The transition to winter clothes for Ellie

As the days have gotten cooler, Ellie has had a hard time giving up her summer wardrobe which was full of squorts and dressy shirts and cut sun dresses. Her winter wardrobe is much less girlie and thus, less appealing to her. During this transition we had a lot of crying in the morning about what she could wear. After a couple weeks I finally came up with a positive solution (compared to all the yelling we had been dealing with each morning). I set up a chore chart where she could get smiley faces for good behaviour. We agreed that after she got 50 smilies, she could go shopping for a new dress (since this was part of the problem). Key chores were to get dressed in the morning and brush teeth in the morning without any fussing. We focused a lot on theses. There were some others on there (totally 7) that we didn't focus so much on - pleases and thank yous, sharing, helping around the house, no whining in general, and cleaning up her toys.

After two weeks she finally collected 50 smilies, so this weekend we took her shopping for her dress. She was funny becuase the first dress she saw, she wanted it. It took me a few minutes to explain to her that the idea is to look at everything that have and then select the best one. (I'm not sure Daddy wanted me teaching her this fine art of shopping, but I did it anyway). After looking at the whole selectiong in Penny's in Columbia mall, she decided on two that we both liked. So, we ended up buying them both saying one for this time and another for the next 50.

Ellie could hardly wait for morning to come today so she could wear her new dress. When I went in to her and asked if she wanted to get herself dressed, she bolted out of bed while saying yes. (Usually I have to beg for about 5 minutes and then peel her out of her bed). It's amazing how happier this little princess is when she's getting dressed in dresses and "Dressy shirts." I will admit this little outfit is so cute and she does suit these dresses and dressy shirts very much!

Max's first day at church nursery

This weekend Max has stopped taking his morning nap. Turns out, he's totally great with this and sleeps without fussing in the afternoon. I guess it's been time for a while. Anyway, this made it time for Max to start going to church with Ellie and I. Even though he won't sit in church and won't go to sunday school, I still want to get into the routine and have him meeting some kids his age at church. David said he'd come with me to help becuase usually taking Max to church is a chore. When we arrived at church, we decided to let Max give the nursery a try. This was not necessarily the plan. He seemed amicable to it. I put him down, took off his jacket and let him start looking around. There was one other boy there, a three year old named Colin. There was a nice teenage girl who was working there who started playing with Max and showing him around right away. This was great for him. I let him play and watched for a few moments. As I stepped towards the door, he ran over to ask to be held, so I did. Then I took him back to the toys. He dove in and started playing without any fussing. So, I decided to leave him and see what happened. I told the lady in charge to please call me if he cried, that I'd rather come out of church to help him get used to it, as opposed to having him hate it. She agreed that was her approach too. So David and I set off to church.

I watched my phone with anticipation through the whole service and there was no call. Halfway through the last song, we bolted as I couldn't wait any longer to see how he was doing. As we approached the room I listened and heard nothing (specifically, no crying). When we went around the corner, he was happily playing with w truck on a table. He smiled when he saw us and ran to give me a hug and Daddy his car! The ladies told me he did great. He only had one moment of partial sadness, apparnetly when he couldn't get a toy to do what he wanted. I'm so proud of him!

Snow in October

Today was the first snow of the season; yes, in October. I didn't believe it was goign to happen, but Ellie told me that Daddy said it was going to snow. Sure enough, we woke to snow on the ground. Ellie was delighted! We ended up having dance, and when we returned, Ellie was sure she had to play in the snow. We didn't even have any boots, but that didn't matter, she just had to get out there. She ran around and made tracks on the ground. She fluffed the snow in the ground! She even watched me try to empty the snow from the tree. I had her pose for a picture by the pumpkins to note the time of the year.

Kisses

For a few months now if I'm leaving the house and going to say bye to David and Max, Max will kiss me after I kiss David. And, by kissing, that means he would lean in to my face. This week Max has started puckering up and actually kissing when I ask for a Kiss. It's so adorable. The first time he did it was in the mall. I was so smitten, I had him do it twice! My little boy is growing!!! and learning to love :-)

Again

Max is really trying to start talking. His words are not clear, but he is trying. One word he's learning to use to his advantage is "Again." If someone does something funny - like sneeze or bang something - Max will laught and say, "Gnn." Tonight when I was reading the story Snuggle Puppy, after I finished the song, I heard this magic word, "Gnn." He looked at me with a smile and asked adamently, "Gnn." I ended up reading the whole story twice becuase I love that he is starting to cmmunicated with me so well! A few other words that Max is starting to master are Mike, More, Ellie, Mommy, and Kiss!

Simple pleasures

This evening we decided to finally bring down the carpets for the living room and family room. We put them up for summer.

Ellie was so excited, she was giddy. I had no idea she missed the carpets that much. She did make a comment when we put them up indicated she hoped they were only going up for a night or two, but we didn't hear about them again. When David rolled the first one out, she was extactic! She was helpful and laughing. It was funny. She immediately asked for the second one. David got that one too. When it was finally set up, and she was allowed to get on it. She laid down and rolled across it for a few minutes, laughing, sticking her legs in the air, just rolling around. It was cute. Then, to top it off, Max copied her energy, rolling and laughing exactly. It was really really funny!

Who would've ever thought something so simple would give so much happiness to them!

The most fought over toy of the week is....

The swiffer mop....
Yes, that's right. My kids think this is the coolest thing ever. Really, it's Max who thinks it's the coolest thing ever. But, becuase I let him try it out and Ellie never has, then she thinks it's also the greatest thing ever. Bob says I need to learn how to take advantage of this, but becuase Max gets so frustrated when he gets it caught somewhere, I don't think that's really possible. But, I will try in a few years. Already, Ellie refuses to use the real vacuum, despite continually asking me to replace her toy one. I said no new toy vacuums. If you want to vacuum, you must learn to use the real deal. I'm betting that will never happen.