Monday, August 23, 2010

proof

Here is proof of how much Violet loves stuffed animals. This is how she fell asleep the other night. Can you pick out Violet's face in the picture?


The girls have been loving riding their bikes lately. They can pedal like crazy, which is quite a change from the beginning of the summer. At that time, they couldn't even pedal all the way around. Now they will ride bike all the way to the park by our house. They have also figured out that one of them can stand on the back of the bike while the other one pedals. Then, they giggle like crazy and switch spots. They sure have a lot of fun together!

Monday, August 16, 2010

obsessions

Olivia and Violet are both currently obsessed with Dora the Explorer. Whenever we let them watch TV, that is the show they want to watch. They can sing every word of the theme song and they respond to Dora when she asks questions during the show. They even implement stuff from the show into their daily lives. When we were eating breakfast yesterday morning, Olivia grabbed Violet's cereal bowl and slid it across the table, hiding it behind a box of cereal. She proceeded to say, "You'll never find your cereal NOW!" to which Violet stuck her arm out and replied, "Swiper, NO SWIPING!" (If you have never watched the show, I won't even bother trying to explain.)

Violet is also obsessed with stuffed animals and babies. No matter where she goes, she drags along about four or five stuffed animals and her blanket. When she gets up in the morning, she usually walks out into the hallway with her arms overflowing and says, "Mommy, can you help me? These are heavy." There is no room for her in her bed because her animals have taken over. She also loves to be a "mommy" to her baby dolls. I walked downstairs yesterday, and she was laying on her back on our dining room floor with a baby doll on her chest, and they were both covered up cozily with her blanket. I started chuckling and Violet just looked at me and said, "My baby is tired."

Olivia has been a very good big sister lately. When Violet needs something, Olivia will get it for her and then announce, "I am a nice sister." Her latest prize posession is a sticker book that she got from her cousin Emma. She wants to carry it with her wherever she goes. She loves to color and decorate pages with stickers. She also LOVES eating cereal. Every morning, she says she wants cereal for breakfast and then proclaims, "I want to pick." She prances over to the closet and picks her flavor of cereal for the day. She's had everything from Special K to Shredded Wheat to Raisin Bran, and she likes it all.

I am relieved that we no longer have to drag a bag of extra pants and underwear with us every place we go. We finally drew the line and said that if they have an accident, we have to go home no matter what it is that we are doing. I think this was one of the best decisions we ever made because, after the first few times of heading home after an accident, it forced them to learn how to use the potty correctly. Some days they are like camels and can hold their pee for hours and other days it still feels like we are in the bathroom with them every 15 minutes, but they have very few accidents anymore.

By the way, their new favorite saying (which they learned from a boy at daycare) is: "What the heck?"

Can't you just hear that phrase coming out of the mouths of two sassy, giggly two-year-old girls?

Sunday, August 1, 2010

the experiment

We conducted a minor experiment last Sunday. I gave each of the girls a tote bag, and told them to fill it with whatever they wanted to bring with them to church. I thought it would be interesting to see what they came up with.

Violet shoved her bag full of four baby dolls and a stuffed animal. I wasn't too surprised, since she likes to have about 50 stuffed animals in her bed with her at night. She is the little mother, the one who will push her babies in the stroller, and "feed" her babies part of her breakfast. She has a big heart, and is usually willing to share (well...for a two-year-old anyway) and for the most part just goes with the flow. She is more daring and brave, and will usually attempt to do new things without fear.

Olivia filled her bag with books. It was so heavy that she couldn't even carry it. On top, she placed her blankie (or "blanks" as she calls it). She loves to sit and look at books, and pretends that she can read them. She usually likes to have somebody around to do things with her. She is a little less brave about trying things out of her comfort zone; however, she is usually the first to reach milestones such as potty training. She now likes to go to the bathroom herself, and has her definite opinions.

The girls stayed overnight at my sister Terri's house last night. Thank you Terri & Aaron for babysitting! The girls had a blast. They went to a park with a wading pool, and on the way home they stopped for ice cream. When we picked them up this morning, Violet yelled, "Daddy! Mommy!" and ran to gave us hugs. Olivia started crying because she wanted to stay at auntie's house. Jamie and I went to the Twins game with Jamie's cousin and wife. We had a really fun time, and enjoyed the night out. We also enjoyed being able to sleep in until 8:30! :)