Water baby

Miller has been taking swim classes since she was a baby, and she absolutely loves her "water babies" class, which is for kids under 3.

I took this picture to show off her cute new suit, but unfortunately, she is pushing her brother in this picture. Notice his smirk? He's not afraid. Miller has been VERY feisty lately- she actually goes to "time out" more often than her brother....never thought I'd see that day!


As you can see, she is thrilled about swim lessons!


She starts off by sitting on the side and sliding in with Ms. Amy....


Lee usually gets in with her, and they do a variety of games and fun things. Here she is swimming with barbells....


And her she is floating on her back- she can do it all by herself now, although she gets scared when no one is touching her.


Here she is swimming under the water- she will "swim" under the water from Amy to Lee for 7 seconds. (I have some great video but don't know how to upload it with my new format)


Yes, this is a girl who loves the water!

Snow day

We've had quite a bit of snow this year. Here are a few photos from the last snow, which was about a month ago.

Miller sported her first snowsuit.


They had a great time playing outside...


Making snow angels...


and more snow angels.


The tricky part was getting back up. Miller made about 50 snow angels on this particular day but never did master getting back up.


The sledding hill was plowed, so I got my exercise running them up and down our street.


Colby caught in a sweet moment, checking to see if his sister is having fun.

Shocking

It was unusually quiet upstairs....Miller and Colby were watching a show before quiet time. I was downstairs frantically trying to return phone calls about carpet, bathroom accessories, and the closing of our current house. Usually the 30 minutes fly by, but this time it seemed longer. I knew they only watched one show, and couldn't start a new one by themselves, but there was not a peep coming from upstairs. It was completely silent. Neither of them nap anymore...and Colby never sits quietly for very long. What could be going on? I walked upstairs not sure what I would find, and nothing could have been more shocking than this.




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I was so caught off guard, and also thrilled that they were napping, that I didn't know what to do. Do I take a picture and risk waking them? Or do I let them sleep and forgo catching this on camera? Obviously, I took the risk and it did wake Colby. But thankfully, Miller is still up there snoozing and Colby is in his room playing. A few more minutes of bliss!

Puzzle girl

In just a week, we've moved on from 24 piece puzzles to 48, which Miller does all by herself....and here's the proof. (double click on video to make it bigger and not cut off on the right side)

Where we are...

I went down to see our house last week, and it's coming along... (there's snow on the roof so it's kind of hard to see the roofline)


It should be done in 2 months- WOW! It's getting very exciting. I did not enjoy the first few months of building (it was torture, actually) but now it's getting fun. ( All I have left to pick out are the towel bars and bathroom accessories.)

Colby and Miller have just hit there half birthdays, so here's a little bit about them right now:

Miller at 2 1/2
-OBSESSED with puzzles and easily completes 24 piece jigsaw puzzles on her own. If given the option, she will do puzzles all day long. (She loves to put one leg up on the table while she works on them.)
-Favorite food is greek yogurt with honey and anything sweet
-very carefully and skillfully climbs out of her crib (and back in)
-knows all of her letters and numbers 1-10
-still attached to her binkie and 2 bears (asks for "binkie bear", which means all 3)
-favorite song is "This Old Man"
-insists on having music playing all night while she is sleeping....and if you forget, she will let you know.
-loves to look at books
-often tries to clean up her own messes after she eats
-can catch a ball and do a forward roll
-favorite toy is her doll and stroller
-loves swim lessons and can go "up and under" for 6 seconds

Colby at 4 1/2
-very into creative play, giving his toys voices, creating action scenes, etc.
-spends an hour in "quiet time" each day where he plays with his favorite toys
-Favorite toys: Imaginext toys (fire station, bat cave and batman toys, toy story 3), army men, planes, fire trucks, etc.
-loves "story time" at night with his dad where they make up a story together.
-favorite foods are salty things
-favorite show is Scooby Doo
-doing very well in school; is having more good days than bad (took us 3 years to get there)
-Favorite friends at school are Jack and Lucas
-only needs a pull up at night- hooray!
-can write his name and knows all of his letters
-Dress up clothes are BIG- he loves to pretend he's a marine....or a pirate...or an astronaut.
-Can swim freestyle and backstroke unassisted
-extremely social and loves to play with friends.
-Sleeps with his ducky and fire dog (from Santa on the fire truck)
-likes creative projects with his dad, such as making a pirate ship out of a diaper box, etc. (mom does not do this)
-Has weekly playdates with the other 4 year olds in our neighborhood: Sophie, Lori, and Megan

Colby, Lori, and Sophie having a picnic


He's a little bit of a ladies' man....


And just for fun, here's Miller giving her classic side eye...

Snack time

Yesterday, I cooped in Miller's class, which is so much fun. I love to see what they are doing, singing, playing, and learning.
At snack time, they all sat down and had 4 Ritz crackers and a small glass of water. After snack, as we were headed outside, I looked back and Miller was under the table on her hands and knees. The teachers told Miller to get up, and then they told me that every day after snack, Miller tries to go under the table and find any crumbs or crackers that were dropped. They said they have to keep a close eye on her. LOL! I find this hysterically funny....the poor girl is the size of a 4 year old with her father's metabolism, and she's being given a tiny snack appropriate for a small 2 year old. She's resourceful, I'll say that!

NO MORE DIAPERS!!!!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!! I think it is safe to say that Colby is now 100% pooping in the potty! Praise GOD!!!! There were times we were sure he'd be packing diapers on his honeymoon, but sure enough, it has really happened. (We still have the night time diapers, but that's pretty normal for a 4 year old boy.)

As we've been promising for a year now, Colby got the drum set of his dreams. He is loving it, and he's surprisingly good.


I will say that Lee gets full credit for convincing Colby that the potty is the way to go (no pun intended). He was home a lot more over the Christmas break, and he was able to talk to Colby about it in a way that I obviously was not.

Another highly motivating factor is the "Diaper Stomp", which Lee does each and every time Colby does the deed....I think it's pretty effective. Take a look for yourself.