Helen's newest craze is buckling all of the straps in the highchairs after we eat - after every time we eat. One night Cecil made her take a bath before she got them all buckled and she gave him the stink eye for the rest of the night. And then of course I forget to unbuckle them all before I put them back in their chairs. 
Playing on the back porch in our pool - Ella is sizing me up
"Oh my mommy, did you know how many of these cups of water it takes to fill up one of these buckets??" - Helen
My beautiful girls - Ella and Helen
Helen getting ready to pour water over her sister's head
Ella gets her right back - and they both think it is hilarious
Helen seems to be getting more wet than Ella - but loves it just the same
Our new Gator shirts - which we wore for the Gators' season opener, and they won!
Helen and Alex read the paper with Daddy
Alex is making a run for the camera
Helen sqeals with delight as she destroys Daddy's Sunday paper
Ella is unhappy for some reason at breakfast on her first day of school
Alex is chowing down on his oatmeal
Helen has mastered her spoon
Ella poses for her first day of school picture (she is the only one I could get to sit still for a picture)
Our first day of school! (they are looking off in the distance because the only way I could get them to sit still was to put on Mickey Mouse and then stand in front of the TV)
Helen and her baby (I have to apologize to her for the pony tail but there is still not much to work with and that was the best I could do)
Helen, Alex, and Ella - heading off to school and breaking mommy's heart!This week the kids started at a montessori school. There are 7 kids in their class (yes, my kids alone make up half of the class), and so far they are doing great. Last week we went for an open house so that they could see their room and meet their teachers. The big hit was the bunny - he was safely in a cage (to protect him from the kids, not the kids from him) and they loved getting to feed him carrots. When we came home, whenever I talked about school, Ella would say "hop, hop, hop?" "Yes Ella, we are going to go back and see the bunny."
The first day of school I got to stay with them for about an hour. When I left the girls barely gave me a second look. Alex got a little upset but then he was fine a few minutes after I left. They did great the rest of the morning and had a great time. They go five mornings a week, then our nanny Heather picks them up, brings them home, and gives them lunch and a nap.
The second day I only stayed for a few minutes. Again, the girls seemed more annoyed that I was interrupting their playtime but Alex started crying as soon as he say me saying goodbye to them. But he was fine after I left. However, he has not been fine at home. He has been having lots of meltdowns, biting his sisters a lot, and even refusing to eat! I knew the transition would be tough for him. He does not like anything to change. I know that once he gets used to the new routine, he will settle down and be fine, but it was a very rough week at home.
By the third and fourth day, Alex knew what was coming. In the car on the way to school he got really quiet and had this worried look on his face. As we pulled into the parking lot, his lip started to quiver. When I took him out of the car, he was clutching onto me for dear life and they had to pry him out of my arms. Talk about mother guilt. I wanted to take him back and tell him he never had to go there if he did not want to. But the school kept saying that the mom had to be confident and not draw out the goodbye so that the kids would know that I was not worried and they should not be either. Easier said than done. I managed to drive away with Alex sobbing in his teacher's arms with his arms outstretched reaching for me. And then he was fine a few minutes later.
By Friday, Ella was standing at the door after breakfast ready to go to school. She was not happy when I told her it was not time to leave yet. Alex would have happily stayed home all day. Poor guy. Then Friday morning when we got them up, we discovered that he had thrown up at some point during the night. He was not sick and seemed OK in the morning. Maybe it was nerves? That was enough for me to want to keep him home from school but Cecil insisted that he was fine and should still go. I reluctantly caved and took him to school - but kept checking my phone all morning in case the school called. They say he does a great job of playing and holding it together while he is at school, but he certainly lets his frustration out when he is home.
When I stop to think about it, I am a little sad that the girls would trot off and leave me so easily. But I convince myself that it is because they are so well adjusted - and not because they don't care if I am around! God Bless Alex for at least making me feel needed :)
Ella is certainly thriving in her new environment. She is a little busy body and is always excited when I talk about school. She definitely needed this. Helen likes it too - so many things to organize and line up. The possibilities are endless! And she has already comandeered the classroom babydoll that she picks up first thing in the morning and carries around with her all day. I wonder if Alex sees how easy it is for them. I wonder if they see what a hard time he is having. I wish I could get them to remember all of this so that they could tell me someday what is going on inside their heads.
They are all little chatterboxes now too. Helen and Alex were in speech therapy for about 3 months to help them increase their number of words. It worked really well - they are now beyond where they should be for their age. I think they all understand everything we say. And they love to call out the names of things that they know when they see them. The trick is decoding what they are saying. I am now one of those parents who when everyone else hears gibberish, I hear "I want some water." Today in the grocery store, Ella starting pointing and saying "du, du, du!" I'm trying to figure out what the heck she is saying when I look at where she is pointing and see a big picture of a dog hanging from the ceiling over the dog food. Yes, Ella, that is a dog. And then she is very proud of herself for correctly identifying it. That is progress too, because normally for a dog, they just pant (our dog pants more than he barks so that's what they think dogs do).
Helen is now becoming fashion conscious too. She likes to pick out her own shoes, and heaven forbid I try to change her mind. One morning this week she pulled tennis shoes out of the closet. Now mind you, it is still 90 degrees every day here and they play outside every day. I could not convince her to wear sandals. So I said, OK, if you are going to wear these shoes, then you need to wear these socks. She looked at the socks for the briefest of moments then threw herself on the floor in protest. After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to put the socks on her (it's not hard for her to pull them off), I gave up in exasperation. Fine, wear the shoes without the socks if you want to. It is not worth the fight. About this time Ella walks up and sees the socks. She picks them up and first wants to know what they are; I tell her socks and she tries to say it a few times then tries to put them on. So now Ella wants to wear the socks - with her sandals. Then Helen trots over in her tennis shoes and fusses that Ella now has socks. So I ask her, Helen, do you want to wear socks. And she just looks at me like, of course, and says, Yeah. For the love.....
Never a dull day in toddler land. The stories are endless, and I need to write them down because I forget them so quickly. It seems like every day they are learning how to say new things and how to do new things. Helen can walk up and down the stairs by herself. She is also really great at putting puzzles together now. Ella keeps bringing me things so I can tell her what they are called (almost all of her words sound the same but at least she is trying!)
Let's hope the second week of school is a little easier for Alex. I'm sure after the weekend and the Labor Day holiday that he thought he was done with it. Poor little guy, I wish he were old enough for me to explain to him what is going on!
