Halloween!

Man! What a day. Sophia was really under the weather today. Aubrey too. Hopefully this was the turning point day and tomorrow we're on the uphill again. Sophia's appetite today called for Jello, 3 bites of jelly toast, Cheez-its, juice, popsicles (sugar-free, of course), 1 bite of a Pillsbury Crescent roll, 10 strawberries and two lollipops. She didn't want to take a nap until 5pm when she crashed for 90 minutes. When she woke up she didn't want to dress up and go trick or treating. She only wanted to watch her Wiggles Christmas movie. A different Wiggles movie...another Christmas idea. This is how Sophia spent her evening.

Even though Aubrey was feeling a bit stuffy and sluggish too she was still willing to dress up and be festive. She passed out candy with Will while I snuggled with Sophia inside. These are some of my favorites of Aubrey dressed like a pink bunny.

More October Artwork

These are all of the things Sophia brought home from school in the last several weeks. Her favorite is the witch. I like the trick or treat bag and the black cat because it's her handprint. The witch, frankenstein, and black cat are actually three individual crafts although in the photo they look like one thing.







On two separate occasions this month Sophia received the Star Singer Award from Ms. Sharon.

Back in action

Gosh...it's been over a week since I've been able to get on the blog! Wow...

My laptop finally decided to give out on me at the end of last week. I wasn't able to get my new replacement until yesterday afternoon. I have notes on alot of things that I "would have" posted about so stick with me and I'll catch you up on some of the Alexander News. Let's start with....

AUBREY!!
She's rolling over now! On Tuesday (Oct 28), the day after she turned 5 months she rolled over from her back to her belly. And now that she's got it figured out, she's a mad woman about it! This video was taken yesterday.


I wish I could say that she's sleeping through the night, but we're nowhere near that accomplishment yet. Aubrey still wakes up every couple of hours. Today I bought a white noise/sound machine at Linen's N Things with the hopes that it will help her stay asleep. I'm sure we'll have to experiment to find the perfect sound/volume combo.

SOPHIA
Sophia has a cold. She has a runny nose and a bit of a cough that you can hear it in this video. She's acting completely fine.


She dressed up in her kitty cat costume for school today (you will find her dressed all in black with pink fringe in the center of the photo). Will and I dropped her off together this morning and stayed for the Halloween Parade. Only the 2 and 3 year old classes dressed up, but the older kids also joined in the fun and basically sang the songs for the little ones. Well Sophia does look like she's singing the last few words of the last song in the last video:

I'm a Little Pumpkin followed by Bats and Spiders

Trick or Treating

Here are the pictures.

ELMO
I took the girls to the WoW Botanical Garden this week for a special visit from Elmo. Sophia was beside herself and literally ran up to him when he walked into the park. She hugged him twice. Take a look at all of the photos. Elmo planted a sunflower with all the kids and then he rode the tram back to the Visitor's Center. I collapsed our stroller and we hopped on the tram to ride back with Elmo.

Sophia and I are headed back to the Garden on Saturday morning for their children's program called Teddy Bear Tea.

Check out this Elmo video. Listen to Sophia - she's the very first kid to talk after Elmo dances. It's soooo cute.

Halloween Party

Sophia and Aubrey are hosting a Halloween costume party at our house at 11 on Saturday for 10 of their friends (and their parents).

It's going to be a really fun party, or at least I hope it is. If I were 2 years old I would love it. I've been getting ready for 2 weeks now and it's crunch time. I'm not really having any structured games with the exception of a pull string pinata that will be filled with candy and plastic crap.

Sophia is going to be a cat. Aubrey is going to be a pink rabbit.

Gotta run.....have lots to do....

The letter "D"

D is for Ms. Dawn and doggie.

A tiny snake

Sophia bent over in the driveway to look get a better look at something. After close examination she called up to me, "Look, Mommy. A tiny snake."

It was a dried up worm.

I tried to explain that that it was a worm, but she insisted it was a tiny snake.

Milk

Our household drinks a gallon of milk in two days. I'm serious. Every other day at 6 or 7 in the morning I have to go buy milk before the day starts. Mission: Get a second frig/freezer for the garage just for milk.

October Artwork

Original Artwork is what was listed on Sophia's school calendar on the first Tuesday of October. She didn't bring anything home that day either. This week I found out what she actually did for her craft that day when I received an invitation to the "Big Room" to view the kids' Original Art Works. Guess which one is Sophia's...? It's one of the biggest.

Oh by the way, it's pink and on the right in the top row.

Last Thursday she didn't participate in the art project. It was the day I had to pick her up early and prior to my arrival she refused to make a Halloween Craft! Boo Humbug!

On Tuesday of this week the calendar said First Letter and showed an A. Coincidentally, Sophia wore her A is for Awesome shirt because I figured they were starting to talk about the alphabet. Instead she brought home an S for Sophia!! Ah, cute! In the car on the drive home that day I told her that my name, Shirley, starts with an S too. And she said, "Sadie starts with an S too." And then she said, "Scratch starts with an S too."! WOW. Scratch is MISSER TONY's dog.

At the beginning of the month her craft was Fall Leaves (on a tree). I love this piece. You can't see the details in the photo, but there are tiny squares of crumpled up tissue paper glued all over the tree (and on the S). Sophia was so proud of it. "Don't pull them off, Mommy." That's what I heard the whole way home that day.

Today was Fall Pictures and Pumpkin Necklace day. Here she is wearing her pumpkin necklace after school.

The school holds two types of fund raisers: The Book Fair which was at the end of September (and we sure did our part, but who doesn't love books?) and School Pictures (Fall and Spring). A professional photographer had his "Italian Countryside" background and fake stone set up from 9-9:30 for sibling photos. I resolved I would get everyone dressed in their best and out the door this morning, but it simply did not happen. Sophia slept in therefore so did I today. I can't wait to see Sophia's picture. I have no idea what her hair will look like in the photo, but it did look perfect when she got to school this morning.

Aubrey News!

I would like to propose a toast.

To Aubrey. She can sit up on her own!

Literally in the last two days Aubrey has learned to sit up on her own. Yes, she topples over every now and then, but for the most part she's sitting at 4 1/2 months, just like her big sister.

She's so ready to get up and get going! She's arching and grunting again when she's flat on her back but this time it's because she's wants to sit up or she wants to stand.

She is so friendly and social. She loves to chat it up with all of us. She razzes, she squeals, she ooos and now she growls. She discovered this new sound earlier this week. It cracks me up to hear this tiny little cutie pie growling like a tiger. I'll try to upload a video sample soon.

She started eating a bit of rice cereal this week. Our recipe is 1 part cereal to 3 parts liquid. Baby steps...gotta start somewhere.

No more pacifiers

Sophia threw away her remaining two pacifiers today when she got home from school. She was being punished for pushing again at school today. She knew the rules and she didn't protest at all when I made her throw them away.

Ms. Lisa said that Sophia did much better today than she did last week. Her strategy is to reward Sophia for keeping her hands to herself and behaving. Ms. Lisa said that Sophia had a sticker on her shirt for the most part of the day because she was doing well, but then Ms. Lisa had to take it away after warning Sophia twice. My strategy with Sophia is to give her a mini Tootsie pop if she walks out of the classroom wearing her sticker. Sophia cried/whined as we walked out of the school because she didn't get her lollipop.

This evening I found her with one of Aubrey's pacifiers in her mouth. She grinned at me as if she thought it was clever!

Norfolk Children's Festival

Saturday was the Children's Festival in Norfolk. The four of us met Haley's family (also 4) and Addie and her mom, but they were really late. The weather was fantastic and we didn't have any major meltdowns! Sophia even relaxed a bit around the large costumed characters. Up until now she's been terrified of them. The Cat, from Alice in Wonderland, broke the ice for her. I think it was because he was sitting down. We also saw Clifford the Dog and Curious George walking around the festival. See all the pictures.

Sophia got her face painted like a cat. Haley got a pumpkin on her cheek. They ate ice cream - chocolate and vanilla twists with sprinkles on top. We paid extra so we could ride the train. Sophia LOVED the doll house area. (I think she needs a doll house for Christmas this year). She enjoyed dipping bubble sticks into buckets of suds.

Even Aubrey enjoyed the day spent outside.

Movie from Hop Skip Jump

Hop Skip Jump

A new indoor play area opened up in Virginia Beach called Hop Skip Jump. I took the girls there on Friday with my friend Belinda and her daughter, Rajchel (prounounced: Rachel).

Sophia absolutely loved it. They have every single thing she likes to do. A small, ball-filled bounce house, a wooden puppet theater with tons of hand puppets, a kitchen set with table and chairs, costumes, puzzles, an awesome four sided dollhouse and about 20 dogs just to mention a few. And, get this, they share a parking lot with a Hershey's ice cream shop so, of course, Sophia and I shared an orange dreamsicle cone. Yum. Check out all of the pictures.

The dreaded phone call

Sophia's teacher, Ms. Lisa, called me and asked me to come early to pick Sophia up from school on Thursday. It was only 11AM and Sophia's normally there until 1. She took a book from a little boy and hit him in the face with it. On Tuesday she pushed a little girl off her chair and pushed another boy on the playground. This was an especially bad week for Sophia.

She hasn't pushed for months! It didn't even creep back up when Aubrey was born. But the second day of school brought my little bully out of hiding. Ms. Lisa and Ms. Dawn have been working with Sophia to "keep her hands to herself". Obviously it hasn't worked yet.

When you ask her why - she doesn't answer. She KNOWS she's not supposed to hit, shove or push, but she does it anyway. She says she's sorry and then acts sad about doing it.

My solution: to take away her TV/video privilege and to adjust her bedtime by 1 hour earlier. Thank goodness it's dark at 7:00 now!

Ms. Lisa is going to do a sticker reward chart at school with her.

(Helpful) comments welcome.....

How hard can it be?

I dressed both girls in "Halloween" attire this morning with the intention of taking a picture of them together. I never really did get ONE good one of both of them together. Here are some of my "favorites".

By the time I ended up taking the pictures Sophia had been picked up early from school (read about that ordeal later), and both girls had taken off their pants because I over dressed them this morning. The last one is the best but it's blurry!

Mondays

Here's our Monday routine:

We leave the house at 9:30 and head to the YMCA. We drop Aubrey off in the Childwatch infant room and then head to Sophia's exercise class from 10 - 10:45. When her class is over I drop her off in the Childwatch room and get in my own workout. Then we head across the street to Mt. Trashmore (if you've driven on 264E to come visit us, then you've seen it. It's the big hill on the side of the highway.) There are a few playgrounds at Mt. Trashmore and we usually go and kill a few hours there before heading home.


We were attacked by a few very hungry geese on Monday. They were after our picnic lunch! They were so bold and walked right up to us. I could have pet them if I wanted to. Sophia was terrified of them. She clung to me when they were around us.

Dog Days at the Library

On Saturday afternoon we all went to the Library for Dog Days. Sophia brought Digger with her, but we left Sadie at home this year. There were lots of dogs there and every single time Sophia sees a dog - no matter where we are! - she has to stop and pet the dog and find out his/her name.

Will, Sophia and Digger signed up for the parade and when it was their turn to walk the parade circle of orange cones, the announcer read out loud that Digger likes to do tricks. Sophia, on her own accord, started bouncing Digger high up the in the air on the string. It was hysterical. She wanted everyone to see that HER dog could do tricks. The crowd actually clapped and laughed out loud. It was a missed youtube movie opportunity.

Check out all the pictures.

My new trick

Twice today I've employed this new and wonderful trick.

I strap Aubrey into the car seat, place her on top of the dryer in the laundry room and simply turn on the dryer.

Presto! She's out in under a minute.

Dannit

Um....excuse me, Sophia, did you just say dannit?

I laughed my head off. She obviously meant damnit.

She repeated it over and over as if she was mad at something.

I asked her where she heard that word - since it's not one of my usual choices - and she will not reveal her source. hmmm......

My favorite fall outfit

Friday is my favorite day. The weather always seems awesome on Friday. The weekend is here...and Will will be around for two whole days. Both girls usually nap on Friday too. At the same time! Like now.

We took Sadie for a walk this morning and had a great time. Sophia ran ahead of me alot. She brought a plastic carrot to feed the rabbit on the swing. I think this could be my favorite fall outfit so far...(with a different pair of socks).

A Sophia video

Here's a video of Sophia dropping rocks into the waterfall at the Botanical Garden.

Storytime at WOW today

This morning we went to storytime at the Botanical Garden. Sophia couldn't sit through more than 1 book before she began fidgeting so Aubrey and I tried to entertain her through 3 more stories. The storyteller led an "adventure" through the garden after the books. Sophia loved this part!

Sophia was so into the adventure that she wanted to lead the pack and when that wasn't such a fabulous idea she grabbed the "teacher's" hand and kept trying to steal her attention. Will thinks it's because she likes adults better than kids. Who knows! I thought it was Type A personality.

Before we headed home we found this waterfall. What fun we had dropping/throwing rocks into the water. I didn't think we would ever leave....

This is my absolute favorite picture of the day. Sophia was up ahead of me running toward the water. I was begging her to turn around for a picture. Don't you just love this look? To me it screams HURRY UP, MOM! TAKE THE PICTURE ALREADY.

Take a listen to Aubrey squawking in her car seat in the movie below.

Aubrey @ 4 months

I've mentioned this before, but my guess is that she'll be a thumb sucker. Right now everything that she can get her hands on goes straight into her mouth - including her own clothes if they will stretch that far. Mostly she's got 3 or 4 fingers in her mouth at any given time. (We have a case of the Copy Cat Finger Sucker going on - Sophia's been walking around with all of her fingers stuffed into her mouth too! And she's always touching EVERYTHING which makes it absolutely disgusting!)

But back to Aubrey.

She has also found her feet and toes. When she's on her back her legs are straight up in the air and she's playing with her feet.


When she's on tummy time (or belly time as Sophia calls it) she's really pushing up high on her arms and proudly looks around the room. She's squirming so much these days we think she'll roll over from belly to back pretty soon.
She really enjoys the Bumbo seat now. Doesn't really like her doorway jumper yet because she's just a bit small just yet. She a HUGE fan of the exersaucer. When she's a little stronger she'll get a kick of out of the toys on top. For now she enjoys just sitting in it!

September is over

September's over and Sophia had quite a successful month at school. She was there a total of 6 times. She's getting better at eating her lunch each time. If I don't literally "catch her" after we drop off her backpack and lunch sack each day she'd be inside the classroom without so much as a glance back at me. The good-byes are definitely harder for me....until I get into the car and, finally, it's quiet!

Sophia brings home 2 art projects every day. That's a LOT of artwork to hang on the side of the frig! After I picked her up on the second day and looked at all of her artwork at home I thought: Hmmm, I wonder shy she only picks the yellow crayon/paint? Then I realized there was a pattern. September was all about yellow. I have a calendar that shows the theme of each day - school bus, lemon, sun, moon, yellow collage (a dead giveaway). So I think September will forever be Yellow month for me! Guess what October is...?