Decorating

 Claire

She comes up with such fun things to do throughout the day that it is hard to catch up with it all as mom and get her to do the things I want. I never have to plan arts and crafts time because play dough is one of her favorite things to ask for and play with. She also likes showing off her song "I am a child of God" and naming colors on her rainbow being able to identify light and dark colors too now. I like it when she shows off what I teach her by reading words! It is exciting that she can recognize the ones we practice a lot like cat and dad, but she doesn't like working for new ones as much. Rewards let her do what she wants, like playing with bubbles, but then they come down like rain and have to use their blankets to cover up.

Shay

I am impressed with how good Shay is at picking up certain parts of songs, she has known the ABC song for a while even though she mumbles the 'lmnop' part. She started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when we were setting up Christmas together and knew a lot of the words, just like being able to sing "Rain, rain go away" fairly accurately. She wants to sing with Claire, but Claire usually says no but that will probably get better soon. She had started to have a stuffy nose early this week because it has been getting cold and I haven't been on top of making sure they are dressed warmly before going outside. This week has been better so now the habit of putting shoes and coats on is hopefully established enough that they remind daddy when he takes them outside. 

Decorating

I am rationalizing that I can decorate this early because we are going to be gone on vacation for most of December and I want to be able to enjoy my own decorations before we go. I shouldn't have to rationalize, but I always thought it was important to focus on Thanksgiving before Christmas, and this year I have fully accepted that I don't want to! I want to make this a full holiday season and decorate with lights right now! Claire and Shay loved it because they were in bed when I started doing our fireplace mantel and then did the tree together this morning. We watched Polar Express while we decorated and daddy lifted the girls up so Claire could put the star on top and helped Shay put ornaments higher on the tree. We have it elevated so most are out of reach but they are good about not taking them off now, I'm just worried about our friend that comes.