Thursday Part I

"Today" began at 5:30 for Eliana and me.  I almost took a picture of the clock as well as some photots of that crazy girl playing while it was still dark outside.  She was actually up around 5:00, crying.  I ended up getting her and she didn't go back to sleep right then.  So, there we were in the schoolroom, checking out the myriad rubber animals we have that were strewn about on the floor.  She is a little scared of most of them (they are about as big as the palm of her hand) so it is kind of funny to watch her with them.  She scowls and scoots her foot away if they "approach" her. 

She finally went back to sleep for about 20 minutes and then we were all getting up and getting Christian ready for school.  He got there right at 8:15, which is great.  So Michaela and I were supposed to start in on some schoolwork, but alas, I was having trouble focusing my eyes on any one particular object.  And Eliana was ready for another nap.  Michaela settled down on the couch to read and Eliana and I dozed a little (for better or for worse) in our "green chair."  This nap, too, was short-lived, and Eliana was awake with her feet on the floor after about 30 minutes.  I had a little breakfast (second breakfast, in fact) and then we all got dressed in "regular" clothes.  (I think I'll see how many times I am able to use quotes in this post.)

We went into the schoolroom and Michaela had some trouble focusing on the task at hand (either getting dressed or getting started on her work).  And I have to admit, I was lackluster in my own attempts to "get down to business."  We watched Eliana play with her loopity ball blower:

which I have to confess is pretty funny.  She realized recently what happens when you put your face right over the hole that the balls pop out.  I wish I had been able to get a couple of pictures of expressions that just happened too fast.  But you get the drift. 

As I said, Michaela read about 100 books this morning.  Well, not really, but she had a lot of fun tearing through some of the Magic Tree House books.  She likes the stories (they are amusing tales of adventure) and she also likes that she can read one book quite quickly.  Here are the ones she's read since yesterday!

She also checked out the next American Girl book about Kit Kittredge and enjoyed reading that today as well.

I love to read myself (I am an open book, you know).  That's a joke, I mean that I also like to read, so it makes me SO happy that she loves to read too.  She's likely to pull down any number of the books we get for history and read through them, or sections of them, as well as "fun" stories.

Eliana continues to be one busy girl.  Her calendar is full from the beginning of each day to the very end.  She is very "climby" these days, and this is what I caught her doing when I went from the living room into the kitchen to throw something in the trash and then back into the living room: 

She remains one of the funniest little things I've seen.   I said,"How big is Eliana?" and she threw her hands up in the air.  That last picture cracks me up.  Does anyone remember me saying she's persistent?  Hmmm...still so. 

Eliana has also begun pretending with toys.  She will take a toy muffin and pretend bite it, then offer me some.  She also "feeds the baby."  It is so fun and sweet to watch.

  She has a spoon at the baby's mouth here.

  This is often how I put her into her own high chair; she learns a lot from my example.

  She has a plan, and the baby has to take another seat...

  It seemed like a good idea...

  but as nimble as she is, she couldn't quite figure this one out.

She did run out of steam and at 2:00 I was able to put her in her bed (with very little fussing about it) and she went to sleep in there instead of on me.  Anyone who knows our crazy sleep habits knows this is a BIG deal.  While she was sleeping I was able to spend some time just with Christian and it was great!  We had fun with a sticker activity book.  He made up a "game" in which he would pull off a bunch of stickers (10 or so) and hand them out to the both of us.  Then we would flip through the pages and he would ask,"Do you see anything on this page," or something similar.  Here are some pictures of that time, and I was taking them myself so please excuse how weird they are.

Christian wanted to get in on the picture-taking action so I let him take a few.  Here is what he did.

We went to the playground; it was a BEAUTIFUL day.  The kids had a blast running around.  We even saw some friends there, which always adds to the fun.

We ended our day at California Pizza Kitchen, where we met some friends for dinner.  Yum!

Due to technical difficulties, this post will be in two parts.  We had a busy, full, exciting, fun day.  Thanks for taking a peek!