Dolls and girls and different cognitive levels.

Elise: My Rose (the name of her doll) talks.

Anna: No, she doesn’t; dolls do not talk.

Elise: Well my Rose does talk. Hummph.

Anna: Dolls are not real so they don’t talk.

Elise: She talks to me at nighttime when she is going to sleep.

Me: I think Rose talks.

Anna just looks at me not knowing what to say. I take her aside, out of hearing range of Elise, and explain to her that she is right but little children like Elise like to imagine that their dolls are real so we should let them.

Later that morning the girls both want to bring their dolls to the kitchen table for breakfast.  I notice Anna is pretend feeding her dolls some of her breakfast. I don't know why I thought Elise would do the same, just pretend to feed her doll, after having the previous conversation earlier that same morning; but I did. Then I looked over at Elise I see Cream of Wheat dripping all over Elise’s lap and down her dolls face. Oh great!

Cookies for Breakfast?

This morning Dayna exclaimed in an elated tone "Who wants cookies for breakfast?" This question was met with squeals of delight from the girls. Only then did she realize her mistake, "I mean, who wants cereal for breakfast?" We all had a good laugh. Right when Dayna was about to say "cereal" she caught a glance of the cookie jar and it just came out "cookies." So, the girls were able to have a cookie for breakfast along with their cereal.

First Steps

Trying to keep up with her sisters.

Follow the Leader, Dancin' and Jumpin' Style

The girls decided to play a little follow the leader this evening, and Grace was the leader. When Grace dances, the girls dance. When Grace jumps, the girls jump. You can't get much more fun than this.

Fun Feats

Anna, Elise, and Kent went to a birthday pool party. At this pool, there was a short diving board. After a lot of coaxing, Anna decided to jump off the diving board. After that first time off the board, I was barely able to convince her to stop jumping off the diving board so we could eat some dinner.
Once we arrived home, there was another surprise. Grace learned how to stand up. In the video below, she

Anna and Papa play Chinese Checkers

Recently, I (Kent) taught Anna how to play Chinese Checkers. I was amazed at how quickly she learned. After she and I had played a game or two, she decided (with a little encouragement) to challenge Papa.
It was amazing to see how quickly she learned and adapted. In the game I played with her before this video was shot, she would focus on moving one marble at a time to the other side of the board. If possible, she would jump it, but it was always moving one marble the entire way and then going back to get the next marble available. It was neat to see that she watched how I played and adapter her play style based on what she saw me do. The result was a somewhat close game between her and Papa.

Elise Turns Three

Elise turned three; I can't believe it! Elise has given us three years of pure joy. She is such a joy to have in our family, a great blessing, a little angel. She says the cutest things and even though she is the middle child she is definitely noticed and loved!

We celebrated her birthday at Nana and Papa's house of course.

I let her pick out a cake mix and frosting at the grocery store and she picked out a pink cake and pink frosting and was pretty excited about it. She also said she wanted a princess cake so Anna picked out a surprise princess to put on the top of her cake. She love it and wanted to help put the candles on.

She was spoiled and got some fun things. She also got a music box from her grandma and a little pink soccer ball.   

We love our Elise whom is growing into a beautiful and wonderful girl. We loved every minute of her two year old year; she really was the funnest two year old ever and we hope the three year old year will be just as good.