Wow

I can not believe it's been over two months since I've written anything! I think sometimes I get so overwhelmed with how many cute things the girls say or do even in just a day or week that I can't keep up! We have been crazy busy the last few months. The girls were each sick for a week in April (one after the other) but otherwise we've had four or five playdates every week and some birthday parties and playdates on the weekends, too!

My parents came to visit a few weeks ago and we had a fabulous time! I was not quite sure how the girls would react at first since they get pretty shy when they haven't seen someone in awhile. Stella is going through a stranger anxiety phase, even with people she knows pretty well. One of my friends in particular really loves her and used to hold her or pick her up all the time. Well, lately Stella has been glued to me even when we're around that friend, at least for the first 15-30 minutes of spending time together. Anyway, my parents arrived around 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. The girls were both a little shy at first, but by bedtime, Stella wanted Grammy to put her to bed!!! Stella has NEVER had anyone except for Drew or me put her to bed, EVER! I could not believe that in just a few hours she was comfortable enough to specifically ask for Grammy to sing to her and put her down to sleep. It was soooo cute and really made my mom feel so good. For the rest of the trip, Stella was very attached to my mom. She would bring my mom books to read, have my mom hold her, etc. The next night, Sophia really wanted Grammy to read her the three books she gets before bed. That is also unusual because I am ALWAYS the one that has to do that unless I'm not home. The rest of the time, Sophia was VERY attached to my dad. She wanted him to hold her or hold her hand everywhere we went. She had him read her books and play games with her (especially her little bowling set). She even wanted him to strap her into her carseat every single time we went anywhere. Sophia made both my parents do her Brain Quest with her endlessly. It was so great...my dad doesn't particularly like babies, but he loves this age when they can have a conversation. He really got a kick out of Sophia and talking with her. He also thought it was sooooo funny that Stella repeats EVERYTHING that Sophia says or does. We went to the zoo in Columbia with my parents and had a really nice time. We also just got to hang out at home which was really nice. It was great for the girls to have Grammy and Grandpa see them in their own environment. The girls LOVED getting to "wake up" Grammy and Grandpa. I made sure my parents were already awake but still in bed and then brought the girls up to see them. Sophia loves the thought of waking our guests, especially when Alex comes, so I knew she'd love it this time, too. Stella insisted on calling my dad Grampy which is funny because we all say Grampa. After they left to go home, she'd walk around the house asking for Grammy and Grampy. It was sooo cute. One day about a week after they went home, we were driving in the car and Sophia tried to look behind her in the van. She said, "Are you comfy back there Grammy and Grandpa?" It was adorable that she was pretending that they were still with us! Every few days now she still does that a few times when we're in the car, and every few days Stella will ask for Grammy and Grampy.


We hosted a playdate at our house yesterday, a playdough playdate. It was our first official playdate hosted through the moms meetup group. It was fun and Sophia really enjoyed having friends over and sharing all her great playdough "tools". Stella actually really enjoyed it, too. She's at the age now where she can pretty much keep up with the kids Sophia's age. Sometimes she likes to do her own thing, but usually she joins in with the older kids. Sophia is quite protective of her little sister. Most of the time she'll make sure Stella is included and will introduce people to Stella by saying, "This is my little sister. Her name is Stella," and she proceeds to pat Stella's head or give her a kiss. They can be very affectionate at times. Stella can be a little stingy on her hugs with us if we ask for them (she'd rather give them randomly) but she LOVES to give them to Sophia when Sophia asks for some.

I'm not sure if I wrote this before, but if I did, it's even more true now, if possible. Every single time I leave the house and take both girls to a public place (store, mall, playground, restaurant, playdate with new moms, etc) at least one person asks me if they are twins. So, as long as we leave the house and come in contact with other people during any day, I get asked that questions. What's even crazier, every single place I actually go (like every store separately) at least one person comments on their curls! I can go to four stores in a row and at least one person at each one will either stop me to say something, or I'll hear them mention something to someone as I walk by. I'm a little worried it's going to give them a bit too much confidence someday after hearing how cute they are over and over and over. The surprising thing for me is that I guess I would expect it more out of women, but there have also been several men who have gone out of their way to tell me just how cute my girls are. Of course, I'm biased simply because they are mine, but apparently there are others out there who think they are just as beautiful as I do. Sophia is proud to be a "curly girly" as we call it. I'm sure Stella will be just as proud soon. I bet they will be sick of me having to take so long to fix their hair every morning (and after nap if we're going somewhere) very soon. I always have to make sure I leave 15 extra minutes of time before we go anywhere to wet and comb their hair to get rid of bed head and knots. It is quite a task, and more difficult in the winter because I don't want them going outside with wet hair but have no choice sometimes. I suppose that's been an advantage to living down here this past year. It wasn't nearly as cold as up North.

Here are a few funny things that Sophia said last week:

She was going to play 'Go Fish' with Drew and I was sitting waiting for Stella to pick out a book for us to read. Sophia looked at me and said, "I'm going to play with Daddy. You can take care of my sister."

There was an Easter card from Yiayia Keta and Papou Nasi sitting on the counter that had come that day. Sophia opened it, saw some money and said, "This card says, Dear Sophia, take this money to the store and buy something!" I heard her from the other room (Drew was with her in the kitchen) and just couldn't stop laughing! She had been really, really good that week so we took her to the store and bought a cute little ladybug game. She's really into games lately (along with reading, princesses, playing dress-up, puzzles, playdough, Curious George, and Tinkerbell). Sometimes we play four or five different games in a row and she still wants to do more! She is really loving Memory right now...we're starting out sort of small with the number of tiles. She is actually VERY good at remembering where things are. She even tells me when it's my turn where to look to find a match! She doesn't care about winning or losing yet....we'll see when that starts. She also LOVES 'Go Fish'. I swear she'd play that all day if possible. We went to a game playdate at a friend's house and she loved just playing lots of games! That's mostly what we got her for Christmas so I'm glad she likes them.

Sophia is really into talking about which princess is married to which prince, etc., so one day she was talking about Drew and I being married. We told her how you have a wedding and then you are married and you stay married for a long time and have kids, etc. Drew told her how someday, in a really long time, she'll meet a nice man to marry. She promptly turned to us and said, "I don't want to marry any other mans!" She was in total disbelief that we would even suggest something so preposterous. We asked who she was going to marry and she said, "You, Daddy," just like every little girl thinks will happen. It was so cute and innocent.

Recently, two of our closest friends have had new babies (one here and one up North). So, about a week and a half ago, I was singing Sophia a song I made up when she was born about all her family members and friends who love her. When we got to her friend Abby, she stopped me and asked about Abby's mommy, who just had a baby. She looked at me and said, "Is Abby's mommy's baby still in her belly?" I told her no. She said, "How did it get out?" I told her that the doctor at the hospital took it out. She said, "How, Mommy?" I said, "The doctor at the hospital knows how to get babies out." She said, "But how did the doctor do that? Did he use a hammer?" Now I was cracking up and didn't know how to get her to stop asking. I think just barely 3 is a young age to go into anything so I said, "I'm not sure, Sophia. Maybe we can ask the doctor next time we see him how he did it." Now the problem here is that she's going to remember that, even if the next time we're at the doctor's office is not for 6 months. She's got an amazing memory. Anyway, that night she was satisfied with my answer, I guess, and went to sleep. This past Wednesday I was driving to a playdate and called up my friend Denise who had a baby last week. Once I got off the phone, Sophia started to ask a million questions (she does this every time I get off the phone because she listens to every word I say). One of her questions was, again, "how did they get the baby out? Did they use a hammer or a shot?" I told her no and she said, "Did her belly crack open?" I told her no, the doctor took the baby out and we can ask him when we see him. I was hurting from holding back my laughter. That's such a cute and innocent question. I'm hoping none of my friends have any more babies anytime soon because I'm not sure what she'll ask next and how I'll keep putting her off! What a curious little girl.

I wish everyone could experience just a few days of the funny, silly, cute, mature, spontaneous things she says on a moment to moment basis. She is really very wise for her age and can figure out so many things. She is making so many cool connections, figuring out words that rhyme, asking tough questions, and making us just crack up. The one regret that Drew and I have about the past three years is that we have not had a video camera. I know we thought we wouldn't really care or think about it, but when we try to remember back even a few months it's so hard to picture what either of the girls were like. I wish so much that I could look at a video of what Sophia was like a year or two years ago. I wish I could hear her talking back then and realize how different she is now. I have memories in my head but so much happens every single day that sometimes it's hard to remember. We have taken a million pictures as they have grown, but it just doesn't capture them the same as video would have. I'm so jealous of my friends who were wise enough to think about it and take video every few weeks or months during the years when they change so much. I did try convincing Drew before Sophia was born that we should think about it, but he was really against it. Now, he regrets that as much as I do. It's time we can not have back and I wish we could! We are going to invest in a video camera as soon as possible so we can capture some great memories. All of our family has missed the last 16 months of our girls lives and we have no real way to share any of it. I know they are my children, so I'm biased, but everyone is missing out on some really fabulous girls! I just want to bottle up their cuteness and send it up North for everyone to experience. Even one hour with either girl would make anyone's heart melt. I guess I've just been thinking a lot lately about how time is so precious. My friend Becky has been on my mind a lot lately (the one who suddenly died in November). Anyone watch The Biggest Loser? The winner, Ali, looks just like Becky. Every week when I watched the show I was reminded of her and how quickly people can be taken from you. She had two little girls, just like me. I think about what my girls would have to remember me if something ever happened. Then I think about what I have to remember them is something ever happens. I am so deathly afraid of ever losing my girls that it's painful to think about it. Ok, enough of that.

I just thought of something cute Sophia said at Home Depot the other day. I have been taking the girls outside in the afternoons sometimes to just play while I weed the mulch areas in front of our house. Sophia really loves watching and trying to help. She actually just really loves being outside doing anything. I promised her we could go to Home Depot and try to find 'Sophia size' garden tools so she can help me plant something. We took a ride to Home Depot to look around. We didn't find anything 'Sophia size' but I did find a few things I could use, and then we just walked around the whole store because the girls just LOVE looking at everything. Home Depot is actually Sophia's favorite store. They have these big orange carts where two kids can sit up on top with steering wheels to pretend like they are driving. At any other store, Sophia has no interest in those carts, but at Home Depot she loves it. So, we were walking through the lighting section (her second favorite section, first being the toilets and bathtubs) and she spotted a few lamps for kids. They had a Tinkerbell lamp, a princess lamp and a Nemo lamp. Sophia asked if we could buy those someday. I told her sure (I always say this to everything so she doesn't ask for it today). She said the Tinkerbell lamp would be for her, the princess lamp for Stella, and then Nemo lamp for one of her friends. Now, most kids her age would want them all to keep. Sophia is always thinking about everyone else. Driving in the car today, she started talking about the lamps again. She said again how the Tinkerbell lamp could be for her, the princess lamp for Stella and the Nemo lamp for one of her friends. However, today, she thought about the fact that she has lots more than one friend so there would not be enough. She was very stressed about the fact that all of her friends would not get a lamp. Awhile later, she said to me, "Mommy, can we just buy lots of regular lamps so all my friends can have one, too, so there will be enough?" I almost started crying thinking how sweet that was! I don't know a lot of three-year-olds who think about doing more for their friends than for themselves and really dwell on it.

Today, at Walmart, we were getting some groceries. We went through the cereal aisle and Sophia saw some Barbie cereal and some Shrek cereal. She asked for them and I told her we don't eat that kind of cereal at our house. She said, "Well at our new house can we?" What a logical thinker. We have been talking about how sometime in the future (hopefully in a matter of months) we will be moving to a new house (or apartment, etc). So, I had to tell her that we don't eat that cereal at any house we'll live in.

Alright, if you're still reading, I'm sure you're tired! I do have more to write, though, about Stella.

Stella has become such a little girl and no longer a baby in any way. She has grown and changed a tremendous amount in the past few months. She will no longer allow us to help her eat anything unless she's at the very end of a yogurt and can't get the last bite. She's gained some independence and thinks she can do anything that Sophia can do, especially at the park. She used to be my cautious girl, and I think she still is to some extent, but is taking more risks as the weeks go by. She has a vocabulary that is growing by leaps and bounds every day! She understands FAR more than we think sometimes and surprises us all the time. I just figured out the other day that she can count to ten and can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She can finish any sentence in the books we read to her that she's heard a bunch of times. And, you don't need to stop at the end of a sentence and have her say the last word...you can stop anywhere in the sentence and she'll say what comes next. She will repeat ANYTHING Sophia says or does, including whining (a new 3-year-old skill). The other day Sophia was eating strawberries and wanted me to watch her. She said, "Watch me, Mama." The next thing I know, Stella says, "Watch me, Mama." for every single bite of her strawberries that she took. If Sophia asks to go first for something, so does Stella. If Sophia asks you to pick her up, so does Stella. If Sophia wants to read a book, so does Stella. If Sophia wants a snack, so does Stella, and the list goes on and on and on. Stella LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Little Miss Spider. If we have a little party for her birthday this year with some friends I'm going to have to find Miss Spider plates, etc. For months now she's been able to recognize any Miss Spider book, even if it's new to her (like at the library) and will not let it go. Every single day before nap and bedtime she needs us to read Little Miss Spider to her. It used to be just that one book, but then she added another 'Five Little Bunnies Hoping on a Hill', and another 'Cookie's Week' (one of Sophia's old favorites). If you ask her before nap if she wants to go read 'Little Miss Spider' she'll say bunnies and cookie to make sure we don't forget those, too. She has mastered climbing in AND out of her booster seat at the table, even if she's strapped in or the tray is on. She also learned to climb into her carseat and insists on doing it alone every time now. She's very particular about what she wants and when she wants it and will find ways to let us know!

There's my update. I have so much more I could type but my head is spinning and I'm tired. I'm sure I'll update more frequently now that I've sort of gotten caught up.