I feel wonderful!

Last week we were looking forward to Isobel starting to laugh.  She's threatened it several times now, but consistent laughing is still not a thing.  This week, tough, she did start to successfully roll from front to back and back to front, so she gave us something.  She continues to be just a sweet kid.  She likes to sleep and only complains when we haven't noticed one of her Maslow needs is in deficit.  Sometimes all she wants is a hug and then it's back to playing.

Grace continues to march through being three by being three.  Lots of cheerful defiance and boundary pushing.  In between those more contentious times, she's really great to be around and a lot of fun.  Her drawings continue to astound us and her imaginative play can be difficult to keep up with sometimes, but we think we're doing her justice.  She starts pre-school in a couple weeks, and that will be interesting.

Some fun quotes this week:

After Isobel gave her a hug good night, in a purely informative voice:

"Um... she licked me."

Betsey after a pretty good day:

"I did stuff today, I did stuff today, I feel pretty okay."

Grace, without skipping a beat:

"I did nothing today, I did nothing today, I feel wonderful!"

No more apartment

Two weeks ago was the last week to move out of our apartment. I was basically a parent in absentia.  It didn't lend itself to having much to say.

This week it has been nice to see my girls again.  

Grace has had a bit of a tough one.  Maybe it's the new house, maybe it's the new sister, maybe we haven't a clue, but she had several really tough nights where she was up all night tantruming to two in the morning. If there are any great quotes, I'm not thinking of them. I'll blame it on the sleep deprivation. Even with this recent rash of late night screaming fits, Grace has been improving in using her feelings vocabulary and finding calmer ways to deal with the situations she finds frustrating.

Isobel has been her usual pleasant self. We've had one or two almost laughs.  That's definitely the milestone we're most excited about right now.

She likes to do drawings

Not much to report on Isobel this week.  She's just her wonderful cooing, gooing, spewing self.  Still battling the colic at night, but generally asleep by later in the evening, and only waking once or twice at night.  This week she did start sucking on her hand purposefully, sometimes preferring it to the pacifier.  She also is definitely recognizing mommy and daddy as unique and special caretakers and is happy to see us.

Grace has always been a really creative and imaginative kid.  We got her a doodler (magna-doodle) a while ago and it has been a constant friend to her.  She's had a progressive improvement in skills.  This week, she's become a little obsessed with drawing.  She's requested to draw after quiet time.  She's requested to draw instead of story time.  All she wants to do is draw.

Left to Right: Aunt Chrystal, Aunt Kim

It's fun to watch these obsessions come and go.  A couple months ago it was dinosaurs.  Now it's drawing.  What will be next?

She has so many quotable quotes right now.  I'm sure most 3 year-old kids do.  Here's a couple:

During Cleanup:
Oh hey... here's a sticker I was looking for... Oooooh it even has some stickum left on it!

During Moving Organization:
Betsey:  Okay, I'm going to be taking boxes up the stairs now.
Grace: Okay, I'm going to be getting in your way now.