Big Day!

Murr and Matt are getting married today! We are so excited for them. Grace did awesome during the rehearsal last night so I'm hoping that she does just as well tonight for the real thing. I think she is happy to be walking with Ava and I'm sure they will both do just fine. 

It's pouring rain this morning but I'm crossing my fingers that it lets up this afternoon and evening!

Mail Truck

We spent a day at Aunt Theresa's last week. It was a lovely day and we spent time with Theresa, Uncle Bob, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Mary-Anne. I miss living in their neighbourhood! Grace loved visiting Aunt Linda and playing her different drums. She always loves being goofy with Aunt Mary-Anne. Grace went straight to the cabinet where Theresa keeps a bunch of necklaces, beads, and other trinkets as soon as we got in the house. Uncle Bob came home from work for lunch and he and Grace shared some cookies afterwards, much to her delight.

We convinced Grace to check out Bob's mail truck and she loved it! We had tried once before but it was right around her nap time, she was tired and getting cranky and she just wasn't interested. This time she was a little hesitant at first but then loved every minute. She said "Bob, you live in there?" pointing to the back of the truck; it was so funny. They took turns sitting in the driver's seat and the little seat by the door. She had a great time telling Bob to open and close the door, and take his seat belt off and on.

Coming Home

Brian comes home today! He's been in Costa Rica for the past 10 days for work. Not only was I jealous that he got to go to Costa Rica (and have 10 nights of uninterrupted sleep), I've really missed him! I've always given Brian credit for everything he does for our family but having him gone has really made me appreciate even more all the things he does around the house and with/for the girls.

The girls have been awesome while he's been away. Evenings have been challenging at times - the girls go to bed around the same time, which is perfect when there are 2 parents here, but it can be a handful for one!

I know Grace is really looking forward to having Daddy home again. She's talked to him every day on Skype, which is awesome. She will occasionally say "Daddy's in Costa Rica. He be home in a few days" so I know she thinks about him often and is excited to have him back.

Wordless Wednesday (Another Camp Day)

Tuesday Tune

Excavators

Grace is really into excavators, dump trucks, and other big trucks lately. Any time we go somewhere she says "we see some excavators on our way?" It's a great distraction for longer drives as she is very focused and determined to find some excavators on our travels, and since there is so much construction going on this time of year we are almost always guaranteed to see some sort of big truck while we're out. She often spots them before I do. "There's one, Mommy! Look out your window! An excabator! And it's digging!" I always laugh when we see one of those mini excavators because Grace always says (in a high pitched voice) "there's a little tiny one!" Then in a sad voice "he misses his mommy."

2.5

Gracie is 2 and a half today! I can't believe how fast the last 2.5 years have flown by, and I can't imagine life without her. She has grown into such a beautiful, funny, smart little girl!

At 2.5 years old:

• Grace has such a sweet, caring, gentle way about her. She is very in tune with other people's feelings and is quick to offer a hug if she sees that someone is upset.
• She has a very large vocabulary and speaks in complete, clear sentences. I love seeing her learn new words and hear her use them appropriately and pronounce them so clearly. Her comprehension is amazing.
• She knows all her letters, can count to 15 (sometimes 20), recognizes lots of shapes and all basic colors. 
• She loves music and loves to sing and dance. 
• Grace loves playing outside, particularly at the playground. The swings are still her favorite. She likes to explore in the woods behind our house.
• There is a lot of pretend play going on. You never know what she might come up with next!
• She is very social and likes to meet new people although she can be shy in new situations sometimes. It's not unusual for her to approach someone and say "Hi! I'm Grace." Kids her age often don't know what to make of this but adults love it. 
• Grace is a great big sister. She is wonderful with Anna, and likes to make sure she is involved in what we are doing. She is very gentle with her baby sister and has not yet shown any signs of jealousy. 
• She has a great sense of humour and loves to joke around. I love her laugh. 
• She is potty trained! Mostly. Daytime is great; she still wears a pull-up at night but I think she will be night trained very soon. 
• She still loves her blankie!
• She's becoming a more picky eater but I'm hoping it's just a phase that doesn't last long.

Grace, you are such an amazing little person and we love you so much!

Wordless Wednesday (Mud Cakes)

Favourite Toys

These are what the girls like to play with lately. Grace loves that metal vegetable steamer and will open it up partway and pretend it is a birthday cake. We have been singing Happy Birthday a lot. Remind me why we spend money on toys??

Food!

Over the past couple weeks we've started giving Anna some solid food. She was showing lots of signs that she was ready but when we tried to feed her she would not open her mouth for the spoon! When I did manage to sneak some food in she pushed most of it out and made some pretty funny faces. Avocado, sweet potatoe, and rice cereal all got the same response.It kind of threw me off - Grace was a very enthusiastic eater right from the start.

I started doing some reading on baby led weaning. Anna loves chewing on things and I started thinking maybe we might have more success if she could control what was going into her mouth. I will admit I was/am a bit nervous about introducing larger pieces of food right away but decided to give it a try anyway.

A few nights ago I gave Anna some soft baked sticks of sweet potato and a quarter of an avocado. It went well! She loved squishing everything in her little hands, and I'm pretty sure she ate more avocado this way than she did when I tried to feed it to her!

First food - Avocado

Much more interested in the spoon

Avocado - Take 2

Sweet potatoe

Mum-Mum

A quarter of an avocado - she was much more interested in this!

Banana!

7 Months!

At seven months:

• Anna is on the move! She is not crawling yet,but she can scoot around on her bum, and she pushes herself backwards when she's on her tummy and slides along the floor. 
• She is such a smiley, happy baby. She has so much personality already. 
• She's started eating solid food. So far she is not a fan of purees but enjoys chewing/sucking on big pieces of avocado or banana. 
• Naps have gotten so much better! 
• Still no signs of teeth but lots and lots of drool. 
• She loves being a part of the action whenever anything is going on. Generally, the only time she still falls over while sitting is when she is trying to keep up with everything going on around her and tries to turn around too fast. 
• I mentioned last month that she was starting to like a certain blanket. I think it's safe to say it's her Blankie now. She loves rubbing the blanket on her face and sometimes sucks on the corners. 
• Her favourite toys lately are not toys at all - tupperware containers and lids are all the rage. She also likes anything Grace is playing with, of course. 

This month's photo shoot was a little more challenging - she was too interested in the chalkboard!

Thankful on Thursday

Grace and Anna both slept in until 7:30 this morning! For the past few weeks our days have been starting around 5:30 so those extra two hours of sleep were so nice, especially since I stayed up later than usual last night drinking wine with Aunt Theresa and Aunt Linda!

Wordless Wednesday (Nap Time at the Camp)

Tuesday Tune

We're excited for weddings this summer - Murr & Matt and Robbie & Sharla!

Find more tunes at The Tompkins Family

Potty Training

We had been talking about potty training for a few weeks. Grace has been using the potty for some time now when she wanted to (usually before her bath, when she had some naked time) but we hadn't been pushing it. I knew she was ready, and has been ready for a little while but I didn't want to start when Anna was really small because I needed to be able to give Grace more attention. With Anna able to entertain herself a bit now, we figured it was time. Two weeks ago I read the 3 Day Potty Training guide and was thinking about giving it a try. The next day, Grace said she didn't want to wear a diaper and wanted to wear her big girl underwear so we just went with it.

She's been doing really well! We didn't follow the 3 day guide, but took some aspects of it and we're sort of doing our own thing. She had an accident on the first and second day but all other pees and poops have been on the potty. Well, besides an accident when Bampers and Zilla were babysitting, but I think that was just because she was too busy having fun and forgot to tell them she had to go. She uses both the little potty and her Dora potty seat on the big toilet. She is very proud to have her "very own potty seat!" 

I put a pull-up on her overnight, but she naps without one. I still put a pull-up on her when we go out but she is almost always dry and tells me when she needs to go. I think we might start going without pull-ups for outings this week and see how it goes. 

A notable potty training milestone - using an outhouse! We went to the camp for the day on Saturday and brought the potty seat with us and Grace used the outhouse 3 times. I was a little worried that she wouldn't want to, but she was quite excited about it. 

We're well on our way to being completely potty trained!