Meringue

Aunt Kaki and I took a trip to visit Aunt Becky and her family.
Baby Gracie is tutu cute. Tiny and snuggly and pink all over.

J is holding down the fort with the RGs. We had a fun web cam chat with Em and Roo last night and all seems well. He promises that loads of pictures and video have been taken in my absence. Can't wait to see what I missed. And then I'll share here.

Rest Peacefully

Buddy

February 1995 - August 8, 2008

All that Jazz

The girlies had a fun morning this week with NICU buddies, K and M.
Thank goodness for indoor playscapes because it has been H.O.T. this summer. The spring '06 NICU crew descended on Radijazz and played their booties off.

Em was so excited to be there that she performed an impromptu free style dance routine to Shiny Happy People by REM. Really. It was the background music at the time.


Roo brought her entourage, Ernie and Cookie Monster, and found a new friend...
Yellow Bumpy Ball.

K decided to break out and go wild. Here she is in the volcano pit!

M was all boy! He ran, climbed, slid, rolled and jumped. But he's still got time for his number one girl. Loves his mama.

Firsts

Lots of "firsts" this past weekend.

First hair cuts. Finally. I held off as long as I could. But, Em's hair (read: mullet) needed some style cut into it. And Roo's need for a trim was never going to catch up.

So, Em got a real cut and Roo got a snip here and a snip there. I'm not sure why it was important to me that they have this particular first at the same time. But it was.


before


during




before - see her little curl at her nape?




bye bye curl :(

First snow cones. After the hair cuts.
Not much to see in the photos because they didn't actually come in a cone. Or a color. The second part was by request. Something clear, please.





And finally, Roo's first piggies!

All About Em

Em has added so many fun new "things" to her 27 month old repertoire that I want to remember.

Counting is a favorite thing to do. She usually makes it to 8 before stopping to applaud herself. Then, she continues to 13 or so before stopping. Then, she counts backwards until reaching 1. That is always followed by an arm raising, "Blast Awwfff!".


She LOVES to dance. To anything. But especially to Classical Baby Dance. She mimics the movements of each dance. Crooks her elbow and tilts her head while dancing Ginger Rogers style. Leaps and pauses with the West Side Story dance. Twirls with Tchaikovsky. And usually, brings her tutu over for me to put it on during the Waltz of the Flowers dance.


Em will actually mimic just about anything she sees on the tv screen. So we are very careful with what both girls watch. When Cookie Monster is on screen, she wiggles her fingers at her mouth and says, "Mmm Mmmm Ummm" and pretends she's scarfing cookies. Oh, and last weekend, she had Daddy's mallet/hammer and pretended to be AlphaPig from Super Why. She pounded on the item Daddy was working on and started reciting her ABCs.

When the "super duper computer" sound effects from Super Why come on, Em, places both index finger on her temples. Then, she shakes her head and thinks really hard. And she now thoughtfully places a finger under her chin while pondering the meaning of life and murmuring, "Hmmmm".



She's pretending with a lot of things. Daddy's silver tape measurer is her pretend camera. She always holds it right below her nose and exclaims, "Cheese!" She makes a long shhh sound at her kitchen's sink and washes her hands. Em also snores just like Daddy when pretending to sleep.



At meal and snack times, Em loves share her bites. Sort of. It's the most fun for her when she fakes you out and snatches the food away to eat it herself. But be prepared. Just when you relax, she'll shove a soggy, pre-chewed cracker in your mouth. Gotta stay on your toes.


Em says tankyou (thank you) unprompted. Usually when handing you something you were going to take away from her anyway. Like marbles, trash, chapstick... But she also says it when we leave mom's day out. All the way out the door and into the car she says thank you, love you, [had a] good day, bye bye.
Precious!


Bedtime is the best. She lays her head on her tiny pillow with its satin pillow case (thank you, Nannie!). I cover her with her blankie and sing her a song. And stroke her hair. The expression on her face is the most angelic that I've ever seen. Oh! I love that time.


When J and I close the nursery door, she keeps telling us "bye" and "you, too, boo boopeedoo, MWAAAA!" Em then blows us kisses for several minutes after we've left. Often, I stand on the other side of the door and send them back to her.

All About Roo

At 27 months, Roo has a desperate love of all things letter related. This is an ongoing passion dating back to around 16 months. Finding a letter and showing it to me is a real joy for her. And spelling to build a word is an endless fascination. Currently, she's spelling goodnight, moon, Elmo, cow, dog, and her name and Em's name.


She has a knack for finding and creating patterns. With her blocks, letters, colors, family, etc. A recent favorite is showing that the letter P can be a lower case "d" or "b" or the number 9. Depending on how she orients it.


Roo is still working out the kinks of her gross motor skills. But, she is getting the hang of marching and kicking and knows it. One day, her wiggle might speed up to a run, too. She's got some major hip action in her walk. Pretty cute. And, if you ask her to stretch, Roo moves into the yoga position, downward dog. They occasionally do baby yoga at her mom's day out program. I suspect that's where it originated.


She's developing a love of dancing. With her little face tilted up, she slowly turns in a circle and bounces her arms about. The freeze dance is her favorite. It involves shaking her fists as fast as she can and then spreading her fingers wide and saying, "FEESE!"


Sesame Street is her favorite show. Roo has an entourage of character dolls that she insists be present during the show. When Ernie is on screen, she makes sure her Ernie doll is in her hand and held up. Like a lighter flame during a rock ballad. And she has staked claim to a library of books with the Street's characters. She knows each one, even the old school Muppets like Kermit, Barkley, Herry, Betty Lou, Mumford, and Guy Smiley.


Roo is crazy about my hair, too. When I lean over her crib rail at night, she pulls a few strands free and pets it while I sing to her. She'll also sneak up behind me and just stand there to pat my hair. When I shake my head, she dissolves in giggles.


Em is her best friend. She really doesn't care to be separated from her for long. If Em sleeps longer than Roo, I have to physically stop her, multiple times, from going back into the nursery to wake her sissy up to play.


At night, as I tuck her in, she gives me a giant smile and says, "YES!" Which means, sing Jesus Loves Me. And then, she says, "Aye-uh-Aye-uh-Aye". Which means, sing the "I love you, too, boo boopeedoo" part of Skinnamarink. And then she blows me a big kiss.

Tiny Dancers

Aunt Kaki landed herself in the middle of a RG dance party the other day.
Em and Roo are serious about the dance.

It goes like this.
They ask for "baby dance". I put in the dvd. They bring the tutus over
and stand there until I tie them into place.
Then, the pirouettes proceed.