toddlers and preschoolers

Somehow in the last couple of months our baby has become a toddler and our toddler has become a preschooler. They definitely keep me busy chasing them around.

My little pink girl modeling the new hat I made her.

 

 

 

Walking to the temple after church one Sunday.

 

Some pics of our weekly Sunday family dinners.

Some tired boys there.

 Here are a few pics of our Valentine's Day celebrations.  It's not usually a big deal for us but Cora loves all things girly, pink and hearts so we did some fun things this year.  I busted out the glue, glitter and kiddy scissors and helped Cora make Valentines for her cousins, Kalani, and our family.  We also stamped hearts with a bent toilet paper roll, and made some embroidered hearts for a centerpiece.  For dinner we busted out the Martinellis and had heart-shaped rolls and angel hair pasta with shrimp.

We have been working on a big new accomplishment for Cora that I didn't want to announce until it was good and set.  Cora has begun saying prayers on her own, going to bed earlier using a bedtime chart, and .... using the potty!

After months of struggling and trying many different approaches, tips, techniques, and getting lots of advice, Cora is finally potty trained! It took more bribery that I'm willing to admit, as well as a new set of princess panties (to supplement the ones she already had from a few months ago), new panties (which I sewed) for her dolly who also went potty, and a lot of patience, time, family support, and yes, even prayers. Once it happened there were very few accidents. The first couple of nights she wouldn't go to bed because she kept wanting to come out and go potty, and it took a few days more for Cora to go #2 in the potty but other than that it's been fairly smooth. It's been a couple of months now and Cora's so proud of being a big girl! We thought she'd be in pull-ups at night for a while, and even stocked up at Costco when they were on sale, but she wants to wear her panties even at night and she keeps them dry, although she sometimes wakes up in the night to go. It took a little longer to get used to going in a public toilet but she does that regularly now too.

We think she has the cutest little bottom in her little panties, and it's so nice not to see the diaper sticking out of the back of her pants. Her clothes fit a little looser now which is good because she was growing out of everything. For the sake of modesty, we won't post pics of her cute little toosh in panties, or her skinny little legs swinging from the big potty, but here is a pic of her first completed potty chart!

 Her second chart is still up, and for a while she was content to layer the stickers on top of each other. She doesn't need the sticker/M&M reward anymore though, although every once in a while she'll ask for it. Her second chart had two different categories - one brown and one yellow, since we found the need to offer extra incentives for earning a sticker on the brown part.

The kids both love to hide in the cupboards. It's super cute so we took some pics but we generally try to discourage it, since it tends to result in either crushed food or crushed fingers.

 

 Eli looks like he's blinking - but he's not - it's his silly camera face/"smolder".

Elijah loves dancing - for a while it was just bobbing his head and sometimes bouncing his knees but then he learned to dance like a ballerina by imitating Cora - so he'll put his hands over his head and spin in a circle when he hears music. 

Cora's gotten really into drawing lately - she's always got a marker in her hand. (which is dangerous but it's washable) She is pretty good at circles, and tells us exactly what her drawings are. It's usually pretty imaginative. Some things she's drawn recently are: the "uwf" (earth) "daddy's he-man show" "monsters" "nice dinosaurs that live in Idaho and eat plants" Kalani, and of course, Mommy, Daddy, Cora and "why-jah" (Elijah.)   This one was the earth.

 

I can't remember what this particular drawing was - I'm such a bad mom - but they all look the same. ;)

Here's Cora's bedtime chart we used to streamline and move up her bedtime process. It worked really well.

 Cora washing her face after having a fudgesicle.

A couple of pics of Ryan:  

Biking with Will, 

 

and meeting Matt Romney at the Laie Shopping Center.  (Go Mitt!)

Guess who's walking?

Well that's a pretty obvious question, but we are so excited! He still doesn't walk to get around but the other night (Feb 7th) he took consecutive steps for the first time! It was cute, he was so determined to do it that night! Just kept getting up and trying again!

Telling us to give him some encouragement - clapping.

Taking a break to make silly sounds

Trying to walk is so tiring!

Some steps! These aren't the first steps but the other videos were too long. Excuse the half dressed kids - we were just finished with dinner clean-up and about to take showers.

Fire Station and new clothes

Cora's preschool took a field trip to the fire station in Hau'ula right next door to the park where we meet. Here are Cora and Ma'ila on the truck. Cora was afraid to go in the truck at first, then she didn't want to come out!

Also, as you can see from her face - totally scared to touch the hose, but she really wanted to do it.Ryan got to come too, since he strained his back and so couldn't go to work that morning - but you can tell from his face he's not very comfortable. Poor guy.

Cora got a package from Auntie Elise of clothes from Madelyn - it was so perfect because Cora really needed some new clothes, she's had a growth spurt lately! They are all so cute and Cora was so excited, she just had to lay them all out and try them on and dance around! Thanks so much Elise and Madelyn!

Elijah's First Birthday Party!

We had Elijah's birthday party on Friday February 3rd. It was a blast! Mom, Dad, John, Heidi and all her family came, as well as Uncle Raymond, Auntie Sunday, Carson, and Lynne. We didn't do the big traditional first birthday luau, but we did make Kalua pig in the slow cooker and had rice, mac salad, green salad and a cucumber salad.

We decorated with balloons and bunting.

Elijah chowing down on pork and rice - one of his favorite foods!We had a full kitchen!

Cora got to the cake while I wasn't watching - silly girl.It wasn't super fancy - just two funfetti cake mix boxes to make a 4 layer cake. I even used frosting in a can to make it easier. Sprinkles on top - Cora's favorite thing.Singing to Elijah - he could tell he had all the attention, he was pretty excited.He was excited to get a slice but unsure of what to do with it.Trying to stick his whole cake-covered hand into his mouth - he had figured it out by then.Opening presents - Cora helped him out with this. His biggest present is still in the works.We sure love this little boy! He is the silliest, sweetest, and most snuggly baby ever! (Yes he may be 1 now but he's still our baby!) He can say Mama, Dada and he babbles a lot. His hair is a definite strawberry blond - it looks pretty reddish in the sunlight but more blond under artificial light. I never thought I would have a red haired child! His eyes have deepened to a beautiful hazel-green. He has the softest skin and deep dimples in both cheeks. He absolutely loves his sister, he loves books, he loves chasing and being chased, he loves getting into everything he's not supposed to have, and he LOVES hugs. He makes us laugh and smile everyday and we love him so!

End of January

Cora always makes us laugh with her funny and particular arrangements of toys - she'll tuck her dolls in under a blanket on our couch, lay all the doll house people face down (sleeping) in a row, put all the animals on the windowsill to look outside, etc. This one was pretty good.

Sometimes you gotta take a break from dancing to suck your thumb and feel your blankie.Elijah's first doodles - he is much less afraid of putting marks on paper than Cora. He colored for a surprising long time before he decided to taste the crayons.One night I told Cora "bedtime" and she said "wait, I need to scoot there." Playing with our birthday boy! We had a family get together for a missionary farewell on Elijah's birthday so we decided to do the party later - pics coming in the next post. But this is us playing with Elijah on his birthday.