Guest post by Mommy:
I feel like it's been a long time since I wrote down what my girls are "doing" at this particular moment in their lives. They change so much and so quickly and have such delightful quirks that will soon be forgotten if I don't write them down. Which I don't. So most of them are gone. Oh well. I'll just let that go.
Siena. Oh Siena. She was very obsessed with turning 5 and A HALF on her half birthday. She loves to say half. She's become quite the conversationalist. She makes observations about what people are doing and is starting to listen to the lyrics of songs on the radio and wanting to know what the song is about. Sometimes that can be awkward and lead to a station change. If she's not talking, she's singing and if she's not singing, she's humming or trilling or dancing. She loves to sing songs that she knows or just makes it up. She "practices" her gymnastics everywhere. If she's in a living room, she's lying head first off the couch and practicing a headstand or flipping her legs over or trying to do cartwheels or jumping, etc.
She loves to say "Oh my gosh" and "what the heck" in a true movement into full on girl status. If you tell her some new information or kind of new information, she'll say "I didn't even know that!" with what sounds like genuine awe.
Oh my and she loves to hold the twins. She and Cara know exactly which twin they are holding 9 out of 10 times without being told by an adult. (I think the adults are only batting 6 for 10.) She will play with Lexi and likes to hold her and feel in charge of her. It's very strange for me to watch because I remember what that felt like. Feeling so grown up or just being able to care for a baby. Of course Lexi is actually quite rambunctious and Siena isn't quite strong enough to "hold" her anymore, but she does a great job with the six pound light weight that the boys are!
Oh yes and Siena loves to hug and kiss me still. Even when I don't want to be hugged or kissed. And then I look like a really awesome Mom as I yell out "DON'T KISS ME! Gaa. Don't touch me." And every parent looks at me and says "you will beg for those kisses later..." WHATEVER. I don't in this moment. I'm sorry!
Cara. My darling Cara. She can be a real pill. She's one of those kids that the old nursery rhyme of "when she was good, she was very very good, but when she bad she was horrid." applies very much to. She has quite the temper and is very deliberate, but she can be so sweet. She loves to be helpful and loves going to preschool (in fact if she doesn't have preschool it can set off one of her moods...)
I think she's more "active" than Siena was. She loves to jump from couch to couch instead of just sitting. Although she's much more likely to just play in the dirt than jump on the tramp. She's definitely more solitary than Siena. She likes to play with kids, but tends to find herself on her own involved in her own make believe. It took her a lot longer to warm up to the twins or at least to the idea of "holding" the twins. She thought they were cute, but didn't exactly want to touch them. Now she holds at least one of them for a minute whenever we see them, but that's enough.
Her facial expressions are always entertainment worthy. She's so expressive! And she even makes them when she is just playing herself and talking in her head! We are still battling a thumb sucking issue, but she's old enough now that I can ask her not to suck it or tell not until bedtime. I figure we were probably looking at braces anyway! She still loves to cuddle and ends up in our bed just about every night, but I kind of enjoy it. Until 7:15 when she starts to wake up and begins using her feet and hands and head to stroke any and every body part she can find. Again. I know. I will miss it. But not at the moment! Oh and a funny quirk lately has been that she rolls up every drawing she does like a map and then just hands it off and doesn't care about it.
She's also turned into a very picky eater. I don't know if we will ever reach more than 30 lbs. Except for the fact that she loves french fries!
My girls do make me happy. I wish I was better and thinking up or documenting exactly what they "do", but it's just not one of my strengths! I will tell you that Disneyland and earning money for Disneyland is a constant topic in my house. Any money or change that they find or earn goes into a bucket so that, as Cara puts it, "Our tickets can work again!" They sleep talk about Disney, they pretend they are the ride operators (using very accurate wording) with their dolls "Keep your arms, hands, legs, and feet inside the ride and oh I almost forgot! Have a nice ride! Bye!" They crack me up and make me miss our annual passes all at the same time. Maybe next year......
