Finishing February

Claire

She is really into having a best friend joining her for a lot of things like watching shows, playing outside, building castles and anything I won't do with her and when Shay is taking a nap or gone to bed. I wish we could see more friends and play with other people because she is so social and friendly to everyone, especially strangers at the park. It is so great to meet new people at the park and have her play and socialize with other kids, even if we only see them once and never again. It would be so nice to have more times to see other children and play so she can socialize and get more of her energy out with others. She found a really fun show to follow the leader and participate with them which was really cute to see her so excited to move like the people on the show moved. You can see how attached she is to daddy when he comes out of studying because she attached herself to his leg because Shay started the attack. 

Shay

She is turning 2 tomorrow!!! I can't believe my little girl is turning 2, but at the same time she is so smart and of course she is 2 years old right? I'm making her some cupcakes and we got some presents from family that she will get to open, but I wish we could have a party with family. This goofy girl does some of the weirdest things sometimes and was watching our morning cartoons and balanced her milk on top of her head. She is getting really good at her tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants, especially when it is daddy who doesn't do what she wants. She is getting more stubborn and picky with what she eats and even though she used to like canned green beans she is so adamant about not eating them even when bribed with chocolate. We are looking forward to the next year and planning on seeing if she is ready for potty training and transitioning to putting her binky's away for the day and only using them at sleep times.

Floating through February

 Claire

I really noticed how much this girl is an entertainer and loves to be the center of attention, and is so social! Whenever someone comes to the door both girls want to be there when I open it, but when we have guests, Shay gets bored of them while Claire gets more excited. She was the main entertainment of our meal with the Missionaries in our ward this week and brought out her xylophone and recorder to play music for them. She loves when there are new friends at the park to introduce herself to and play with as well, even though it's been a bad week for getting to the park. We enjoyed the less rainy days in the back yard mostly, and I've noticed both girls don't always want to do everything together which splits my attention usually. One of the shows she watches sings baby shark all the time and she has learned how to sing it herself! I only got the video of baby, but she did do momma, dada, nana, and even grandpa too!

Shay

I think she has become a collector because she likes to line up a collection of toys or random objects that she has claimed as her own, and then take them all to another place and line them up again. She also gets very upset if Claire tries to take one of those collected items and expresses her distress very vocally. Chris got her to repeat "I love you/daddy/mommy/Claire" but then when I tried to get her to do it to get it on the video it didn't turn out as good. It's still cute though. She made a desk out of our bookshelf and the stool we usually use for brushing their teeth in the bathroom, although she wants any stool or chair she can get a hold of usually. There was one morning we had a silent argument where she wanted the iPad located on the counter and I wanted her to watch a movie on the TV (because I can control the volume) and her face is hilarious.

Scriptures

We try our scripture time with a book I got a long time ago that teaches about the people in the Book of Mormon and Claire gets really into it sometimes. I got a fun video of her being very excited about the time Chris read about Abinadi, where Shay is usually only excited about books if she gets to turn the pages. Its good to know I'm at least trying right? Even if they only get in the habit of brushing teeth, then we all read the scriptures, then we say a prayer as a family. I feel like it is a start and I heard about a new app that I can download to help with some too that has scripture with pictures! If anyone has a suggestion on how to teach a short attention span 3 year old and a 2 year old that knows her letters now, let me know.

Happy Valentine's Day

 Claire

We had a lot of time outside in our back yard because the weather was really nice this week and Claire likes to draw with chalk on all surfaces. There isn't much that doesn't have some kind of chalk on it, Shay likes us to draw letters and I try to get Claire to draw animals and shapes. She also is really good at riding all the different types of bikes we have that Shay is supposed to have too, but isn't interested yet. She is really starting to enjoy the night time routine and likes checking them done every night which keeps us up with doing all of them every night. I drew the pictures as best I could to give her a hint on each one is and she caught on really fast and will tell me what to do next. Although she has been potty trained for a while, she hasn't caught on to finishing the job by wiping herself and then putting her bottoms back on. She still announces to us that she is going to the bathroom by yelling "I go potty" then expects me to come help.

Shay

Our smart girl is talking so much with words that are sort of words and sort of just sounds. We will say "ready?" and she will go "eay" in the same tone that Claire says ready, she really knows 'ow' and 'pss' for please. She is very attached to her way of saying no which is curling up in a ball on the floor to cover her face and start whining or crying. Despite all that, she still is very open to going to take naps and agrees somewhat reluctantly to go to bed after we have family prayer. Every morning Shay is the one that initiates the desire to go outside and looks out the window, comes to me and taps on my leg, and points to the door. She also asks all the time throughout the day and even when it is darker after sunset, but doesn't like when I tell her it's too dark. I'm running out of things to distract her with inside (I can only come up with new fun things so many times) and she is bored of most of the toys. It's nice when Claire and Shay play with each other even though it worries me because Claire likes to clime on top of her or step on her back and jump off.

Celebrating

We have pretty simple celebrations while the girls are still so young for most holidays. The only one we went all out for last year was Christmas, everything else felt small and simple since we did them all on our own. Nana and Grandpa Cox sent us all Valentine's chocolates, a card, and stickers for the girls which got the girls excited. During Thanksgiving we did a special meal, so I wanted to have some fondue for Valentine's Day as our special meal. We did a pizza and cheese fondue with meatballs and homemade French bread for lunch, and a chocolate caramel fondue with strawberries, bananas, and other treats for dessert. Since I wanted to get some cute pictures together we dressed up and as gifts we exchanged massages and love letters.

The Month of Love

 Claire

We got to have a play date with some of the people from my ward who have kids that are older than mine, but Claire loved being able to play with new friends. The whole way there, every time I would stop at a light or stop sign, she would ask, "are we there?" and I just laugh and reassure her we were almost there. She has been able to come up with more games to play with Shay as I've brought old toys out like the game board pieces to help Shay learn colors. They like to play phones with a calculator and the flat Lego piece while they are on the other side of the couch or room as each other. When we do the flash cards there was a really cute moment that she sang "rain rain, go away" and I tried to get her to do it again but she didn't get it completely right the second time as in the video.

Shay

There have been some funny things that she has started to do randomly and I try my best to get a picture of it while she isn't paying attention. She plays with daddy's shoes a lot and it's funny to watch her walk around in them and they would do with mine if I didn't keep them out in the garage. I think she came up with her weird position on the couch from Claire who often does a headstand on the couch. She is usually the one who asks to do flashcards, go outside, and want all the attention when dad comes out. She is good at cuddling for about 10 minutes until she realizes she wants something else and will make me come to the kitchen for her every desire. I've been so impressed with her ability to learn letters and we often draw them on the back cement so she can jump on them as she excitedly says their name.