Grace

Three days in a row of Grace not taking a nap... and she isn't acting terrible.

Yesterday we went swimming in our neighbor's pool for the first time and when our neighbor Rebecca got out of the pool to grab a raft, Grace yelled, "Hey, neighbor... can I have one too?"  Oh boy!  On a side note, she learned the names of the neighbor's dogs, Lily and Cooper, without fail!

She also is letting me braid her hair these days.  She would much rather run around with messy, unkept hair, but if I force the brushing issue, she is willing to let me style it.  Progress people... progress.

Charlotte... Baby or Toddler?

How is it that Charlotte can clearly now count to five and run and jump in the baby pool, but she walks around dragging her blanket and sucking on a pacifier?  Hmmm..

April 14th, 2012 Animal Kindom

Yes, I know that it is almost July but here goes the next Disney post...

The third day in Disney we went to Animal Kingdom, which I had never been to before.  We started at 8 a.m. and the park was nearly empty because it was open from 8-9 for only resort guests.  We immediately went on the Kilimanjaro Safari where the animals were right near our vehicle.

 Then we rode the Kali River Rapids and Grace got soaking wet.  Charlotte was too little to go on so we waited behind.  Paul said that Grace looked at him with her eyes wide open when she got soaked.  He started laughing , and she joined right in.  Whew... however as I was using the bathroom dryer to dry her shirt, she said she didn't want to get wet anymore.  

We went on several other rides that day and had a blast.  The Festival of the Lion King was by far one of the best attractions in Disney World.  The girls were amazed by the performances and dances and sang along... well I mean I did and they tried. 

We had lunch at the Tusker House Restaurant with Donald and Friends and it was so cute.  Charlotte loved seeing the characters and interacting with them... Grace just loved seeing them... from a distance. We went to Finding Nemo- The Musical after lunch along with some other attractions and that was the breaking point for Charlotte.  Paul had to take her out of the theater and so afterwards we were going to meet at the entrance, go back to the hotel and regroup before dinner.  I made it out... but Paul got stuck by the afternoon parade.  Hahahaha.  He was already all paraded out.  Good thing I had Grace and he had Charlotte who could at least be entertained by the parade and Grace sat with me and waited so well.

 

Epcot Part 2

As we continued through Epcot, along with going on a few more rides and attractions we also spotted Belle and the Beast.  There was a park just across the way so Paul took Grace to play while Charlotte and I hung in the line.  She slept for the first part of it if I remember correctly.  Then when she got up, I got her dressed in her Belle outfit.  The first picture here is one of my favorite. Bow on, map in hand, and pacifier in her mouth.  It looks like she really can read it.  Ha.  Grace was less than enthusiastic at this point but Charlotte was clearly loving it!  I'm pretty sure when we had the Disney photographers take a picture, we didn't have Grace in it because she didn't want to be.  Ha.

We also saw Snow White and were among the first in line to meet her.  This was Charlotte's sweetest moment.  She went right up and gave Snow White a hug and personally I though Snow White was the nicest character in any park.  She spent a long time with the girls and I loved it... probably more than them.

Later in the evening we had reservations for a Princess dinner in Epcot's Akershus Restaurant.  I really could have done without this dinner and Grace had a major meltdown because she didn't want to wear her Cinderella dress.  Now... I would not have tried to force the issue except that Amy bought the dresses for the girls and I really wanted to be able to show her a picture.  Well, let me tell you... I gave up and said, "Forget it," as Grace screamed in the bathroom and wouldn't put it on.  About ten minutes later, Paul took her to the bathroom and, "Voila" the dress was on with no tears.  What the ?  Really, our girls could have cared less about the princesses at this point but we were still able to eat with them entertained.  There aren't any good pictures of Grace and Cinderella by the way...

We stayed in Epcot and went on a few more rides that night, and then we saw the Illuminations presentation when it was dark.  We got Grace a hot chocolate, a few coffees and enjoyed the evening.  Charlotte fell asleep in the stroller.  What a dream child!

The first video is from Journey Into Imagination with Figment and the second is from The TGra Fiesta Tour with the Three Cabelleros.

Charlotte-18 month babbler

Charlotte clearly repeats every word we tell her to say.  She is now 19 and 1/2 months and clearly uses phrases such as "I love you," "See you later," "Please," "Thank you," and "Welcome."  When I sneeze, she says, "Bless you," and it is the sweetest thing.  When I say, "What do you say?" she says Please or Thank you depending on which is necessary, confusing them sometimes making us laugh.  Along with the very expanded vocabulary comes a lot of whining.  She and Grace have a very interesting Love/Hate relationship.  One minute they must take care of each other because "It's my sister," and the next minute they are knocking each other down stealing toys.  Yesterday I put them both in Timeout because Grace did something to Charlotte and Charlotte pulled her hair.  I yelled at both of them and then I told Charlotte to say "Sorry" to Grace which seems to be the one word she struggles to say (I think she's a genius) and Charlotte rubbed Grace with her foot instead and they both starting cracking each other up and then hugged.  I mean are you kidding me?

When I ask Charlotte now what happened when she is crying playing with Grace, she says, "Gace" and pulls me to where Grace is.  Hilarious.  When she answers yes to something, instead of saying, "Yah" or "Yep," she combines them into "Yahp."  I add the "h" in there because it is an extended Yah-p.  It's funnier to hear than read obviously.  She very much needs her afternoon nap and somedays will sleep for 4 hours.  She has been down to one nap for a while so she definitely needs it.  She is back to going to bed at 7 ish so that is good news too.  If we put Charlotte in her bed with a book, she reads it and then lays down and goes to sleep.  What an angel.  Paul is actually the one who started that trend which I love.

She is very interested in potty in the bathroom, however has no interest in actually peeing, she just likes to sit on the toilet, wipe and flush.  Well, not bad for a beginner.  Ha.

Grace- 3 Year Old Crazy Person

Grace is the most independently fearless child I have ever seen.  She is sooo good sometimes and then I realize that she is going to be the death of me and give me anxiety.  For anyone who didn't hear already, right before her 3rd birthday she cut her hair.  Well it gets more interesting.  Earlier this week we were at Amy's house, Charlotte and Luke were taking a nap and the rest of us were outside by the pool.  Grace is awesome in the pool with a Puddle Jumper on and plays great.  She was jumping off the side of the pool and having a blast.  Clearly, I had my eye on her the whole time.  After about an hour and half, there was a period of time where she kept wanting her Puddle Jumper off and wanted to dry off and sit with me, and then put it back on and get back in the pool.  Well the last time, she was just sitting across the pool from Amy and I next to Michael and they were taking turns using a squirt gun.  She didn't have her Puddle Jumper on and I was sitting up talking to Amy just starring at them... not taking my eyes off of them for a second.  All of the sudden the squirt gun ended up in the pool and Grace stood up and jumped in after it.  WHAT THE...  I was in my bathing suit fully prepared to jump in and grab her except I hesitated because she was bouncing her foot off the bottom with her head ABOVE the water, holding her breath and swimming towards the squirt gun.  Amy yelled... "Go Go," and I jumped in and grabbed her but she hadn't swallowed any water at all and was acting like I was crazy for getting her.  I made her sit on the side and explained to her why she needed her Puddle Jumper on and that she is never to go into the pool without it.  Swim lessons are a must... and judging on how she is now, I don't think it's going to take her that long to master it.

Dreaming about Blogging

I have had several dreams and thoughts about the things I should be blogging but haven't sat down to do it. I'm not even finished with Disney and now I have Minnesota to blog about.  Hmmm... I'm going to give it a genuine effort tonight.