During lunch today, Elizabeth looked at me and said "Mama, how do we know if people are real? If they're just standing there, how do we know if they're real?"

Cool. She's only 4 and already asking questions like this. And then I remembered the Haunted Hay Ride we were just on at Wilson Farms. A guy pretended to be a dummy and then jumped out and scared everyone. Elizabeth was speaking literally, "how do we know when people are real?".

oh, well : )

Danny and the kids at the annual CV trek to Honey Pot Hill Orchard. more pics

The kids had a blast at the Honk Parade in Davis Square. We took the bus over - easy. But the bus never showed up after the parade, so we walked all the way from Davis in Somerville to Arlington. Paige slept in the stroller but Elizabeth walked, skipped, hopped the whole way home. Her poor little knee blew up like a balloon two days later. Good thing - because this made us take her in and we found the LD.

2 year old check up results: Paige is perfect!

29 lbs 2 oz; 36"

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We love you,
Elizabeth & Paige
~~~

A few updates on Paige:
She could sing the full alphabet song and count to 10 before she turned 2. She's a super fast runner - as fast as E was at her age - and a good hopper. She loves to talk and can carry on a conversation.

Happy Birthday to Joey!
The kids had a blast at their buddy's party.

---

Paige is 2!

Please join us on Saturday, August 25th, to celebrate her big day.
10:00 am - 11:30 am
49 School Street, Arlington, MA 02476
781-643-5453

RSVP Linea at linea.rowe@gmail.com

We hope you can make it!
Linea, Danny, Elizabeth & Paige

Just a few recent pix to update this blog!

Paige and Elizabeth in the tub - March 2007

Celebrating Elizabeth's 4th birthday at Children's Village

Mom and Paige - April 2007....

Elizabeth 4 year appt stats

40.5" - 75th percentile
39.5 pds - 75-90th percentile

The right kind of praise

I've read several articles warning that too much praise and the wrong kind of praise can screw up your kids. They can become praise junkies who only do things to get a "good job!" or they might go the other way and become immune to praise, feeling that it's meaningless.

Here is an excellent article describing several research studies done on praise and how it impacts kids' self esteem and performance. The conclusion is to be specific and praise the effort. For example, I said "wow, you're so good at riding your bike" to E yesterday as she tried out her new 2-wheeler. I'll be more specific the next time we ride: "you worked really hard to pedal up that hill", "you figured out how to turn corners without tipping over". I hope this causes her to want to master more biking skills instead of plateauing because she's already good at it.

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

Tour de France champion in the making

We gave E a bike for her 4th birthday - a pink Trek with handlebar streamers and basket in the front. She jumped on and was racing around in minutes. It has a handbrake and she's already figured out how to go really fast and slam on the brake to make skid marks. She took a corner too fast and tipped right over - good thing she wears a helmet (also pink, of course, with little rabbits wearing tutus).

I love my new mac!

so does E - especially the PhotoBooth

Storynory

Free ipod ready stories for kids. Great site. http://www.storynory.com/

Preschooler accomplishments: solo bathroom visits and math

Oh yeah we did math with Elizabeth - adding and subtracting a few small numbers - she is grasping the concept! And another funny thing - she excused herself to the bathroom to poop, pee, wipe and wash all by herself!

Friendship and respect

Here's a question. Do you have to truly respect someone in order to consider them a close friend? And I don't mean a casual friend, I mean someone who you confide in and see yourself with for years. I say you do.

Paige sings all the time.

At almost 18 months, she can sing the beginning of ABC and Happy Birthday. She knows the tune of about 8 other songs (twinkle, itsy, ring around) and sings/babbles her way through. very cute. she often sings her self to sleep, sings when she wakes and in the car

her words are coming in fast and she's starting to put two together: "more water", "all done"

Elizabeth's wit

Paige is amost 18 mo but Elizabeth still refers to her as "my baby", like when she said to a woman in a cafe, "my baby is fast asleep in the stoller outside".

She wants a 2-wheel bike for her birthday and told me that she wants Danny and me to go out and get it while she stays home and "comforts Paige"


E was on the potty and needed some help. D went in and E said "I love you and Mommy both, but I want Mommy right now" - already the diplomat.

She uses "lovely" a lot. "It's a lovely day", "this is lovely music"

So many beautiful boobs!

E cracks me up. She went with me to the lingerie dept to return a bra. She was exploring and disappearing around the bra and panty racks. When we walked out of the department, she said, "I saw so many beautiful boobs!" (=bras)

In between bedtime books, she was whispering in my ear. "Why are you whispering, Elizabeth?". "So you can't hear me."

and later she was looking at a Maisy book that had butterflies, ladybugs, etc, etc. She said, "Momma, if a ladybug lands on the mouse's nose will she sneeze?".

We've had a pretty rough few weeks. Poor Paige keeps getting whopping colds that keep her (=us) up at night. Last Saturday night was a killer. Paige was up for most of the night and finally fell asleep at around 5:00. D and I, with only about 2-3 hours of sleep in our heads, were finally getting some zzzzs. Then at 6:00am I hear E drop out of bed, patter into the bathroom, "oh, no. I need sleep", and then i could hear her lift the seat, "oh, good, she's gonna pee on her own". And then, "Mommmmy!" and crying. Poor kid had to go but spent too much time trying to figure out the front/back of a skirt (at 6 am???) that she ended up peeing on the floor and was in tears. And to top if off, I turned on the light and saw that one of her yes was red and puffy with early pink eye. Ugh, what a morning.

Funny tidbits

E (while riding in the car): I just saw a pile of ostriches! (group of canadian geese)

After our new year's eve party
L: the kids had fun at our party
E: how do you know? cuz you saw all their faces smiling up?

Speaking of our new year's party - it was fun. We had about 30 people and a huge spread, tons of food, wine, and juice boxes. The 5 preschool girls ruled the house that night. They trudged up into E's room and came down in sparkly and wacky dress-up outfits. Maya in a snow white outfit topped with a bright red cowboy hat. E, oddly enough, choose to put on a flouncy white summer shirt and just her purple underwear - nothing else.

E: ever since she turned 3, she wants to wear dresses and skirts - exclusively. We can sometimes talk her into leggings for Tuesday gymnastics class, but that's about it. She's just as rough and tumble as the next kid - in fact, stronger and faster than most - but all while sporting something girly. Particular favs are skirts that swing out when she twirls around.

She's interested in disney princesses, but (thankfully) not obsessed. She doesn't run around in costume calling herself cinderella or arial, but likes us to read the stories. These are painful to read, really sappy and sooooo sexist. I always throw in a comment like, the girls have pretty dresses but they don't really do anything, do they? I'm sure this phase will pass but in the meantime, I want to find stories about girls who are more appealing/exciting to her than DW and shelia rae the brave - maybe stories about female superheros? hmmm

P: puts napkins/clothes over her face until we say "where's paige?", then she pulls it away and giggles. This can go on for quite a while

P: "bye-bye" then shuts herself in the pantry and closes the door

P: loves to lounge in chairs - little chairs and also climbs up into our chairs and just kicks back with one knee up