My girls are enjoying playing together and being together a lot these days. My sister is only two years older than me and most of my childhood memories involve she and I being together. I always liked being the tag-a-long behind my two older siblings (not sure if they were so wild about it). I am seeing this beautiful bond form as my girls are not only sisters because we say so, but because they love each other and enjoy one another’s company.
This is book is a family tradition – it has been in my family since I was very little. Recently, on one of the last nice weather days, I thought the girls were outside playing on the swing set or in the woods. If found them snuggled in on the front porch reading our collection of Thanksgiving books. To Hannah (and hopefully Ellie) books are a treasure and she loves it when the fall books come out for the season.
I find them snuggled in somewhere at least once a day enjoying a good book together. Hannah is very sweet to read to Ellie so much. Her love of books will translate to Ellie as she makes this investment of time with her little sister.
They are pretending that Ellie is a baby bird and has just hatched from her egg (the blankets). Hannah, the Mommy Bird, feeds her baby worms and is so happy she has finally hatched. Seriously, Ellie cannot get enough of this game.
A couple of nights after Hannah turned eight I had a very realistic dream that she had just left for college. I even woke up thinking that I should call my neighbor whose daughter went off to college last year for advice.
I WAS SO RELIEVED to realize that she is only eight! I have another DECADE…
I didn’t go back to sleep though.
Hannah-ism. There aren’t too many words that trip up an 8-year old. But today one got her.
She was playing with the calculator on my phone today in the car (I know, we spend a lot of time in the car – like most other families who run to dance, piano, church, etc).
“Mom, what would you like for me to add, subtract, or multiplicate for you?
I didn’t correct her. However, the truth will be out in January when the fun begins for her to start learning multiplication. Mr. Demme, her video math instructor will set her straight soon enough. She loves Mr. Demme – it will be much kinder coming from him.
But, I got to thinking…multiplicate is a more sensible way to modify the word multiplication than the word multiply…
how much satisfaction there is in watching my child master her addition and subtraction facts. I think I can actually hear the wheels turning as she decides whether she needs to regroup a problem or not. It seemed to take awhile to get her there, but she is definitely thinking mathematically now! There are so many things to be proud of as a parent – even 17 minus 9!
We celebrate Ellie’s adoption and birthday in October and Hannah’s birthday in early November. We just had our second birthday celebration this evening–this time with Grandma and Aunt Jo. We are halfway between Ellie’s birthday last week and Hannah’s birthday this Sunday. We will celebrate Hannah’s day with a “friends” party in the afternoon. It is kinda fun to have it this way – spreading out the fun of opening presents a few times and spending time with grandparents (oh yeah, and the cake and ice cream!). My girls are very special little beings and it is fun to celebrate them.
You should have seen the look on Hannah’s face as she went off to bed with the whole set of American Girl “Felicity” books from Grandma and Grandpa. She couldn’t wait to snuggle in and get started.
..times two. My girls are very good at sharing! So far this school year we are on our second round of illness. This time bronchitis times two (maybe three, Mom is in pretty sorry shape, too). Dr. Yingling says it is very popular right now – glad my kids are up on the latest trends.
There is a cycle to this sickness. Slow and groggy to wake up with several fits of coughing and wanting to snuggle with Mom or Dad. Trying to decide what could possible taste good for breakfast. Tummies full makes them up for playing for awhile with one another – usually “Kitty Cat”. Then crash – usually a loud, unreasonable argument over a toy or game and then a quick descent into TV watching snuggled in on the couch or Mom’s bed with all the required “Lovies”. Repeat a couple more times a day.
Ellie is turning 3 tomorrow and Mimi and Papa are coming in today to celebrate. Hopefully, Ellie and Hannah will have had enough antibiotics for it to be a fun day for us all. Luckily, Ellie is still little enough that there is no party to worry about or plans to change. We will just take it as it comes, which is one of my favorite mantras.
I was just informed by my neighbor that I sent out my daughter’s birthday party invitations WITHOUT the date!!!
FLAKY!
I hope I can get the invitation thing down before we are looking at graduation or, gee, maybe wedding invitations. Now you might say that is a long way off… But, all I can say is that with a blink of an eye she was newly born and peeking up at me with the most beautiful eyes I ever saw…and that was 8 years ago.
The tooth didn’t make it to the morning. Hannah came into my room at 4:00 and said that the tooth had fallen out and she found it on her pillow. She was relieved. She had been afraid that she might swallow it. She is adorable with no front teeth.
Daddy teased her this morning saying that she looked like a bruiser with a swollen/red eye from surgery and no front teeth. She thought that she could look tough for our neighbor boy and impress him. She very much enjoyed trying to say, “Mississippi.” Ellie didn’t understand what a “bruiser” is and said that Daddy was going to take Hannah and bruise her up.
What a morning! But we are now, happily, progressing with schoolwork and our normal Wednesday routine. There was mention that her eye hurt when handed her math book, but Mommy didn’t buy it! She is rather sensitive to light and currently cuddled in a dark corner with one small light reading a biography of Ben Franklin.
Well, we were curious as to how long it would take to wiggle out that front tooth. Here’s the story:
Hannah had a surgery today to correct the muscular alignment of her left eye (long story) at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. I could take a minute and rave about how wonderful this hospital is and how compassionate the staff is, but I digress. They asked us if she had any loose teeth and upon examination they decided that they would need to have the Tooth Fairy meet them in the operating room before surgery to remove the tooth. She removed the tooth and slipped a ring made out of a one dollar bill onto Hannah’s finger during surgery.
I would like that job. Whisking around leaving little gifts for children, tiptoeing into little one’s rooms while they slumber…
Alas, the other front tooth is very loose and hanging by a thread. It won’t make it to the weekend.
