Rylie's New "Trick"

Twenty Twelve

Apparently (according to Ruthie), a video does not suffice as a blog post. So here I am, making a "real" entry. I can summarize what Izzy has been up to in about 5 words: eat, sleep, poop, sleep again. It's difficult to make her life interesting. She has taken to sleeping on the girl's couch and doll bed, which is incredibly cute, but other than that, she's boring. 

Paige and Rylie, on the other hand, have been up to so much. We enrolled Paige in a tap/ballet dance class, and are awed at her complete lack of grace every Saturday. Each class they do a little lesson (parents kicked out of the room), then invite the parents in to show us what they "learned." Well, today Paige discovered that her tap shoes can make a loud bang if she stomps her heal into the dance floor. So, while all the other girls delicately tapped their shoes and followed the instructors lead, she stomp stomped her heel and was SO proud of herself. I'm almost certain there is a divot in the floor where she was standing (as a side note, I was laughing so hard I started crying and had to leave the room). 

Rylie has learned how to crawl, clap, play peek-a-boo, stand, and get into mischief. Her goal in life is to find a hole in our child-proofing and show us what happens because of it. If the gate is off the stairs for 2.5 seconds, she'll be 5 steps up before you catch her. She thinks the oddest things are absolutely hilarious (head butting, pretending to drop her, etc) and has an infectious laugh that will make you continue doing these things to keep her giggling. 

Tappity Tap Tap

The Lynches in Video

So Paige LOVES singing. Here's her singing "Openie Donald Had a Farm."



Also, and more importantly, Rylie has said her first word! She said "MOM!!!" Dave would disagree, and say that she has said, "dad" before, but there certainly isn't any video of it, so I call it!

Wriggly Rylie

I think everyone is due for a Rylie update!

-She's grown quite a bit (over 18 lbs at her last appointment)

-She eats mushy food

-She moves

-She LOVES my cell phone and the tv remote

Paige's Future

Car ride chats have become more and more common for Paige and me, and I try to talk to her about a variety of subjects. Recently, we have covered everything from learning her middle & last name to Santa. On a recent car trip, I was chatting with her about Dave's and my jobs. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: When you are at school, Mommy & Daddy go to work.
Paige: Mommy & Daddy go to work.
Me: Yep, and do you know what I do at work?
Paige: Work.
Me: Well, yes, but my JOB is that I am a teacher.
Paige: A teacher?! Mommy a teacher?

(Side note - I think I blew her mind that I was a teacher, cause she has teachers at her "school," and, while she's visited my school many times, she apparently had no clue that was what I did.)

Me: Yep, and Daddy is an Engineer.
Paige: An Enguyneer?
Me: Yes, an EnGIneer.

So, we talked for a bit about Mommy and Daddy's jobs (traffic can be terrible around here) and how when we work, those are our jobs, blah, blah, blah. I also had to clarify that Daddy does not, in fact, work at the airport, but I suppose her only experience with Dave's "work" has been when we were dropping him off or pickig him up from the airport and I tell her that "Dad has to go to work for a few days."

I decided to take this conversation one notch higher (I AM a teacher of gifted students, so I feel a need to end all conversations with an opportunity for higher level thinking). I asked, "Paige, when you get older, what do YOU want to do for a job?" Now, I anticipated that she'd either answer with, "a teacher," or "an enguyneer," because Paige is the ultimate follower and not generally one for original thoughts. She surprised me when she said, "hum....." cause that meant that she was actually thinking about her answer. After a few seconds of thinking, she says, "a bucket." I was certain that Paige was just confused about my question, so I clarified, "No, what do you want to be when you have a job?" and she assured me that she does, in fact, want to be a bucket. I thought she must not know what a bucket is, so I asked her, "So what does a bucket do?" and she replied, "Holds water."

This conversation happened about a week ago, and Paige still maintains that she wants to be a bucket when she grows up. While these aren't the same aspirations that we have for her, we may be looking some career openings in the field of bucketry in a few years. I'm pretty sure UVA and BC don't have any sort of programs for buckets, but maybe they'll develop something before she gets to college.

Potty Training

Paige's potty training is finally over, not that we did any of it...that's why we pay KinderCare the big bucks, again, something we left to the professionals. Not sure what we'll do when the time comes for Rylie to start using the potty, maybe we'll just have to commission Paige to take care of that problem. She's been diaper-free for a few weeks now, Minnie Mouse panties are how she rolls (very similar to the ones Dave wears). One of the few ways we do allow her to assert her independence is by letting her pick out her panties and socks every day, something she looks forward to greatly, and that requires quite a bit of time...

We do need to work on Paige's "potty talk" a little, as she calls her pee, "poop," and her poop "brown ones;" but as long as her "poop" and "brown ones" are happening somewhere other than her pants, I'm okay with whatever she wants to call it.

So, to sum up, diaper usage is down, toilet paper usage is up (convincing Paige that you do not need a half roll of tp per dribble has proven to be quite the task) in our house.