Learning to Play by Yourself

Dear Abigail,

You sometimes struggle with playing by yourself.  I have learned you have a very social personality, along with other intriguing and delightful traits, but part of being social means you like to have someone to play with. All.  The.  Time.  Unfortunately, Mommy cannot play with you all the time.  I've had to start making you play by yourself for a period of time each day.  The other day I got you to go upstairs to play by yourself (usually you want to 'play by yourself' wherever I am) and when I finally came up after dinner to check out the damage, this is what I found...

I just might be regretting this whole play by yourself gig...
Still love you though, and your super social personality.  No clue where you get it from.... :)

Sweet Cece's

Dear Abigail,

As you have heard, you have struggled a bit since Christmas with sleeping in your bed, all night, by yourself.  It never got as bad as it has in the past (i.e. falling asleep in our bed!) but, Mommy is laying with you most night until you fall asleep.  Thankfully that only takes about 10 minutes IF you don't have a nap.  Sometimes you come down and I have to take you back to bed, but overall, you have not been sleeping in our bed at all.  Hooray!  I think slowly but surely we are making our way back to all nighters.  The other night, Mommy and Daddy went out on a date and Miss Lauren watched you and Sister.  I was a bit worried about how you would do with Miss Lauren putting you down and I promised if you did good, that we would go to Cece's the next day.  Well, when Cece's is involved, you act your best!  Miss Lauren said you did great and were no problem getting to bed, so off to Cece's we went.  We had ballet that morning and an errand to run, too and you told EVERYONE that you slept in your bed all night and were going to Cece's.  And, we did.  And I think you enjoyed it, even though it was freezing outside!!  

 You said Giraffe needed to join us, since he slept with you that night...

 As I mentioned, you told everyone about sleeping in your bed, including the girl who worked at Cece's.  She was so nice and so proud of you that she even made her own special treat for you to take home!!!!

That's right, a bowl of all the yummy toppings you got!  What a very nice thing to do.  Look at all those gummy worms, too.  You and Daddy love that kind of candy.
We have all been super proud of you for trying so hard to sleep in your bed.  Sometimes are better than others, but you are trying, and getting better every day!
Love you!

Puppets, Toilets, Drums and Bouncing

Dear Abigail,

The title says it all.  To begin with, we made puppets on Wednesday.  This is from your "I'm No Longer Bored" bucket that your cousin Sarah got you for Christmas.  It's this big bucket of crafty stuff, all kinds of things, and we just pull it out and think of something to make with it all.  We thought of puppets and if I do say so myself, we did a pretty good job at decorating them!  Your puppet was named Chippey and I named mine Moose.  You were very proud of them and wanted to show the cleaners a puppet show.  Daddy asked if he could take them to work and you had a fit because you needed them at home...

Earlier that day, Katie Bug dropped a book shelf thing on Mom's foot and while I still went and worked out that morning, things really started hurting after lunch.  I noticed it was getting harder and harder to walk on as time passed and we were suppose to head to the mall later to kill some time while the cleaners were at our house.  Well... they didn't actually show up until 4 (and were supposed to show up at 1:30) so I knew they'd be here for awhile, and my foot was absolutely killing me and I could not walk at all at this point so I called up Aunt Steph and asked if I brought dinner, could we come over.  She was happy to have us (and dinner)! We got there around 5 and you girls were upstairs playing for a bit, probably a good hour.  We could hear you a little bit, but not much, and even Aunt Steph made the comment "You know what they are doing if it's too quiet..." to which my reply was "into water of some sort."  Well... we called you girls down for dinner and after dinner all the kiddos took a much needed bath.  (btw, Aunt Steph made me take a large amount of Advil and I soon was able to walk a little on my foot!).  You 4 were loving bath time but trying to get all 4 of your hair do's to stay up so we could get a picture was one almost impossible task - but, we did it!!!!  

 So after baths you girls were allowed to play for a few more minutes then it was time to head home.  Well, I was gathering up stuff from downstairs and Aunt Steph yelled at me to get the camera and come upstairs, quickly.  I should have known.  I should have known... Well, I had NO idea this much, but I should have known you two were up to no good.  Anyway, guess what we found... 

Yes, that would be Ellie's toilet filled with bath toys.  All her bath toys to be specific.  And lots of toilet paper.  Oh, and yes, Ellie had to go poo-poo AFTER the toys were put in there.  So she did.  Yep, so toys and poo.  I apologize if you are throwing up in your mouth right now, as it is indeed disgusting, but imagine how Aunt Steph felt when she cleaned it out.  And yes, she cleaned it.  Not Mommy.  I was too busy yelling and laughing and gagging to stick my hands in that mess. Aunt Steph is nice like that.  To say the least, we were mad and punishments were dispersed.  And we left immediately after.  AHHHH!!!!!  Seriously you two.  Seriously...

Friday we did our usual Mexican but again, you two were out of control.  Uncle Jaybee says it's a phase, but I'm not so sure...Saturday after your ball game, and after Mommy went to a fun yoga class with Miss Leigh and Aunt Steph, Ryan came over to our house for some play time!  He brought his cool motorized Play-doh thing and you brought your play doh toys out and you had a blast just play-dohing away.  Then you and Ryan and Kate (Jake had a fever and wasn't feeling well) went upstairs and played in the playroom until dinner was ready.  Dinner included a big piece of chocolate cake (and the most delicious hamburgers Daddy has ever made - Bacon and Pimento Cheese Burgers) so afterwards you both were SUPER hyper.  Well, what better way to exhaust that energy than by playing drums and dancing the night away?!!!  Ryan LOVED the drums and insisted that we dance while he played!  

 Then, the dancing made me think of the Wii and Just Dance, so we turned that on and we all had fun dancing to "Following the Leader" and other fun Disney songs!!!

 I'm pretty sure that burned off some energy because it took no time at all for you to fall asleep that night!  Sunday was very chill and included a walk around the neighborhood with Daddy, Kate and Mommy.  There are several new houses being built, so we decided to take a little tour of those we could go in.  You were eager to go upstairs in every single house and it made me rather nervous, but no injuries occurred. :) After a walk and while Kate was napping, you painted a bunch of things for Daddy to take to work, one of which was the family (including Mimi) at the beach.  But then you said it was for Mimi and Daddy was rather sad because it was a really good drawing.  You love giving Mimi pictures though.
Monday (today) is MLK day.  I thought your school did a good job explaining who he was.  According to you, he wanted you to like someone for what's on the inside, not the outside.  He said you shouldn't be mean to someone because they look different than you.  You understood that and that made me happy.  
It just so happens that today was Aunt Steph's day off, and she wanted to do something with the kiddos.  It's turned bitterly cold (even though it's very pretty with the sun shining so bright) so we kept it indoors with Pump it Up.  To say the least, you guys had a blast...

 

   And so did Mommy!!!!

  Now I'm off to see the zoo that you created in my bedroom.  You set up all kinds of animals and just informed me that I had to buy a couple because they did not have homes.  I'm pretty sure I will not buy any monkeys, as my house if full of them right now...
LOVE YOU!!

Sisterly Love

Dear Abigail,
You love your sister, no if, ands, or buts about it.  Particularly, you love getting in her crib when she wakes up in the morning or from a nap.  It's such a sweet moment to see the excitement on your face when I say "Kate's awake" and then you say "Don't come up there 'till I tell you to Momma." The other morning, I happened to still be laying in bed with the monitor when Kate woke up and you hopped in the crib.  I have the cutest video ever of you and Kate in her crib, but I can't seem to get it to upload.  It's rather annoying because seriously, it brings tears of happiness to my eyes every time I watch it.  But, I do have pictures, too.  And just ask me one day to watch the video.  Like when maybe you are debating on whether you like your sister, cause the video will convince ya!

Or maybe I was able to upload it...  

A Week or So In Review

Dear Abigail,

2013 has proven to be as exciting as expected!  It had been pretty rainy and gloomy the last several days, so the first spot of sunshine, and we bundled up and headed outdoors.  You and Sister were thrilled to be outside (and Momma, too!) and since you had your first basketball game on Saturday, we decided to have a little practice.  

 It was pretty darn cold out there, if I do say so myself, but we still lived it up and even got a little swing time in! 

So on Saturday, you had your first basketball game.  Member how you are the all star in soccer?  Well, not so much with basketball, or at least not this first season.  For starters, you are the youngest AND the only girl on your team, but also we just need to practice.  Practice makes perfect, right?  The good news is you enjoy it, and don't seem to mind not being an all star.  While Mommy did bring her camera, the battery was dead, so I only got a picture of you on the phone, and even that was tough.  Don't worry, I will get more next game :)

How awesome is that uniform though?!  You didn't want to wear a t-shirt underneath it but no way was I letting you wear it without an undershirt.  It is SO big and those shorts are so long!  But you are still cute as eva!

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Ellie's house just to hang out (i.e. the Daddy's wanted to watch football together), and we ordered pizza and did just that - hung out.  So much hanging out that you ended up spending the night.   You and Ellie are getting really good with the going to sleep together in the same bed.  The beach trip is going to be awesome!  On a side note, but still speaking of sleeping, you are back to your old ways of sneaking into our bedroom in the middle of the night to 'snuggle' with us.  I use quotes because snuggling is hardly what I'd call it.  The other night, you were thrashing around so much, pushing me off my side, that I had to take a picture of you...

Yep, that's your feet where my head should be.  And you are stretched out.  And that's Dad beside you, as if he's sleeping in a coffin.  He sleeps funny, straight on his back, arms on his chest, like he's been laid to rest.  I know, it's freaky, right?  Mommy likes to curl all up on her side or even her belly, of course, not when you are in the bed.  I just like to keep my face from being smacked by a heel.  Anyway, told you it was a side note...

So Sunday, you and Mommy worked on your first school project.  It was "All About Me" week with you being the "me".  Part of this week included a poster full of pictures of you and your family and your favorite activities.  Boy, do you have some favorite activities!!!!  

I would like to write that we had a blast putting this project together, but the reality of it is that you lost interest about a quarter of the way through glueing the pink circles.  You did help me pick out the pictures to get developed, but you had no interest in glueing them into place, much less putting all the little descriptions on it.  Thankfully your momma is a bit of a perfectionist and while I had to tell myself over and over (AND OVER) again that this was a Pre-K project, I did finish it with little hesitation.  You did love it though when it was all said and done.  And I think it's precious and describes you to a T!  You also had to bring your favorite book, toy and snack to school.  It didn't help that this was all due the first day back to school after Christmas break, so choosing your favorite was a little tough and you struggled between "the doll that looks like me" and Baby Alive, but Baby Alive won out and you even got to take a bottle to show how she 'poops and pees' - your favorite part about your favorite toy.  For your book, you wanted to take your Big Sister book, which I thought was so sweet and then for your favorite snack, you decided, out of nowhere, that you wanted to take these fudge round cookie things.  They were in these 100 calorie snack packs and you wanted them so bad.  Of course, we didn't have any and you were not getting convinced to take goldfish, so Daddy was nice enough to run out to the store and get the cookies.  Who knows.  I'm not sure you've even had one since that day, but that was your fave of the day.  Anyway, we were set for your All About Me week.  But that wasn't until Tuesday.  

On Monday, we had a birthday party to go to!  Jacob turned 4 and had a Mickey Mouse birthday party at his house.  You kiddos had a great time jumping on his bounce house and playing with all the toys, not to mention eating some delicious pizza and Miss Kristin's ridiculously good chocolate cupcakes!  

You were also rather thrilled to get to take home a 'birthday' present, when it wasn't even your birthday party!  

 A fun Monday morning, indeed!
Tuesday you headed back to school and ready to talk all about you.  Miss Denise was kind enough to show all the kiddos how your Baby Alive works and you were very helpful with showing her how to change her diaper.  She said the Big Sister book played very well with the whole Baby Alive thing, which I didn't even think about!
After school, you helped all these babies find a home.  You told me they didn't have any shelter so you were helping them find some.  And the horse, too.

Another random thing, but this tripped me out.  You were so excited to show me you were sitting like Kitty.  I wasn't exactly thrilled that you OR Kitty were hanging on the back of our couch, but I decided to take your picture anyway...

On Wednesday, we had a fun day planned!  We were headed to meet Pinkalicious at the local toy store!!!  You were, as expected, a bit nervous, but I assured you she would be just like the other princesses we  have met, so by the time we got to the store, you were fine! 

 Even a bit too relaxed...

 But so happy!!!  Pinkalicious read you 3 books and one of them was about the Pig that ice skates, which you have and you made sure Pinkalicious knew!

 You two are sooo cute!  You even asked if she would come to your birthday party!  She said sure and then looked at me.  I just went along with it.  As of that day, you are having a Pinkalicious birthday party.  As of today (almost a week later) you are having a Mexican themed birthday party like Clara Lee...

After our meet and greet, we headed to Jason's Deli for some delicious lunch, more importantly, delicious ice cream in a cone!!!!

 You were sweet enough to share with your sister, too.  Even the nice couple beside us commented on how sweet of a big sister you were being!

Thursday and Friday were another day at school, but you were excited to wear your hair in a french braid!  You hair is getting so long!!!

 Friday night we headed to Mexican and it was so nice outside that you and Ellie and Kate got to run around outside.  It's crazy that in January we are playing outside and not even wearing coats.  A bit freaky, too.  Nonetheless, it was a very nice evening on Friday.  But Saturday turned into a rain monster of a day.  That morning we headed to another basketball game and this time I got the battery al charged up! 

This one kind of shows what you did for a lot of the game...

You are ever the good sport though.

And in the middle of the game Coach Will (from soccer) walked in the gym and stopped you in your tracks!  You were rather excited to see him...

So excited that you forgot a game was going on and the ball hit you on your head and you had to sit out because it made you cry.  I blamed Coach Will :) But you still got back out there, ready to play!

After the game, you and Daddy got ready and went to a family work party.  Mommy stayed home with Bugs and got the house cleaned up because we had some friends from Daddy's work over.  The mom works with Daddy and she has a little boy, Cameron, who is your age and a little girl, Skylar, who is Kate's age!  So that was perfect huh?!  You and Cameron hit it off immediately and played in the playroom while the adults dealt with the babies downstairs.  You even showed him how to jam on the drums and keyboard!
On Sunday, we had a little family reunion with Daddy's Mommy's sister, Aunt Patsy and her family.  It had been WAY too long since we saw them (you were a baby) so we all gathered at Uncle Jaybee's house and had lunch.  You and Ellie kind of did your own thing while the grown ups looked through lots and lots of old pictures of your grandmother (Daddy's mommy) and her family.  She was one pretty lady and you look just like all those pretty girls.  I kept seeing Aunt Amy in the 50's and then I'd see Caroline in 1973 or something!  It was pretty funny how much everyone looked so much alike.
After lunch, we hung out on the back porch because the weather was so bizarre and warm.  Eventually, most everyone left, but we hung around so the Daddy's could watch the football games and Kate was taking a nap.  And then 5 o'clock rolled around and, well, we decided we'd just stay for dinner too!  We had been there since 10 that morning, but it's like a second home for us.  You were thrilled, but not so much when it was time to go home.
On Monday, we had a play date with Jacob and Anna.  You 3 (and I guess I should say 4, now with Kate being old enough to play with everyone) so you 4 had a ball, but the highlight of the date was the chocolate cake for dessert...

Notice how neat Jacob's face is.  Girls and their love for chocolate is all I can think of!!!!  It was a fun play date and we already have another on the books!  I'm going to guess chocolate will be involved, too!
That wraps up our week or so in review crazy girl!  Love you and your sis!