Time for Change

I know the word "change" is synonymous with the president but I'm talking about a different kind of change here.  On Tuesday I celebrated my 34th birthday and Duncan was kind enough to surprise me with a facial and a hair cut/color at a nice salon.  Usually I go to Super Cuts or something like that so it's always a treat to go somewhere with a little more class!  Anyway, I had been thinking about cutting my hair for awhile so this seemed like the perfect time to do it.  The last time I got this much cut (probably a good 6 or 7 inches at least) was in 2003.  I can't say I'm totally crazy about it but it does make washing, drying, and combing a lot faster so I'm grateful for that.  My hair does seem to grow quickly (the hairdresser, who I would say looked a lot like a balding Bono, attributed it to the prenatal vitamins) so I figure if I really don't like it, it won't be around for long anyway.

I knew that when I wrote several weeks ago that neither of the girls had been sick (at least I think I wrote that), that it wasn't the best of ideas.  Sure enough, they both came down with something.  Calleigh had a temp for a couple of evenings last week and then a small runny nose.  Aubree hasn't had a temp but has had a drippy nose and a bit of a cough.  All and all, it hasn't been very bad but it has been enough that we've avoided contact with other kids this week.  I do hope we will be in church tomorrow though.  I hate to have them miss Sabbath School!

This week started off with my family still in town.  We enjoyed our visit with them despite the circumstances that brought them here.  We had a nice picnic on Sabbath afternoon at Lake Lily and then Saturday night we ate and played games at our place.  The big hit was charades.  It's particularly entertaining to watch the generation over 60 trying to act out the words.  I could watch my mother all night!  I discovered a website that will create charade words for you (for a small one time fee) and then you just print them off.  So that was really nifty.   The only downside of the weekend was that Calleigh was bitten by a small dog on Sunday.  I'll skip the name to protect the innocent.  There were two small puncture wounds but fortunately the dog is up to date on its rabies shot so all seems to have ended well with that.  

Calleigh with Uncle Ricky...

Aubree with Uncle Kenny...

Aubree has been up to a few new things.  I advanced her to Stage 2 food recently. I usually mix half a jar of it with rice or oatmeal.  I also tried giving her an Earth's Best Wheat Teething Biscuit.  She didn't do much with it except suck on it but that's all I expected at this point. She seems to once again to not be interested in the bottle.  I've been gone a few times recently and she's barely drunk any of the bottle - - which has greatly annoyed me because then I have to throw it away (I probably could keep it if she were going to have the bottle again very soon but usually I don't need the bottle for her again for at least a couple of days and I don't want to save it until then).  Fortunately when she hasn't taken it, I've returned home fairly soon after and have been able to nurse her.  So who knows what the meaning of this is.  The other thing is that she's now taking a bath without me in there too.  I'm happy to just be on the sidelines once again.

Aubree's 8 Month picture

Calleigh is still the same old Calleigh.  I asked her yesterday about wearing diapers and when did she think she would want to start wearing underwear and going to the bathroom on the potty.  She thought for a minute and answered "I think when I'm a teenager."  Oh dear.  We're in trouble.  

My mother has emphasized to me (at least) several times about how I knew all of my letters when I was two.  I have no idea exactly how many months I was past two when I had that skill but I probably have less than four months remaining for Calleigh to measure up to the toddler me.  This evening Duncan was going through some letter flash cards that Calleigh had dumped all over the floor while the adults were eating (we had people over).  I think he was pleasantly surprised at how many she knows.  I would say she knows at least 75% of the letters.  The hard ones appear to be 'D', 'U,' 'V',Y,' and 'Q'.  She knows the numbers 1 - 9 although admittedly, '6' and '9' give her a bit of trouble from time to time.  We had her count to 20 which I think she's done before but this time she managed to slip in a 'twenty teen' after fifteen.  So I think it may be a work in progress with that.  She's been able to spell her last name for months and will rattle it off in a half second flat.  Her first name?  Yes, I know we are terrible parents for spelling it in a convoluted manner.  But she almost knows how to spell it.   

Calleigh is obsessed with grapes at the moment.  Anyone know what age you can stop cutting up grapes for your toddler?  I've started giving Calleigh the grapes right on the vine and she loves them eating them that way.  Now she wants grapes after every meal.   

This week Calleigh discovered that Aubree fits into her little wagon.  She pulls Aubree around in it (with me firmly holding on to Aubree) and Aubree laughs and laughs - - especially when Calleigh gets going quickly and Aubree starts falling out.

Calleigh loves to put her mouth on Aubree.  A few times teeth have been involved - - don't know if it's on purpose or by accident.