My darling girls

Guest Post by Mommy:  Sorry.  It's gonna be a wordy one.

This is going to be an emotional post.  It wasn't going to be when I thought I would write it yesterday but it has since morphed into one.  The news from our country of losing 20 innocent children and 6 adults in such a violent act had me aching.  I cried many times yesterday thinking about what those 26 families are going through (and just how large a "family" can be.)

I have long since admired a blog of my friend's (Kelliann darling it's you!) because she has focused so much on what her little girls are "doing" and what they say and their catchphrases for the month.  A wonderful baby book blog if you will.  I feel I tend to let "Siena" tell you more about our journeys since we seem to leave our circle a lot! And then I also feel so inadequate at capturing what my girls are "doing" and "saying" that makes them so uniquely them.

However, the thought of never seeing Siena smile again or Cara suck her thumb and burrow into my arm took my breath away and I felt I needed to write down what it is that makes them so special TODAY.  And as specifically as I could.

I'll start with Siena.  Oh my word.  She has really been a very pleasant child and these past four months of watching her grow through preschool has been amazing.  She is so bright and sunny every day.  And she is FUNNY.  Or at least she thinks she is.  She loves to show me new discoveries with such intensity and enthusiasm.  She has taken to playing outside with our neighborhood kids with fervor.  She still won't ride her bike and finds it scary, but her scootering skills have come far.  Plus she is no longer afraid to jump with big kids on a tramp or jump from the tramp to the ground or just be a little wild.  It's been liberating for us both.  She doesn't need me for everything.  She can do most things herself.  And I love it.  She loves to be with friends.  She has also taken to doing somersaults off the couch and trying to practice headstands will doing the splits while leaning on the couch.  It's hilarious.  She honestly obeys the rules and I'm still amazed that most days I only have to ask her once to do something and even then she RUNS to go do it.  She always asks before letting kids play in our side yard which I love.  She's polite and will talk to adults now.  She believes whole heartedly in Santa even when recognizing that some Santa's are fake.  She is uncanny in her musical ability.  Not necessarily singing or playing an instrument, but she learns the words to songs incredibly quickly AND recognize artists based on hearing them in other things.

Example:  We were listening to Judy Garland sing a Christmas song in the car and Siena sat up in her seat straighter and said "Hey! This is Dorothy!" We haven't watched Wizard of Oz in many months!

She was so wonderful in Disneyland.  No tears (or at least very few) and was just willing to tuck her little hand into my pocket when I had my hands full with Cara.  She ate corn dogs and mustard with me and laughed and sang and would steal kisses from me on my hand, cheek, arm, whatever she could reach.  Gaaa! Love her! She cleans up after herself at the table, puts the dishes she's assigned away..sometimes she'll say "oh no! There is so many! I'll get tired"...she misses us and loves us fiercely.

As for Cara.  She's still so tiny in my mind.  There are plenty of babies around to remind me that she is not exactly "tiny" but she is for her size!  She still sucks her thumb whenever she can , but over the last month especially has transformed from advanced toddler to little girl.  She plays pretend and talks in full understandable sentences all the time.  She will repeat most of her sentences until you acknowledge what she says.  She takes her moods to more extremes and is more of a roller coaster in that regard.  She's often the instigator in the fights between our two girls.  She's working through the "mine" and "cry to get what I want" stage right now.  She's completely potty trained and is actually better at holding it than her sister.  Sometimes she holds it too well and she can freak her mommy out!

She loves just about anything Siena does and wants to do it all, but only likes jumping on the tramp with Siena not anybody else.  She also won't go down the slide on our play set yet!  She needs more alone time than Siena.  She'll play with friends, but then needs to hide in a bedroom or on the couch with a movie much sooner than Siena does.  She still wakes up in the middle of the night and I end up bringing her in to sleep with us because we both love to cuddle.  However she does have a habit of stroking your arm or face with her hand over and over or trying to stroke you with her feet that ends sometimes with her crying because I've scootched her over a little too harshly or rolled away from her.

She also tries to complete Siena's chores for her because she thinks it's cool to do them.  Ha! Her voice is still really tiny and I love it.

I love my girls.  They play well together and get lost in their own world.  They both love to color and paint and Siena really enjoys trying to write.  I love over hearing conversations between them even when sometimes I am ashamed because I hear my own harsh tones or words coming out of their mouths.

I enjoyed being in Disneyland with just them.  Lots of together time.  One of my favorite moments occurred in the car on the way to my Grandpa's house.  Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" came on and Siena was confused by calling Santa "baby".  So I loosely explained that Eartha thinks Santa is cute and Aunt Angie likes to call Uncle CJ "baby" and the girls just thought it was so funny, but then they asked me to keep playing the song because they liked how it sounded and it made them sleepy.  They both fell asleep with smiles on their faces.

Love them so much.  And hopefully I can be a better parent....