What a joy!

Yesterday afternoon I was fighting a headache after a busy day of Ellie, teaching 4 year olds, and Christmas prep. I heard Ellie drag something into the family room and saw Lia jump off the couch and run over. They were playing so nicely, I didn't even give it a second thought. After a few minutes of quiet, I asked Lia what they are doing. Lia responds, "I'm potty training." Huh? So, I quickly get up and see Ellie sitting on the little potty with her pants pulled down and her diaper off. Sure enough, Ellie went pee pee in the potty. We clapped and got her a special treat (a candy cane, her new favorite!) I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. Number one: My 4 year old has a better grasp on potty training then me??? Sad, but true. Number two: How is it possible that Ellie is old enough for potty training? Wasn't she just born? Isn't she still a baby? I guess not. For the record, I'm not counting on quick potty training...or potty training this young. If it happens, great. If not, I guess I get to keep my baby just a little bit longer.

Lia the magician

I just have to share this story. It was so funny, that Tim and I cannot stop laughing about it. There is a joyous time for Lia now between when we put Ellie to bed and when it is her bedtime. This is a time for Lia to have Mommy and Daddy all to herself. Usually, she is all over us. Last night, Tim and I were sitting on the couch and Lia was nowhere in sight. This is not a good sign. As any mother will tell you, the quiet is much scarier than the noise. So, we called Lia into the room. She walked in with both hands behind her back. Also not a good sign. The line of questioning begins. "Lia, what do you have behind your back?" "Nothing." "Tell me the truth." "Nothing." So, I ask her to put her hand out. She slowly puts one hand out palm up. Tim says, "Now put the other hand out." She puts the first hand back, and then slowly puts the other hand out. I say, "Put both hands out like this." and show her my hands with both palms up. Tim and I both think that she will either drop something, or refuse. Lia puts both hands out palms up. Nothing falls to the floor. Nothing is in her hands. Tim loudly exclaims, "Who are you, Houdini???" Turns out, Lia was hiding her hands from us because she used a marker to put "nail polish" on her fingernails. It took us way too long to figure that out! We were laughing so hard! Lia did not find it funny.

The mind of a 4 year old...

I have noticed lately that conversations with Lia have gotten more difficult. And the reason is that she is thinking for herself so much more, and sometimes she just doesn't understand my words. Here are two recent examples:
*Lia was interviewing me with a bubble wand as a microphone one day while we were playing. She was asking really good questions about my favorite things and what I liked best. She asked me to describe my house. I told her it was blue and had two stories. She then asked, "Oh, and what are those stories?"
*So, Lia has a little boyfriend at preschool. And they have actually been boyfriend/girlfriend for over a year, which is pretty impressive seeing as they are four. They just adore each other. Her teacher told me that she tries to separate them, but they always find a way to be together. An aside, but a really cute story...Lia didn't like the snack one day, so she quietly passed her fruit cup over to Josiah to eat. Awwww! Anyways, I was asking Lia tonight what she likes about Josiah. She told me he is handsome and nice and she likes to play with him. I asked her if she likes the way he dresses. She said, "Mom, Josiah does NOT wear dresses!"
And as for Ellie, she is BUSY and talking so much now. As soon as I hold my camera up she says, "Cheese" and tilts her cute little head. I have her trained well! And boy can that girl eat!

One of the joys of parenthood

I had a funny conversation the other day with my mom. I was telling her a story about the girls and was talking about how we went into the soft room. My mom had to stop me and ask what the heck the soft room is. Lia has been calling our living room the soft room for months now (because it has carpeting, for the record.) I never thought I would have to explain to someone what room I was talking about based on my daughter's naming techniques.
So, without further ado, here is Lia's list of rooms in our house...
The soft room=the living room
The TV room=the family room
The shoe room=the foyer (this is Ellie's favorite room)
Daddy's room=the guest bedroom where Tim keeps his clothes (yeah, they don't fit in the large walk-in closet in our room. Sorry, Tim!)
Mommy's room=the master bedroom
All of the rest of the rooms she does use their more generic everyone-knows-them names.
I think I'm going to go rest in the soft room.

Ellie's new words and Lia's deep thoughts

I find it amazing that for over a year I have been waiting for my little girl to start talking, and now I sometimes wish that she would stop already. Ellie's vocabulary has been increasing so quickly that I cannot keep up with all her new words. This morning, I listened to her call to me from her crib. This is what I heard.
"MA! Done! MA! Uppie! MA! Uh-oh! MA! Ta-da! MA!"
Lia has been having her share of deep moments lately. A few days ago, she asked me where my grandma (my dad's mom) is. I told her that she is in heaven with Jesus. She paused for a second and said, "Heaven is in my house." I asked her why she thought so and she looked at me very matter of fact and said, "Because God is in my house." How does my 4 year old get the concept of heaven better than most adults? Amazing. Yesterday we were out for a run in the neighborhood. Lia told me that she had water in her mouth. I asked if she had taken a drink from Ellie's cup of water. She said no, but that there was still water in her mouth. I told her that water in your mouth is called spit. Lia said, "This is water in my mouth that God gave to me." I guess that would be the longer and harder to remember way of saying spit.
And for a funny bonus moment from today...
I was putting on a forced concert for Lia and Ellie (guess who forces me???) Lia pulls a chair up, makes me sing, and then claps and woo-hoos and what not. Lia was at a point in the forced concert that she stood up from her chair to applaud. Ellie thought that was an opportune time to move Lia's chair so that she could try to sit in it. I saw what was about to happen, but had no time to react as Lia hit the floor. I tried so hard not to laugh as I was comforting her, but I just couldn't contain myself. Lesson learned for Lia...always make sure your chair is still behind you.

My brave little girl

I had a stomach dropping moment this past week. You know, one of those "you'll never forget how you felt" times. I was in New Orleans with 17 youth for the National Youth Gathering. We were just finishing our nightly "family group meeting" and we found out that there were storm warnings in Chicago. So, I called my mom...knowing that she was going to have to get two sleeping girls into our very messy basement. After getting Ellie safely down, Lia wouldn't budge. So Grandma Lyn had to carry her. And on the way down, my mom fell and seriously hurt her ankle. Now my mom couldn't get up the basement stairs. I call our wonderful friends, the Budil's, and Brian came over to help.
Here's the catch. The front door is locked. The only way for Brian to get into the house is for Lia to go upstairs and unlock the door for him. By herself. In the dark. During a storm.
So, my mom hands Lia her cell phone and a flashlight. I tell Lia that I will be with her on the phone the whole time. At first, Lia flat out refuses. And cries. But, I explain to her that Mr. Brian needs to help Grandma Lyn. And that Lia needs to let Mr. Brian into the house.
Lia bravely went up the stairs. She let Brian in the house. And I was so proud of her!
Later on that night, Brian locked himself out of the house again. Lia went up the stairs again and let him in. When did my baby become such an amazing little girl?
As an aside, Ellie was happily playing with her toys in the basement, totally oblivious to the storm or to Grandma's injury.
The good news is that my mom's ankle is healing. She is resting, icing, compressing, and elevating!
I thank God for my mom's not-so-bad diagnosis, for amazing friends (Thanks Brian and Mark!), and for one very brave little girl!

Sometimes I'm not sure how to argue...

The other night Tim was helping Lia get ready for bed. They were cleaning up Lia's room and I overheard Tim say to Lia, "Bring this to Mommy. Show her what you did." Uh-oh. This could be amazingly good or horribly bad. Tim's tone gave no hints as to whether I would be yelling at my little girl or hugging her. So, Lia comes walking in with her Bible. It is a big girl Bible and one of her most treasured possessions. Oh, and it's hot pink. She hands me the Bible and on the cover she has clearly written LIA and drawn a cross. Oh my. This is the conversation that followed:
Me: Lia, why did you write on your Bible?
Lia: Because it is mine and God says it is very important.
Me: We should never write in books.
Lia: But, I love my Bible and it is mine and God says that I can write in my Bible.
There is nothing better than hearing your 4 year old say that she loves her Bible. It was a hugging kind of day.

Six flags...More flags, more flags!

Yesterday we spent a very fun and exhausting day at Six Flags Great America. I love that Lia calls it "Six flags. More flags, more flags." Because we live so close to Great America, we drive past it to go many places (the library, the mall, Target, Dairy Queen, etc.) And every time we see any glimpse of Six Flags, Lia gets excited.
As much as Lia likes Six Flags, I think that she really just puts up with all the rides. She LOVES Wiggle World. (During the Wiggle show, I told Tim that in ten years or so I see myself driving Lia to work at Six Flags as a performer. At 4, she is dancing and singing in the aisles.) Lia is not an adventure kind of girl. She is a safe, cautious girl. Roller coasters make her nervous.
Ellie, on the other hand, had a blast on the rides yesterday. This was her first time on any kind of amusement park ride. On the Wiggle airplane ride, if I had not been holding her very tight, I honestly think she would have tried to jump out. And the higher we were, the happier Ellie was. Ellie loves adventure, being high, climbing, etc.
A few other moments...
*Lia chose to sit with Corinne on the Little Dipper roller coaster. I feel like this is was the first of many choosing friends over mom moments. Sigh.
*Every hour, on the hour Six Flags plays that "I like to move it" song. Ellie danced every hour...for the whole song.
I have to say that going to Great America brings back a lifetime of memories for me. I remember going as a kid, as a teenager with my youth group, when Tim and I were just married. Just the sound and smells alone take me back. Nothing is better than a hot summer day at Six Flags!

Oh, the differences between my girls

I know that everyone says that each child you have will be unique. I just never expected it to be quite this dramatic. Lately I have been shocked at how different Lia and Ellie are. Here are my most recent observations about this:
*I never, not even once had to buckle Lia into her highchair. In fact, I could have gone for a run around the block and left her tray off and no buckle, and she would have been patiently waiting for me when I got back. Ellie wriggled around her belt, pulled her legs up, jumped over her tray, and leapt out of her high chair when she was seven months old. (As an aside, she landed like a cat...on all fours, and simply crawled away.)
*Although this will be hard for some of you to believe, Lia plays shy when she doesn't know someone well. She will bury her head in my leg, and cling to my arm. Today in church, Ellie escaped from the nursery (gotta really watch her...she's quick) and was pushing past complete strangers. As she was pushing her way through, she was saying "Hi!" and waving. Lia actually tattles on her when we are in stores. "Mom, Ellie is saying hi to that woman."
*Getting professional pictures this month was interesting. Lia spends time at home perfecting her poses and readying herself for the photo shoot. Ellie sees the portrait studio from the car window and starts screaming.
*Last night at the fireworks as I was taking in the awesome moment, (nothing is better than sitting with your family on the 4th of July with your entire town!) I looked at Lia. She was huddled into Tim's lap. Her hands were on her ears, her penguins were covering her ears, and Tim's hands were on her ears. I could barely see her eyes and kept asking if she was even watching the fireworks. Meanwhile, Ellie sat happily on my lap, ahhing and pointing at the fireworks. (and don't forget clapping. Yay!)
Before Ellie was born, I was honestly concerned how I could love another little girl as much as I love Lia. And it is amazing how God works it so that it is SO easy to love them both equally. Each of their unique little personalities (Lia in her high heels singing broadway show tunes and Ellie playing with blocks and signing "dog") make me such a happy mom. God is good.

About time I started this...

So, I guess it is about time that I started a blog. I mostly want to have a record of the crazy life that we lead, but especially all the little moments with the girls that I'm afraid I'll forget. Probably not going to post too many "we went here..." or "we did this..." I will mostly be writing the amazing everyday things that our girls say and do. Here are some to get me started:

*I found two empty/used juice boxes back in the cabinet yesterday. Apparently, Ellie thinks that when you are done drinking them you should put them back in the cabinet to refill them.

*Lia asks to hear my "thump-thump" at least once a day. She will then put her ear to my heart and listen patiently. She is actually listening to Tim's "thump-thump" right now.

*Nothing scares Lia more right now than Captain Hook. She has never seen Peter Pan, and I have no idea where she has even heard of Captain Hook. But, she is scared to death of him. And I mean screaming, horror filled eyes, clinging to my neck scared.

*I love how Ellie calls any step, slide, downward motion "whee."