The big day finally arrived, and B embraced it with all the enthusiasm she could muster!
It was a little bittersweet for Jason and I, but EVERYONE was caught up in her enthusiasm.
Hugs for big sister!
When we arrived at school, she marched right into the class room – never hesitated, and never looked back. A teacher invited her to sit down and start drawing, and she jumped right in.
At the end of the day, she was supposed to ride the daycare bus home, where I was waiting to pick her up. There was some confusion, however, so she inadvertently ended up on the “big yellow bus” – as you can see, she did not mind one bit!
She had a fantastic day, and was more than a little annoyed that she couldn’t go right back the next day. Tomorrow, she gets her wish, when she starts kindergarten with her new teacher in her new class (along with her buddies Hawke and Jayson)! Her other daycare buddies, Isabella, Conner, and Charlie, are in the other kindergarten class, but they will still see plenty of each other at lunch, recess, and after school. She can’t wait!
We have enjoyed having lots of visitors the past couple of weeks. First, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, and B was able to show off her new-found swimming skills!
This is HUGE for her since she has always been very skittish near the water. She took swim lessons last year, but never advanced farther than briefly putting her face in the water. This summer, she was much more willing to put her face in the water, but again, only for brief periods of time. And then, a couple of weeks ago – voila! Even more surprisingly, on Friday night she suddenly decided she wanted to jump into the water. In the past, she would only do so very rarely, and even then, very reluctantly and only if someone would catch her. This time, I was holding M, and B just got out and jumped in! She always has been, and I suspect always will be, the type that just won’t do something until SHE is ready.
We had a good time visiting, but spent most of their trip inside since it rained and rained and rained…M didn’t mind, tho…as long as she had her stroller and her hat…
Before Grandma & Grandpa left, they had a special day with B at a local kids museum. B was VERY excited because this museum has live animals and dinosaur statues. If I understood correctly, they pretty much spent the whole day looking at the live animals and playing in the dinosaur section (oh and looking at bugs and spiders and frogs…B just loves to look at (and be grossed out by) bugs and spiders and frogs…). Here is B with Grandpa…and an Albertosaurus…
With Grandma and those colorful frogs…
They even had a dinosaur she could climb!
Shortly before Grandma & Grandpa left, Tatie Kat arrived. Unfortunately for her, it continued to rain and rain and rain. We basically got our first break from the rain on the 4th, and we took advantage of it! After a lunch of grilled corn and hamburgers, and after the girls had their naps, we headed out to hear the local band play some patriotic music. My little firecracker!
Tatie Kat tickled B to one of the songs (this is pretty much the only shot I got that wasn’t blurry b/c she was wiggling so much!).
Poor M wasn’t feeling too well (pink eye is a bummer), so she spent most of her time snuggling
but she perked up every now and then!
The fireworks are a little loud for B and a little late for M, so we headed home to throw some snaps before bed. I made sure to have plenty this year, as last year we ran out before the kids were done. We did some sparklers another night, and will do some more tonight with her buddy Hawke to close out our fun holiday weekend and our good times with family.
Next up…Kindergarten!
We “celebrated” M’s 17 month birthday at Monkey Joe’s with Grandma & Grandpa (and B, of course). She is just now getting old enough where she actually gets to do stuff. We spent a fair amount of time near the toddler bouncy – I say near because basically she climbed up the slide, climbed through the opening, turned around, and went down the slide. Repeat. When she got tired of that (~20 minutes later), we headed to a plain old bouncy with lots of big kids – she could have cared less. She watched and waited, and when it cleared out a bit, she tried to walk across that bouncy surface (much falling and giggling ensued). The last place she explored was a bouncy that had a small slide. I would push her up as high as she could go, and then she would slide down. Repeat. This went great until that last slide down…she tipped over at the last second and conked her head on my knee. 
Still, she had a GREAT time!
She is constantly growing and changing. All her teeth (except her two year molars) have come in. As far as we are concerned, she can wait until well after she turns two to get those molars – teething is an awful process for her (full of really, really bad diaper rashes, a stuffy/runny nose, and lots of pain)! I think she is starting a growth spurt – lots of eating and sleeping lately. Her hair is also getting longer. Soon I will have to give up the “pebbles” and “cindy-lou-who” look…but not yet…
She LOVES hats!! Plastice fireman or construction hats, fancy hats, you name it. While out and about the other day, she spotted this one and we all agreed, even B, that she HAD to have it.
Other favorite toys/activities: books, anything with animals (especially cows, dogs, cats, and hippos), puzzles, the tupperware cabinet, and pretty much anything B is doing. For example, M spent a good 15 minutes trying to imitate the yoga B was doing!
Like her big sister at that age, she is not overly fond of changing clothes or her diaper. The end result is generally a lot of acrobatics on the bed and floor, and lots of chasing around the room. It’s exhausting, but adorable! Also, like her sister at that age, M seems to have a permanent scrape on one or both knees at any given time. She is just now starting to run (or try to run), and sometimes that doesn’t work out so well…
Her vocabulary is changing rapidly. She has added a few animal sounds (quack, oink, hissssss) to her existing repertoire (which already included meow, ruff, moooo, and baaaa). She also says gay-ger (gator), go-goo (yogurt), bee-bee (for B), Poppa, Ganpa (Grandpa), Ganma (Grandma), kee-ka (kitty cat), etc. She actually says quite a bit more than this, but many of her words sound alike, so it is sometimes hard to tell what she wants. She is really good about signing when she knows the sign (please, thank you, more, milk, etc.).
She is still fairly picky and very unpredictable! One day she may gobble down multiple spoonfuls of black beans, and the next day (and ever since) she won’t touch them. Some days she will eat blueberries, grapes, green beans, and cheese, and some days she won’t. She will almost always drink her smoothie and eat fish sticks, turkey-cream cheese wraps, sauce pouch, and avocado. We just go with the flow. The best is watching B try to convince M to eat something. Sometimes it works, and other times not so much…
She sleeps GREAT, but only when she is not teething. She almost always takes a 3 hour nap when at home, regardless of the teething. When she is not teething, she will generally sleep from 8 PM to sometime between 7-8:30 AM. When she is teething, she will wake up 1-4 times a night. See why we are ready for a teething break??
As for her bink…well, you can see that it is ever present. Next month we will start getting it away from her during the day. I suspect it will be a challenge – she is much more attached to it than B was (and that’s saying something!).
The best moments are between M and B – we are so thrilled that they seem to adore each other. They may squabble from time to time over a toy, but mostly they just play together. The first thing M does every morning is look for B and give her a big hug. Precious!
