Harmony Kids Spring Sing 2012

 

The girls again sang with Grandma Julie in her singing group, Harmony Kids, this year. This is the whole group, ages 1-15. Here are a few pictures from their Spring Sing.

 The girls are in a class with two 4 almost 5 year olds, Raegan and Joey.

 Emiline's favorite song, by far, is "Your Momma Don't Dance and Your Daddy Don't Rock and Roll." You should see her stomp her foot! Both girls really like "I'll Be Nice," and it helps that there are maracas for that one. Props go along way when you are three and not quite 2.

 

Thanks Grandma Julie for letting them join in the fun!

Totsiens

...that's Afrikaans for "goodbye," or so Google tells me.

Last night I said goodbye to one of my favorite people in the world--my little sister. I can't say she is THE favorite, what with having a husband and kids and amazing parents and five other pretty fantastic siblings, etc, etc. But can I say what a balm to my soul she has been in the weeks she has been staying at the homestead?

Hollijo is pretty amazing stuff. She just left the army after five years of diligent work and service. And she is right now on a plane to South Africa to live out a dream she's had since she was a kid. I will always look up to my little sister.

Going There

So I'm just going to put it out there--I'm not OK. Frankly, I'm not sure what I am, but this uncertainty I think is the real reason that I have remained functionally mute in so many ways for so long. Why functionally? Because my degree of muteness is impairing my ability to function. I don't journal. I don't blog. My prayers are piddily. My Go-To girls from Minnesota I would usually employ in absorbing all the blather and dithering from my mouth are, well, in Minnesota (or moved to states that are not Idaho). I can't write anything, not even Facebook Status updates (not that I was ever very good at that). And more, I can hardly create anything anymore, it seems. I've always been an idea girl, and I still have them on occasion. Before they would flash in the pan, get me excited and moving, and then if they didn't come to pass it was because I had another idea, or already had too many before and it's just not possible to follow through on all the ideas. Now, its I get some flashes and before I get very far, the fear or the rejection that feels like my life settles in and I think something I haven't really thought a whole lot in my life "I can't." 

And IT'S BEEN A YEAR! Seriously. I have been in this Netherland of Unknown Limbo-i-stan for more than a year.

I haven't wanted to write all this because I haven't wanted to complain or whine or solicit pep talks. I am so blessed right now. My kids are amazing. My husband is so sweet and diligent and hilarious and wonderful. We have food, clothes, and shelter. We are all healthy. We are supremely thrilled with Baby Boy's impending arrival. My parents are the best housemates you could imagine. I feel like we are doing all that we know how and just keep hitting the wall and my bruises are getting bruises. And now I'm at the point were I keep looking for the magic pill, for the thing that will get me out of this boggy mental quicksand I'm in. I feel like every struggle is pointless. I catch glimmer of something that might just work to shatter the wall, and then I can't seem to make myself follow through and give it a try. "Just Try" is a family rule. Or as Dory says "just keep swimming..." And I can't. Or don't. Or won't. See, my muteness has gummed up my ability to even use verbs properly.

Please, no comments on this one, K? This one was just meant to go out into the universe and echo around, but not be answered. I would have put it on the secret blog, but this part of our life is a story of our lives. Definitely a story that is causing lines on my face, I'm just hoping they aren't all those confused "what-the-..." lines I get on my forehead and in between my nose when I scrunch up my face like a pug dog. Unless, of course, you want to tell my you liked my writing, that I had a particularly nice turn of phrase or image, in that case, comment away.

Aunt Holli, World Traveler

My girls have been so lucky to have extended time with their Aunt Holli before she heads off on her world adventure. They have learned so much from her. Here they are "helping" her pack.

Some Recent Stories

I'm BAA-AACK!

Has it really been that long since I wrote? There are a few really good reasons for this:

-I have really given up sitting. Like, I try to only do it when I have to (sans dinner time). I'm kind of undergoing a health revolution, again, and part of that means, for me, computer time = destroying my health. I'll blog about it in more detail later. Hopefully. At any rate, I basically feel like I'm rationing my computer time all the time, which is sad because there is a lot of fun to be had on my ungracefully aging laptop.
-I'm pregnant!! I'd thought to wait to announce this til I had an ultrasound pic to go with, but who knows when that will be. We are due end of August (16+ weeks) and we are all thrilled. Point is, I've been pretty sick for the last three months or so, and it's been much worse then my other two (and I didn't just forget). Started a lot sooner, lasted a lot longer. I shouldn't even be typing this, I should be sleeping...

OK- now on to the stories that compelled me to sit down right at this moment.

I should start out by saying how beautiful today was! We get one really nice out of ten during March in Idaho. The rest of the time it blows constantly. Oh, how I detest the wind! So I threw the windows open nearly first thing this morning and just ate up the sunshine and the only slightly frigid air coming in.

We have been potty training again. And yes, we gave up before because I was too sick to do it right. Emiline has this uncanny ability to keep her night and naptime diapers dry. One day last week, we went through 5 panties and pants but both her diapers that day were dry! Grrr!!! It's a matter of motivating her to announce that she needs to go, which I figured out today. We had some gorgeous weather and so this morning we all went for a walk. I told Emiline that if she had an accident on our walk she'd get really cold and sad and it wouldn't be any fun. On our way home through a field she told me, I whipped off her pants and held her up while she went! Then Grandpa took us all to McDonalds (for the outdoor playground, again, the nice weather) and I told her if she had an accident, she would get in trouble, wouldn't get to play on the toys and would have to sit in the car. She did great. I did not, however, communicate the consequences at the hardware store, but I made her experience the consequences a bit while there. I made her stand in her mess (I cleaned up the puddle, not her) and we kept on shopping and she felt left alone while my dad went for the emergency bag out in the car. The section of the store we were in was all low counters so I could walk where she couldn't see me but I could see her. She cried and kept saying "I don't like to be wet!" It worked well for us, but I'm sure the people in the store were glad when we left ;-)

Back to our morning walk- we tend to do a version of the same basic path a lot these days. We walk through the backyard and explore my dad's junk pile of old wood and things and then back to the two "balance bridges" that cross the two ditches at the back of the property and then we climb out a low spot in the fence and take the ditch road a ways. Jane loves to walk in the ditch, it's such an adventure of shells and random hills of sediment and weeds. Today we made it to a portion of the ditch that is full of snow all winter because it is the drifting spot of the field next to it and it's angle towards the sun. They thought it was so neat to walk on "waves of snow." Then we crossed through a field to circle back home. It was delightful, even though we didn't stop at the church to play Hide and Seek like we often do, much to Jane's disappointment.

Our scrappy cat, Kafi Achilles Bandit always comes with us on our walks. She thinks she's a dog. There is a tomcat that is starting to think he lives here, too and sort of picks on Kafi and today that tom kept showing up on our walk, too. I'd chase it away and tell the girls what a mean cat it was. They would comment on how it should be nice, etc. Anyway, shortly after Emiline pottied, the cat showed up again and then Jane started singing a song, "Lullaby" from our church's children's songbook. I've sung it to them since they were babies but change the words all the time. So she starts singing it and I'm not really listening but I think there were things in there about sharing and kindness and loving. When she finishes, she turns to me and says: "Mom, I sang that song so that cat would fill the spirit and be nice." Sort of blew me away! I have told her often when I feel the spirit during music and she's been learning in church how the spirit helps us choose the right. But she put them together.

We had a great, long, walk. I pushed them on the swings, we jumped on the tramp for a bit, then ran inside for a potty break and a snack. While upstairs, I hear this strange fluttering noise and notice some things from on top of the very tall armoire on the floor. Then I see out of the corner of my eye the fluttering and hear a "Bang, bang, bang" as a starling that got in to the house, I'm assuming from the windows I threw open earlier, tries to get out a shut window. Jane and Emiline think it's the coolest thing ever and Jane wants to keep it and hold. I call my dad up and luckily it flies down from the vaulted ceiling and for another window in the half bathroom. My dad, quite deftly I must add, catches the thing and as I got to open the door to let it out he says, "or we could just feed it to the cat." I tell him no and that the cat should catch it's own food and the pretty bird goes free. Quite an exciting end to our morning. More exciting was finding little "presents" from the bird the rest of the day. We had been identifying cow and horse poop on our walk and we got to identify bird poop afterwards at home!

Later today, we went back outside to ride bikes. I knew how it would go, that I would be pushing them most of the way and probably carrying the bikes, a Radio Flyer tricycle and a simple toddler ride-on push type toy. But we went over to the church anyway. It's sure nice to have such a long bunch of smooth pavement to play on. Emiline couldn't figure out how to make herself go forwards on the ride-on toy. But Jane did much better than I expected on her tricycle, except she kept stopping to ring the bell to "warn" everything, "all the cars," the church, me, Emiline, the cat, the tomcat. It was nice little memory we made. Then, on the way back, Emiline's shoe slipped off while she was running at full speed and she smacked hands then face into the pavement and just howled. So I ended up carrying the bikes and Emiline back home. But it was nothing kisses and a Popsicle couldn't fix.

And, here's the icing on the cake (except I don't like icing, so we'll say fruit topping and cream on the cake): No fights at dinner. Both girls ate what was basically new/not a standard/accepted meal from their repertoire, with grace and timeliness. It helped that there was an unfinished Diego episode waiting for them. And they just had to find out how Diego would save the baby humpback whale.

After they were in bed, I made a circle cowgirl skirt to add to the dress up box. Here's the other way we are upping the potty-training ante. Every time Emiline announces she has to go potty BEFORE she goes, she gets a potty present, something to add to her dress up box. She earned a pirate hat and a cowgirl hat today and hopefully she'll get the skirt tomorrow. I've been finding things here and there for at least a year now that I've been hanging on to til they were really ready to appreciate dress up. Now is the time!

Other fun recent things: On Monday I was feeling GREAT. The first real, totally good day I've had this pregnancy, so I demoed my parent's half bathroom, took down the wallpaper and tile. And, note to self, wear gloves when demoing tile next time...I had a fabulous time actually doing something productive and physical. Can't wait to put up the tile, paint, and put in new floors!

Tuesday was Idaho's republican primary caucus, the first one we've had. We got a babysitter so it was also date night, and we both went. It was exciting at times, really neat to have that many people gathered all together. But also frustrating as there were some technical hiccups. Sorta needed a dress rehearsal, I guess ;-) It always amazes me how much more connected I feel to Eric when we spend a few hours together away from the house and kids. Even if we don't talk much or do anything interesting. It was nice. So for those of you interested, the breakdown of votes in Cassia County of Southern Idaho were 144 Santorum, 143 Ron Paul, 28 Gingrich, and 1200+ for Romney. I didn't catch the rest of the number as the crowd was too loud and the announcer too quiet. But he won by 80% so there was only one round of voting and we went home early. We also sat in front of some high school kids who were voting for the first time and didn't know a thing about the candidates "Gingrich was speaker of the house?!?" or what was going on "Wait, we're voting tonight?" and we heard all kinds of stories about the exploits of teenage hicks for an hour "Yeah, she's mad at me because I showed up for our date drunk..."

Wednesday was also a fun day, more fun in retrospect. It was my turn to teach preschool and one of the topics this month is nutrition. I stressed a bit on how to teach this to 3 and 4 year olds but in the end came up with something fun. We talked about babies and who had babies in their house and who used to be a baby and what babies eat and how they grow up. Then we talked about the different kinds of food and what they do for our bodies and how they help us grow. I called grains "energy food," dairy and protein "strength food" and fruits and veggies "grow food" and I made up a little action for each. We all pretended to be tired and then found some energy food. I had bowls of a bunch of different kinds of grain and pasta and cereal and rice and let them glue them to their first puzzle piece. Then we talked about Strength foods and ran and jumped and hung and swung from the pull up bar. They really liked it. We glued a picture of a muscle on the next puzzle piece. Then I pulled out coloring sheets of fruits and veggies, like 20 different ones on each paper and we identified them and their color and talked about how they help our bodies grow, and colored them and I had this cute rainbow graphic that was made up of fruit and veggies. We glued that to our last puzzle piece and then stapled them to a paper plate and put a magnet on the back so they could stick it on their fridge. It was a hit...OK, it was a hit with 2 of the 5 all the time and a partial hit for 2 more and just a walk for the youngest. But Jane, and even Emiline, really liked it and we've been using it since to help her understand she needs lots of different kinds of foods, and less cheese and more "grow foods."

Now that I've completely sabotaged myself by staying up and hour and a half later, I'm going to go and finish my evening with some HGTV and a bowl of cereal before I hit the hay. That blood sugar is my tyrant!

Dressing Up

We've been doing lots of potty teaching and training, here and there, for at least a month plus now. I think this picture accurately depicts how it's going. Emiline can hold it and she can release it on command most of the time. But I think she more likes the idea of wearing panties, like for dress up, than for continually keeping dry. She gets distracted and busy with her life. So we've decided to just take her regularly and keep making it an exciting, positive thing and wait for her to decide she's ready to go to panties full time or I'm ready to handle it positively and consistently.

Pics from Christmas Card Photo Shoot

How I adore my girls! (Most of the time) I can't get over how much joy they bring into my life. I feel like the harvest comes pretty quickly with children in some ways. For me, the tiny baby phase (til about 6 months) is like weeding the garden. It just has to be done. Sure there are enjoyable moments here and there, but for the most part, for me, it's just a whole lot of work (can you tell I didn't enjoy gardening as kid/teenager? I have yet to plant my own garden, so I may change my tune soon...) But then, late summer hits and you kind of get overwhelmed with all the bounty. Having more zucchini or apples or tomatoes than you know what to do with is a good problem. I'm salivating right now remembering how good our apples were this fall, how amazing fresh zucchini lasagna is or my sister's fresh bruschetta is. I kind of feel that way about my kids right now. They make me salivate ;-)

Cute Kids

Emiline is the most grateful 19 month old I've met. She says "Thank You" with enthusiams for everything without prompting, for everything you do and it's so sweet, it makes the helper/giver feel pretty awesome about themselves.

My youngest sister was here for the holidays and she calls people "sweetie" a lot. Emiline has been sick since Christmas and a listless bag of Dora-watching, snot-running, momma-snuggling, puffy-eyed toddler. Last night at bedtime she sort of collapsed on Eric's shoulder and she said "Night Sweetie" to me in the most pathetic voice.

The girls got a DVD that teaches kids about notes and the piano. Jane loves it, the music in it gives me a headache, but BOY is she excited about finding Middle C on every piano or keyboard around. And then she plays "C, D, E," while singing the notes. That's as far as we've gotten in the DVD. Just a few minutes ago she was playing their toy keyboard and singing "C, D, E. C, D, E" over and over. Then she must have got bored cuz she threw in a high "L!" after a while...

Jane is in that distraction phase at the moment. i.e. "Jane, go get a tissue" and she gets distracted at least every two feet on the way to the bathroom by pretty much everything around her. So, of course, we taught her the word "distracted" so we can discourage the behavior. Worked pretty well for a while but now Jane has caught on. "Jane, it's time to pick up your blocks" is followed by "Oh, no, Mommy. I got distracted" And she starts to play with them some more.

When Emiline wants someone to get or do something for her she reaches out her hand and says "Hold my hand! Hold my hand!" (always twice) but it sounds more like "ho ma han, ho ma han," especially with the cold she's had. Then when you grab her hand she says "pull!!!! pull!!!" and grunts and doesn't really pull just weakly tugs and excepts you to get up. Right then. Quickly. Or it's a melt down of tears (at least while she's been sick). Pretty cute, though.

Christmas Greetings: Card, Letter, and Video!

This year was probably the slimmest sending of Christmas Cards yet, I almost didn't send any but The Mom just pointed to the wall of Monroe Christmas Cards for the last 30+ years and we broke the change jar to send out a handful. Thank goodness blogging is free!!

We also made a video for family that is oh-so-far away. Jane has fallen in love with the Christmas Story and so we took a video of her telling it, with a little prompting, and even a few songs. Emiline gets in on the action a few times, too. It's important to note that her knowledge of the birth of the Savior comes primarily from the scriptures. She's seen one movie, a very short one with almost no dialogue, a few times and that's it. She's just in love with Mary and the baby and all of it, so it's really sweet to me the details she adds. You can see the video here:

Without further ado, here is a our Christmas Letter:

Highlights and Snapshot of 2011 for the Eric and Marcee Ludlow Family

3/4- Opening night of Harry Torter and The Magical Law School, a musical parody. Eric played Hagrid and had a ball! At this same time, Emiline was crawling all over the place, trying to talk, shouted her first word,“Jane!”, and starting to walk. She’s been busy! Jane’s art skills expanded to using scissors and glue sticks.

4/10- Marcee sang with the Minnesota Choral Society’s Spring Concert, including John Rutter’s Gloria. At this same time, the apartment was nearly totally packed up and Marcee, her awesome sister Melisa, Jane, and Emiline were a few days away from driving a U-Haul trailer loaded with the best of their stuff to Idaho to begin their months as nomads. They left early to help her mother with wedding prep while Eric stayed behind to finish school.

5/1-7- A Wedding, a Funeral, and Eric’s (unattended) Law School Graduation.
Our special niece Mallory passed away a few days before the wedding of Marcee’s brother, Jordan. Marcee and the girls were so blessed to see her again and even hold her on her last night on earth. She changed our lives and our perspective. She is a bit of heaven and gave us a window into the world we are striving for.

5/26- Left for the great summer road-trip. First stop was Arizona to see some Ludlow cousins and Great Grandma Ludlow. While there, they celebrated one happy, enthusiastic year of Emiline at the end of May. Then they continued across New Mexico, with some fun stops along the way (amazing Mexican food! best sand dunes!) and spent another few days in Lubbock with Eric's sister Belinda and her family.

6/3- The family finally reached Fort Worth to spend a month at the Ludlow Homestead, just in time for Eric to really hit the books studying for the bar. They had lots of fun adventures and good times with nearly all of the Ludlow family: the Zoo, the Water Gardens, and the Stockyards, a backyard water party, and Eric joined the family when he could. They even managed a quick trip to Austin, where it all began. Then they left the Texas heat behind and stopped to see some old friends in Wichita and Cheyenne on the long trip home.

7/10- Marcee’s 10-Year High School Reunion, making her feel all grown up. (Not old.) Eric was in full study mode for the bar, and the girls were fully enjoying their summer with family. Both girls discovered the joy of jumping, on and off the trampoline, and Emiline spent hours honing that skill every day (on and off the trampoline). Jane began singing, all the time, everywhere, and Emiline learned to put her toys away---in the tub.

7/26-27- Idaho Bar Exam. Eric was nervous, everyone else was confident. They all prayed anyway.

8/14- Jane turned three! Enjoyed more family visiting, the county fair, and a trip to Scipio, Utah, with a hike up the mountain where Marcee’s Dad used to drive the cattle as a boy. Jane did as well as a mountain goat and LOVED the rocky adventure! At this same time, Emiline went through a stage of growling all her communication, and Jane, the helpful sister she is, methodically taught Emiline the important life skill of how to pick one’s nose.

9/10- Jane’s first day of preschool, a once a week, in-home, mother’s group. Jane loves the socialization above all else, but she has also been learning to write her letters (and figuring out spelling on her own, too). Both girls have also started singing in Harmony Kids with Grandma Julie, which quickly became their favorite day of the week.

9/29—Eric’s Swearing-In Ceremony to become an Attorney before the Idaho State Bar in Boise. What a special day! Marcee and the girls (and everyone) beamed with pride and excitement! Also around this time, Jane began to develop a fascination with tying knots—in everything.

12/9- Opening night of The Joy Factory, a children’s musical and Christmas benefit Marcee and her mom co-produced and directed. Jane was even in a few scenes, and both girls knew all the songs. It took up most of the family’s fall and Eric got roped in as the technical director running the lights and sound. It was a sweet success and a great way to kick off the family’s Christmas season, reminding us all of the joy of giving to others.

We end our year at a much different pace than we began it with another, but different unknown path to travel. Yet, we are one year’s worth of experience and events wiser. Life keeps moving forward and with our faith and the gift of our Savior, we will all keep growing and finding joy.

Emiline

Dear Emiline,
Please forgive your mother for the number of posts I didn't write about you. I adore you and treasure you and if you are ever tempted to compare the number of posts about Jane to the number of posts about you in your early life, I want you to know that all my posting about Jane had much more to do with me becoming a mother than about Jane as my daughter. Besides, she doesn't have a Milestone Marker.

I'm about 20 days late here, but I wanted to write about you at 18 months. There is soooo much to say and feel about you. You're energy is unflagging, you're delight in games and laughing and fun is limitless, you are an intense joy to me. So here is a typical story of a day with Emiline.

You usually wake up early, around 6:30 or so. You are learning to be more and more quiet as you learn more and more to follow Jane's example (in all things, I might add!) But sooner or later, you get excited for the day and your excited shrieking to Jane about one game or another, the sound of you jumping in bed, or your happy songs very quickly draw me to your room. As soon as I open the door, you become silent waiting to see what I'll do, what game I'll play. Sometimes you even pretend to be asleep and then shriek and giggle when I turn on the light. You are always ready with a "morning!" (mahnin!) and a good morning kiss. Then we change your bum, and you always play your "bum up!" game. Lately you want to wipe yourself and I let you, but only after I explained that "mommy first, then Emiline." Now when we wipe, you tell me who goes first! You have gotten so much better at being patient and I love to hear you say in a sing song voice "patiently!" (paslahley!).

As soon as I zip up your jammies you jump (literally) and run (literally) out of the room towards the kitchen. You are a fabulous eater in the morning and will usually eat twice what Jane does in the same amount of time, or less. I always get your food first, then Jane's, then your seconds, then Daddy's, then sometimes your thirds, and then mine. Although Grandma and Grandpa might disagree, I think you've gotten to be a much cleaner eater as of late. You love the challenge of eating cereal. And you love to dip anything in syrup. Dipping is one of your favorite things to do and you always narrate it: "dip! dip! dip!" Also, we put away the booster seat and let you climb up on the stool and stand, kneel, and/or sit (usually all three repeated a number of times) for meals. You really like this freedom and you don't abuse it, most of the time anyway.

You regularly talk in sentences and it's not unusual for you to put several together. Grandpa has been glowing for a month or more now about how intelligable you are. I've been understanding you for awhile now, but he sure gets a kick out of your language. Grandpa usually pops in during breakfast and lately you've been greeting him with a "no, Grandpa Lloyd!" (no blapa-Yoid). I think this started because you didn't like his scratchy morning kisses, but now it gets such a good reaction out of him you keep it up.

After breakfast we clean up and get dressed. You've started putting your plate in the sink, even though you can only reach it on your tippiest tip-toes. But you are very good at tip-toe and do it at least half of the day. You have one muscular lower half, my darling! You still love to take off and run after I get your pants on but before your shirt is on. And you love shoes of all sizes.

You play really well in the morning, you are so fresh and alive with energy and curiosity that it is a joy to watch you interact. Your favorite toys are balls, blocks, babies, and the play kitchen and it's food. At least once a day you get engrossed in books and about every other day, you clear off the entire bottom shelf of your books. You love to make food for me and bring it to me and wait til I tell you how yummy it is. The babies is a new thing, but you enjoy holding, patting, and caring for them more than Jane has (to this point, at any rate). You are very good with blocks- either wooden or duplos, I'm always impressed with your patience and dexterity. And Balls? Well, they are by far your favorite. You love to tote them around play catch. You also like necklaces or purses or anything you can put around your neck.

You love your sister and (most of the time) play nicely together. You love to do whatever she does and you've started copying her in less exciting ways, too. Like you think it's a game to complain "ow!" when I do your hair, even though you have very little and it's never tangled, you always say "ow! it hurts!" (ow! i huwts!) because Jane always does. You've also started trying out being picky at meal times and not trying something unless I force one bite into your mouth (which is never really forced, I hold your head still and you open your mouth and happily take whatever I'm giving you). It's like you want to play the same food game (Easy Way or Hard Way) that Jane plays.

Anytime you hurt anyone, or could have hurt someone, you are very quick to say "sorry!" and "it's OK!" (sowwy! iss O-Tay!) You are quick to hug and pat someone who is sad and you give your kisses liberally. You love to "tuddle" with your mommy, as well as jump and climb on whoever is holding you like they are a human jungle gym. You love to sing "Wash the Ladies Dishes" or the alternate version I made up, "Wash the Baby's Britches." You never get bored of it. You love Ring a Round the Rosies. You love to sing and are always surprising us with the lyrics and melodies you have learned. You learn and do everything with gusto, including music. You love to sit at the piano and play and sing. It's often much better than you'd expect from an 18 month old. You still fall pretty often but less often, and you haven't had a real bad head bump in a little while (knock on wood). You are always ready with a smile if you can sense a game is in the works and while Jane is motivated by logic, you are motivated by play, adventure, silliness, and anything or anyone with a twinkle their eye. You've learned to blow your nose.

You still nap once a day (yay!!) for 1-2 hours. You don't usually fight it and are pretty easy to cajole into laying down. You also wake up pretty well from naps, too. You are not usually sad or not for very long. You love to be outside and go for walks and eat snow (which you call snowman or "nohma!") and of course jump. In the afternoons, we usually go for a walk and then I let you two watch something. You love to watch Dora or Diego with your sister (but usually only with your sister) and you do know some Spanish words- like the words for climb, push, wait, (I get shouted at to stop more in Spanish than in English from both of my girls), you love to shout "olla! hello! olla!" and the last few days you even say "Buenas Suertas." You also count fairly well in both languages, although your English is better (you always leave out 4 in English). Your colors, however, are still mostly English. Although when asked, most things are "Green!" followed by "pink!" followed by "yellow!" (gween! peent! lellow!). We quite like that Dora and Jane have piqued your interest in Spanish. By the way, the Map is your favorite Dora character, followed by Boots. You love to sing the Map Song.

Speaking of songs, you recognizably sing:
Teach Me to Walk in the Light
I Am A Child of God
Nephi's Courage
3 Songs from our Harmony Kids musical (Come on In, Shine, and Give a Gift This Christmas)
You Better Watch Out
Christmas Everywhere
The Days of the Week Song
I'll Be Nice
Away in a Manger
The Wonder Pets theme song
and the Glorias from Angels We Have Heard on High

I'm sure there are more, but that's what I've got off the top of my head.

You are also advanced at all things potty. You've been telling me for a while when you are going potty. You would steal Jane's panties and put them on. And this last week you had several dry night/nap diapers. And then a few days ago you had two successful potty uses while sitting (copying) Daddy in the bathroom. So yesterday we started potty training! You are doing really well so far and seem to be getting it and enjoying it.

I'm amazed at how grown up you already are. You are learning so many things- how to be reverent, how to be patient, how to obey quickly and exactly, how to be kind, how to keep trying. Your play has started to be imaginative with characters and stories.

At about 7:00 pm, you start to get really hyper and start running around really fast in circles and jumping and rolling and giggling all kinds of hilarity. We let you run a bit and chase you a bit and get your jammies on, preferably your pink monkey jammies (you're favorite). You will always stop to read stories with us and you've added to your favorites all the potty stories, Go Away Big Green Monster, and Go Dogs Go, you even like the I'm a Big Sister book. You really love to say prayers and you don't just repeat everything I say. Sometimes you change or add things and it's really neat to see you start to understand it. You don't fight anymore for bedtime or family prayer, I think you even enjoy it. Very rarely do you fight us to get into bed. More often you don't lay down right away. But you are not a complaining child. And while you do have a strong will, you also will be persuaded. You sleep really well almost every night, cuddled up to MiMi, Mouse, Cow, and Ducky.

And you still only have three molars out. That fourth one is killing us!!

Emiline, I'm so glad the Lord sent YOU to us, WHEN He did. I can't imagine our life without you and you are a near constant source of joy, happiness, and excitement. While your energy can be exasperating, it's true, your light is inspiring. I love you, my darling non-baby. I can't wait to see you grow more and more and I hope and pray that I learn the best ways to parent, nurture, discipline, encourage, and adore you.

Love,
Mommy.