Daddy's Girls

In our continued efforts to help teach Etta to sleep through the night, we had been doing the "Sleep Lady Shuffle". This worked wonders when Addie was having trouble falling asleep on her own when she was around Etta's age. You start off right by their crib at night, not talking to them much or touching them, just physically present. You go to that same spot if/when they wake over night. You stay at that position for a couple of nights, then over a span of 2 weeks or so you progressively move farther from their bed until you are in the hall. Instead of just sitting on the ground, we brought a single mattress up for this training.
The girls loved the mattress on the ground because they got to climb and pretend to sleep on it. Their favorite location by far was when it was in the closet. I had decided the closet was better than the hallway because with the door from her room open to the hall she would hear too much noise from her big sister.
So instead I put it in the closet that connects Etta's room to ours.  It was a nice snug fit in the closet and I joked that it was Matt's new bedroom. Really, though, the girls inhabited it as much as possible.

Etta might scream the entire time she is in childcare at the gym, but Addie does well. The childcare worker has this little routine (she is a stickler for doing things a certain way: her way). First thing, wash the hands before entering. When we first enter we take off shoes then she wipes the girls eye gunk and noses. She is very thorough about the nose cleaning portion and usually has the kids lay on the ground. So on about the fourth time we were there, Addie took off her shoes then laid herself prostrate on the floor and patiently awaited her nose excavation. It has been the same ever since. Addie lays down with a smile and waits to have her nose cleaned while Etta clings to me and sobs. 

This most recent time I picked the girls up after my workout, I found braids in Addie's hair. Addie will hardly sit while I brush her hair. She cries and fusses if I attempt a ponytail, but she will let someone she has seen not even once a week since Oct. braid her hair. Go figure. So here is a picture because it might be quite a while before I am granted that privilege. 

And Etta wanted to say "hi" to the camera and get a picture since big sis did. 

One of Etta's new words is "dance". She will sit on the hearth and bounce her bum and say dance. Then if we do not respond right away, she will try to make it even more clear what she wants by attempting to open the tv cabinet since that is where we play music from. When she sys dance she wants two things: us to turn the music on, and to pick her up and dance with her (or swing or run or jump).

Matt has Addie. Addie has Lion.
Matt has Etta. Etta has Dog-dog.
They sure love their daddy!

A trip to Bainbridge Island

About 7 months ago one of the moms from my & Addie's  PEPS group had twin boys and
moved to Bainbridge Island (these 2 big life changes happened right about the same time).
We had been wanting to see her, her daughter Elsa and the twins for quite a while. We finally scheduled it and made it happen. This was a very fun adventure for Addie because it involved not only riding a ferry but also carpooling with a friend. I decided it would work best to leave Etta at home with Matt so we did not need to be constrained by her nap schedule. So we got to carpool with Addie's PEPS friend Beckett, his mom Brennan & her little baby Delaney. Addie got to sit in a big-girl booster in the backseat of their car between Beckett & Delaney, and she loved the carpooling experience!

No gathering of toddlers is complete without multiple snack-times!

 Beckett's little sister Delaney was quite a content little sweetheart

as she got taken out of the car, put back in the car, brought upstairs, then back downstairs, etc.

Basically she was at the whims of her older sibling's schedule and interests, 

which is the way it is with basically every second child until they are old enough to truly protest :)

 Here is Elsa's little brother Olin.

 And his twin brother Henry. (Isn't it great how different they look!)

Not the most flattering picture of Henry, but the only one I took.

He truly is a cutie in person.

 Elsa was practicing her camera skills and Addie was a willing model.

 They are all in the same picture, but not exactly looking at the camera :)

 Next time we will have to get picture of Addie & Beckett out on the ferry deck. 

They were not thrilled about this location right by all the cars but we were about to get in our car 

and realized we had no picture of them and the water.

A little bit sleepy while eating their snack on the ferry ride home.

Did I mention that Addie loved carpooling with Beckett? She loved it! She wants to do it again.
She said specifically that she wants to go on the ferry and visit Elsa,
but I think a trip just about anywhere is more fun when it is shared with friends!

Visiting Coen at home

Last night we brought dinner to Myron & Lori so we could visit with them and baby Coen. 

The girls were thrilled to be at Myron & Lori's apartment and see Maya.

Mostly it was Maya they were excited to see (I thought I took a couple pictures of them playing with her but evidently not). As Coen gets older and more interactive I know they will have a lot of fun with him too.

(Sorry, these pictures were not posted in the order they were taken in. Etta arrived in clothes and left in pj's)

Both girls wanted to peek at Coen's itsy-bitsy toes. 

Etta tried to touch his face a couple of times because she is very into pointing out eyes and noses 

(but she tends to poke or squeeze more than just point). 

The little guy snoozed the entire time we were there.
Addie was fascinated with all the baby gear.
His bed, bouncy seat, etc are all extremely interesting to her.
(I remember it was the same when we had Etta.)
After visiting Coen at the hospital she liked pretending that Lion was an itsy-bitsy fresh-from-her-tummy newborn baby and she was at the hospital. She wanted him only in a diaper and then double swaddled just like Coen was at the hospital. After visiting them last night, Addie wanted a hooter-hider so she could nurse Lion in privacy like Lori was nursing Coen when we first arrived.   :)

Haircuts

It was time for haircuts for the girls.
I delayed for a while partly because I am cheap (and haircuts are not) and
partly because getting hair cut might mean losing some curl.
But both of them had to have their hair pulled back during every meal to keep it out of their eyes and mouth
so I knew it was time.

Etta drooled all over her cape. Poor girl has had an eruption of teeth lately and mass amounts of drool.

Addie had a bit of a tail in back because the middle of her hair grew longer than the sides. 

So it got trimmed straight in back. It needed it, but the tail was the part with the most curl and I was sad to see the curl go. I am not a huge fan of the current length. It is past her shoulders but not much. So it does not sit above her shoulders but instead kind of gets "caught" at her shoulders and bunches up there (if that makes any sense). So I am not sure if her next cut will be shorter or if I will let it grow out again and next time we will just do a little trim to clean it up and get rid of split ends.

Etta did not have much cut off the back and her curl was not drastically affected.

It is still surprising sometimes to realize how blond her hair has gotten compared to its dark brown at birth.

Her hair is pretty but I actually miss the brown 

(and some of the beautiful in-between stages where it was reddish) quite a lot.

Both girls look much better from the front: cue bangs and a bit of facial framing
 to keep the hair out of the eyes and mouth.

Some numbers in the life of Etta

10- busy little fingers
9-little teeth
8-words she consistently signs: all done, more, please, thank you, gorilla, eat, hot, change (for diaper change)
7-hours of sleep I got in a row once this week thanks to her sleeping through the night, for which I am so very thankful
6-approximate number of times she eats each day
5- number of cousins she has
4- approximate number of times she poops each day
3-her shoe size (although 80% of the time she is barefoot, the rest of the time she is in Robeez)
2- legs that are working on their walking
1- big sister who loves her very much

Parking Ticket

So here is my sob story:

I went to the gym this morning with both girls. The gym has a small lot which parking is free in, but the lot was full. So I parked on the street and fed the meter. When we were done at the gym, I checked and had about 15 minutes left on my time. So we went across the street to the library since I had books along that were due. Originally I was going to drive to the Greenwood Library, but Ballard library was right there so it seemed more efficient. We returned the books and looked through some board books in the childrens section. We did not browse the shelves or check out books or anything because I was trying to be careful on time. On our way out Addie told me she needed to go potty. So we visited the bathroom but as often happens lately, once she is on the potty she says she does not need to go. So we exited the building and I looked across the street towards our car and had a sinking feeling as I saw the parking enforcement vehicle. Sure enough there was a ticket on my window because I was 10 minutes over. I was so upset. I actually waited around a few more minutes so I could talk to the person who ticketed me, but once the ticket is issued there is no going back.

Seriously, what should I have done different? Skipped the gym so I did not have to park on the street? Then I would have to pay the gym childcare cost for not cancelling ahead of time. Buckled the girls in their carseats, moved the car one block so I could park in the free parking garage at the library? Such a hassle for such a short errand. Fed the meter more? Except that with Seattle's meters, there is no plopping an extra quarter in to add more time on, you are starting over on your time since you are paying by an automated machine that issues tickets for more than just your one parking spot. Skipped going to Ballard library? I could have gone to Greenwood instead, I just thought we would be ok and it would be no big deal. Told Addie we did not have time to visit the bathroom? But I want her to know that when she says she needs to go potty that I take her seriously and respond as soon as I am able (more on that later maybe).
I guess what I should have done was drop the books but not even enter the library so I took no chances of my time running out. Lesson learned? Not sure...

So I am thinking over whether I want to pay it. I can request a hearing and tell them my story. That would be admitting I am at fault, which I know I am by a measly 10 minutes, but hoping they lower the fine. But I dont know that it would be worth it because I would have to drag the kids along with me and who knows what time of day it would be at. Or I would have to pay a babysitter and at that point I am not saving any money even if I do get the fine reduced and feel better about someone having compassion.

So what should have been a visit to the gym where I paid $6 for childcare now cost me $6 plus $2.50 for parking plus a $40 ticket and on top of that, once again, Etta cried the entire time she was in the childcare there. Argh!

Coen meets his cousins

I had thought we would wait to see baby Coen until we brought them a meal on Sat. I know how important it is for the new mom & dad to try to get sleep at the hospital. But Lori's mom needed a ride to the aiport. So we went there this morning. I got to swaddle & hold the precious newborn. On the way there Addie was excited to meet him & wanted to try to hold him for a picture. We got there & she just acted shy and hardly wanted to say hi or walk into the room. We might get some better pictures when we visit on Sat. After the visit, Addie was ready to talk again and one of the things she pointed out is that Maya (their dog) is now a big sister!