Little Things

Guest post by Mommy:

As I read other Mommy's blogs, I realize that I don't take the time to record what silly little things my kids are doing "right now".  Their silly quotes and ridiculous temper tantrums aren't quite getting down in the record book.  I keep you guys pretty up to date on what we DO but not HOW we do it.  (Other than with much enthusiasm!)  And of course part of that issue is that when I sit down at the computer to talk about their funny little mannerisms, my mind is like a blank slate!  However, I shall do my best this morning.

Siena:  Oh my darling girl.  She is a full blown preschooler.  Boundless energy.  Complex conversations.  She's learning how to READ and mostly on her own.  Daddy is a big help, but last night she read an entire Dick and Jane book to my mom.  And not memorized read...actually sounded out the words!  I almost cried!  Her favorite movie right now is just about any movie.  She loves borrowing Angelina Ballerina from the library, Monsters vs. Aliens, and I just introduced The Incredible Mr. Limpet to the girls with much delight.  That movie was one of my mom's favorites and she passed it on to me and now a third generation of Quaife girls will love it.  And what's exciting is that Disney put him in their Ariel ride in California Adventure.  I LOVED IT and can't wait to show the girls this time now that they know who he is!  We've also been watching Peter Pan a lot and combined with Angelina Ballerina has led to Siena talking with an English lilt or cadence.  Her sentences tend to end with an upward inflection and Pete and I find ourselves in giggles two or three times a day.

Her next big accomplishment has been her transformation into a fish.  She loves swimming and is loving figuring out how to actually swim.  She jumps in water over her head so that she can push off the ground at the bottom.  She's getting the motions down!  Her greatest desire is to learn how to swim and ride her bike better so that she can be in a race and be "AN IRONMAN!"  Future triathlete right here....(unless you watch her attempt to ride her bike with training wheels on and then you know we might be waiting awhile!)

Cara: No longer my baby.  And I need to accept this because Angie will have her baby in September and Cara is going to look like a giant even though she is so tiny for her age.  She is definitely in charge.  She pees on the potty on her terms, pretends not to suck her thumb when Mommy comes in the room, and says fun things like "Don't talk to me" and "Leave me alone".  Or lately if you try and help her and she was asking someone else it will be "No.  I was talking to Grandma."  However when that little girl is in a good mood...there is nothing cuter.  She loves to snuggle still and she spins herself on the swings while lying on her tummy.  She has figured out how to work the DVD player for the most part and I'll find her watching Signing Times Zoo Train whenever we can get it from the library.  She will beg you for her thumbs too and just stare at them and say things like "I NEED them!!" And you feel like a terrible person.  She and Siena talk and play all day long.  Elaborate make believe games involving mostly plots from Disney movies but silly points in the plot!

And that child can work an Iphone.  She discovered videos on my mom's phone that my mom didn't know were there and we were all actually worried that she had managed to purchase them!  She has to show Grandma how to work that phone!

Oh how I love my girls.  We aren't quite a complete family.  I think babies are in our future (not our immediate future!!) But I will eek every moment of no school out of these girls.  In fact, we are headed to the opening of Hogle Zoo's Rocky Shores tomorrow!  And then shhhh the girls don't know that Grandma has agreed to come for a quickie Disneyland GIRLS trip right when we get back!!!