the new girls

I picked up Ella from school and she promptly announced, "There's a new girl in our class! And guess what her name is."
"Isabella?"
"No! Ella! Now I'm Isabella!"
"Really!"
"Yes. Ms. Carter asked if I want to be Ella M. or Isabella and I said I liked Isabella so we changed my name on everything except my cubby."

So, Isabella it is. I'm happy for her to try it on.

lauren the libertarian

As I prepped the girls for bed, it seemed a good time to prep Lauren for her first political rally tomorrow. She and Audrey will join me outside the White House for a "Washington Tea Party" event to protest the rampant spending and abuse of power going on around here. I asked Lauren, "What do you want to say to President Obama?" and taught her to reply, "Barack Obama! Stop spending my money!" She was doing pretty well, then said, "Mom, let me say it my way. Barack Obama! You've GOT to STOP SPENDING MY MONEY. You're making me LOSE MY MIND!"

That's my girl.  

precocious request

Lauren asked if she could help feed Audrey her lunch of strained carrots. As I debated, weighing the pros of letting her help with the cons of removing orange stains from carpeting and several fabrics, I heard her say, "C'mon, Mom! Let me have a go." 

choppers

Audrey has teeth! Two of them. On the bottom. Just so you know.

love language

Ella, Lauren and I worked together to assemble the valentines for Ella's classroom exchange. Lauren's job was to lace a ribbon through a hole in each valentine. She asked me to tie the ends of one ribbon together to make a "necklace valentine."

Ella asked, "Do you have a Nicholas in your class?"

"I said NECKLACE, Ella," Lauren replied. "Can you say that? Neck-lace?"

excuse you

Lauren seems a bit confused. Most people say "excuse me" when they have been unfortunately discovered doing something that is considered rude. Lauren routinely says it to draw attention to something rude that has gone undiscovered.  "Excuse me, " she says, and then waits with a smirk on her face until absolutely everyone in the room is looking at her expectantly, "I just tooted."

report card

Ella brought home her first report card today, with all good marks. Her teacher wrote, "Ella is a sweet, cooperative and involved student. She has an excellent attitude and always takes pride in her work. Ella appears to enjoy school and is well-liked by her peers. In reading, she is reading texts with repetitive patterns to promote sight word recognition and to learn strategies to decode unknown words . . . She has demonstrated a solid grasp of all math concepts presented. I am very pleased with Ella's progress. She is a real joy to have in class."

We let Ella choose where we would have a celebratory dessert. She chose Dunkin' Donuts and selected a delicious cake donut with pink frosting. Lauren opted for the chocolate frosted donut with candy hearts.  Ah, the sweet rewards of academic success.

Congratulations, Ella! You are a great student, and we're so proud of you. 

half birthday

Audrey Marie is six months old today! She also had her six-month check-up. She weighs 17 lbs (75th percentile), is 27 inches long (90th percentile), and has a noggin that measures 17.5 inches (95th percentile). She's a gorgeous, chunky, rosey-cheeked girl and we love every inch of her.

pretty good, what there was of it

Audrey hasn't seemed too keen on rice cereal, so I wasn't sure how the sweet potatoes would go over. I need not have wondered. From the first spoonful, she absolutely loved them. Opened her mouth for them like a little bird. Ate the entire container, and then cried when it was empty.

declaration

It was just a routine car seat unbuckling when, suddenly, Lauren said, "You're the best mom."
"You think so?"
"You both are," she said. "I mean, Dad is the best dad."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I LOVE YOU!" And she made it sound like the happiest, most obvious thing in the world.

I think it probably is.

standard usage

I'm amused by a couple of things the girls say, that we now say as well. 

Ella coined "hanetizer." As you may have guessed, it's a far more efficient way to communicate "hand sanitzer." So many syllables! Who can stand to pronounce all of them? Not us. 

Lauren started "han-de-burger." We thought it was just a mispronunciation at first, but soon realized it's a more accurate description of a hamburger you hold with your hand. 

Clever girls!

lunch break

Half-way through with her daily peanut butter & honey sandwich, Lauren abruptly got up from her chair and ran into the kitchen. She opened the cupboard, pulled out a dish cloth, then hurriedly draped it over her seat.

"What are you doing, Lauren?"

"Just covering my chair so I don't pee on it."

"Lauren. Go to the bathroom."

She took off like a shot.