17 Months, A Mash-up

Marielle is 17 months old!  She has transitioned from an Infant room to a Toddler room at school.  It was very difficult so say goodbye to her teachers T, A & J, but we are getting to know her new teachers S & K.  I guess this means that my baby isn't a baby anymore.  Bah!  My babies will always be my babies.
Hair: still a blondie and I refuse to cut her hair so it's getting pretty long - down to about her chin.  It is starting to thicken up with new growth that is all wispy on her forehead when I pull her hair up into a topknot or pigtails. 
Teeth: she's up to 9! She has all four of her central incisors one lonely little lateral incisor on the lower left, then she has all four of (what I think are) her second molars!  I was shocked when those started coming in, and even more surprised when all four of them started peeking out within about a week.  She is a hard-core, tough little teether though - no fever, no complaints!  Just a fist constantly in her mouth and buckets of sloppy drooly wetness.  
Spoken Words: Mama, Daddy, bye-bye, uh-oh, diaper, bubble, please, thank you, all done, ball, bath
Signed Words: more, please, thank you, all done, dog, squirrel (except she uses the sign for bird), she waves bye-bye and when she is ready for a diaper change she will come over to me, get my attention & pat her bottom
Favorite Song: Row, Row, Row Your Boat - M will prompt you with "whoa, whoa..." and she will wait for you to start signing, if you don't start within about 10 seconds she will repeat "whoa, whoa..." ad nauseum until you sign or she gets distracted by something else
Favorite Foods: milk, cottage cheese, chicken, steak, salmon, yogurt, mandarin oranges, cheese, rice
Pacifier: She still takes a pacifier, but only at naptime and at bedtime for overnight
Marielle is getting much more reliable with correctly matching the names of body parts (eyes, nose, chin, hands, feet, belly, etc). 
A couple of weeks ago I must have been getting ready to drop her off or leave her for a few minutes...I don't really remember, but I was holding her and I asked her "Kisses for Mama?" to which she got a michevious gleam in her eye and shook her head "no" so I started tickling her and she squealled with delight.  Now I fear that I am never going to receive kisses from either of my girls ever again because they both love to play the Kisses for Mama game and I never end up getting any kisses!

Snug as a Bug

For the last several days I have discovered that Corinne is scooting all the way to the end of her bed, dragging her pillow about halfway down and curling up in a cozy little ball to sleep - cuteness!!!

Play with your Food

Today I asked Brett to help me get lunch ready for Corinne while I got a bag together so that we could go to the pool this afternoon. He made her lunch, but he also made her art.
I give you a very hungry caterpillar:



I love my family.

Flip It Good

C has always been a pretty physical kid, she has plenty of options when it comes to rough housing - both her father and her uncle Scott have fun flipping her upside down, throwing her in the air and spinning her around. She loves to climb and swing and roll and spin.




So, when and opportunity came up for us to enroll her in an 8-week gymnastics class at a local gym we "jumped" at the chance! Her first class was last week and, although she had fun, she wasn't quite as excited about it as I had expected...but I had decided that we weren't going to put any pressure on her - she's only 3 after all and this should be for fun! Well, I discovered the reason for her low energy when we got home for the evening and learned that the poor girl had a fever.




This week she was feeling much better and when I told her it was the day of her gymnastics class, she was very excited. She did a great job of listening to her teachers, taking turns on the different apparatus, and trying each activity. After her class was over she wanted to sit for a bit to watch the older girls out in the big gym. They were practicing some tumbling and even though they didn't know it, they were providing inspiration for at least one little girl. I think she's hooked.




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Happy Birthday Brett! You are my best friend, a wonderful father to our beautiful girls and a good man. I am proud to be your wife and love the life we are building together.


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Always prepared for Ohio weather

95 degrees today and C decides she wants to wear a skirt, t-shirt... and snow boots! I love this kid. Took a spare pair of shoes to school just in case she decided her boots were too hot or too heavy. She was wearing the spare when I picked her up, but she got lots of positive feedback from the receptionist, M's teachers and her teachers.
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Mugs

C makes some awesome faces when she's willing to play to the camera. She's been a bit grumpy in front of the camera lately, but here are a few that I snagged recently when we were being goofy at lunch (love the light from our picture window):










Such a ham and always on the move. Pushing the boundaries and exploring without fear. Such a physical kid.

M has finally started playing to the camera and seems to love the lens:









I refuse to cut her hair. I usually have it up in a top knot, but I love that she has it hanging down in her face for this series. I also love that it's still so BLONDE (although not white-blonde like it was last summer). Sigh, methinks she will eventually grow out of the blonde and in to a brunette.

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