What a Week!

We’ve had a challenging week here. Ezra’s spent quite a few nights keeping mom up throughout the night. Dad’s started a new position at work and is coming home later. Mom is working on getting interviews completed so I can write a few articles ahead of time and earn money while on vacation. Ella alternates between wanting to be a big girl and a little girl every hour. After a particularly difficult day of communication between Ella and I, I basically threw up my hands at dinner last night and nearly cried. Thank goodness for dad who stepped in to give everyone a break and to have a daddy/daughter chat on the swings!

Amidst all these challenges, though, we’ve also had some terrific times this week and the kids have been delightful much more than difficult. In fact, we’ve been having so much fun with Ell and her superhero names, I tried to create a superhero vlog with the kids. Unfortunately, neither will do what they normally do in front of the camera and both ended up fighting over using it. Ah, well. It was a fun idea.

I woke up again this morning feeling disgruntled about my sleep pattern, grouchily procuring breakfast for my daughter and thought, “Don’t start the day this way Mindy.” So, we’re easing into the day right now with some “Go Diego” and then we’ll go play outside before it feels like an electric blanket smothering you outside again. If it’s too hot, maybe I’ll even spoil them and let them go use their library summer reading program coupons at The- Restaurant-Who-Cannot-Be-Named.

Plus, I haven’t indulged in any of those “What are the kids doing now?” posts in awhile and though it might be fun.

Ella 
* She’s nearly four and feeling like a big girl.
* Her most commonly used word? “Why?”
* She is so curious about the world around her and we’ve even begun checking out non fiction books about birds and butterflies.

* She is now a bedtime bandit, getting up frequently, using avoidance techniques, and dispensing hugs and kisses like there’s no tomorrow.
* Her love of reading continues and she can usually be cajoled into rest/nap time by the promise of books, books, books.
* She loves girly things now like nail polish, hair clips, dresses, princesses, ponies, and dolls.

* She has a love/hate relationship with her little brother, alternatively wanting him to go away and mothering/smothering him.
* She is a great helper and loves to be a part of cooking/baking, but not cleaning up.
* She is incredibly proud of her newest accomplishment: Learning how to pump her legs and swing on her own.

Ezra
* His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds recently and includes Mama, Dada, Ella, cookie, Hello, Hi, Num Num, and more. He’s great at repeating words.
* Like his sister, Ezra is quite the dancer and loves to groove at home and in the car.
* He naturally gravitates to anything with wheels and you can often see him pushing something along saying, “vroom. vroom.”

* His temperament is, well, unpredictable. It’s difficult to know what will set him off. We can’t wait until he can tell us what he wants/needs!
* He adores his sister and is her shadow. Whatever she does or has, he wants it too (and vice versa), including mimicking her in time outs.
* His smile is as mischievous as ever and such a delight, as is his big laugh.

* He’s working on being soft instead of hitting and I love it when he pets his sister’s head when we say, “soft.”
* He is fast as lightening and into everything, including the toilet.
* One of his favorite games: get rescued from something and then repeat it by pretending to be stuck again and getting rescued.