I can not believe what a kind and thoughtful heart my two year old has. She was racing her uncle Nate, who ALWAYS lets her win but she decided that she had won enough and "let" him win a few times. It is the sweetest thing to see a little girl try to lose to someone who is trying to let her win. I'm so proud of her for being such a considerate and unselfish little girl.

I've noticed since being home all of the time with my kiddos, Katie has made HUGE progress in some basic principles I've been trying to teach her. Recently we've been working on honesty, sharing, and the importance of prayer. These were things we'd be struggling with as of late. Now we are not quite where I want us to be yet, but it's nice to see progress.

The other day Katie had an accident, she ran to the toilet and finished up but her pants were still a little wet. She came to me and told me, "My pants are wet, I didn't pee them though... it's just water."
Uh huh, right... suspicious area to be wet, my dear. Anyway I explained to her I wasn't mad, it was an accident and she needed to keep trying. I tried to let her know I was not as sad that she peed her pants as I was that she had lied about it. She wasn't getting it at all. That girl stuck with her lie (she's two... it's a tough concept even for adults) and yes trust me it WAS a lie... she smelled of urine.

We were playing hide-and-seek. Katie hid in the bathtub behind the shower curtain and had a marker with her. As she was waiting for me to find her, she drew on the walls. I was not pleased at all. I told her she needed to tell her dad what she did. He got home and she hung her head as she told him that she drew on the bathroom wall. He wasn't happy, but we made sure to tell her how proud we were that she told her dad the truth.
Today, she had another accident and proudly declared "Mom, I peed on the floor, BUT I TOLD THE TRUTH!!!" Ha ha ha, at least she's getting it. Maybe she's too young to fully understand the importance of telling the truth but I figure... if I start her young maybe it'll ingrain in her head.

Sharing: We REALLY struggle with this one. It's funny how a toy becomes much more desirable in the hands of Kylee. Poor kid can't play with anything without Katie suddenly deciding she wants to play with that same thing. Kylee will move on to something else... Katie wants that too. We were playing with little people figurines and Kylee took one. Immediately, Katie pulled all of the rest in towards her, hunching over them to hide them from Kylee. I told her no, that wasn't fair. We put all of the toys in the middle and took turns picking toys. Kylee picked one, Katie picked one, Kylee picked one, Katie picked one etc. That seemed to please both girls.
Later that night I was doing some quick cleanup around the house. I left the girls in their room together. They were quietly looking at books. I was in the kitchen when I heard "No, Kylee that's MY book" I was about to go in and intervene when I heard the most incredible thing: "Here lets put them in the middle, You pick one... now me... now you" AMAZING!!!!! She shared without ANY prompt (granted, she ended up getting frustrated because the 10 month old did pick books out of turn). Now, we aren't always like this and since then have still had sharing issues but it's nice to see little glimmers of understanding coming through.

As far as prayer goes, she still has really a hard time kneeling and being reverent. Usually it's like pulling teeth to stop her from running around her room but she at least knows it's important. When bedtime rolls around she calls her dad to family prayer. After family prayer she prefers her daddy to help her with her personal prayers. I'm glad that I'm making that an important part of our routine. When you ask her about prayer she will tell you "Prayer is VERRRY important."

Uncle Nate can't pass a baby with hair without messing it up. It's a compulsion he has ;)

Rock star Kylee

This is at 10! I thought she was asleep and I made brownies for Jeff and I. She was not asleep, caught us with the brownies and... her dad insisted it was only fair we gave her one.

Fridays at the Library. Music and movement, pick our books, and then a little playtime.

More brownie from the earlier picture