neighbor (whose daughters go there) was kind enough to capture most of it on  her phone for us.  Isabelle is saying:

En medio del Prado
Hay una escuela
Donde van las flores
y las abejas.

(I have no idea why this was the "poem" assigned to her, only that she was in the primavera section of the four seasons.)  She did an awesome job, especially given that she cried through her entire last stage performance (in October).  The flipping of the pig tails was a crowd pleaser.  ; )


22 months old!

I think I have missed a few months' updates, so here's the latest on Lucia, before she's soon 2!!
(this is more for my "scrapbooking" purposes than your reading pleasure, but feel free to read)
  • This kiddo is a funny one.  She cracks herself and everyone else up.
  • We left story time at the library early a few weeks ago because Lucia refused to keep her dress on.  She was running around in socks and undies - and loving it!
  • She likes to play "baby bird" based on the mama robin and eggs we had in our bush out front.  I cradle her in my arms and put her in her nest (crib) and sing "baby bird, baby bird" and then we tweet.  She likes to talk a lot about baby birds.
  • She also likes to have some kind of laugh in her crib before bed.  This can be accomplished by smelling her "poopy" feet and making a sour face (hilarious to her), or by telling her no running in her crib, to which she responds by pumping her legs up and down crazily and laughing and saying "More!"  Pretty much any kind of physical comedy works; sometimes it's hard to not get her too wound up because her laugh is so contagious.
  • She is very into one particular blankie.  The blankie was missing for 36 hours and we nearly had a crisis (it was found behind the chair in Isabelle's room, wrapped in a comforter).  Other unlikely places where we have found blankie: in the back of the baby stroller; on the sidewalk on the way home from the park; in the fruit bowl.  She has about six other blankies also knit by Gigi, but this one in particular has the right yarn, pattern, and smell I guess.  It's getting very dingy.
  • She is also into one particular baby, though she's liking babies and dolls in general now.  She carries this particular (nameless) baby around and says, "Baby crying," or "Baby no cry, baby happy!"  She was into putting all the babies in her crib to sleep, but as of today she prefers to chuck them out of her crib, and tonight she didn't want any in with her.
  • She likes to sing and dance.  Often together.
  • She is stringing all kinds of words together.  The cutest right now are "Oh my goodness!", "Thank you, Mama/Papa/Isabelle", (the full name "Isabelle" has replaced the former "Izzie" in most cases) and her favorite is "Bonk the ear!"
  • "Bonk the ear" is her standing joke at the moment.  It is a go-to phrase when nothing else will do, or when she wants to make something funny.  For instance, the lyrics of Baby Beluga are now, "Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea.  Swims so wild and BONK THE EAR!"  Isabelle is very into whispering to us these days, so whenever she does, Lucia comes up to the other ear and whispers "Bonk the ear!" then looks at you like she's just told you the funniest thing and can't wait for you to laugh.
  • Along with the funny have come the tantrums.  Major screaming and kicking and clenching and throwing incited by mundane things like putting clothes on, getting in the car seat, getting out of the car, being told "No," etc.
  • This girl can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.  She has all kinds of brushburns and scrapes that look like they really hurt, and she'll usually say, "Ow!" and maybe cry for two seconds, and then say "'Nother boo boo."  She and Isabelle get into some good wrestling matches and Lucia definitely holds her own.
  • She really likes the "HUG" book from Uncle Soupy right now.  She wants to know the emotion of the chimp on every page and is so happy when the chimp finds his mama and gets happy.  She's also starting to fill in the words on some of the rhyming board books.
  • She can count to 10 and sometimes 13, but is most likely to do this (correctly) when she has her blankie over her head, as if she's counting for someone to hide for hide-and-seek.
  • She and Isabelle love to play hide-and-seek.  Lucia is at that hilarious stage where she can't keep quiet and calls out for people to find her.  This makes Isabelle very mad when they are hiding together.  If you ask, "Where could they be?" you'll hear "In 'der!" from the closet.
  • She is very independent, wanting to dress herself, go potty herself, climb into her seat herself...pretty much do everything herself, or at least try.  "Me do!" and "No, me!" are two frequent refrains.
  • She hates brushing her teeth. Or having anyone come close to her with a toothbrush.
  • She knows about 40% of her ABCs.  Those also devolve into "Bonk the ear!" often.
  • She loves to color and draw alongside Isabelle, and has a pretty good hold on her markers.
  • Her favorite color to say is pink, which comes out with a tongue-click for the "k", as if she's a San bushman from Southern Africa.  Love it.  This happens to the "k" in "drink" as well sometimes.
  • She has picked up the Spanish "Mira!" for "Look!" from Isabelle.
  • She says her name "'Cia", but usually refers to herself as just "me."
  • She is still pretty cuddly, wanting to always hold my hand when we're walking or pulling me to where she wants me to sit, telling me to sit, and then plopping in my lap.

Isabelle's first dance recital

Isabelle has been taking ballet and tap at Cary Dance Productions, thanks to Aunt Jess and SocialLiving. On the last day of class they had a little recital to show all of the parents what they'd been working on... exactly the kind of low-key "recital" Bellie could enjoy.

Lulu loves to tap

Tap shoes are self-explanatory; no classes needed.

Lake Tobias fun


So Mr. Zebra, what do you have to say for yourself?

Something pretty funny, I guess!







Happy 4th Birthday, Isabelle!!

Now that it's May I thought I better catch up on this post.    My bambina is 4!   She is a funky monkey these days who loves drawing, coloring, singing, dancing, and playing school/teacher and hide-and-seek.  She had a great birthday party at the local gymnastics studio, and lots and lots of princessy fun!
Birthday girl in her birthday duds.

Doing her happy dance.
At the neighborhood Easter egg hunt.
Enjoying cupcakes in the shade.
Modeling her beautiful new dress from Nicaragua from Tia Kate.
Climbing out of the pit at her gymnastics party.
Her improvised "princess" cake!

Lucia gives her bigsister a ride before going for a swim at Gigi and Dodi's hotel.

End of a happy, crazy weekend!


Popsicle pics








Bathing beauties

Two bubs in a tub. Lucia likes to "go nighty" in the bathtub, covering up with her wash cloth "blankie". Isabelle graciously joined her.
Cheeseballs.

Posers

Isabelle has started at a new preschool, and we need to take in several photos of her doing "routine" things. Well, she's hit the cheeseball poser phase and it's very hard to get a "normal" shot. This was the picture of her coloring with markers...
And this was Lucia's imitation, saying, "Cheese!"
("Did you take it yet, Mama?")

Fun in a box... part 2 or 3?

Last month Gigi sent some hand-me-downs from "cousin" Lilly in a nice big box. Who doesn't love a good box?

(I like how Lucia's expression warms up with each photo as Isabelle's gets crazier.)

First day of dance class!

Thanks to Auntie Jess and SocialLiving, Isabelle has been taking ballet and tap for the spring session at Cary Dance Productions. She LOVES it! Her in-class performance is next week, so will post some pics or video then.

Oh knots!

Prior to Isabelle's recent hair cut, "knot" was definitely a four letter word. This beauty resulted from Belle's quiet-time attempt to put a pony tail in her hair. It was in there all right!

Conejo!

Isabelle drew this picture of a bunny and then wrote the Spanish word "conejo" above it. I didn't realize when I took the picture that the reflective piping on Jay's cycling shirt in the other room was perfectly lined up to give Belle bunny ears to complete the pic!

Time for a spring swing!