Funny Girls

Our little train engineer.

Therese does love to get into Greta's trains, but more than that she loves balls. She says "Bbbbh", and is really good at rolling them back and forth with Matthew or I. This actually surprises me, I mean she seems a bit young to play so interactively doesn't she? I think she is really sociable, and this is just another way she expresses that. And she's really good at catching and rolling the ball!

We have some videos of Therese showing off her ball skills, as well as saying "Hush" from the book "Goodnight Moon" but alas, I am having trouble getting them onto the blog!

I should've taken a picture of her the other day after church...I had given her a cookie from church for the car ride home, and part way home she began to fuss a bit so I reached behind me to give her another piece of cookie. When we arrived home I saw that she had fallen asleep with mushed up cookie tightly enclosed in her little fist, chocolate all over her face, and cookie still in her mouth! I proceeded to clean her off, unbuckle her, carry her upstairs, put her to bed to nap some more, and even swiped inside her mouth to get any excess cookie out...and she didn't even wake up!!! I sure wish she'd sleep that well at night...Matthew and I have started taking turns getting up with her and she sure loves (needs?) to be lulled back to sleep with some milk or some cuddles still.
Greta--having a toilet training "celebration"! She is slowly coming around to using the toilet AGAIN, and once she earns 10 potty stickers on her sticker chart she gets to choose a celebration. This time she chose to wear a party hat and eat an ice cream cone :-) She knows how to have a good time!
So yesterday Greta said some really memorable things...actually, that is happening a lot more lately, and I'm trying to take the time to write them down more often because they can be HILARIOUS!!!

I asked her if it would be okay if Papa gave her a haircut and she responded with, "No, I don't want to be bald!"

At church she came up for communion with us. When the pastor gave her the bread and said "Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ did for you...etc" she boldly told him "I will!", and then at dinner she was feeding bread to Therese and she said, "Eat this, and remember me"!

She is such a character. Have I mentioned that she has chosen train characters for the rest of us to be? She is Henry the train, I am James, Matthew is Gordon, and Therese is Percy (these are trains from the stories about Thomas the Tank Engine). She actually calls us these names, often, and narrates what is going on around her while referring to herself as Henry "And Henry was walking down the stairs" and us as the other trains "As Henry walked down the stairs he saw James"... And she's very strange with her train toys and books. Sometimes when it's her playtime (quiet time in her room) she asks me to take her trains out of her rooms because "I don't want them to look at me!"

Just a Bit

This was so cute this morning...Greta fed Therese some of her cereal after Therese was already done with breakfast and crawling around everywhere.
Therese loves it when Greta gives her attention!
Such a happy baby!!! And Greta is being very "motherly" lately. She often takes care of one of her little baby dolls, who she has decided is Baby Jesus: today she set up a bowl of pretend sugar for Baby Jesus to have next to him during his nap, and during lunch Greta wanted to get down so she could go check on him. When I put Therese down for her nap Greta set a little bowl next to her and said it was a snack of flour and sugar for Therese to have in case she gets hungry. She says things like "Oh, baby" and "Sleep well!" In fact, the other day as we were getting off the bus she said "Thank you, see you later, sleep well!" to the driver!
Therese loves to crawl around with toys hanging out of her mouth.
This is our little make-shift "office" we've created near our living room and dining room--the superbowl was on recently and Matthew was able to stream it on the computer--Greta likes just about anything Papa likes, and so she was very excited about eating chips and watching it with him (apparently she needed her purse with her...)

On Saturday during breakfast (we always have "special" breakfast Saturday mornings, which involves pancakes or waffles or some other sweet treat) Matthew played a song I hadn't heard much of since during my labor with Greta. I mentioned something like "This song reminds me of when I was having Greta"...and awhile later, while the song was still on, I said "I don't think I like the song very much, I think it reminds me of a dark time during my labor when I had just gotten the epidural and I felt really alone..." and Greta, who I really didn't think was listening or would even understand what I was talking about, interjected with "But I was there to protect you from the dark place. When you were in that dark place at the hospital I was there to protect you, mama--Greta was with you! I gave you lots of tight hugs!" She said this to me several times. It was quite amazing. She looked at me with her big blue, serious "old soul" eyes while she told me this, and I think I believe every word of it :-)

I'll be going back to work part time starting next Monday. It will be good, because I'll just be gone from about 12:30-6:30 M-F, so I'll mostly just miss the 3:30-6:30 time when the girls are up from their naps (well, Greta hasn't "napped" in ages, she has a playtime in her room which she enjoys very much--she plays, reads books, colors, sings songs, poops in her diaper...and who knows what else!)...I guess what I'm saying is I won't miss TOO much! I'm looking forward to the job, but of course am a little apprehensive about the whole thing. Matthew will be with the girls each afternoon but Friday, when Linda will be able to look after them until I get home. Our hope is that when Matthew finishes school in April, he will be able to also get a part time job and we can share the care of the children, while both also getting the chance to be out of the house with adults, making money for our work, and using what we've learned during our expensive graduate degree schooling :-)