estelle at the toilet

she's gotten in the habit (after watching her buds, kyan and kalani, at the potty) of cleaning off the toilet seat.  well, after going potty recently, she wiped the toilet seat clean with her toilet paper (scrubbing it very meticulously) and then continued to use that same piece of tp to WIPE HER FACE AND MOUTH OFF!!  bleh!!!  brant was there to witness this all.  estelle!!!

estelle update

estelle is potty trained!  we did the weekend potty training (on halloween weekend!) and she completed it like a champ....after NEVER having gone on the toilet for us previously.  she was 2 years and 4 months old.

estelle's favorite letter is O.  she hates fuzzies (they scare her).

i asked estelle what she thought lela was doing at school today...she answered immediately, "oh, yeah, she's just doing the chicken dance with her teacher."

lela gets her ears pierced!

well, last week, at age 5 years and 6 weeks, lela got her ears pierced.  she's been contemplating it for some time and when i picked her up from preschool and told her we could go to the mall and do it, she obliged fearlessly.  i've never seen someone so excited.  she did it....no tears, just clinching her fists by her mouth.  she chose her birthstone in 14k white gold (high roller).

the next day, we were talking about the big event and estelle said, "mama, i'm going to get my ears pierced.... my nose....and my eyes!"  classic estelle remark - upping the ante and wanting to be as wild as can be!

estelle's thirsty

after picking estelle up from preschool last week, she was eating a granola bar in the back seat.  it was raining outside so she was intently watching the raindrops form on the car as well.  she asked for her water bottle, and i told her that i forgot to bring it.  she said, "mom.  stick tongue out window?  drink rain?"

swim test!

lela's #1 goal for the summer was achieved.  on the first day of fall, we went to the pool in the afternoon (per the usual) and lela lined up to do the swim test.  as i was watching her do it, i was thinking.... "geez...she's doing awesome this time!" sure enough.  she passed.  the smile on her face as she followed the lifeguards into the office to get her wristband and swimmer card will be forever burned into my mind.  SO proud of herself.  and, i must say, one of my proudest mom moments ever. i am utterly impressed and moved by her perseverance.  not once did she even hint at the fact that she couldn't do it.  a beautiful accomplishment.  i'm inspired.

on a littler note....after bath tonight, i buttered estelle up with lotion (doesn't happen often) and after getting her belly, she took her Ariel figurine and slid it across her belly and said, "Ariel iiiiiiiceskating!!!" she is the most funny kid ever.  a true class clown.  we'll find out if that rings true as she just started two year old preschool last week....going on tuesdays and thursdays from 8:45am-11:30am.  she loves it.  fave song from school that she keeps talking about is "wheels on the bus".  adorable hearing her sing it.  the daddy's on the bus say, "i love you.  i love you.  i love you."

girls' convo

L: "mom you know what??? One of my friends from school said at Christmas, she got zero gifts!!  She was naughty and Santa brought her NO gifts!"

E: (with that downward looking "sad dog" look of hers) "That happened to me, Lela."

L&me: "you got zero gifts for Christmas, Estelle????!!"

E: (quietly) "yeah.  Happened to me."

😂😂😂👶🏼👩🏼👯👭

fun times these days...

brant is tdy to alaska for a red flag and the girls and i are kicking it solo here in hawaii.  it's fun.  every day is full throttle action, but they are so.  much.  fun.  since the start of summer we've gone to the pool almost every day (i say "almost" because pool 2, our favorite, is closed on mondays.  sometimes we venture to dinosaur pool, but it's not as fun).  lela has taken the swim test every time we've gone to the pool since that first shot.  she is so driven.  she's an inspiration to me!  every time.  whistle blows, adult swim, lela marches to lifeguard and says, "i'm here to take the swim test".  one day, they were done giving them, she approached a lifeguard and asked if she could have one!!  ha!  the girls are exploding in their swimming.  estelle, just turned 2, can swim about 8-10 feet.  no fear.  loves going underwater and dives in like a mermaid.  it's adorable.  she does it with the ponies too, in the bathtub.  a very theatrical dive under.  lela can do everything in the shallow end (up to 5 feet, i think)... gymnastics underwater, cannonballs, swimming longer distances...

on another note, they are still the BEST of friends.  laughing until they cry sometimes.  lela can entertain estelle and distract estelle better than any of us, and for the most part, no fights that aren't immediately resolved.  they love each other to pieces.  there are a few spats here and there, mostly estelle hitting lela (lela probably ripped a toy from estelle), but that's it.  lela would NEVER hit estelle.  interesting, right?

estelle is in this phase where she'll only listen to books standing next to the rocker.  "me stand here."  i don't like it, so after awhile i'll just pick her up and make her sit on my lap with me.  i need the cuddles.  she's so cute, giggly, and snuggly.  her smart wit is impressive for a 2 year old.  she's hilarious and quick with all the sarcasm.  we were eating pasta tonight and she didn't like that her bread didn't have peanut butter on it (she's obsessed with pbj).  i told her sorry, we're not having pbj tonight.  she said, "mom.  come here.  need to tell you something."  so serious.  she continues looking straight ahead and we are now cheek to cheek looking straight out..."mom.  peanut butter.  jelly.  ta-mow-woa."

lela starts back at montessori september 1st and we head out the next day for michigan, mere's wedding, and then north carolina.  big trip.  she's ready to be back in school with her buddies.  i'll miss having her around, but we'll still keep hitting the pool most afternoons!  no reason not to with this weather!

feral cats

lela has been going to the hawaii children's discovery center's human body camp twice a week with aidan.  i drop them off and there are always a slew of feral cats roaming around.  looking out the window at them, lela says, "hey, where you going you disease bus!"

don't worry... no problem, mommy!

lela is going to human body camp at the children's discovery center in honolulu... i drop her (and her buddy aidan) off in the mornings and sierra picks up.  yesterday we forgot to coordinate how to get the booster car seat to each other, so after arriving home at 11am, i had to go back downtown to deliver the car seat to sierra who was running errands pre-pickup.  i told the whole story to estelle and told her we had a big problem (she was not in any form to head back out in the car) and i needed to get ahold of daddy or ms. colleen.  she rubs me on the shoulder and says, "it's no problem, mommy.  it's ok.  don't worry... no problem, mommy.  it's ok!  don't worry.  don't worry."  :)

at the base pool yesterday, lela heard the whistle blow for adult swim and the announcement that if anyone wants to do a swim test (to see if they can go in the deep end) to see the lifeguards.  lela walked up to me and said, "i'm going to do a swim test."  after getting my approval, she marched over to the lifeguards, hopped in the water, and proceeded to attempt a 25 yard swim plus 30 seconds of treading water!  amazing.  she didn't pass, but will soon.  so proud of her moxie!  after she did it, aidan took the test and then her buddy from school, chase, did too!  trailblazer.  leader.  love her.

happy estelle

at bedtime tonight, estelle stopped me from rocking her, sat up, and looked at a black and white postcard of a toddler laughing on roller skates that has been tucked into her mirror since forever and said, "mama, me, that's me..... happy!"

sister love

lela's verbage is so "on point" it's scary.  she speaks so succinctly and nothing passes over her head.  on that note, in the car, as we were discussing sister pride, i said to lela, "so if someone messes with your sis, they mess with you?"  she says, "if someone messes with my sis, I MESS WITH THEM!"  brilliant.  estelle is one lucky toddler.

lela says, "i know how we can get estelle to race!"  me, "really how?"  lela, "yes, let's get a bunch of babies and their pas, line them up, but take the pas to another end away from them, and say GO!"  cute.   :)

lela makes us laugh!!

january '15

estelle puts on brant's shiny black dress shoes and wears them around our room... lela says, "look mom!  estelle's wearing daddy's tap shoes!"

march '15 

i was checking into our hotel in maui and i was the only person at the counter with two clerks.  lela comes busting in the front of the hotel (i didn't know brant had let her out of the car) and she says, "mom, hurry, we have to go.  daddy has to poop!"

lela in maui, "daddy, do you have a stuffed animal or is mama your stuffed animal?"

april '15

upon putting lela to bed, i said, "goodnight lela, i love you!"  she responds, "goodnight mama.  i love you too.  you'll always have a place in my heart."  :)  she said this again the next night at bedtime.  such a tender soul.

leahi swim school graduation

estelle had just gotten up from nap and we were headed to swim lessons (graduation day...lela from advanced beginner class and estelle from advanced parent and child).... lela looked over at estelle (pumping her pacifier) and said, "take your pa out estelle, it's graduation!"  

estelle the patriot

since we live on a military base, we must pause when the national anthem plays in the morning and in the evening to show our respect.... lela is quite accustomed to this and does it without us reminding her.  well, little did we know, estelle's been watching!  i was changing her diaper on the bed in her room and she heard the national anthem and covered her heart.  precious.  this happened again when she was brushing her teeth a different night.... she's picked it up!  and it is SO cute.

lela says, "i'm going to put my arm around estelle just so she knows i am here."

reillys visit hawaii

my parents just came to hawaii for about a month and then reillys came for five weeks... after departing kathy wrote us this email which is an accurate synopsis of the girls lately.  :)

Happy that we could be with Estelle during her 18 month old word explosion...over 50 now!

Some of my favorites are~

"Come on!" (Easy translation... come with me.)

At the beach and in the yard...to the birds while swinging her arm~"Away"!

You say Ready, set...and she yells "GO!!!"

"Man" (with lots of drawn out expression)and pointing to all random men walking by. And "hi" to all she passes on her walks especially people in cars and trucks.

"Op" (Lots of excitement and acting like she doesn't like him around) Followed by "bed"...not her bed, of course, but meaning time to get up on the guest bed and for papa to wrestle and hang her up side down and flip her over and around, followed by laughter and "MORE"! 

 "Mat" meaning yoga mat which she enjoyed doing somersaults and reading on.

Every night ..."milk, book, and rock" and of course~"more":) "Uh-oh" when she throws violet, her pacifier and Stella on the floor while rocking.

She loves the three bears sitting in chairs picture in Good Night Moon. Laughs and points to it every time we read that book.

In the car, "Heart!!!"

Favorite animals~"owl"and "whale"

Obsessed with "hat" and "hot" and uses them frequently.

At the playground, "car, jet, boat". Some rendition of the word truck.

On the way to the playground, "mail" any time you pass the boxes!

"Neck, eye, eyebrow, head."

"loud" which she doesn't like

"yeah"!

"Walk, run"

"Out" which is her favorite place to be and "bug" ....she finds them:)

"Water" to play in mostly!

"Mine"!

"Broke, ball, stick, rock (the hard kind), Mick (Mickey Mouse), bread, egg.

Used frequently~ Mama! Dada along with bye (with a southern accent)

Lela and Aiden( very clear now)

Yes( on occasion) Still prefers the exaggerated head nod.:)

"Help" but not wanted to get up the stairs at the playground made evident by sign language meaning stay off..I want to do this on my own.

"Baby" New two syllable word.

and my favorite, "Nai" (Rhymes with day)

More words every day. Can't wait to hear all the things that she's thinking!

Lela's favorite words this trip..."No.. don't worry about that" meaning I want to do it anyway.:) Said with Sara's voice intonation. Look out. 

Also.."We'll see about that" when asked how she would do that night going to bed. 

Whispering to Terry her requests for cookies, juice, candy etc.

Telling Aiden, "My papa gives me a lot of candy, he's a candy kind of guy."

Lela telling her friends~ "That's my Grandmere" when I was coming over to Sierras for the neighborhood party. 

Numerous conversations with Aiden about what roles each of them was going to play. 

Her description of the story of My Little Ponies and all of their names. Her description of who No Noggin is. 

"How about I...?" ( One of many negotiation angles)

Trading dialogue with Estelle when they both want the same thing.

In competition, racing to get up stairs, getting dressed,  running and drinking water ..."Oh no you don't!"

Is your skin falling off? Classic line to use on your grandmother.:)

Elbowing me and me elbowing her back

Miss you all! Can you tell?!

Love,

Grandmere/Nai and Papa/Op