Bonus Post: Sound Bites 17

Me, to Olivia after she wrote a page of zeros: Which one do you think is the best zero?
Olivia: I like the one that looks like a banana.
Me: It does look like a banana, but it does not look like a zero.
Olivia: Well, it is my best one.

Olivia: All my humans keep falling down the hole!

Kaitlyn, running toward the curtains: Hiding!  Daddy, hiding!
Me: She's hiding, you have to start counting.
Bryan, covering his eyes: Oh.  1, 2, 3...
Kaitlyn, covering her eyes: 3, 4.  Found you!
Bryan: ...
Me: You're so bad at this game.

Gretchen: This looks weird to my mouth!

Olivia: Want to play mommy and daddy?
Gretchen: Of course!

Gretchen: Mommy, is Jesus real?
Me: Yes, he's real.
Gretchen: Why does he not do the things I ask him to?
Me: What did you ask him to do?
Gretchen: I asked him to turn this Barbie's dress purple.

Olivia:  I am not going to be 100, I will stop at one of the other numbers.
Gretchen: You will be 100!  Mommy, can we be 100?
Me: If you have enough birthdays, you will be 100.
Olivia: But I am not going to keep getting older, I am just going to get presents.

Kaitlyn: What is daddy?
Me: I don't know, what is daddy?
Kaitlyn: A spoon.

Gretchen: Daddy, you are a tired old man.

January 29-February 19

A strictly visual post this week.

Pictures and Videos:

December 11 (2016)-January 29

I used to be so on top of blog updates...  Ah well, life happens.  Sound bite and pictures are the most important things to me right now, so I try to get those up once a month or so.  I would also like to periodically note things the girls are doing, though.

If you didn't get a Christmas letter yet, it's coming.  My blog is not the only place I'm behind.  :)  The letter is written, addressed, and (hopefully, by the time this post goes live) stamped and mailed.

Here are some long overdue updates.

Kaitlyn:
-She talks all the time now.  All of what she says is understood by her.  75% of it is understood by me.  25-50% is understood by others, depending on their toddler-speak skills.
-Words worth noting: bless you, you're welcome, hey! (always in an offended what-do-you-think-you're-doing tone), I want to!, hold you, my turn
-She runs and plays and interacts with the big girls.  She whines and tattles like one twice her age.
-She dislikes being told "no," and will preemptively tell me to "go play!" when she thinks I'm going to stop her from doing something fun.
-If I can catch her in the right mood, she'll make faces with me, one of us mirroring the expressions of the other one.
-She's very interested in the potty.  She sits probably five times a day, but so far hasn't performed.  Any attempts to catch her in the act in order to put her on the potty just result in her freezing up and then filling a diaper past capacity twenty minutes later.  :/

Gretchen:
-She has two pairs of sunglasses that she likes to wear.  One pair is her seeing glasses, the other is her sunglasses.  Often both pairs are worn together.
-She enjoys her alone time.  At least once a day I find her playing happily by herself, despite her sisters' best efforts to draw her into their games.
-She's very interested in knowing the proper names for things.  Olivia will just describe things (the thing that I got for Christmas, that game where our humans run and punch), but Gretchen learns the names (iPad and Raskulls, for the above examples) and uses them.

Olivia:
-She's getting pretty good at games.  She knows several card games and recently learned a real live video game in which she can almost beat her mother.
-She discovered legos.  She got two lego building sets for Christmas and put them together all by herself.  Bryan is very happy/proud and a little bit teary/sentimental.
-I made a number line on the floor out of masking tape and she can add using the line.  We're working on subtracting, but she doesn't quite have the terminology yet.
-She is very frustrated by Gretchen's solo play.  When Sophia is here it doesn't matter as much, because Sophia and Olivia can play together.  At other times, though, if Gretchen isn't willing to play then I have to deal with Olivia whining about how no one will play with her.

What we've been up to:
-The cookie walk happened.  I think I even mentioned it.  We baked a lot of cookies, we sold a lot of cookies, we're done until next year.  :)
-Orchestra took over my life for a little while there.  I had four concerts in December and just finished up a January one.  Now I'm back to the usual one a month.
-Christmas was busy.  The whole family (plus Zach) came for a week and our house was delightfully full.  The normal number of people for dinner was 18, although it fluctuated due to extra visitors that stopped by to visit everyone.  One night mom and I made a quadruple batch of Mexican Chicken to feed 28 mouths.
-Sarah, Elesha, and I got together one Sunday afternoon to prep crockpot freezer meals.  Each of us now has 20 crockpot meals in the freezer waiting to be used.  Well, less than twenty, because we've been using them.  :)  It went really well, and only took us 5 hours from arrival to departure, including clean-up, dinner, and three minutes of a football game.  That comes out to 15 minutes per meal, which isn't bad at all, especially considering that this was our first try.  We already have ideas for improving our efficiency.  We're hoping to find some lent-friendly recipes for next time.

Miscellaneous other stuff:
-We borrowed a scale to weigh boxes of books for dad, and the girls love it.  Olivia is 44 pounds, and she's very disappointed that it's always the same.  Gretchen weighs 35 pounds, but the scale almost always registers 33 and then 35, so she proudly proclaims that she's 3-3-5!  Kaitlyn weighs 27 pounds.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 16

Olivia: Last night I had a dream that I picked Kaitlyn up by her feet and dropped her and then her face turned into paper.  Sometimes I dream when I am awake.  When I am awake and I dream that there is a spider then it goes into my heart, but when I am asleep it is just a dream.

Kaitlyn: I want Let It Go!
Me: I'm coming.
Kaitlyn: I need Let It Go!
Me: This IS Let It Go.  Be quiet and don't mess up your jam!
Gretchen: Jam?!
Olivia: What is jam?
Me: In this case it's music, but normally it's jelly.
Bryan: English is stupid.
Me: It could also be a traffic blockage!

Olivia: The snow got tired of standing, so it decided to lay down and fell on the ground.

Toddler/Preschool Questions that I stole from Justine:
~What is your name?
O: Olivia
G: Gretchen
~How old are you?
O: 5
G: 3 (free)
~When is your birthday?
O: Um, I don't remember, mommy.  I keep forgetting my birthday.
Me: Do you know what month?
O: August?
Me: It is August.  Do you know what number?
O: 12?
Me: 3.
G: Three.
~How old is Mommy?
G: 5? 9?  I don't know.
O: 9.
Me: 9?!
G: 28.
O: 30.
G: Twentythirty.
O: No, 30!
G: Mommy, you are twentythirty, right?
Me: No, I'm just 30.
O: I was right!
G: Oh, yeah.
~How old is Daddy?
O: 30!
G: 30!
~How old is Kaitlyn?
G: 1
O: 1
~What is your favorite color?
G: Blue
O: Pink
G: All the colors!  My favorite color is blue, pink, red...
O: Wait, *singing* Red, pink, yellow, orange, blue...  *speaking* That's a good song.
~What is your favorite food?
O: Macaroni and cheese.
G: Macaroni and cheese.
~Who is your best friend?
O: Eva and Sophia
G: Sophia
~What is your favorite movie?
O: I do not know what my favorite movie is yet.  I will tell you when I know.
G: My favorite movie is Cinderella.
O: My favorite movie is Sleeping Beauty.
G: Mine, too!
O: You said Cinderella.
G: No, I have a favorite movie that is Cinderella AND Sleeping Beauty.
~What is your favorite song?
O: *sings the Ariel song* Ah ah aah, ah ah aah...  Ariel's!
G: *imitates Olivia*
~What is your favorite animal?
O: I don't know.
G: Giraffe.  And my favorite animal is camel!
O: Bird.
Me: A particular kind of bird, or just any bird?
O: Just any bird.
~What makes you happy?
O: Don't know.
G: A camel would make me happy and excited.
Me: Anything else?
G: ...And a giraffe would make me happy and excited.
O: Going to grandma and grandpa's house.
G: What else would make you happy.
O: Only one thing makes me happy.
G: Everything makes me happy.
~Where is your favorite place to go?
O: Don't know.
G: Grandma and Grandpa's!
O: Going to the zoo.
G: Olivia likes grandma and grandpa's.
O: I like both.
~What do you want to be when you grow up?
O: For Halloween?
Me: No, when you are a big person like mommy and daddy.
G: Um, I want to be a giraffe for Halloween.
O: I want to be a ballet teacher.  Gretchen, you actually have to pick what you're going to be when you grow up, not for Halloween.
G: A giraffe for Halloween!
O: That wasn't what she was talking about!
Me: Gretchen, what do you want to be when you're big like mommy and daddy?
G: A lion.
O: Ugh!  You could be a doctor.
G: No, a lion.
O: It's not supposed to be an animal.  You're supposed to be something like a teacher, or a ballet teacher, or a doctor, or a store guy.
G: Don't tell me what I can be!
O: I'm just trying to give you ideas.
G: *covers her ears*
O: Actually, I'm not going to be that.  Uh, I'm going to be a store guy instead.
~What is the meaning of love?
G: *laughing* I don't know.
O: I don't know what that means.
Me: What do you think love means?
O: I don't know!  You have to find a prince you love.  Is that what it means?
Me: Hmm, what does it mean that mommy loves you?
O: I don't know.  That you would keep me?
Me: I would keep you.  That's not really what it means, though.
O: This is a hard question.
Me: How do you know that mommy and daddy love you?
O: I don't know.
G: Because... I know!  Daddy told me that he loves me and that you love me.
Me: Do you love mommy and daddy and your sisters?
O: Yes.
G: Yup.
Me: How do you know?
O: 'Cause I just do!
Me: How do you show it?
O: 'Cause I just do!

December 4-11

In case you haven't been checking religiously because my posting has been spotty of late, there was a post last week.  And also a bonus post on my birthday.  That's right, this is the third post in December.  You may have some catching up to do.  :)

Kaitlyn words: ouchie, owl, this, wait, I know you, leg, jammies, dress, fast, car, dog, want, need, water, coming, come, uh-oh, oops, dance

When Kaitlyn is getting into something and doesn't want to be disturbed, she says, "No!  Go play!"  When she gets caught doing something she's not supposed to be doing, she says, "Stop!  Wait!" and then yells a string of words that I don't understand.  When she feels she's committed an indiscretion (which could be as simple as running the wrong way to put her pajamas in the dirty clothes), she says "Sorry!"  (sah-see)  The only acceptable response to this is "You're forgiven," even if she did nothing wrong.  If she doesn't hear those words, she will continue saying "Sah-see!" at increasingly louder volumes.

'Tis the concert season, and I've been concerting.  Last week I played the Messiah with Bluffton University.  This week was the Lima Symphony Christmas concert.  Next week I have a gig in Adrian, MI.  Ironically, I believe it's with a semi-professional orchestra of a similar level to Lima, so if I'd turned 30 one week later I could have crossed number 10 off my list without even messing with an explanation of how I was counting it even though I didn't technically accomplish the stated goal.

Pictures:

Bonus Post: The End of 30 Before 30

Well, I'm 30, so what's done is done and what's not is not.  The idea of this list was to balance my life somewhat, and in that respect I think it did well, even though I didn't finish everything on it.

1. Genuinely surprise Bryan at least once. February 15, 2014
2. Record the psalms.  --Siblings, when are we going to do this?  --Jacob and I have started this project.  We've recorded about 25 psalms with just the two of us.  I'm hoping to rope Jacque into some recording while she's around more these next few months.  --This remains unfinished.  I'd still like to do it, though, someday...
3. Run a sub-2:00 half marathon. April 6, 2014.  1:54:30
4. Sell at least one thing I've made (at the Farmer's Market or on Etsy).  --May 17, 2014.  Steph and I set up an Etsy account and my first order was for the matching squares that I made William for Christmas.
5. Learn Spanish. --I listen to Spanish CDs while I run on the treadmill, so I'm making progress here.  --Progress has slowed since my race in April ended my daily treadmill runs.  I need to get motivated to keep learning.  --Progress has picked up again, thanks to smartphones and the duolingo app.  --Progress has slowed again.  I need to just start using Spanish for a set amount of time each day.  :/  --I tried to convince Jacque to come live with me so that she could speak Spanish to us all the time.  Does that count for anything?  --This also did not happen.  I have labels in my house in English (for the girls) and Spanish (for me), I have a few chapter books in Spanish to read, I have some Spanish language CDs that I never listen to, and I still have a desire to be fluent enough in Spanish to speak to my kids and have them pick it up effortlessly.
6. Record all 6 cello suites.  --This goal seems unlikely to be achieved, but I do have plans to record at least one suite, which is a start.  --Well, I recorded the first suite (for a camp gift), but that's as far as I got.  I've never even learned the fifth or sixth suites, although I did start working on number 6 in my one viola lesson that I had recently.
7. Sew Christmas and/or Easter dresses for the girls. --I have patterns! I'm waiting until the girls are bigger to make them.  --This will happen for the upcoming Easter.  --April 30, 2016
8. Minimize (eliminate?) the need for disposable products in our house.  --Jacque says I've made it.  The only disposable product we use consistently is toilet paper, and I'm okay with that.  Every now and again Bryan feels the need to buy paper products for when we host a party, and I'm okay with that, too.
9. Have a compost pile.  --We have a bucket that we've begun collecting scraps in and the pile is growing.
10. Play with at least 2 professional orchestras.  --I play with Lima, and I'm looking for auditions with other orchestras.  --I was contacted by the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra to play with them.  Unfortunately, I'm already busy the days they need me.  I'm hoping that this means they'll contact me again, though.  :)  --I've gotten a few paying gigs with college orchestras that need extra musicians.  Does that count?  --I consciously decided not to pursue this one any more.  I have been paid to play with more than one group, and I play regularly with the Lima Symphony.  Springfield, Dayton (a small stretch), and Indianapolis (a big stretch) all had auditions this past fall that I considered going to, but I realized that if I got the positions it would be more inconvenient than anything due to the amount of travel required.  All things considered, I decided to postpone this dream until the kids are grown up and I'm bored in my house.  :)  I AM crossing it off still, due to the college orchestras and the thought process.
11. Go 7 days in a row without letting my temper get the better of me. February 14-21, 2014 I'd gotten 6 days in a row a couple of times and then finally made it 7 (nine, actually). I'm finding it easier to take deep breaths and move on, and I have a chart to keep track of my progress. Next goal: three weeks. That's how long it takes to form a habit, right?
12. Make an honest attempt at clean eating/real food. I've done some research and tried some substitutes and reached a comfortable point. Do I care enough to use butter instead of margarine? Yes. Do I care enough to buy coconut oil regularly? No. Whole grain noodles and brown rice most of the time? Yes. Completely eliminate sugar? No. Homemade bread? Yes. Whole wheat bread? Sometimes. But often I appreciate the airiness that I can only achieve with a little bit of white flour.
13. *Skipped because knowledge by some of my readers could skew the results.* April 5, 2014  --This goal was to make a dish that my in-laws liked enough to request again.  Bryan's mom now has (and uses) my recipes for mac and cheese and lasagna, and they've requested a couple of other things.  :)
14. Go on an overnight vacation with just our family.  --We're thinking this summer.  --July 11-12, 2016
15. Grow a garden.  My garden is progressing nicely, although technically we haven't seen any actual vegetables yet since they still have a month or so before they reach maturity.  The leaves look beautiful and healthy, though!  --Summer 2014
16. Write a book. --Dad has suggested several times that I draw from my blog to complete this goal.  I have not written a book based on my blog, but I did find a website that will print a bound version of my blog and I decided to order a volume for each year of writing.  I now have four hard copies of various sections of my blog and intend to continue to get one for each coming year.
17. Sew a skirt that becomes my favorite. --July 4, 2016
18. Volunteer to host campout. --We tried to do this for 2016 campout (and even thought we'd succeeded), but apparently we didn't tell all the right people, so someone else is doing 2016.  We will be trying again for 2017.  :)  --Success, at least as far as I know.  I'm pretending that we succeeded and have started vaguely considering where to host 2017 campout.
19. Go through RCIA. Edit: Arrange to talk to a Catholic priest several times.  RCIA won't answer the questions I have.  --What if I just become pen pals with the Pope?  --This was a 100% fail, although I have read a lot of books.
20. Attend Seekers' Group (similar to RCIA, offered by the Orthodox church in Lima).  --Bryan and I are attending this every Tuesday and I have no reason to believe we'll quit before it's finished.  --We've started twice and haven't finished only because the group keeps disbanding before we make it all the way through the material.  I've been going for over a year now and intend to continue going until we've finished the book, so I'm crossing this off.
21. Complete at least 3 things on my (ever growing) Projects List.  --I think I finished one, but now I can't remember what it is!  --I have an Advent Calendar that is halfway done.  I'm also planning a music program for the kids in our parish.  Now perhaps when I finish those I will remember to count them.  :)  --I finished one: The church has a lending library as of July 17, 2016  --The one I couldn't remember was the growth chart that I have hanging near the girls' room.  Silhouettes were also on my list, and I finished those as well.  That's three!
22. Start a soup kitchen.  --There is a flourishing soup kitchen in Lima already, but I'm working on getting together a Supper and Psalms with a goal of ultimately hosting it once a month.  --I keep having new plans for a way to somewhat implement this idea.  I'm hoping one will work out soon.  --Okay, what is actually within my reach right now is to set up a Blessings Box.  I haven't done it yet, despite my intentions to do so.  I'm not crossing it off, but I do hope to get it done before turning 31.  Bryan has said he'll help me.  :)
23. Make pectin-free jam. Make up the recipe.  --August 18, 2014.  I made peach jam with almond and nutmeg.
24. Go on an overnight vacation with Bryan -- no kids. --September 25-28, 2014
25. Use up all the coupons Bryan gave me (I still have some from when we were dating). --Slowly but surely coming along.  --Only three left!  --Now only one!  --Finally used the last one (from four months of dating) on December 5, 2016.  Talk about cutting it close.  :)
26. Learn one of the 3 big concertos. --I have music for two of these. Now I just have to practice.  --Practice is not happening as much as it should. at all. :(  --I got bowings for the Walton from Steph and we talked about learning it together, but that is the extent of our progress.  --My aforementioned viola lesson also got me working on the Hindemith.  If I have the time and drive to practice, I will eventually complete this goal.
27. Arrange a regularly recurring get-together with the Lima folk.  --Second Thursday of each month is "go to Lima" day.  We've successfully done this two months in a row, so I'm crossing it off.
28. Have a religious conversation with Bryan that doesn't end in tears.  --July 27, 2014.  Nothing was solved, but I didn't cry.
29. Make a new friend.  --Why did I put this on my list?!  --I have new friends! ...Kind of.  There are three couples we've gotten together with more than once in recent months.  Add to that the fact that I've become better friends with people I didn't know as well when  I made this list, and I'm counting it.  --Summer 2016
30. Improve a stranger's day.  --I sent a book to one of dad's new parishioners and then realized that now I get to cross something off this list!
31. (Because I thought of one more and it kind of fits in with several of the above goals) Join a co-op.  --It turns out that I AM a co-op.  I organize the buying of bulk foods and distribute them to others.  I'm counting it.

November 13-December 4

Kaitlyn went to the doctor forever ago.  Actually, we all went, prompting the doctor to comment on the number of wiggly little girls in the room (5, because we had Sophia and Evalynn with us).  Only Kaitlyn had an appointment, though.  She was at the time 25 pounds and 33.5 inches tall.  She is undoubtedly bigger now.

We made "About Me" books in school and one of the pieces of information was weight.  Unfortunately for the books, we don't own a scale.  BUT, we did have (at the time) four five-pound bags of flour and some planks of wood!  I had the brilliant idea of making a balance scale and weighing Kaitlyn using sacks of flour, weighing Gretchen using Kaitlyn and flour, and weighing Olivia using Gretchen and flour.  Sadly, our planks of wood were not of the sturdy variety, and they bent rather than balancing, so our experiment was a bust.  :(  The next time we visited Grandma and Grandpa, we hopped on their actual scale.  Incidentally, Olivia is 40 pounds and Gretchen is 33.

New Kaitlyn words: See you in the morning, Grandma, Evalynn (Evah or Ella), dessert, candy, fork, I don't know, sorry, forgiven, see, yummy (nummy), pretty

Olivia has done some real, live math!  I had the girls count raisins into numbered circles and Olivia whizzed through with no trouble.  As I helped Gretchen and Sophia count recognize numbers and count raisins, I put Olivia to work using her raisins to add a page of problems that I'd written down.  She did great, and I was very excited.  :)  She's also beginning to read, when we remember to work on it.  The biggest problem is that she is very good at memorizing and/or guessing the words in the early readers, so she doesn't actually have to read to get the words right.  She sounds things out well, but still has trouble stringing the sounds together into a word that she recognizes.  And when I say she has trouble, I really mean that she can't do it at all yet.  She'll get better.

Gretchen likes to do "tricks" for us.  She holds onto the edge of the table and then stands on one foot.  She puts two hands and one foot on the ground and sticks the other foot in the air.  She braces herself between the couch and the end table, gets up on one tip-toe, and swings the other foot back and forth.  So much talent.  Her balance is getting better, especially since she started ballet.  And speaking of ballet, she also shows anyone who will watch her ballet moves that she's learned.

We hosted the midwest family thanksgiving at our house this year.  Tom, Donna, Kara, Jacob, Zach, Ted, Ruth, Carolyn, and Jacob all came.  Jacque and Will were thinking about coming, but ended up visiting Will's family instead.  I suppose that is acceptable.  I borrowed a roaster from church for the 21 pound turkey and we put both leaves in the dining room table.  The little girls had to sit at their kid-sized card table, which they did not mind at all.  We ate delicious food, played euchre and 7 Wonders, and enjoyed everyone's company.  Zach and Jacob stayed for a few more days, which was nice.

Bryan turned 30 recently.  He feels no different, although he did suffer an unfortunate losing streak in all games (quite unusual for him) for about a week.  Many jokes were made about his senility.  This does mean that my 30th birthday is quickly approaching.  My final 30 Before 30 post will go up on my birthday.

The church cookie walk happened yesterday.  We had two all-day baking days in November and several late nights this past week getting everything ready, but it's (mostly) over now.  A few more pounds of cookies are being baked to finish filling preorders, but then we're done for another year.

I volunteered to host campout in 2017, thinking when I volunteered two years ago that July 2017 was probably pretty safe, baby-wise.  Justine did some math, too, and decided she could help me.  As the time drew nearer and pregnancies failed to appear sufficiently early, we made jokes about being at camp, come babies or broken water.  It turns out that we will, indeed, be at camp come babies AND broken water.  Justine is due July 2 and I'm due July 12 (incidentally, my sister-in-law, Keshia, is due July 17).  Camp is July 25.  The good news is that camp this year is only half an hour from my house.  Also, now mom, dad, and James don't have to choose between coming to camp or to a baptism.  They can just come at the same time for both!  I'm trying to convince Justine that she wants to have her baby's baptism at the same time, and we'll kill 3 birds with one stone.  :)

Pictures and Videos:

Bonus Post: Sound Bites 15

Gretchen, to a woman we've never seen before: When I see people I don't know I am shy at them and I don't know you.

Me: Do you like the Cubs or the Indians?
Girls: The Cubs!
Me: Yeah!
Bryan: I like the Indians.
Gretchen: Mommy, which one do you like?
Me: The Cubs.
Gretchen: Go Indians!

Olivia: Open destiny!

Gretchen: Your days are over, Kaitlyn.

Olivia: We were just discussing that.

Gretchen, pointing to a knife: Daddy, will that part get us, too?
Bryan: Yes.
Gretchen: And it will sting us and get red on us?

Olivia: That was not useful, Kaitlyn.

Me: I love you.  Do you know that?
Gretchen: I know everything except how my socks and shoes go.

Gretchen: What should I do with my towel from my popcorn because I'm done with it?
Me: Just hold it on your lap until we get to Grandma and Grandpa's house and then I'll take it from you.
Gretchen: No, we don't take!

Gretchen: I think my kisses are three months old now.

*Gretchen farts.*
Bryan: What do you say?
Gretchen: I was the one who farted.

Kaitlyn: Daddy.  Daddy!
Bryan: Kaitlyn!
Kaitlyn: What?

Gretchen calls hummus "thomas."

*in line to kiss the cross after liturgy*
Olivia: No one asked me to marry them.  Why doesn't anyone ever ask me to marry them?

November 27

October 23-November 13

Gretchen is in ballet now.  We had started just Olivia and decided that Gretchen could begin in a couple of years.  The dance teacher told us about a class for younger children and we declined.  But.  Most of the little girls in Olivia's dance class are closer to Gretchen's age than to Olivia's.  They all took the younger class last year and then moved up to this one, age notwithstanding.  Sophia, the older of the two girls I babysit, is less than a week older than Gretchen and she's in this class.  After a few weeks of dropping off Olivia and Sophia (but not Gretchen), sweet little Gretchy was happily resigned to her fate.  She never whined or complained, just cheerfully told people that she would get to go to ballet when she turned five.  One morning, though, she put on a dress-up tutu on the way out the door.  I decided to ask Miss Lyn how much it would be to add Gretchen to the same class.  Gretchen was allowed to stay for the day, just to see how she did.  Miss Lyn even had an extra tutu and tap shoes to give her.  Oh, the excitement.  She did fine, Bryan and I talked, and now Gretchen is in dance class, too.

Parents got to come watch the last part of dance class on Nov. 1.  I will have videos up someday.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but Olivia no longer uses a five-point harness in the car.  She has surpassed the weight requirement for the harness in her particular high backed booster, so she uses the regular seat belt with her booster seat now.  Much to her delight, this means she is virtually guaranteed the title of "Fastest Buckler" every time we get in the car.

Words Kaitlyn says: Grandpa (Papa), Mommy, Daddy, Gretchen (Gaga), please, thank, want, car, shoe, sock, arm, nose, uh-oh, more, that, this, drink (nank), take, where, why, Kaitlyn (Kay), mercy, open, floor, drop, blanket (bangnan), bum, stop, see, food, don't, go, bite, bad, cry

Kaitlyn's first sentence: I want drink.
Kaitlyn's second sentence: She take my shoe.

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