April 2-9

A story from Wednesday:
Kaitlyn was dressed in her own dress for a little while this morning.  She took it off and put on my skirt.  Took that off and put on a pair of Bryan's boxers.  Panicked when they got tangled, started hollering.  Finally removed those and put on one of Olivia's socks.  Rolled around on the floor yelling "no sock!" but refused to let me take it off.  I got it anyway, and was scolded for my efforts.  She went after the sock, saw her dress on the floor, and put that back on.  Got mad at the sleeves when thy didn't cooperate.  Spent two minutes crying about how her sleeves weren't right (they were).  Calmed down when Jacque called and I put the phone on speakerphone.  Is now playing nicely on the floor like she didn't just endure the biggest crisis of her life so far.  After breakfast update: Kaitlyn is naked again, but at least seems happy about it this time.

Kaitlyn is front facing in the car now.  She was getting to the point where she pushed her feet obnoxiously against the seat back while I was trying to buckle her, making it difficult to pull her straps tight.  Once we overcame that obstacle each trip, she seemed content to be facing backwards still.  She has also been trying to climb into her own seat lately, and that is easier when the seat is forwards, so I flipped her around shortly after her birthday.  The first forward facing car ride was one of wonderment as she noticed every detail through the front window.

Gretchen is getting quite independent.  Suddenly she can get her own drinks and find her own clothes in a basket of laundry.  If I can ensure that she's listening, she follows directions relatively well.  She takes care of Kaitlyn, watching to make sure she's not wandering away.  She stands up to Olivia's bossiness and isn't afraid to walk away if the game they're playing isn't worth it anymore.  She has ideas and stories and opinions of her own, and she will voice them.  Loudly.

Olivia can do double digit math.  It started as a game, one in which she tried to come up with a math problem that was hard for me to solve.  I was making her write all the problems down on a white board as she asked them, to help her practice writing double digit numbers.  After giving me a few problems, she asked Bryan one, and he promptly walked her through the steps of solving it herself.  She's to the point now where she can independently solve a simple double (or triple) digit addition problem as long as someone (or some graph) helps her line up the numbers vertically.  She can carry with assistance, but doesn't always get that part right if she's on her own.

Olivia is quite annoyed at the fact that she cannot see Hokya (Gretchen's imaginary friend).  She is constantly trying to pressure and/or trick Gretchen into admitting that Hokya is pretend.  Gretchen firmly stands her ground, stubbornly repeating that Hokya is NOT pretend, even though no one, including Gretchen, has ever seen her.

Ten is a magic age in our house.  All the best skills will magically be obtained at ten.  Shoes will be tied, bikes will be ridden without training wheels, games will be instantly playable.  Ten also comes with responsibilities.  It is that magic age when the girls will no longer forget to make their beds, when they will be able to listen to Mommy and Daddy the first time, when they will clean up without being asked.  I can hardly wait for ten to get here.

Kaitlyn pronunciations I want to remember:
Olivia: Olulah
Excuse me: Cue mes

Pictures:

Making sun catchers in school:

Driving the jeep outside:

Dance class:

Olivia and Gretchen coloring together:

Mommy and Kaitlyn:

Painting:

A maze:

Eating (and graphing) the rainbow with Elias: