Ryan multitasks getting chores done AND entertaining the kids, though not his original plan. =)
Emilia Updates :
She completed another school year and recently had her school promotion & graduation ceremony.
Parental fail on my part, the one day that she is willing to wear jeans instead of a dress to school and I jumped at the opportunity, forgetting that it is a special day where the classes would all be doing a recital for the parents. So my gal is the only gal that is not dressed up for the special occasion. Whoops.
Emilia is officially moving onto the "kid" stage versus a "toddler". I'm not sure where the transition point is, but she has a mind of her own versus doing things I ask without question. That's been for a while, but I find her more skilled now at trying to reason and negotiate with me. She'll even use the re-direction approach with Liam to get what she wants!
I do have a recent proud-mama moment of my lil' girl. Parents had brought in cookies and pastries as a post-promotion treat. I'm the only parent that brought a healthy treat of strawberries. Emilia asked me if she could have a cookie and I said yes. I didn't tell her how many or add any regulation. She took only one cookie and commented that it has lots of sugar and too much sugar is not good for you. She then proceeded to eat strawberries and would get some for Liam too! Other kids I saw had piled their plate full of several cookies. Proud mama moment seeing her make good food decisions.
Liam Updates :
He has also learned how to say "No" to Emilia. She still gets her way majority of the times, but Liam will put his foot down and stop her. He knows which buttons to push to aggravate her too, and sometimes, he'll do it just because. He will take a toy that she is possessive of and then zip off fast while Emilia starts to throw a fit. After she's thrown herself onto the floor crying, he'll come back over to her and then toss her the toy and walk away. Apparently I hear this was similar to Ryan's younger days...
Liam recently made the upgrade to a BBB, Big Boy Bed. No more crib and now more freedom for him to come and go as he pleases.
Liam's allergies are still plaguing him and us. In the photo above though, turns out Liam contracted Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease and his eczema amplified the symptoms. Poor baby.. I mean, toddler. It was a tough week for him to go through. The strain of virus he caught was a more potent one, enough that even I caught it and was out of commission for a week. The entire daycare had it as well!
Ryan Updates :
TBD
Connie Updates :
TBD
Haven't gotten around to gathering the parental updates, so that'll come in another post. =)
Other Highlights :
Other highlights this past few months were having family come and visit for a few days. We had my cousin and his family out here as well as a visit from grandma and grandpa.
The kiddies had a blast hanging out and playing with their cousins. Emilia was inseparable from cousin K. The two shared playing princesses, ring-around-the-rosie, and had sleepovers every night. Liam was possessive of his cars and toys from cousin E. In the end, he still did not learn how to share his cars.. so its still a work in progress.
Liam stares down cousin E while cousin E has Liam's Boots.
Our family also went on a day trip up to Idyllwild to "help" out with Adopt A Crag. Volunteers go up climbing trails and help with trail maintenance. We didn't do any maintenance since it took us the entire time to get the kids up the trail and then back down, but it was great nonetheless, to get outdoors with the kiddies in tow and hiking around. We even had time to go up the Suicide Rock trail and Ryan and his friends were able to climb a few.
Another one-day outing was we made a trip up to Santa Ana/Huntington Beach to see family. Specifically, we watched Ryan's cousins kid compete in the Regional Climbing Championships at Sender One Rock Climbing Gym.
Proud to see that rock climbing skills run in the family, cousin Elizabeth took 1st place and is moving on to Nationals. Cousin Emily took 11th and just missed the cutoff for Nationals.
A pit-stop at South Coast Plaza Shopping Mall for lunch.. and a carousel ride.
After the competition, we had a chance to hang around and boulder. Emilia got to try a few climbs with assistance from dad.
We also met up with grandma, grandpa, aunties, uncles, and cousins for dinner. Finally exchanged 2013 Christmas presents (Yes. We were THAT late.) Time was short, but seeing family was sweet. Here are the kiddies with their cousins, laughing at a comical Auntie Gail.
All in all, we're keeping plenty busy. With summer time around, we just hope that we get to be outdoors more even if it is just at home or at local parks.
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