Preschool

The week we got back from our vacation Laneah had preschool orientation. Laneah was excited to go back and see her teacher and friends. Ms Debbie talked to them about the day to day school schedule and some of the things they would be learning. 

 Then on September 5, the big day arrived. 

 Posing at the front door. She looks so grown up and she is still in preschool!

 Laneah with her best buddy Scarlette. We are continuing the car pool and play dates this year. 

 The kids kept looking inside; they were ready to get started. 

 Then Ms Debbie came out and we snapped a few pictures before saying good bye.

Kami and I picked up the kids together and took them to Chick Fil-A for a special lunch date since it was their first day of school. The girls both enjoyed their first day and they learned the word "me" and talked about themselves and completed an adorable self portrait.

Laneah is very smart and once she gets the schedule and routine down, she will be ready for kindergarten.

Laneah at 3 years, 9 months

*Laneah is a 16 year old trapped in a 4 year olds body. She likes to tell everyone that she is a teenager and she sure acts like one. 

*My plan to not add any games to my phone so that the girls wouldn't want to play on it failed. Laneah thinks Siri is hilarious. And it is pretty funny because Siri can't understand what Laneah says and the mix up is usually funny. She also likes to take videos and pictures of herself and now she calls people too. She can also get to the itunes store and listen to songs she wants on Kidz Bop somehow. She tells me that it is her phone and half the time she answers my phone when it rings before I can get to it! Little stinker. See, she is a teenager!

*Laneah is a riot. She likes to talk to grown ups and have adult conversations. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and asks an exuberant amount of questions daily. She calls my brother Andrew about 4 times a day. Some notable quotes from her (although I am sure I am missing some funny ones)

 At Disney World she declared "I am going to marry Mickey Mouse!"

She calls Harry Potter, Peter Potter

She calls the 7-11 station 7 up. 

"Oh no! We're lost. We need the BGS!" (GPS)

An example of talking to a grown up. One of my neighbors was showing the kids a cicada shell and Laneah asked "are you a bug examiner". My neighbor said no. Laneah replied "well that's ok, maybe you can be one when you grow up". My neighbor said "I am a grown up, can I still be one?". To which Laneah sighed and said sadly "no, I'm sorry, it's too late". 

Laneah gets annoyed with Brooklyn copying her. She will say "stop copy catting me!"

The other day we were driving in the car and she said to me"mom I'm sorry but daddy and I are moving out because we really want a dog". I must have looked hurt because she quickly tacked on sweetly "but you can come visit!"

In primary we are learning a song called 'When I am Baptized'. The second verse says "I know when I am baptized, my wrongs are washed away". Laneah was sweetly singing the song to me at bedtime and when it came to the second verse she sang "my lungs are washed away" instead. I couldn't stop laughing because it was so ironic. She thought it was funny too and then she started doing it on purpose, but she got it right after a little practice.  

*Laneah loves to eat and will eat pretty much anything. After she eats a meal she likes she will say either "mom, thanks for making such a hard meal" (hard to make) or "mom, you're the best cooker ever!".

*Laneah likes to tell people that she loved the Tower of Terror even though she was scared to death. It is funny because she talks about it all the time. She even built one with legos. 

*She is interesting because she likes to show her belly and tries to show her bum to her friends (because she thinks it is funny) but insists when she changes that she needs her "privacy" and doesn't want anyone but me to help her change. 

*She still loves music and is really into Kidz Bop right now. It is annoying, but at least they change up some of bad lines in songs. For example one of Laneah's favorite songs used to be "Tonight" and one part of the lyrics in the radio version of the song is "I woke up with a strange tatto"; but in the Kidz Bop  version it is changed to "I woke up with a strange hair do"; lol. She also likes the Brave soundtrack. 

*Jason has been leaving Laneah sweet little notes in the morning. 

*She isn't very cuddly because she likes to be moving, but she does give lots of kisses. 

*Laneah's favorite new movie is "The Lorax" (aside from Brave of course, but that isn't on DVD yet). My parents bought the movie and it came with the Lorax's mustache. I think Laneah does a pretty good impression. 

*Laneah started gymnastics and it is great because she is the only one in the class so its like getting private lessons. Her teacher said she was a natural so I hope she sticks with it. 

*Laneah likes to make mail. She will draw on a piece of paper, stick it in an envelope and address it and then stick in the mailbox for the mail man. Also whenever we are home and the mail comes she runs out the door as fast as she can to get the mail and to thank the mail man. And of course ask him random questions about the mail:)

*Laneah still likes to paint, especially when she can paint herself. She is usually too busy to paint an actual picture and just paints the whole paper and moves on. 

*She started preschool and has been doing well. After orientation she had a little homework to bring to the first day of school. She was excited to do it but not a full minute into it she became extremely dramatic "Why do I have SO much homework all the time! I am SO sick of homework!" Seriously, school hadn't even started and it was a small activity. I am telling you again: teenager. But since then I just say her teacher gave her activities and she hasn't complained at all. 

Laneah is my funny and spunky little girl; aka teenager.

Brooklyn at 2 years, 8 months

Brooklyn has gotten so tall and has completely lost her toddler look. She honestly already looks like a 3 year old. 

*Brooklyn believes she is a princess. She will not wear anything except for dresses, tutus and princess shoes. 

And that includes bed time. She has to have a tutu on and wears her shoes to bed. She will let me take her shoes off once she is in bed and place them on the floor next to her. I kid you not, most mornings the first words out of her mouth are "mommy where shoes?" (Brooklyn getting ready for bed)

Since she only wants to wear tutus to bed I had to invest in some Disney store sleepwear. Our favorite is the tinkerbell one. She kept looking over her shoulder to see her "wings" and kept saying "I fying!" (flying)

*Some of my favorite things she says are "how doing?"; "aw wight" (alright); and "Otay"

*She has become extremely independent. When she gets hurt she wants me to know but doesn't want hugs or kisses anymore:( And she insists on doing everything herself. She used to want me to read to her all the time but now she looks at the books herself and says "I read it!".

*Brooklyn is really good with people's names, part of her social nature I guess. She is still working on getting Laneah's name and her name down. Laneah started off as "Naw", then "Neah" and now sometimes she says "Maneah". She calls herself something like "Buppin":)

*She hates being dirty. If there is a speck of dirt or a crumb on her finger or her outfit she has to get it off. If she spills or makes a mess or even sees a mess she wants it cleaned up right away. But even though she hates being dirty, she hates baths more. She screams and screams the whole time. Weird. 

*She is still a papa's girl. She had so much fun with her uncles too. 

*Before we left for our trip Brooklyn started showing signs of readiness for potty training but I didn't want to start before Disney so we started when we got home. She started off pretty good but then she just didn't want to sit anymore so I scrapped it. She wakes up with a dry diaper, wants me to change her as soon as she goes and hides when she goes poop. She just doesn't want to use the toilet so I will try again in a couple months. It didn't help that she still wanted to wear her princess dresses while potty training either:)

*She falls asleep really easily in the car so she takes little cat naps when we run errands. 

*She knows the basic colors by name and can identify objects that are blue, green and pink.

*Brooklyn had her first hair cut! And should I mention that the hairstylist was Laneah? Yes, Laneah cut Brooklyn's hair. I had some friends over and Laneah wanted to show off her new boots but they were still connected by string so I gave her a pair of scissors to cut them and then my friends had to leave. I walked them to the door and the next thing I know Brooklyn is running up to me screaming "ma (my hair! Ma hair!" I went into the living room and Laneah was frantically stuffing something underneath the couch with one hand with scissors in the other hand and a guilty expression. But wouldn't you know the little stinker still tried to deny it? I reached under the couch and sure enough my baby's beautiful precious locks were under there. Luckily it wasn't a lot and with curly hair you couldn't really tell where it was cut. Thank goodness her hair wasn't in a pony tail that day! 

*Brooklyn enjoys nature walks. She walks super slow and takes everything in. One day she discovered a caterpillar and was fascinated for a good 10 minutes. (You can see it crawling on her finger)

*Her favorite show is Team Umi Zoomi, which I love because it is all about math and has her counting all the way to 12.  And her new favorite movie is 101 Dalmatians, which she calls "puppy movie" and wants to watch 101 times a day, lol. 

*Brooklyn is still a picky eater and pretty much lives off of cheese sticks and fruit. 

*She still likes baby dolls and playing with food and having "picnics".

I can't believe how big my little girl is getting! She is such a little dainty and opinionated princess:)