Roller skating brings up an interesting aspect to Eliana's personality: she is verrrry cautious/hesitant/shy. She is 100% happy to watch and miss out on things. She is only three, but still, she doesn't join in or want to try things right away, or sometimes at all. Her first reaction when offered something new is to try to get as far away as possible. I think she needs lots of time to evaluate what the new thing (petting a horse, hitting a pinata, roller skating, etc.) is going to be like. She doesn't like a lot of attention directed her way, and she is okay to watch things and not try them, or not try them at first. She said she wouldn't roller skate before we left our house, when I wasn't even sure she knew what roller skating was, she said she wouldn't when we got there, I thought she might want to try after a minute of watching and got her some skates, but she didn't want them anywhere near her. She did warm up a bit so as to walk around the rink in her flip flops, and she did the Limbo game with Adessa quite happily. So maybe in a few trips she'll be ready to try. Funny.
Annea is a drooler. I've actually come to need all the bibs I've hoarded for years, that Adessa and Eliana never used. She is sweet and easy going still, most of the time. The other night I had a hard time getting her to sleep, the same difficulty as every time I tried to get Eliana to sleep. First of all I thought maybe that the charmed first three months were over and now she was going to be more difficult, and then I realized and appreciated exactly how easy she's been. When she's tired, she goes to sleep, when hungry she eats. Sometimes she fusses when she needs to burp. She's awesome. And hopefully she stays that way, as all my confidence and joy about three kids being easy is directly proportional to how easy Annea has made it. Keep up the good work, baby!
*Adessa is ready for kindergarten, I'm sure. I brought home stacks of scratch paper at the end of the school year for the girls to color on. Adessa and Eliana have spent HOURS drawing and cutting and making a huge mess of our dining room. They make puppets, trace things, and try to write. Adessa has been hunting around the house for words written in capital letters. When she finds a capital-lettered word, she writes it down and then proudly displays her writing and asks us what it says. Her latest words and phrases: COLLECT THEM ALL, WARNING. AVERTISSEMENT, and EVERYBODY NEEDS A ROCK. So funny. For the most recent clever creation she traced her stuffed bird, cut it out, drew the defining lines (where the seams were on the plush one), and then added 3-D wings that actually flap. She made her bird a paper nest with eggs in it, a baby bird, a bird feeder, and a worm. She then put on a puppet show for us behind the couch.
Precious pictures with Eema.
Annea, sporting the first clippie Adessa ever got, the clippie that started it all. Also she's sporting a bib, as we have a drooler. One drooler out of three isn't too bad. And finally having a drooler reinforces my hoarding tendencies, since I saved tons of bibs through our two non-droolers, "Just in case!"
Relaxing in the back yard with scrumptious baby girl.
Annea is taking shape.
Roller Skating:
Hang on tight, Laurel! We quickly learned that opened toed shoes were not the thing to wear near uncoordinated beginning skaters. Ouch!
Adessa playing "Hokey Pokey".
Eliana and Adessa playing "Limbo". Note Eliana's flip flops.
Swimming lessons. Paddle, paddle, paddle!
I'm always trying to get a good picture of them. Its not easy.
From camera-phone pictures, not great quality, but capturing the essence just fine.
Annea is absolutely shocked by whatever it is Auntie Laurel is reading!
Skypark tube-slide static electricity-wonder:
