Boots? Check. Gloves? Check. Adorable coat and hat? Check.

Today was a snow day -- not just a snowy day, but a real, can't-go-anywhere, roads-are-closed Snow Day. Dale couldn't go to work, Adelaida couldn't go to school, and I couldn't leave the house, even if I had wanted to. So, we let Adelaida sleep in, Dale cooked French toast for breakfast, and then Dale and Adelaida bundled up and made their way outside to play in the snow.

We knew that Adelaida wouldn't stay outside long if she got too cold, so we dressed her in tights, sweat pants, a long-sleeve shirt, a sweat shirt, a thick coat, boots, gloves, and a hat. I think she had more fun getting dressed up than playing out in the snow!


I also made sure Dale was dressed appropriately, and the two were ready to go outside!


My role during this adventure was to take photographs, which I did by stepping outside, taking a few photos, then running back inside to stay warm. The babies were awake, so I laid them down on a blanket while I snapped photos of Adelaida and Dale playing outside. At first Adelaida was happiest in Dale's arms.


Eventually, she ventured onto the snow. Dale took her onto a shallow area so she wouldn't be totally overwhelmed by the snow, and she did great!


I checked on the babies and found Estella pushing Cordelia with her feet. Cordelia didn't seem to mind!


Dale threw a snowball, which Adelaida thought was hilarious!


Dale set Adelaida down on a great big snow drift. Lots of fun!


I checked on the babies and found that Estella had rolled over onto her tummy, and was kicking Cordelia in the face and neck ... and Cordelia didn't seem to mind. I moved Estella so that she wouldn't hurt her sister.


Dale got the sled out.


And they decided to sled down the hill!






I checked on the babies again and found that Cordelia was using Estella's pajamas to roll herself onto Estella. Estella didn't seem to mind.


After the sledding adventure, Adelaida was ready to come back inside to warm up. We spent the rest of the day playing with the kids, completing some tasks around the house, and generally enjoying the snow day. Unfortunately, the roads are being cleared and the snow is slowing down, so it looks like we won't have this great excuse to stay home tomorrow.

Our little preschooler

Last month, Adelaida's teachers asked me if I was ready to move her up from the 2.5- to 3-year-old class to the preschool class. I was expecting this move around January, but was happy to consider moving her earlier. Dale and I discussed it, and after a week of Adelaida being sick and some delays at school, she moved to the preschool class two weeks ago.

The preschool class differs from the toddler classes in several ways. First, the toddler classes are pretty finely divided by age, so all the kids in the class are the same age, to within about six months. The preschool classes have kids age three to five, so there is a much broader age range. Second, while the toddler classes have Montessori stations, the kids really just use those stations to play during their free time; the preschool classes have set times that the kids do real Montessori work. Third, the student-to-teacher ratio is much larger in the preschool classes, which results in the kids doing a lot more things by themselves. And finally, the preschool classes get to use the big kid playground rather than the little kid playground!

The first two days in the preschool class, Adelaida wasn't very excited about it. She didn't have problems when Dale dropped her off or anything, but for the first few days she told me that she didn't want to go to the new classroom; she wanted to stay in her old classroom. By day three, she was asking to go to school even on non-school days! She loves the new class, and the "work" she does at school. I had Adelaida home with me yesterday and, after telling her that she couldn't go to school but would be going back to school tomorrow, she announced that it was work time and she wanted to do some work. I had looked at some of the stations in her class and noted some that I could do with Adelaida at home, so yesterday morning Adelaida practiced transferring dry beans from one bowl to another with a spoon (and counting the spoonfuls, up to 53!), pouring rice from one cup to another (a huge mess and we won't be doing that one again without preparing an area that we can clean up easily!), and sorting pictures of animals from largest to smallest. She was occupied, practicing great skills, and happy -- what more could I ask for?

This morning, she announced that she wanted to go to school today. I love it that my daughter loves school!

One other new feature of the preschool class is that Adelaida has homework, a few sheets of homework each week, with a week to finish them. She got her first homework last week and it was due on Monday -- four sheets of paper, two practicing the letter "L" and two practicing the number 12 (the class's letter and number of the week last week). She did one or two sheets each day and did much better than I expected. And after those four sheets were finished, she asked me for more homework! I didn't know what to give her, so yesterday I bought a preschool workbook that she can work on after her weekly homework is done.

Here are samples of her first homework.

Letter recognition, big L and little l.


Practice writing the number twelve. The teacher assured me that it is OK if she can't trace the numbers yet, she will get there eventually.


Adelaida doing her first homework!

Clean up, clean up!

Adelaida loves to clean. Whether she is sweeping the floor, dusting the refrigerator, or wiping down the table, she is happy cleaning! Right now she is better at spreading dirt than removing it, but in a few years her love of cleaning could really come in handy!

On Thursday one of the dogs dripped some water after drinking, so Adelaida went to the closet and got the broom out, spreading water and dirt all over the floor.




Friday night she was convinced that Dale made a mess at dinner, so got a washcloth to clean the table as Dale and Estella watched.




And she always loves to clean the wine fridge.


I'm hoping she doesn't outgrow this love of cleaning before she is really able to clean effectively!

Snuggle Sunday

After a yummy raspberry pancake breakfast this morning (thanks to my wonderful breakfast-cooking husband!), Adelaida walked up to Dale and said "Daddy, I want to snuggle with you." They curled up on the couch together, tucked themselves under a blanket, and had some cuddle time. What a wonderful family day!

Four months!

Estella and Cordelia are four months old today! We celebrated their one-third birthday with a trip to the children's museum, where they watched Adelaida play at some water stations, some sound stations, and on the playground. Even though Explora! is a children's museum, there just isn't a lot there to entertain four-month-olds.

Here are a series of photos of the girls, so you can see both how much they have changed and how much they haven't changed in the past four months.

newborn Estella
  

one-month-old Estella
  

two-month-old Estella
  

three-month-old Estella


At four months, Estella has discovered that she can roll over -- front to back and back to front -- whenever she wants. And she wants to roll over pretty frequently! When she started rolling over in bed, I tried several nights to roll her back onto her back, but finally gave up when I realized that no matter how often I put her on her back, she always ended up on her stomach. Estella is still very interested in everything go on around her, whether it is Cordelia laying down next to her, Adelaida playing in the room, or me. She is easily distracted but generally doesn't get fussy; she just silently watches everything around her.



newborn Cordelia
 

one-month-old Cordelia
 

two-month-old Cordelia
 

three-month-old Cordelia


Now Cordelia is four months old. She has started rolling over and just loves to hold on to things -- toys, my necklace, and of course my hair! And once she gets a good hold, it is difficult to pry her fingers apart. Cordelia is fascinated by her big sister. She watches Adelaida whenever she can, smiles at her all the time, and stops crying immediately when Adelaida is near. Cordelia is also very vocal; I love to hear her babble when I put her down on a playmat with toys dangling above her!


Here is a picture of both babies together ...


... and of all three girls together!

the babies and their daddy

I walked into the room last week and saw Dale sitting on the couch with both little girls on his lap. Adelaida was running around, expending energy and entertaining all three of them. What a precious picture! Cordelia is on the left and Estella is on the right.

Swinging at the park

On a beautiful sunny morning this week, I took the girls to the park to play. Adelaida eventually migrated to the swing and as I was pushing her on the big girl swing, I thought about the baby swing right next to her. I put Cordelia in the baby swing, then carefully added Estella behind her ... and all three of my girls were swinging together! The babies really enjoyed the swing and they were occupied in it for a surprisingly long time!

New bed and a new bedroom

We have two kids' bedrooms in our house, and three kids. So obviously, two of the kids have to share a room. Right now, it makes sense for Estella and Cordelia to share a room, but that may change someday.

One room is small, with a small closet, and has been Adelaida's room since she was born. The other is larger (although still not really large) with a walk-in closet with built-in shelves. The babies have been in that room since they were born and with more space and a large closet, it makes sense to have two kids sharing that room.

We've been thinking about Adelaida's bed situation (she is currently in a toddler bed) and wanted to buy a bunk bed that will serve several purposes: it will allow two kids to share a room more easily and provide a space for (adult) people to sleep when staying with us. We went bed shopping on Sunday and found several we liked and several that we could afford, and one that we both liked and could afford!

We came home Sunday evening with the measurements to try to decide how to orient it in Adelaida's room ... and realized that it would not fit in Adelaida's room, in any orientation! And so, the great room swap of 2011 was initiated. We cleared out the babies' room and the bunk bed was delivered and set up in their (old) room yesterday. They have been sleeping on the floor for the past few days while we convert their old room to Adelaida's new room. Once the bookcase is secured to the wall (tonight, I hope) we will move Adelaida into her new room, clear out her old room, and set up Adelaida's old room for Estella and Cordelia.

The bunk bed has a full mattress on the bottom and a twin on top. There are stairs on the side leading up to the top bunk, with drawers built in to the stairs for some extra storage. We don't have a mattress for the top bunk yet, but will be buying one soon.

I imagine that we'll keep this configuration until Cordelia and Estella are old enough to sleep in a big bed, and then switch the girls' rooms again, in about three years. Until then, Adelaida is going to have the large room to herself with a bunk bed in it, and Estella and Cordelia will share the smaller room.

New furniture in Adelaida's room

While grocery shopping on Sunday, I saw this adorable bean bag chair, on sale for $10 (originally $40). I couldn't resist getting it for Adelaida. She loves it!

My little animals

For Halloween this year, I decided to take the kids to a local mall that had Halloween activities for the kids and trick-or-treating at the stores. This afternoon, I dressed Cordelia and Estella in their costumes (a giraffe and a cow), picked a little leopard (Adelaida) up at school, then headed to the mall.

Adelaida loves her leopard costume and was so excited about trick-or-treating ... until we walked into the mall and saw a person dressed like a potato. Not even a scary, bloody, monster-like potato; just a regular old russet potato with a smile on its face. She stopped, screamed, and then I heard "HoldMeHoldMeHoldMeHoldMe!" and felt her clawing at my legs.

The rest of the mall expedition did not go well. Everywhere she turned, she saw people dressed up in costumes -- a clown, a firefighter, several monsters, Darth Vader, witches, a fairy godmother, and of course the frightening potato. So, I walked through the mall pushing the stroller and carrying Adelaida while trying to calm her fears. She didn't want to do the kids activities (too many people in costumes!), so we ended up leaving after about 45 minutes of me telling her that the costumed people were just people dressed up in costumes, just like her and the babies.

I wasn't able to take any pictures of the girls at the mall, but we did get a few at home. Cordelia is a giraffe, Adelaida is a leopard, and Estella is a cow.


I suspect that Adelaida may grow up with an irrational fear of potatoes (and armadillos, thanks to a well-intentioned costumed character at Texas Roadhouse back in February).

Happy Halloween!