Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Almost two year-olds


It is hard to believe that the twins are almost two. They will be two in one week. Where has the time gone? I remember getting ready for their first birthday party like it was yesterday. They have grown so much in the last year. Most of all in the last year they have grown into two uniquely different children who have their own personalities.
Lior was always quick to do things. She was the first one to get teeth, crawl, and walk. She was always in such a hurry to do everything. I used to call her my motor baby because her gross motor skills were so good. When she was nine months old she took one unassisted step toward Matt and on her tenth month birthday she started walking across our play room floor. Life as we knew it was over. Lior loved to walk. She was not a talker she babbled and had a few words but did not have a huge desire to talk, she wanted to move.

Now that she is going to be two she is still fantastic at both fine and gross motor skills but her expressive language skills are what she is excelling at right now. She went from single words to short phrases very quickly and now she is speaking in short sentences on a regular basis. She narrates what she is doing as she is doing it. "I running", "I jumping", "I knock mommy" (which is more like punching but knocking sounds so much better!), and lets you know what she wants and when she wants it. "I want eat cheese", and "I want call Nama, NOW". She understands volumes and does not miss much in an adult conversation. She answers questions that are not directed to her if she knows the answer. When we were on vacation we were driving around waiting for the girls to fall asleep when my dad asked if Lior was asleep. My mom whispered "no" and then I hear this cute little voice say "No, I awake".
She follows directions and is extremely observant. She notices things that at times shock me. One morning several months ago Matt and I were each wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and she walked over to each of us saying "same, same". She knows her colors and loves pointing out yellow cars, "Yook mommy, yellow car, yellow car". Lior loves to give kisses and hugs to both of her sisters and lets Sydney get away with a lot. She spends a lot of time laughing at our resident ham, Sydney, and gets hours of enjoyment flirting with the boys.

Sydney, was my easy button when she was a baby. She was so easy going, Lior was a very demanding baby and often had to be fed first and had trouble calming down when she was upset. Somewhere along the way they switched and Sydney became the more demanding of the two. Sydney was content being a baby. I was able to sit her down on the floor with a toy and she would play for ten minutes. She was the first one to roll over but she was not in a hurry to do it all the time. She was content hanging around and did not really roll over again until I started to worry about her.
She was always SCREAMING! And when I say screaming, she screamed. She screamed when she was happy, she screamed when she wanted more and she screamed for the sake of screaming. Sydney screamed! When she was not screaming she was singing and just talking away. When I taught the girls some simple sign language Sydney stopped screaming (as much) and started signing for the things that she wanted and she continued to just talk away.
The day Matt taught her how to walk is etched on my mind because that is the day our lives really changed. The baby who was always content sitting discovered mobility and never went back. She is in a constant state of motion all the time. Sydney mastered walking up and down the stairs in no time flat. She can open just about any container you put in front of her, shape sorting puzzles are her favorite (and she can name all the shapes), she climbs our rock climbing wall and out of her crib with ease. Sydney is now our motor baby. She can stack towers that are almost as tall as she is and loves anything to do with drawing. She walks around all day with her aquadoodle marker saying "marker".
Sydney has an amazing sense of humor and spends the better part of her day trying to make Lior and Jordan laugh. Sydney is fantastic at following directions and loves to help us around the house, especially if Lior was asked to do it first. When we give Sydney cookies and we ask her to hand one to Lior she gives the cookie to Lior first and then comes back for her own. She takes it very personally when Lior does not take what she has offered. Sydney is an extremely kind child and very aware of other children, especially if they take a toy from one of her sisters or approach one of them. Then our kind hearted Sydney turns into our tough baby and does not let them get away with it. Sydney has been caught pushing kids twice her size because they are in her way or Liors and she holds a grudge. Sydney remembers from week to week which kid at the gym or at mommy and me took the ball from her or touched Jordan and does not let them get close enough to do it again.
It is hard to believe that our tiny little babies are going to be two in one week. One week! The strides that they have made are unbelievable. As much as they have changed, some things stay the same. They still love a good cuddle with each other.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Firecracker

Who would have guessed that we could have a twenty minute conversation with two almost two-year olds? It started with Lior who informed us that firecrackers scare her. Sydney piped up with "firecracker scare me". Matt and I told her that they were all gone and they were noisy but not scary. Apparently she disagrees.

"Firecracker scare Lior"

"Firecracker scare baby... firecracker scare Jordan?"

"Firecracker scare mommy?... firecracker scare daddy?"

"Firecracker WHOA, firecracker wow"

We tried to assure her that we were not scared of the firecrackers, that we liked them, that they were pretty and very loud but I am not sure she believed us. She went on to inform us that the dogs find firecrackers scary, even our neighbor and his dog are not safe from the scary firecrackers.
Hopefully this conversation will help her deal with her fear of firecrackers which she still calls animal crackers when she gets going. When she is talking about the firecrackers her face is very expressive and her eyes are huge. Because her language skills are not as advanced as Lior's it is harder for her to express her wants and needs and she gets very frustrated. Her facial expressions often give me a better idea of what she wants and how she feels. It is amazing to see that, even with her limited expressive vocabulary, she is able to communicate her fears to us. I just hope she is able to move past it but at least she is talking about it.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Monkey toes

With all the company here it is hard to focus on my children but I have noticed that Jordan is taking off. At the moment she is working on cutting another tooth. This should help her eat the bagels, pasta, tomatoes, chicken nuggets and pretzels she has been stealing off our plates.
She has been threatening to pull herself up to standing for the last few weeks and Tuesday night she did it. She was so proud of herself. The smile was a mile wide. The best part was that Matt was sitting right there when she did it and had the chance to see one of her "firsts". Because Jordan is in such a hurry to catch up she let go almost immediately and tried to stand unattended. It is a good thing that Matt has quick reflexes and caught her on the way down.
Today on the beach she pulled herself up on a beach chair and tried to pull herself up onto the chair. I guess she wanted to sit in the chair like the big kids!

On Wednesday I caught her climbing on the girls pink chairs. She pulled herself onto the chair and was sitting in it like one of the big girls. Now she is trying to climb over one chair and into the other. Today I found her standing on the chair pounding on the window, funny I don't remember putting her on the chair! I suppose she will learn that the ground is hard if she lands on it enough times.
She climbed two steps Wednesday night on her way up to bed. I stopped her before she could climb anymore because once again I am not ready for my baby to be a big girl. I think that no mater what I do Jordan will be walking before I know it.

Sydney has fallen in love with Noam. I found her laying on his lap while they were watching television this afternoon. He did not even care that she had taken off her diaper. His hand was on her bare bottom while I snapped a few pictures and I think he was checking out her scar. He was kind enough to tell her to put the diaper back on and she did it. This new found love has not stopped her from hitting and pushing him when she wants to exert her will over him and he is kind and lets her get away with it but I don't think he likes it. I know Matt is not thrilled that his little girls are falling head over heals for the boys in their lives and stripping off all their clothes. Are we in for some trouble when the girls hit the teenage years? I am not looking forward to raging hormones!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Monkey boy



Matt turned thirty two today. He may think he is twenty seven but he is thirty two and now everyone knows it. I hope Matt had a good day. Our nieces Liel and Adina and nephews Eitan and No'am are visiting from Israel along with their parents Danny and Tanya. Our house is filled with noise, noise, noise and chocolate (I think there may be a direct correlation between the two).
The girls are having a wonderful time with their cousins and I think Lior has a crush on No'am who is four and the size of a small giant! Every time he comes near her she laughs and flirts with him. You can hear the love in her voice. Sydney loves the rough housing and being out of baby jail. She is in for a rude awakening when everyone leaves because she is going back in!
Today Sydney and
No'am were playing quietly together and all of the sudden we hear Sydney crying hysterically and running towards my mom and No'am talking with Danny. Apparently No'am was tired of Sydney hitting him and he moved her out of the way and she was insulted. Did I mention that No'am was a giant? A nice gentle giant but a giant none the less. Sydney is one tough cookie and does not let anyone mess with her, especially when she wants to get her own way and she always wants her own way.

Watching all the kids have such a good time is nice to see and a nice birthday present for Matt who also had the chance to beat up on the Israeli kids. After being inspired by all of my favorite Food Network shows I decided to bake and decorate Matt's cake for him. I found a great site and let Matt pick out the cake I was going to make. I bought a huge cake decorating kit and went to town. The cake turned out better than I had ever envisioned especially because I was not able to trace the pattern onto the cake and drew it freehand. I can not draw but it turned out well. I think Matt enjoyed his big day. I know he loved it when Sydney sang Happy Birthday for him and went to sleep without a fight. Now if only Lior would go to sleep without help....

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Vacation


I finally finished Harry Potter. Matt is thrilled because now he gets to read it, if only Sydney would go to sleep.
Now that I am done with the book I can sit down and write about vacation. It was wonderful! We had such a nice and relaxing time. It rained everyday but we managed to get the kids to the pool and the beach everyday.
We arrived on Friday and went straight to the pool. The kids adored it. We, of course, made them practice their swimming and they did not disappoint, they are great swimmers!
We headed to the beach on Saturday and were not sure we were going to stay the ocean was rough and there was a lot of wind but the kids had fun anyway.


They ignored Matt while he played in the sand.

Jordan ate sand.
The girls sat in the water and enjoyed the view.


And this was only the first day!
The girls enjoyed a walk on the dock with daddy while I enjoyed five minutes with Jordan in the restaurant.



It was a great time and the girls really enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. We can not wait to do it again with Uncle Eric at the end of August.

I can only imagine how much bigger Jordan will be then!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Drunken sailor


We spent the day at the mall with our friends. Lior was truly happy because she had the opportunity to spend time with her boyfriend Reece. If you ask Lior if Reece is her boyfriend she says "yes" and her face lights up and she laughs sheepishly. She just loves this little boy! He is very cute and lets her do whatever she wants to him, which included feeding him french fries and chicken nuggets while she kissed him. It is true love.
While we were in Gymboree spending our Gymbucks my girls decided to strip. Off came the shirts and there was absolutely no hope in getting them back on. They ran through the mall shirtless. They must take after their father.
The girls were very tired after their very busy day and I thought bedtime might be easier but Sydney has been having a very hard time going to sleep lately and tonight was no different. I don't know why. We used to put them in their cribs and give them hugs and kisses and they would lay in their cribs and listen to their music. Now it is not that easy, actually it is really horrible! She screams and cries and Matt usually has to go back in and sit in her room until she is calm and gives him permission to leave. Matt is way too tired and focused on his ear pain tonight and we let little miss Sydney cry it out (CIO) and boy was she mad. She must have cried for about 15 minutes and then she calmed down and went to sleep. I decided to go and check on her to make sure she was in a bed and I found a nice surprise waiting for me outside their gated bedroom door. She had removed her diaper and pajama bottoms. Oh great my little stripper was at it again! I peaked into their room to find her whiter than white rear end sticking up in the air but she was sleeping! I could not stop laughing and ran downstairs to tell Matt and grab the camera. She is our very own drunken sailor!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The curse

Matt knew it was going to happen, that is why he would not let me read the book on vacation. He knew that once I picked the book up I would be sucked into the vacuum and he would have to parent our children on his own. He knew that I would say "I'll do it when I finish this chapter" and he knew I would lie and say that I had not started a new chapter an hour later. You see I am cursed with a finishing complex. I must finish a book when I start it, even if the book is really-really bad, I must finish it. When the book is really-really good it is even worse and the final book in the Harry Potter series is really-really good!
The girls were trying to get my attention while I was reading but it is hard to break the spell. Sydney sat in my lap and thumbed through the pages saying "Daddy book". Was she trying to tell me that daddy said I could not read the book or was she trying to get me to read The Daddy Book? She got off my lap and was trying to climb back on when she fell, hard, hard enough that I actually put the book down to pick her up and it was a very good thing because she threw-up all over me. We were both covered and I was grateful that she was OK and very relieved that she did not get the book. I would have had a really hard time reading the book if it smelled like rotten milk but I think I could have done it because I am cursed.
When I do finish this book I will blog about vacation and post all the wonderful pictures but right now the book is calling and Matt is finishing the first chapter, which means I can pick up the book again!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Perma-socks

We had a great weekend with the kids at the beach and the pool but no one could get over your perma-socks so this post is for you.

The kids had a great time with you and we enjoyed picking on you. Thanks for a great time and being my number one blog fan! I will fill you all in on the vacation when I can keep my eyes open.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Kaya

Poor Kaya. We find ourselves saying that a lot these days. She is getting older and slower and the kids are getting bigger and faster. There was a time when she was an only "child" and the center of our world. She truly had a dogs life. We would take her to the beach, play Frisbee with her and let her sit on our laps while we watched TV. Now she is lucky that we still let her sleep on our bed at night.
Her life changed long before the girls were born. We decided to get a puppy when the vet told Matt not to buy a large bag of dog food, after a small tumor on her pituitary gland was found. We decided to get another dog so Kaya could train it. Matt and I went puppy shopping and picked out the cutest Golden Retriever puppy we could find and named him Cyrus.
Kaya hated Cyrus. She just hated him and wanted nothing to do with him for over two weeks. We were beginning to get very nervous. What were we going to do with this puppy if Kaya was not going to learn to like him. Thank goodness Cyrus' constant nagging payed off because one day she woke up and decided to tolerate him. Now she more than tolerates him, she loves him and pines for him on the days that Matt takes him to work.
We credit Cyrus for prolonging her life and keeping her young. There have been several occasions where we thought Kaya was not going to make it and Cyrus has willed her back to life by nudging her constantly.
She is a wonderful dog and a great friend to our girls and a constant source of entertainment. Lior and Sydney growled and barked before they could talk, they crawled with toys in their mouths (Jordan does it too!), and they attempt to eat just like the dogs. I tell the girls how lucky they are all the time. Some kids beg their parents for dogs their entire childhood but they have two.
She is great for cuddling,



for a juicy kiss,
and the best running partner.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A mommy vent

When you are the parent of a multiple, people stop you all the time to tell you what you are doing wrong, to tell you to stop having children, to tell you to dress them in pink, or that they should be wearing socks because they are cold (hello, we live in Florida!). I am constantly being asked questions like: Are those twins?, Which one is the boy?, Are you sure that one is not a boy?, Are they triplets?, Are they twins?... Are they related?
A few weeks ago I was in Publix with the kids and Lior bit her lip while she was eating her chocolate chip cookie. The poor baby was bleeding and crying when some woman walked up and decided to try and stop Lior from crying. Not what we needed at the moment but we dealt with it. Then all of the sudden she saw Jordan and started yelling "look at me, no look at me" while waving her arms "all done, you are all done!" My kid is a wreck because she got hurt and I need to stop everything I am doing to look at you so you can tell me I should not have any more children! I told her she needed to talk to my husband because he wanted another set of twins.
The latest comment has really been bothering. I was out with my mom yesterday, when someone asked her about the twins. When she saw Jordan she asked if it was another girl, my mom said yes and the woman replied "it's a shame, after all that hard work, another girl". My mom did not hear her or was not listening to her but I heard her and bit my tongue. I try not to point out peoples short comings in front of the girls because I just don't want to fight with people in front of them. Had I been able to respond civilly I would have told her that for all of my hard work I got three wonderful daughters and not for one minute did I want it any other way.
What was she thinking? Are girls not as good as boys? I never wanted to know the sex of the babies because it just did not matter if they were girls or boys. We just wanted happy and healthy children and we got them.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Bedtime blues

Since Sydney has learned how to climb out of her crib sleep has been a huge issue. Most days nap time is a complete bust. She sits in her room and read books or plays with stuffed animals but does not sleep. Thankfully she lets Lior sleep because I can not have two very cranky children.
Last night we put the toddler rails up on their cribs because we were afraid that Sydney was going to hurt climbing out of the crib. We put a gate up in front of their door to keep them in their room because Sydney can open the door. Bedtime is MUCH harder now that they can both get in and out of the bed. You can not imagine the laughter tonight when they discovered that Matt left too much room on the bottom and they could crawl underneath the gate, but I am getting ahead of myself.
With the rain we have had to change our bedtime routine and we think that this must be part of the bedtime problem. Tonight Matt and I decided to get back into our old routine of taking the girls out for a wagon pull to wind down and then he reads books upstairs. Matt started at 7:45 and left at 9:00 to go back to work, the girls were still awake but quietly laying in their beds.
I should say that Matt did have to go upstairs several times with his "mean daddy" voice to tell them to get back in their beds. We thought all was safe when Matt left to go back to work, until somebody with way too much money and time on their hands set off some fire crackers and Sydney completely lost it. I feared that all of Matt's hard work was lost when I asked Sydney if she wanted to sleep in Lior's bed, with Lior. Lior quickly said "Sydney bed, Sydney bed" and grabbed her dog but allowed Sydney to lay down next to her. I covered Sydney with her blanket and Lior with hers and left the room.
It never ceases to amaze me how close the relationship is between Sydney and Lior, they are truly best friends. They can spend the day at each others throats yet when one of them needs a cuddle or a shoulder to lean on they are there for each others. They are the lucky ones.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Another happy ending

We had a great day! We took the girls along with their grandparents to Lion Country Safari. Initially the goal was to wear them out so they would sleep well, it worked on us, it does not appear that they will sleep at all-EVER.
The day was great, the girls once again were fantastic. It was another hot-hot-hot day in sunny south Florida so the animals were not that thrilled with being touched but that did not stop the goats from eating everything the girls offered.


The carousel had a delightful breeze as we rode in endless circles waving at Grandma and Grandpa.

And of course, the water area was worth walking around the heat all day. The girls wore themselves out before Matt was ready to stop playing.



After a fun filled day we took the kids to buy new shoes, an activity they find highly entertaining. Not only do they get to try on new shoes but then they are encouraged to run around and then do it all over again. They both got beautiful new sneakers that were at least two sizes larger than their old pairs.
We had a very nice dinner in a restaurant where Matt and I were allowed to eat with two hands thanks to the wonderful entertaining skills of my mom and dad. When we got home and the girls were clean and ready for bed and thoroughly engrossed in The Little Mermaid Lior walked up to me and said "poop, poop potty". "Lior do you need the potty?" "potty yes" so Matt wisked her off to the potty where they read Red Hat Blue Hat and Lior pooped on the potty. Both Matt and I were giving her high fives and cheering and all she wanted to do was get back to her movie.



Any day that ends with poop in the potty is a good day!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Snow in July



Matt has been wanting to go to the zoo to see the white alligator, so we packed up the kids and took them to the zoo. It was a VERY hot day and I think the kids were drenched before we even got out of the car. Much to our surprise they had snow for the kids to play in. Well the snow was not really snow, more like dirty ice but to Floridians it was as close to snow as we are going to get. Sydney HATED the snow and wanted nothing to do with it but Lior was intrigued by it and climbed the snow mountain. Matt hated how dirty the snow was so we did not play with it for long.

The alligator was fantastic, the beast is pure white! They built it its own little shaded habitat because of its lack of pigment. I was amazed by how white it was. It did not look real!

The girls had a wonderful time, of course. They growled appropriately at the tigers, the bears, the jaguars, the panther, barked at the prairie dogs and the river otters, and hopped for the kangaroos. They said thank you to anyone who would listen and said hi to all the animals when we approached a new habitat "Hi animals!". They held hands and walked a nice safe distance ahead of us and stopped when we asked them to. They enjoyed "ice fishing" and won prizes and even had the opportunity to create some beautiful sand art (which is now laying in the back of the car).

It was really the first time Jordan was able to really participate and enjoy with the big girls. She crawled around the fountain and had fun splashing and laughing with her sisters. We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful place- it even snows in July!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Funny faces friday

Our funny faces at their finest...
Jordan as cute as ever
Lior being silly
Sydney is always a ham!
Liors best funny face!
Have a great weekend.

All that ends well

Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It started off with Lior's inability to say my name without whining, every five minutes. Sydney followed her lead and whined and cried over every little thing. I decided to get them out of the house to save my sanity. I took them to Target where they screamed and cried the entire time we were in the store. Sydney hit Lior every time she could, attempted to climb out of the cart, and forced us to leave the store without buying the items we had piled into the cart. To top it all off I had an argument with some woman in the store who felt it was her duty to come over and talk to the girls while all three of them were screaming. I asked her to leave us alone because it was just making them scream louder and she felt it necessary to tell everyone around how rude I was. Just what I needed!
Nap time was an extension of the crying fest. Sydney would not stay in her crib and she was bothering Lior who wanted to go to sleep. I must have gone upstairs about a dozen times to put Sydney back into a bed, any bed she wanted and still she would not stay put. I gave up, closed their door and got into bed and took a nap. Not a long nap but long enough to feel a little relaxed. I have no idea if Sydney slept but I did not go and get her until 3:30, when nap time is usually over.

The day got better the minute Jordan picked up the quesadillas we were eating for dinner and started eating it all by herself. How could you feel bad when you look at that adorable little face? She is truly a beautiful baby, but I may be slightly biased.
After dinner we took the girls outside to play with sidewalk chalk and they had a blast which improved my mood tremendously. They drew pictures with daddy when they were not running into our neighbors garage looking for his dog. All of a sudden both girls came running over crying hysterically. Sydney climbed into my lap screaming "animal cracker, animal cracker", it took me a few seconds to realize animal cracker meant firecracker!

But truly the best part of this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day was when Lior peed on the potty. She is truly gifted! We could not be prouder of her. It appears that she was listening to the endless readings of the potty book. Matt and I were so excited, we screamed and yelled but Lior took it is stride and just wanted to get into the tub. When I asked her if she peed in the potty she said, "yes, baby pee". Lior is on her way to being a big girl who pees on the potty and Matt and I are looking forward to having one less child in diapers!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Grandparents

My parents see the girls as much and as often as possible. When the girls hear the front door they usually scream "Hi Grandma". My parents have been traveling around Ireland for almost two weeks and I can safely say that they are missed.
Talking on the phone has been hard while they've been away. Every time I talk to a friend I have either Lior or Sydney grabbing the phone saying "Grandma? Gampa?" they are often disappointed when I have to tell them it is either Joy or Leanne. The other day Lior would not take no for an answer and actually argued with me saying "no, Grandma" every time I told her it wasn't her! Sydney has taken to calling them on her play phone. All you hear is "Grandma, Grandma, Gampa" while walking around baby jail with the phone perched between her shoulder and her ear as she has five minute conversations with them but when I ask her if she is talking to Grandma and Grandpa she says "NO, Reece".
I took the girls to Target earlier this week and anyone who looked remotely like my mom they screamed "Hi Grandma" or "Grandma, Grandma". Since we often meet my mom at Target they were not completely off base looking for her there. When we got home there was a message on the machine when we got home from my mom. Lior was thrilled to hear her voice, so we called her back. They got to speak to my dad first and everyone was happy. It was when Lior heard my moms voice on the phone that I realized how much she missed her. Her smile was huge and the child could not utter a word, she just smiled and laughed. Sydney did not want to talk, I think she is holding a grudge.
We usually eat dinner with my parents on Wednesday nights after we have our play date and when we got home today Lior asked for "Grandma and Gampa too". They can not wait for them to come home on Saturday and Matt and I can not wait to see the girls happy little faces when they walk in the door (and then smile as we walk out the door).

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

PEE!!!!

That is right we have pee!!! Yes, I really am that good! After a full day of reading nothing but Sydney's potty book and talking about the potty we have pee in the potty. After Lior took her diaper off and peed in her bed "look circle- no diaper!", we have pee in the potty. After a full day of crying when I mention the potty, we have pee in the potty.

It appears that I picked the wrong child to start potty training. On her first time sitting on the potty, Jordan peed! Everyone cheered and the girls screamed "yeah Jordan", Jordan's eyes lit up and her smile enveloped her face. Yes, we are that lucky, our youngest daughter is that wonderful and exceedingly brilliant! All this giddy excitement did not make the girls want to sit on the toilet again.

After her bath Sydney found a potty seat and demanded that Matt open it and install it, unfortunately Jordan was the only one interested in the seat.
So we are back to square one and reading, reading, reading and hopefully Jordan is not the only one listening!

Monday, July 9, 2007

One of the things I'm not ready for...

I always say there are things that I am not ready for. I am not ready for Jordan to crawl and feed herself but she is doing it. I was not ready for the girls to walk at ten months but they did. I am not ready for the girls to sleep in toddler beds and that will be happening soon enough. I am not really ready for the girls to be potty trained but it appears that they are.
They both strip off their clothes and diapers any chance they get. Nap time has been tons of fun because once again their diapers come off. I hear Lior say "mommy wet", "mommy poop", and "potty potty". I guess I don't need a brick to fall on my head. It is time to bite the bullet and start training and really mean it.
I am going to really concentrate on Lior first. She likes to sit on the potty but only because she likes to wash her hands when she is done (like father, like daughter). Sydney likes the idea of the potty because she knows she will get out of baby jail but once we get to the toilet her eyes get huge and she runs away screaming "noooo!!".
I have decided to start small and start reading about it every chance we get. We went to the book store today to buy some potty books. The girls were very excited and could not wait to show daddy the books we picked out. When we met Matt and our friend James for dinner Lior could not wait to show them the "potty book." We read them tonight before bed and the girls really listened to the stories. Sydney looked a little nervous and Lior took off her diaper and did not want to put it back on until I re-read the part about wearing the diaper to sleep at night.
I feel the way Sydney looked tonight, not really sure about what we are about to do but curious about what will happen next.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Princess nightgowns















Before my parents left on their trip to Ireland they bought Sydney and Lior princess nightgowns. They have not shown much interest in them until tonight when they both
needed to wear one.
Maybe it was because Lior had one on first and Sydney
needs to have what Lior has. Or maybe it was because they were shiny and new but they both refused to take them off and now we have two beautiful little princesses wearing shiny nightgowns asleep in their own cribs.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

My little monkey

Today as we were out walking with the girls. I decided to write about Jordan. I don't seem to focus as much attention on her because the big girls have been doing so many wonderful things these days. Not to say Jordan has not been doing wonderful things as well.
Jordan will be eight months old in two days. Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday she was this six pound little creature who could not hold up her own head. Now she is a strong willed, mobile creature who knows what she wants and when she wants it.



Today she was laying in bed with me and pulled herself up to standing! There is no stopping her now. She crawls like a little speedster chasing after the big girls so she can play next to them and with their toys. Yesterday she decided to park herself in the middle of the AquaDoodle mat because that is where Sydney was playing. It was so cute to see her stop drawing to give Jordan one of her coveted markers.

Lior likes to hold Jordan and kiss her as much as possible. It is spectacular to sit there and listen to Jordan laugh and see her smile at her big sisters. The way that the girls have taken to "their" baby is a constant source of amazement.




Meal time has become an adventure with her. Not only does she have 2 cute little teeth in her mouth but she has decided that she is going to use them to eat. She has not been enjoying her baby food at all. She wants to eat what the big girls are eating and she does not want any help getting that food into her mouth. Lately her diet has consisted of animal crackers, whole wheat bagels and assorted other carbohydrates. We are going to try some steamed veggies and canned fruit tonight to add some variety.
I can not wait to see what the next eight months have in store for us. I am sure it will include tons of things I am not ready for like walking, climbing, efficient self feeding, and talking.