Catching Up

I know, I know...it's been too long!  I don't have many good excuses, but four weeks of family illnesses and a mega-pregnant Mama has slowed me down...and left me asleep on the couch often at 8:30 pm!  So, with Baby Italia due to arrive within seven days, I want to play major catch up.  And, after looking through the thousand pictures that were on my phone, I've decided that I want to post more -- including the hum-drum and ordinary that I capture in photos often.

With that being said, I'm just going to start with a quick Zoey and Kaia update...

Kaia:
Our "baby" is seventeen months old and has made it quite clear that she wants to be the only baby in this house!  She still isn't walking on her own, but has made progress pushing things and walking holding only one of our hands.  She wants to walk and I think she'd be happier at this stage if she were, but she just hasn't mustered the courage to really "let go".  As often as she seems to want to be up and about on two feet, she also LOVES being toted around on one hip.  I think she thinks its where she belongs...and, boy, does she let you know it!  Full tantrums ensue when she wants to be lifted and you refuse.  "Its for her own good," I repeat over and over to myself.  But the screaming and wailing and face planting on the hard, marble floor usually wins and up she goes.  I must have "sucker" written all over my forehead!

Kaia's desire to be The Baby is rivaled only by her desire to be The Lap Dog - lovingly said, of course.  An open lap on the floor is an open invitation for her to go up on all fours, scoot backwards toward it, and plop down right where she wants to be...in your lap.  Its every time you're on the floor.  Every.  Single.  Time.

A few of Kaia's favorite things:

• Chasing Zoey around the house - both girls crawling (oh the bruised knees!) and laughing the whole time!
• Stealing bites of your cereal, your yogurt, your apple, and definitely your gelato!  Mama doesn't want to share her gelato anymore, which means Little Kaia now gets her own cup of vanilla!
• Pointing for what she wants...pointing to what she sees...pointing to your nose and head and eyes...pointing to get your attention
• Sitting on the stairs - anyone's stairs.  She thinks the first or second step is the best seat in the house! (excluding your lap)
• A banana for breakfast...every day.
• Taking things out and putting them back in: milk caps in a wipes container, shapes in a shape sorter, Q-tips in a spice container, laundry in a laundry basket...if it can achieve the "in and out" concept, it'll hold her interest.
• Magna Tiles!  She'll stack them and, honestly, seem to organize them by shape - which amazes me every time!
• Being up on the couch - walking, crawling, pulling hair (you say no and she laughs - little devil!)...
• Her pacifier and puppy.  When all else fails, find them!  She'll probably cuddle that puppy for years to come...and that's fine by me!

Zoey:

Just as Kaia insists on being The Baby, Zoey is insisting on being The Big Girl.  Her independence is growing weekly and I feel like I'm hearing "I want to do it by myself" more and more often these days.  Pouring her own milk,  Getting ready for bedtime.  Trying to cut her food and zip her sweatshirt and complete an "activity".  She wants to feed Kaia and she talks about giving "the new baby" a bottle on a daily basis.  And with this "growing up" has come excessive poutiness and learning to deal with frustrations.  She's full of drama, which surprises me for being only four!, but friends reassure me that their four-year-olds are the exact same.  Wasn't this behavior supposed to wait until thirteen?!?!  

Zoey's independence is rivaled by her constant desire to color with you.  All day, every day if she could.  Its got to be her favorite thing!  Here's how it goes every time: 

Zoey: "Can we do something together?"

Adult:  "Sure.  Like what?"

Zoey:  "Let's color."

Adult:  "A coloring book or plain paper?"

Zoey:  "Plain paper.  I'll get it."

Adult:  "What should I color?"

Zoey: "Whatever you want.  A flower, a rainbow, a butterfly..."

Adult:  "What are you going to color?"

Zoey:  "You draw me shapes and I'll color them in"

And coloring continues for 15-45 minutes.  She starts with wanting shapes to color in...then she'll ask you to draw some sort of animal that you absolutely can't draw well, but she wants it anyway...then she'll want you to write different names in bubble letters so she can color them in...then she'll do her own picture (a flower, a rainbow, and a butterfly)...and then its something abstract.  She often comments on your drawing saying "its beautiful" - even when your horse is a pathetic excuse for anything that resembles a horse-like creature!

Zoey has started an after-school dance class with a few of her friends...which I think is more of a free-for-all than an actual ballet class, but, hey, they have fun.  I'm not sure how they fill the hour exactly, but I've seen some leaping, some rolling hula hoops back and forth with a friend (Kaitlyn, of course!), and lots of twirling!  We're only on week three, but so far so good!  Might she follow in her Mommy's footsteps?!?!

A few of Zoey's favorite things:

• Playing with a friend, riding bikes, getting gelato...and when any of those things are combined, she's in heaven!
• Markers, paper, glitter, glue, scissors + always creating!
• Chocolate brioche, plain crackers, "yogurt in a cup", straciatella gelato, milk, spaghetti, strawberries, pears, graham crackers and chocolate (Nutella)
• Helping with whatever Mommy or Daddy are doing: building a bookshelf, making dinner, folding laundry.  Of course, it takes extra time to finish the job, but usually its worth it!
• Climbing, wrestling, being tossed around, tickling...those "Daddy things" that only Daddy can do best!
• Patterns - drawing patterns, saying patterns, noticing patterns...its amazing how her brain is always geared up to notice the order of things!
• Rhyming - something new!  Zoey has been interested in rhyming lately and is finally getting the hang of it.  Sometimes they are real words and sometimes they are just funny, nonsense words, but in any case, they rhyme!  Where are all my Dr. Seuss books???

So...besides carrying and coloring and surviving life with a four-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old, we're anxiously awaiting the arrival of our third little princess.  No, we're not "ready, no, we haven't decided on a name, no, we have no clue what we're in for...but she'll be here soon.  Very soon!  And then we start back at the beginning with newborn diapers and newborn crying and newborn feeding...and the intense love that comes with bringing a newborn into our family.

Stay tuned!