Halloween 2010!

JACKSON (Charlie Brown) & ELLIA (Rock Star)

2010 & 2007

Ellia and Jackson have a wonderful ease with eachother. From the day they were born they have been opposites. Yet, they each have a soft spot in their hearts for eachother. Ellia beams with loving eyes at Jackson. Jackson is a southern gentleman with Ellia. And lately they hold hands or put their arms over eachothers shoulders whereever they go.

CLAIRA (Giraffe)

This was the little chubby giraffe's first Trick or Treating experience. I had no idea what to expect so it was a new experience for me too! Triumph #1: She put on & kept on her entire costume all night. (Even if the giraffe head was at a 45 degree angle the entire night.) Triumph #2: No skeleton or smoke was going to get in her way of getting to that candy loot at each front door.

Once she got up to each door, she did the same thing. She kept a decent 6 foot observation distance from the door but had her hand outstretched to show that she was a part of the group. She waited to see what Ellia and Jackson did & then immediately pushed her way to the front to get her goods.

If she has a choice on what candy to get, she would choose a lollipop everytime. And unlike Ellia, she devours lollipops in just a few minutes. I can give one to her & then look back at her only to see the colored syrup of the lollipop surrounding her face.

Claira was very serious about her candy collection. Not being a 'first-born' has many benefits, one of which being your parent is much more lax in the candy eating department!

Claira Right Now

Look at this chick! Who does she think she is anyway?
Claira has a lot of confidence for an almost-2-year old. She is now playing and reading books quite a lot on her own, in her own little world. Her favorite book by far right now is the one about getting a new potty. I hauled out Ellia's potty from the garage & memories flashed before my eyes...the potty training months in our apartment in Norwalk. Could I really be venturing into that again, already?? She's very excited about the new potty (since she's read so much up on it) although I usually hear Ellia, sitting on the toilet, laughing and saying to me "Mommy, Claira's being silly. She's standing in the potty.. you can't STAND in a potty Claaaira!"
Claira loves dollies & combing their hair. She loves broccoli more than most kids her age, but only the tops. She uses a spoon for soup better than most kids her age, but she eventually flings it over her shoulder with a laugh & then complains to me that it's on the ground. She still uses that damn pacifer, but with a girl this determined - I'm picking my battles one at a time.

Photos compliments of Jimmy. Awesome, awesome shots!

Ellia Right Now

More vintage! Aunt Carol sent a lot of great outfits from the attic that I had worn as a child. The minute I saw this one I knew Ellia would love it. And she really did. I had to take this shot before she left for Montessori. Why do kids love pockets sooo much?? And the fact that these ones are totally tailored for one specific thing, forget about it! Ellia was gonna complete that mission of filling those required slots. You'd never think carrying around colored pencils on your chest would make you feel so special - but I KNEW she would feel extra special at her school wearing it. When I dropped her off & waved our customary goodbye in the window I could see Charlie standing 2 milimeters from her outfit already asking questions about it.

Ellia is learning Spanish & really likes to try to use the words. She's drawing stick people a lot & I'm collecting examples along the way to show their evolution. If I ask "Who's that?" when pointing to a stick person it's almost always Jackson & sometimes it's me. She really loves to cook & so I recently turned a $5 Goodwill nightstand into a mini kitchen island for her so I can finally let her 'help'. She is making new friends at her new school & it's a new 'social' phase for us. I keep my ears open when Ellia watches the Nick Jr. cartoon "Franklin" since that poor little turtle deals with a lot of social awkwardness and trials & tribulations with all his friends. Alas, there's a message at the end & I put it in my back pocket if I need to pull it out when Ellia expresses some new 4 year old emotions.

The entire clan took a great trip to the UCR Botanical Gardens & we couldn't have picked a more beautiful day. At the beginning Ellia was really pumped up, in her sweetly methodical manner, to use her 'bonoclers' to find as many of the birds that were in her little nature pamphlet. Then she got kinda tired of the whole walking thing, having not found 1 single bird to check off her list. (I know, I know, it might've helped if she was looking through the correct end of the bonoclers.) Eventually she picked out the perfect walking stick and led the clan to the end of our journey. After that she got to go mini golfing for the second time in her life. (And let it be known that I beat Jimmy.)

Sister Stuff

I can't say enough what a great big sister Ellia is to Claira. And even though Claira has her moments of completely not even treating Ellia as if she's her elder...Claira continues to want to be wherever her big sister is & do what she's doing.

Vintage! These 2 outfits were saved by Grandma. They're from me and my brother's childhood wardrobe. I'm so thankful she saved them. And it was strange how much both of them saw the outfits and immediately took to them. Ellia made it clear that she really liked the outfit. And I don't know how we got into the headbands, but they tried on each and every one I saved. I wish I had used them more often when they were tiny - but Ellia was bald, like, forever. And Claira was a bit on the wild side.

Here, I love the difference in their poses, stance & choice of placement for the headbands. If you knew them inside & out it says a lot about them.

Tryin' to Feel FALL!

Apple & pumpkin picking, corn mazes, apple cider & pie...go hand in hand with breezy, crisp Autumn weather. Unfortunately, nowadays, you can't plan anything based on the weather, especially if you want chilly Autumn weather.
You can see how little Fall weather we get in Southern California anymore by the distance of time between Oak Glen trips! Above photo is Oct 2007.

Me & the girlies had a great trip to Oak Glen, albeit a bit sweaty, with Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Adam & Auntie Carissa. Ellia helped us navigate our way through this maze. She's really into writing down what she thinks are map directions with lines and she tells me the streets "left on Street St."

ELLIA is 4!

We had an awesome birthday party - Ellia's Big Top Carnival! We had carnival games & food & treats throughout the backyard. And we had Gidget the pony show up for clippity-clop pony rides. It was a fun, fun day & just the right amount of sun and breeze. Can't believe my little birdie is already 4... more photos soon!

Ellia stuff...

Ellia had a great summer. She spent A LOT of time in the water in various places.

This was a game that Ellia and I went to just-the-two-of-us. We had a really great time hanging out together + we had some shaved ice cones & watched our tongues turn different colors. Ellia knows most of the names of the Angel's players, the entire "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" song, loves watching the little kid do the 3rd base race & knows it was a good game if we saw fireworks cuz that means there was a homerun.

Ellia is drawing more & more. I take opportunities to talk creatively with her whenever I can. And when she draws something I write down her exact verbal description of what she drew.

Claira stuff...

I'm dreading the update when I have to say that Claira's squishy double chin is gone. Her big round belly is already starting to fade away...

Here is my chubby girl in a rare moment of stillness and hand-holding. She continues to be super active, super emotional and super giggly.

Ahh, The Claira Bob. Hairstyles will be fun with her because she already loves hair clips. Claira has recently had an amazing burst of independence and determination. I thought she was strong-willed before! She now insists on putting her pants on, buckling her seat belt, putting her shoes on, zipping her jacket... As long as I'm not in a hurry, I sit and let her put both legs through the same leg hole (over & over) She is not stubborn, per se, because she doesn't get frustrated if she can't do it. She gets frustrated if someone tries to do it for her. I say: "Claira do it" a lot nowadays! She also has gone from adorable silent to adorable talking - she has so many new words that I can't keep track of them fast enough!

Little 1sts

I've started to do some fun little things with both the girls. I did a lot of potting plants these last few months. We took lots of trips to the nursery & they helped me pick out the plants Auntie Carissa recommended. Above is the little Tomato Plant Ellia picked out. It's now as tall as Ellia! We have yet to eat 1 tomato from it!

Grandma gave us a Butterfly Hatchery & surprisingly I was able to keep every single one of them alive to meet their metamorphosis! To this day when Ellia sees an orange butterfly she exclaims: "It's one of mine!"

Also, Ellia LOVES to help cook or prepare food & I've started to let her help out in any way I can allow her. It won't be long before snapping peas in half does not quite "make her day".

Knott's Berry Farm

I wish I had written down the way Ellia pronounces Knott's Berry Farm, cuz it sounds nothing like it. We lucked out on the weather & picked the perfect day to go! Ellia got to meet the real Snoopy, which she loved. And both girls got to ride bigger kids rides.

Ellia's interests heading into 4

I updated this wish website. Family & friends are gracious enough to ask advice on what toys, etc Ellia or Claira are into as birthday's and holidays approach.
Ellia is interested in: baseball/sports, books, dollhouses, pretend play cooking, singing, dancing, musical instruments, Dr. Seuss books, bugs, science, art.
Ellia is not too interested in: Princesses, dress up, board games.

http://www.wishcentral.com/guest.php?AOBGkptZWNPdg=10242

Search for Ellia_Claira & Talitha

Cool Mothering Pics!

This photo caught my eye on the side of a web page I was on. It was part of some advertisement. I wish I could find a larger version of it. It's so amazing! Hey, maybe the women of the future will be walking-on-air out of their first ultra-sound appointment, gazing at their baby's first photo.

And from future predictions of motherhood...to past depictions of motherhood. I love love love old photographs just as much as I wistfully think of what the far-away future holds & that I could live to see it. I found this photo on a site that has tons of antique photos of days long ago...of people who also might have dreamed of what 2010 might've looked like. This photo struck me as so timeless: the look of joy on the mother's face. And the amazingly pimped out Original Baby Bjourn!

The "Ladybug Bush" lives on

Outside our previous home, Ellia and I would frequently stop by the "Ladybug Bush" as I called it. We would look for any ladybugs and talk about what they might be doing...a lot of times they were not out because they were either inside the bush sleeping or they were having a party.
Outside our current home, we have another Ladybug bush and now that it's summer we see 1 or 2. Ellia is handing down the tradition to Claira. Claira now stops by the bush and crouches down & points (to nothing) in her imitation of Ellia.

Raise Kids Here

The "Wonder Years" could be stuffed with so much more magical childhood meanderings, bewilderment & dreams...when given spaces that have more than enough room for it all.

What Claira likes & what we like about Claira!

Daddy took this angelic photo. All of us, even her daycare teachers, hope the day never comes when that belly of hers goes away. But, of course, it will (even now, Ellia has at LEAST an 8 pack ab going on)

Claira actually likes wearing sunglasses! She's starting to show a leaning towards being girly and fru-fru...flashes a smile & does a wobbly spin when I put a dress or skirt on her. And even though I have yet to find a pair of sunglasses that don't either fold her ears down or sit on the tip of her nose...she's likin' it!

Of course Claira took to the water like anything else in her little life: "LET ME AT IT!" It's like a circuit training workout with her in the pool: Steps, BoogieBoard, Holding, Fall into Arms, Innertube, Repeat.

And here we have a typical heart attack moment for Mom. One minute she's just hanging out then-Wham! she's scaling something and making a run for it.

Lovin' Books

Claira really, really is lovin' books right now. (And puzzles for that matter) She can sit alone off by herself for quite a long time...picks out a book, backs herself up to the perfect sitting spot, flips back and forth through the pages, ALWAYS flips the book upside down for some reason, pretends to read, then flings the book over her shoulder and bounces over to get another one.

I absolutely love this smile on Ellia. It's a rare shot & such a pure smile. Usually if the camera is out then she's aware of it...which makes for the goofy, squirmy looks typically seen on these pages. Here she's in Claira's room embracing her inner Virgo tendencies. She arranged all of the plushie blocks on the shelf to fit together like a rubix cube. It actually looked really nice...just didn't last long.

Stay Young

If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.

When the mountains crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me.

And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.
Happiness, no more be sad, happiness....I'm glad.
If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
If the mountains should crumble to the sea, there would still be you and me.

Don't Fill in the Blanks

While at work I passed the large trashbins near the elevator and discovered boxes of old floppy discs! I immediately skipped over the thought that I remember floppy discs and here they are being discarded as 100% useless and archaic...and therefore I'm old. I instead decided to think about all the things Ellia might pretend these discs are used for or can turn into.

I made it a point not to tell her what they were or what they are used for. It is much more fun for her to dream up with something in her almost-4 mind. And it is much more fun for me to see what happens! She decided there were TV shows on the discs. Putting them in their slots in the couch is how you organize them. And taking them apart and gathering them into matching piles is SO Ellia.