The End of Winter...hopefully

Oh, winter, when will you leave? We are OVER IT! It is late March, already Spring technically, and yet we are indoors everyday. We've exhausted all resources. The Mall. The indoor free plays. Chuck-e-Cheese. The Gym. I want to go out and PLAY! Nothing really big to update...so here are some pics.

Audrey just adores this boy. And he adores her, too. He will lay on the floor and watch her play without making a peep. I told her that when he smiles, its his way of saying, "I Love You", so now when he smiles she yells "JJ LOVESS YOU!". So sweet.

Although I complain about being stuck indoors, we have actually been able to get out some. When it gets into the 50's, we put on our coats and head outside to play. Cheeks is not a big fan, since the cold air seems to make it hard to get good breaths for him. But for Audrey, even 20 minutes outside is enough to make her day. She asks every day to go to the playground, so we try to do it a few times a week.

We've pulled out the giant baby toys - the high chair and the jumper - for Cheeks. The high chair is great because he likes being high off the ground and can watch us cook and sit at the table while we eat. I think he felt left out being on the ground in his swing before. The jumper...well..he's still getting used to it. Maybe if I put batteries in it so it played music and lit up, he'd like it more. Right now we're only getting about 10 minutes in it before he starts yelling at me.

Audrey starts soccer on Sunday, and her 2.5 year checkup is Monday, so I'll be back with stats and updates about our big little girl and all the fun things she's doing.

I better get going...Audrey is watching YouTube videos in Japanese and JJ is waiting for me to come get him out of bed!

Growth Spurt

About a month ago, Audrey hit a growth spurt. Not quite a physical spurt (although she did have one of those in December!) but a developmental growth spurt. It started around the time we decided to potty train her. Suddenly her vocabulary exploded, and continues to grow every day. She surprises me with words and thoughts that I didn't even know she knew. The first time I really realized that she had her own thoughts and ideas was one afternoon at a restaurant. I took her to the bathroom to wash her hands, and there was a vase of fresh flowers on the sink. She said, "oooh mommy beautiful flowers!". I'd never heard her say beautiful before that, and I also didn't think she was putting thoughts together like that. She tells me she likes things, or that something tastes good, or that she wants to do something...I guess these are just more abstract thoughts and she is expressing them more and more. She's like a real little person now with thoughts and opinions and ideas all her own!

She's started to get more into pretend play, too. She likes driving her cars and trucks along the carpet or even along JJ's arms and legs. She likes making forts, playing with her dolls (nothing has changed there), and her new favorite thing is coloring. She looooooves to color. She asks us to play with her now, too, which is a new thing. I've been watching her play lately and what I see still shocks me. She's a little girl, not a baby, and not even so much a toddler anymore. She has sprouted and is wearing 3T clothes, she's lost most of her baby fat rolls. She walks with purpose. Determination.

Picking out puzzles at the library

She's singing a lot and I try and try to get it on video, but I'm not successful (she hates the camera now for some reason). Her favorite song is The Wheels on the Bus, followed by Old MacDonald, the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat, and One Two Buckle My Shoe. She is singing the tune to Mary Had a Little Lamb, but the words aren't so clear yet. We've been going to a kid's music show on Thursdays and I'm surprised at how many songs she knows and tries to sing along to. I hate listening to the kid's CDs in the car, but I LOVE hearing her tiny little voice sing, so its a trade off.

She is such a good big sister to Joshua. When he cries or fusses, she's the first one to jump up and run to him. She wants to change his diaper all by herself, get him dressed and undressed, asks to hold him, and kisses him every chance she gets. It just melts my heart to watch her with him! She gives him her dolls and stuffed animals to "play" with and when we do tummy time, she's always right next to him doing it too.

Audrey got to hold a baby piglet yesterday. It was the runt of the litter and is being bottle fed, and his owner let Audrey feed him and hold him. It was the cutest thing. She was concentrating so hard on being careful not to drop him or hurt him. Of course Josh's response was, "When are we getting a pig!?". I can tell you that's not happening, regardless of how cute Audrey was with it!

Preschool registration is this week. I am soooo excited. I tried to get her into the Mom's Morning Out program at this school, but they are on a wait list. I know that she will love being in school and being around other kids so I really think she'll thrive in a program like this. It is three days a week, 930-1230. Can you believe she's already getting ready for school? She is growing so fast! Sometimes I stare at her and try to burn her image into my brain so I won't forget what she was like at this age. And then I come on here to document it all in writing in case I do start to forget, I'll have it here to remind me. So there it is!