busy poppers

Izzy has discovered that this is her new favorite toy. Playskool's Busy Poppin' Pals

She goes over to it several times a day where it has been residing in front of the front door, as most of their living room toys do lately. But her method of opening the poppin' pals is in her own distinct style. She has found out that pushing up the orange lever (oops I guess it is purple in the pic, but ours is orange) will open the pal. But does she just lightly push the lever up or down? Oh No! She picks the whole toy up by the lever and DROPS it! Take that you crazy animals! This way she gets at least one toy opened which she promptly closes, then does the whole routine all over again, and again.

Olivia clearly said "dog" yesterday. It is interesting to note how each of them are developing differently. Isabel usually gets things down first; 1st sitting up, 1st standing on her own, 1st to take steps, 1st to get teeth (ok that last one was all her doing, right?) Anyway, I have noticed that Olivia is first to use the cognitive/verbal and motor skills first. She says cracker distinctly--well as distinctly as an almost 1-year-old can--"kaa-kaa". Isabel has her own version too, but hers is said immediately upon hearing me crinkle the animal cracker bag, which she has memorized the sound of. I'm tellin' ya! The baby who loves to eat.

Today the older girls participated in the daily task for "Love of Reading Week." Today was "dress up as your favorite book character" day; they were also instructed to bring the book. Abbey was pretty much decided the whole week. She was George from the classic tale--"Bark George!" This book is a must-own in anyone's collection. We gave her little doggy ears by doing two piggy tails and I pulled them only partly through, then twisted the excess hair around the base so the little poof sticks up. A touch of eyebrow pencil for freckles and a nose and brown clothing, and she is the cutest little dog ever! Emma finally decided on a vampire (after throwing around ideas such as Fancy Nancy, and characters from Charlotte's Web.) We have a book called "It's Vladimir!;" a cute tale of a little vampire who throws tantrums because he wants his bat wings. "Even to his grandma!," Emma says. So she was a female Vladimir, using a vampiress Halloween costume from a couple years ago and an updo as well with snake-like twisted piggy tail buns. Yesterday we played with new hairdo's in my bathroom in front of the big mirror, after I had been looking at a hair blog. The author of the blog states how that is her special one-on-one time with her girls. I thought, "Duh! Use that time to your advantage. And also let them see what you are doing to their hair; they enjoy it more and wil be involved and not so bored." But, I need to start making cute hair bows and upgrade my stash of elastics and such. The girls loved it! Also, what young girl doesn't like having her hair curled? Well, as soon as I get a smaller barrelled curling iron, anyway. Wish list!

Monday was "wear a shirt you can read" day.

Tuesday was "musical classrooms" day.

Yesterday was grandparents lunch/"poem in my pocket" day. The children are each given a poem, or they choose one. Then they go around to grandparents, teachers, etc., and get a sticker each time they read it.

I woke up my MIL and asked her to come up. It was wonderful! She got here a bit early, to my delight. It was so nice to spend some time chatting and exchanging "I am woman" stories. Yes, we roared. Ok not really, but we could've.

Anyway, we went to the school and had lunch with the girls and then Gammy spoiled them as only she knows how and bought them each two things from the book fair. Do you think the school coordinates the book fair with grandparents lunch day for a reason?

It was funny as I was standing out in the hall just outside the room the fair was in (because it would have been utterly impossible to navigate the tank that is my stroller around the room), a little boy came running out shouting to his grandpa who was waiting in the hall "Grandpa, Grandma needs your wallet!" Hoot, hoot!


Tomorrow is "wear red" day in support of American Heart Association day. Doesn't hurt that the next day is Valentines' Day.

Sorry no pics.

My camera is battery-less. Bro. Mo. stole them to put in the computer mouse. And because the camera we have sucks the life out of batteries, it is currently gutted. And moola is not currently warranting the purchase of more (or at least until we get some from Costco.)