Easter 2013

Emily and Avery had such a great time this Easter Celebration.  Ama and Apa went out of town this year so they came over the Thursday before to give the girls their Easter baskets a little early.  The girls were so excited and loved their gifts from Ama and Apa which included an outfit and lots of candy.  They also received their Wink dolls, which are new dolls that are a cross between a fairy and a Barbie doll.  They stem from a new show that is about to air on Nickelodeon and are a hot commodity right now.

Easter Sunday we went to church in Ingleside with Nonna and Papa and then went over to Nana's house for Easter lunch and a egg hunt with all the cousins.  Everyone had a great time and the girls got some more gifts from Nonna, including their first gold hoop earrings!

Avery reads "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See"

Emily at Three and a Half

Emily is most definitely our sensitive child.  She has the biggest heart but gets hurt so easily.  I have never seen a child who is in tune with people's feelings more than Emily.  Ama was sick a while back with a bad cold.  Emily came up to her and asked her if she was feeling sick and when Ama told her she was, Emily started stroking her hair and offered Ama her blanket for comfort.  Anytime someone is in pain or is sad Emily goes up to them and asks what is wrong.  She is so caring and thoughtful but at the same time she is so sensitive when it comes to her feelings.  If little sister Avery doesn't want to play with her, Emily will start to cry and come running to mom to help her persuade Avery to play.  Likewise when daddy is getting upset with Emily when she is doing something that may hurt her she starts to cry.  Never when mommy gets upset with her or starts to yell only when daddy does it and he doesn't even raise his voice.  Emily will always be a big softy.

Our little girl is growing up so fast, and I know I say that in all my blog posts but it is never more apparent than now as she is starting to sprout and is taller than some most of the other three year old's in her classroom.  Legacy preschool is teaching Emily well and she is doing great in her class.  Right now she is learning her alphabet and is starting to trace letters.  She can trace her name really well but we are still working on writing out her name freehand.  Emily is starting to recognize the letters of the alphabet and she recognizes her name.  Although she can't write her name yet, Emily is really good at drawing her shapes.  She loves to try and draw houses and is always asking me to draw with her on her board.  I had no idea she was so good at drawing her shapes until I asked her to draw a square which she drew perfectly and then followed it with a circle, a triangle, a rectangle, and even a heart.

As a big a memory as Emily has she is always coming up with things that blow me away.  The other day as I was putting her to bed she had a small ball in her hand which she placed under her pillow.  I asked her why she was placing the ball under her pillow and she said, "So the tooth fairy has something to find when she comes at night."  What?!?  She obviously saw a show about the tooth fairy or was read a story about her.  Recently Emily and Avery have been taking an interest in dinosaurs.  We have two dinosaur movies, "A Land Before Time" and "We're Back" which they both love.  Plus some of the girls favorite shows have touched on the subject of dinosaurs.  Emily is really good at remembering some of the types of dinosaurs and their popular names, like T Rex and triceratops.  She and Avery love to run around the house pretending they are dinosaurs and roaring, but of course one of them is a baby dinosaur and the other is the mommy dinosaur.  I know Emily is really paying attention to all that is around her and especially her shows that she watches.  Just the other day it was foggy outside and as we stepped out the house to leave for school Emily said, "Mom, it's foggy outside.  I can't see."  There is an episode of Peppa Pig where daddy pig explained what fog is.  I didn't think she would remember his explanation but I asked anyway, "Emily, what is fog?" and without taking a second to think, she responded, "Fog, is a cloud on the ground."  I couldn't have been more prouder at that moment!!

Avery at Two and a Half

Our two-and-a-half year old is amazing, just simply amazing.  Avery hasn't changed her Jekyll and Hyde ways but she has grown into a silly little girl.  She loves to look at herself in the mirror and make faces and then later she will make those same faces to us at the dinner table.  As we came into the new year Avery bloomed and started talking much more clearer and much more in general.  She can retell stories she has been told or has been read and can tell you the consequences of events.  It's as if all of a sudden she opened up a bottle and all of her words started to flow out.  

Avery loves to read.  One of her favorite stories she likes to have read to her is the story of "The Three Little Pigs".  She loves the part where the big bad wolf huffs and puffs and blows the house down but at the same time the thought of the big bad wolf scares her.  She has woken up in the middle of the night on numerous occasions screaming about the big bad wolf.  I stopped reading it to her but she keeps bringing the same book back to me to read to her.  She also likes listening to the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".  

Aside from reading Avery has now opened up the world of imaginary play in part because big sister Emily wants her to play with her.  Both of them love to play "mommy and baby" where one pretends to be the mommy and the other the baby.  They do this not only as mommy and baby but also as mommy dog and baby dog or mommy dinosaur and baby dinosaur.  Avery also likes to play doctor and will use the play doctor kit to check up on daddy.

Some of her favorite shows at the moment are Peppa Pig, Max and Ruby, and Bubble Guppies all of which show on Nick Jr. She can't get enough of these shows and will sit in the rocking chair in the living room and just sit and rock and watch her shows.  Avery has taken on a fondness of rocking in the rocking chair and loves to rock fast.  Sometimes we have to yell at her to slow down, but she will sit there and rock herself.  I think its soothing to her.  When mommy sits and rocks with her she tries to throw her body into it to rock faster and she gets a little frustrated that it doesn't move as fast as she would like.

We are in the midst of potty training and we have finally come to the phase that Emily was in before she finally became potty trained.  Currently Avery is wearing panties at school and is doing well with few accidents, but when she comes home she has accidents almost every day.  As much as we take her to the potty she still has an accident, but I am excited because Emily was at this phase right before she understood how to feel for when she needed to go.  We are headed in the right direction!