In honor of St. Patrick's Day, Justin tried to teach the girls a little Irish dancing. Taelyn actually did fairly well with it. She put her hands on her hips and swung her legs around just like Justin was showing her. Then she started rolling around on the ground to put her own spin on the dance! We tried to encourage Kaelia to kick her legs too, but she quickly lost interest.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Kaelia - 18-21 Months
Kaelia has grown so much during the last few months. She is now 23.5 lbs. and 32 inches tall, and she has two new teeth (the bottom two canines) The only new teeth she has left to get are her two-year molars. Kaelia's motor development has also been increasing
. She can now climb just about any playground equipment and sit in a big kid swing. She loves to imitate anything that hops - especially frogs as she leaps around the house saying "ribbit" and "hop." And Kaelia is now at the point where she is ready for a big girl bed. We will give more updates when her bed arrives!
Energetic is the best word to describe Kaelia's personality now. She loves to run around, sing, dance, and spin in circles. She is quite the talker these days and can keep up with conversations very well. When we walk across the street to go to the playground, our security guard will say hi, and she always says "hello." Then he will ask "how are you" and she will say "fine." When he asks where she's going, she will say "to the playground." She also can easily communicate things that she wants. "Come on, mama. Play cars in the playroom," is not an uncommon request these days.
Kaelia also has a comical angry side to her. Randomly, she will enter a room with a scowl on her face and say "meow." We ask her who she is and she says an angry cat. Then when she does something she's not supposed to do and needs to take a time out, she has a huge pouty face and puts her head down feeling sorry for herself. It's actually really cute and hard to keep a straight face when we see it.
Cognitively, Kaelia is putting things together more and more each day. She likes to read books with people and by herself, and will often spend some quiet time by herself while she looks through several different books, puts puzzles together, or works on snapping together buttons and clasps.
See the Smilebox below for a better idea of Kaelia's current personality.
. She can now climb just about any playground equipment and sit in a big kid swing. She loves to imitate anything that hops - especially frogs as she leaps around the house saying "ribbit" and "hop." And Kaelia is now at the point where she is ready for a big girl bed. We will give more updates when her bed arrives!Energetic is the best word to describe Kaelia's personality now. She loves to run around, sing, dance, and spin in circles. She is quite the talker these days and can keep up with conversations very well. When we walk across the street to go to the playground, our security guard will say hi, and she always says "hello." Then he will ask "how are you" and she will say "fine." When he asks where she's going, she will say "to the playground." She also can easily communicate things that she wants. "Come on, mama. Play cars in the playroom," is not an uncommon request these days.
Kaelia also has a comical angry side to her. Randomly, she will enter a room with a scowl on her face and say "meow." We ask her who she is and she says an angry cat. Then when she does something she's not supposed to do and needs to take a time out, she has a huge pouty face and puts her head down feeling sorry for herself. It's actually really cute and hard to keep a straight face when we see it.
Cognitively, Kaelia is putting things together more and more each day. She likes to read books with people and by herself, and will often spend some quiet time by herself while she looks through several different books, puts puzzles together, or works on snapping together buttons and clasps.
See the Smilebox below for a better idea of Kaelia's current personality.
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| A photo album by Smilebox |
Saturday, March 10, 2012
The Walkers Dominate the AISJ 5K
Our school had its annual 5K run yesterday where students, teachers, staff, and parents enter to either walk the 2.5K or run the 5K. Justin won the race last year in 18:50 while I came in third behind him and a high school freshman boy (but first female) with a time of 21:08. I lost to the boy by only 15 seconds. This year, who knew how much he had improved and if there were others like him. The pressure was on to keep our titles.
The gun went off and immediately, many middle and high school students took off like they were running the 100m dash. Once their sprinter legs wore off after about 200m, Justin quickly moved up to first place and started to pull further and further away from then on. He was in better shape than last year and unchallenged once again. I had my eye on last year's #2 finishers right away. He was ahead of me with one other high school boy, but not by too much. So on I went. With about 1 mile to go, I finally caught up to the two boys; they quickly put in a surge so I couldn't pass them, but that only lasted a few seconds, and there I went right past them. I opened up as much as I could for the remainder of the race, which was mostly downhill, hoping that fresh high school legs would not kick down my "one pace fits all" legs. It was enough, though. I darted to the finish without a fight and crossed #2 in 19:59!
Justin, of course, won the race without any problems. He even took it fairly easy and finished in 18:30. He is pretty happy with the time considering the effort level that he put in, and now he is off for the weekend, completing another bike race. I am extremely excited about my time because it is a huge PPPR (post-partum personal record) for me!
The gun went off and immediately, many middle and high school students took off like they were running the 100m dash. Once their sprinter legs wore off after about 200m, Justin quickly moved up to first place and started to pull further and further away from then on. He was in better shape than last year and unchallenged once again. I had my eye on last year's #2 finishers right away. He was ahead of me with one other high school boy, but not by too much. So on I went. With about 1 mile to go, I finally caught up to the two boys; they quickly put in a surge so I couldn't pass them, but that only lasted a few seconds, and there I went right past them. I opened up as much as I could for the remainder of the race, which was mostly downhill, hoping that fresh high school legs would not kick down my "one pace fits all" legs. It was enough, though. I darted to the finish without a fight and crossed #2 in 19:59!
Justin, of course, won the race without any problems. He even took it fairly easy and finished in 18:30. He is pretty happy with the time considering the effort level that he put in, and now he is off for the weekend, completing another bike race. I am extremely excited about my time because it is a huge PPPR (post-partum personal record) for me!
Friday, March 2, 2012
Music Night
The girls had a little rock out session tonight that I thought was worth posting. Kaelia is on lead vocals and Taelyn is a back-up dancer. Kaelia also gets a little dancing in as she says "dancing, dancing, dancing" during the instrumental section of the song.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Weekend in India
I had the opportunity to travel to India this past weekend for a conference on using technology in the classroom. Not only was I happy to attend the conference, but I was really excited to visit a new country. Since my visit was so short, I obviously could not see a whole lot of the country, but I was able to get out for a couple of evenings as well as experience some of the local life during my morning runs.Overall, India reminded me
so much of China from its heavy and chaotic traffic to the intense haggling of street market shopping and the numerous ways to transport goods across the city on a bicycle. During one of my runs at 5:00am, I ran over a
bridge that crossed stagnant water. As I was approaching the bridge, I first smelled sulfur and thought that there could be a sulfur spring near the river. Then I came right up alongside the river and gagged quite a bit as I saw and smelled the combination of sulfur, trash, and feces. Needless to say, the smell was hard to handle but still not too far off from various smells in China. The biggest difference that I was able to see was the poverty, though. Some of the buildings are certainly in rough condition, and I know that I didn't even s
ee the real poverty of India.The highlight of the trip was definitely the food. We had Indian food during every meal; each time in buffet style with endless choices. It was delicious and extremely filling! I'm actually glad to be home now so I can get back to my regular diet and routine, but it really was a nice trip.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Taelyn - 3 years
Taelyn has certainly grown up over the last year; it is quite evident that she is now a three year-old! She does not throw tantrums like the terrible two phase nearly as much, and she is able to comprehend situations much better. Instead of complaining that she is hungry, for example, we can tell her that we don't have any food in the car right now but that we can get some when 
we get home. An explanation is usually enough to keep her content now - which make life much easier these days! Even taking her picture for this post was MUCH easier than the past. I simply asked her to sit on the step and smile, and it actually happened!
Taelyn can also carry more complex conversations with us now. We were talking about using the crock pot one day and finding recipes when Taelyn said, "Excuse me, guys. I don't understand crock pot. What is a crockpot?" On the more imaginary side of conversation, Taelyn has been creating elaborate stories about her life. After hearing her nanny tell me something about a bee and then later hearing me talk about a bird at school, she told me that a bee flew in to the house that day and bit her lips right off and she took the feathers in threw it in the trash! She obviously combined the two stories together, but she was incredibly animated when she told the story. She also often talks about how she has a pink and white house in Capetown and all the things she has there that she is going to give us. It's funny, though, how her imagination stems from events that have actually happened to her. A few days after Kaelia gave her board games for her birthday, Taelyn said that she had board games at her house in Capetown to give to Kaelia. The concept of going to Capetown started a few months ago when she was swimming. If she wanted to float to the other side of the pool, she would say, "Bye bye. I'm going to Capetown now!" Other than her Capetown house, Taelyn likes to recreate actual events. She will sometimes put on our running shoes and tell me, "Princess, you watch the girls and I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back in one hour." And then she will run out of the room. Princess is our nanny's daughter and often watches the girls on the weekend while Justin and I are both running, and this is exactly what I say to her before I go.
Potty-training has been going very well too. Taelyn has an accident every now and then, but for the most part, she goes on the potty - at home and in public. She is usually accident free at nap time while we still have her in a diaper at night. Taelyn is very good at pulling her stool up to the potty and sitting on it by herself. Then when she is done, she can use the toilet paper and will push her stool over to the sink, turn it on, get some soap, and wash her hands all by herself. Though she is pretty independent here, she prefers to have one of us come in and keep her company while the whole potty process is happening.
While Taelyn is still energetic as ever, she is also very sweet and caring. She loves to take care of her sister (as well as fight with her!) by putting her hand on Kaelia's shoulder and saying, "Hi sweetie, are you okay?" She will also occassionally come in our room and out of nowhere say, "I love you, mom; I love you daddy!"
Physically, Taelyn is now 31.7 lbs. and 37.5 inches tall. She can jump up and down fairly well now and has conquered just about any playground structure that she encounters. She can also sit in a swim ring and kick her way around a pool and can hold on to the edge and pull herself along the entire diameter of a pool. She still loves to run around and play, and she absolutely LOVES to dance and sing! We have truly enjoyed this past year of Taelyn's life and are now enjoying the next phase. Here is a recap on moments from the past year with an emphasis on the last six months. Taelyn picked the song, by the way. It's from one of her many favorite movies, Monsters Inc.
we get home. An explanation is usually enough to keep her content now - which make life much easier these days! Even taking her picture for this post was MUCH easier than the past. I simply asked her to sit on the step and smile, and it actually happened!Taelyn can also carry more complex conversations with us now. We were talking about using the crock pot one day and finding recipes when Taelyn said, "Excuse me, guys. I don't understand crock pot. What is a crockpot?" On the more imaginary side of conversation, Taelyn has been creating elaborate stories about her life. After hearing her nanny tell me something about a bee and then later hearing me talk about a bird at school, she told me that a bee flew in to the house that day and bit her lips right off and she took the feathers in threw it in the trash! She obviously combined the two stories together, but she was incredibly animated when she told the story. She also often talks about how she has a pink and white house in Capetown and all the things she has there that she is going to give us. It's funny, though, how her imagination stems from events that have actually happened to her. A few days after Kaelia gave her board games for her birthday, Taelyn said that she had board games at her house in Capetown to give to Kaelia. The concept of going to Capetown started a few months ago when she was swimming. If she wanted to float to the other side of the pool, she would say, "Bye bye. I'm going to Capetown now!" Other than her Capetown house, Taelyn likes to recreate actual events. She will sometimes put on our running shoes and tell me, "Princess, you watch the girls and I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back in one hour." And then she will run out of the room. Princess is our nanny's daughter and often watches the girls on the weekend while Justin and I are both running, and this is exactly what I say to her before I go.
Potty-training has been going very well too. Taelyn has an accident every now and then, but for the most part, she goes on the potty - at home and in public. She is usually accident free at nap time while we still have her in a diaper at night. Taelyn is very good at pulling her stool up to the potty and sitting on it by herself. Then when she is done, she can use the toilet paper and will push her stool over to the sink, turn it on, get some soap, and wash her hands all by herself. Though she is pretty independent here, she prefers to have one of us come in and keep her company while the whole potty process is happening.
While Taelyn is still energetic as ever, she is also very sweet and caring. She loves to take care of her sister (as well as fight with her!) by putting her hand on Kaelia's shoulder and saying, "Hi sweetie, are you okay?" She will also occassionally come in our room and out of nowhere say, "I love you, mom; I love you daddy!"
Physically, Taelyn is now 31.7 lbs. and 37.5 inches tall. She can jump up and down fairly well now and has conquered just about any playground structure that she encounters. She can also sit in a swim ring and kick her way around a pool and can hold on to the edge and pull herself along the entire diameter of a pool. She still loves to run around and play, and she absolutely LOVES to dance and sing! We have truly enjoyed this past year of Taelyn's life and are now enjoying the next phase. Here is a recap on moments from the past year with an emphasis on the last six months. Taelyn picked the song, by the way. It's from one of her many favorite movies, Monsters Inc.
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Sunday, February 12, 2012
Taelyn's Birthday Weekend
We celebrated Taelyn's third birthday this weekend with friends at the zoo and family time in a hot air balloon. It was a perfect weekend, and for the first time, Taelyn really understood what it meant to be her birthday. She was incredibly excited this past week anticipating the birthday fun that was to come. The hardest part for her during the week was when Kaelia and I went to the store so Kaelia could pick out a birthday present for her sister. Taelyn knew what was happening and she knew that she couldn't come; the suspense was unbearable!
On Saturday, we started off the weekend with a small birthday party at the zoo. We met our closest friends there, the Jettners who have a little daughter that is our girls' closest friend too. After a couple of hours of walking around the zoo and looking at animals, we set up a little picnic and had cake. Taelyn wanted a Mickey Mouse birthday cake this year with all the clubhouse gang.
Once we finished eating, the kids played on the playground for a little while, and then Taelyn opened up her present from her friend, Arianna. She got a chalkboard and chalk for the playroom, and she loves it!
Next, we headed home and took a nap (all of us actually; we were pretty tuckered out from the birthday fun). Then Taelyn opened up the rest of her presents when we all woke up. She got a birthday play set from Grandma and Grandpa Pepera, some board games from Kaelia, and a bike from us. She absolutely loves all of her presents! We also know that other people have sent things our way for Taelyn, but we have not received them yet. Thank you to everyone who thought of Taelyn on her 3rd birthday!
The birthday weekend ended today with a trip in a hot air balloon. There is one just down the street from us that we see every time we drive anywhere, and Taelyn has been talking about riding in this balloon for about six months now. So we all climbed in today to see the sights from high above. Both girls had a great time. Now when we see the balloon while driving, Taelyn is saying "there's the balloon we went in" instead of "I want to go in there."
We all had a wonderful weekend, and Taelyn had a fantastic third birthday!
On Saturday, we started off the weekend with a small birthday party at the zoo. We met our closest friends there, the Jettners who have a little daughter that is our girls' closest friend too. After a couple of hours of walking around the zoo and looking at animals, we set up a little picnic and had cake. Taelyn wanted a Mickey Mouse birthday cake this year with all the clubhouse gang.
Once we finished eating, the kids played on the playground for a little while, and then Taelyn opened up her present from her friend, Arianna. She got a chalkboard and chalk for the playroom, and she loves it!
Next, we headed home and took a nap (all of us actually; we were pretty tuckered out from the birthday fun). Then Taelyn opened up the rest of her presents when we all woke up. She got a birthday play set from Grandma and Grandpa Pepera, some board games from Kaelia, and a bike from us. She absolutely loves all of her presents! We also know that other people have sent things our way for Taelyn, but we have not received them yet. Thank you to everyone who thought of Taelyn on her 3rd birthday!
The birthday weekend ended today with a trip in a hot air balloon. There is one just down the street from us that we see every time we drive anywhere, and Taelyn has been talking about riding in this balloon for about six months now. So we all climbed in today to see the sights from high above. Both girls had a great time. Now when we see the balloon while driving, Taelyn is saying "there's the balloon we went in" instead of "I want to go in there."
We all had a wonderful weekend, and Taelyn had a fantastic third birthday!
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