iXy's words

ilane is coming around to the idea of speaking.  

while she was quicker to run, climb, and jump (definitely quicker to jump) than her older sister was, she has been much slower about adding words to her vocabulary.  Here are some of her words so far:

Mama or Mami   (me)

Papa or Papi   (ricardo)

Ka-Ka    (Xaris)   

--yes, this is unfortunately similar to the spanish word for poop.  But we are thrilled that she is saying her sister's "name" so, no matter. 

ameeeen (amen.  surprisingly, she says amen like X did at that age.  But, Xaris has been saying Amen properly for ilane's entire lifetime, so I find it amusing that they have similar babytalk.  Aunt Karyn might like this :)

Gajah (gracias--thank you)

Peeees (please)

No (we get this a lot)

Yay

Yeah

baby (her dolls)

lella or lelella (cinderella specifically.  or any of the ballet clothes, or the dress up clothes)

awa (agua--water)

numnum (eat or food)

GOL! (goal! always shouted)

mi (mine)

kacks (kaquita--the word we use for poop...meaning a poopy diaper)

Jeeek  (Jake.  of the Neverland Pirates variety)

Mamama (gramama)

dah dah (tayta)

boo boo (ouchie)

bapo or bobo (zapato--shoe)

bobo (baño--potty, or bath)

bobo (libro--book)

bobo (chupi--her pacifier)

bobo (pañal--diaper)

bobo (toothbrush or brush her teeth)

Iwa (i want.  example: iwa jeeeek means I want to watch a Jake show, iwa numnum means I want to eat, and iwa bobo means whatever the context indicates)

There are many other things that she calls bobo that we haven't figured out yet or haven't paid attention to. Her talk includes so much "bobo" I think it's just her go-to word for sounds she hasn't mastered yet. But for the words we DO know are indicated by "bobo", she will get very frustrated if we don't respond!

hello again

It's been too long.  

You know when you get to the point where it's overwhelming to think of where to pick up from and how much to cover from what I've missed?  yep.

2 of my friends (who don't know each other) have each committed to blogging once a week, and I just keep feeling like I should too, because that's the only way I would actually keep up with the posts I should be doing.  It's difficult though, because my laptop is getting slow and old (battery is dead so it HAS to be plugged in, and the hard drive is full *sometimes, making it difficult to upload photos from the camera, etc etc etc).  So it's not that I don't think about blogging, or want to update the blog, or even try at times...it's just more problematic than it used to be!  But, not impossible, and I want to keep documenting these sweet girls in our family, so I'm just going to have to commit.  

So, what has happened since the last time I posted?  

Xaris' Ballet Show

Xaris' Birthday party

Our REAL science day with the other Ricardos

Vacation Bible School

Mission Trip

Vacation Bible School at a friend's church

and then July happened--which was nice and lazy with swim lessons, lots of crafts, and a quick trip to Mexico!  

So, below are (lots) of iPhone photos from the events...and hopefully one day soon I'll purge the real camera of its treasures and post them.

 Making bouncy balls...science day!

 VBS at our church 

 Music time at VBS :)

 Brayden was baptized on Mission Trip!  

 iXy and her friend, Brayden on Mission Trip

 Screen shot from Mission Trip Sunday (when we come back and report to church)

 VBS at our friend's church

 And surprise!  It turns out one of our neighbors also attends that church, and were involved in the dramas at VBS every morning!

 Frozen Yogurt date with my beautiful girls

 We see this "smile" a lot...kinda fake, but it's what she does when we ask her to smile for a picture.  Or when she's trying to convince us that she shouldn't be in trouble for something naughty she has done. 

 darling

 Backyard splash day

 family movie night...I took this just because ilane looks SO grumpy!

Oh, did I mention she's in a big-girl bed now?  No more crib!

 And she's thrilled about it!

So is big sis

The beautiful firstborn concentrating hard on her crafting...

 

 Remember Marshall?  he's the son of our friends John and Debra (they and another couple and us all found out we were expecting our first at the same time).  Jack was born first, then a month later Marshall arrived, and nearly a month later came Xaris!  Below is a picture of Marshall and X when we celebrated 4th of July when they were 1. The above photo, nearly exactly 3 years later, when they were 4.  They just don't look the same age--X is on the scrawny end of the charts, and Marshy is on the top end of the charts, and you could probably fit every other 4 year old in between them.

Playing with cousins in Mexico 

 I'm a great-aunt!!  Holding my brand new (one day old) great-nephew Alejandro

 this little monkey wanted to climb and jump off of everything while we were there. 

 This past weekend some of Ricardo's high school friends visited from Michigan.  Their daughter, Julia is a week older than Xaris, and we had lots of fun playing and swimming with them!  She is another tall 4 year old, we lined up the kiddos like stair-steps!

Closing shot...because I have no clue where this photo is from or how it came to be on my phone.  Selfie?  Maybe her sister took it?  Anyway...here's our almost-2-year-old monkey, doing what she does best: being curious.  

Science Day

We had a science day today--we were supposed to have friends over (X calls them "the rest of the Ricardo's", but really, they are the "other Rodriguezes"). Unfortunately, friends ended up needing to cancel and reschedule for next week, so it was just me and the girls!

We didn't do a lot of the experiments planned (we'll save them for next week with friends), but I found an old shoebox size tupperware, and drilled holes in the top while Xaris and Ilane hunted rocks, sticks, leaves, and started digging up some dirt.  We dug up some grass and plants too, and built a snail house.

Then, Xaris was very brave.  I pulled out the first snail and put it in the house--but she did every other one after that.  Her only question: "Will they be mean?"  When I told her that they wouldn't, she just went ahead and gave it a try.  So proud of her.

After nap, we made Cloud Dough for the first time.  Yes, loads of fun, very soft, and very moldable.
Yes, also very messy--the small amount of baby oil in the flour meant that the flour dust "stuck" a little better--to clothes and skin.  It wouldn't just clap or shake off.
It was still lots of fun, and since we were outside it really didn't matter that we were getting cloudy with flour.

let's play catch up

ilane had her 18 month well-check, and Xaris had her 4 year well-check since I've last blogged.  Here are the updates on both girls!

The good news: Xaris weighed in at 27 lbs, which PUTS HER ON THE CHART for the first time in 2 years!!  She's in the 5th percentile, but hey, that's better than negative!  She's 38" tall (25th percentile) and healthy in every other way.  We might need to get her eyes checked--it either took her awhile to figure out what she was supposed to do with the eye chart, or she really did have some difficulty seeing it.  She doesn't have great genetics for eyesight, unfortunately.  But, it would be fantastic if she inherited her father's eyes and has perfect vision.

iXy weight in at 21.4 lbs (15th percentile), 31 inches (30th percentile) and head was 17.5 inches (5th percentile).  Quite the opposite of her sister--who has a big ol' head!  She's doing well, but is still not talking much so we're trying to make it not quite so easy for her to get what she wants without using words (or at least trying to use words).

They are both just great fun!  

They are each other's favorite (except for maybe when papa comes home) and prefer to play together.  When iXy isn't in the room, Xaris complains about being lonely, and typically ilane will follow Xari around the house playing with her.  Of course, they complain about turns and sharing, but most of the time they're fine and play well together.  Part of me is waiting for the other shoe to drop.  :)

Xaris has her ballet recital soon and just got her costume!  This is her with her two best ballet friends and her incredible teacher Miss Sarah.  

She loves these friends, and really enjoys her ballet class...and ANY other kinds of crazy dancing she can manage!  Case in point--this video I managed to capture when she jumped down from the bench in the middle of lunch at the zoo.  It was completely random, I'm not sure where it came from, other than she decided that she just had to dance!

And this from one of our before-bed dance parties

Beach Vacation

My parents came back to Houston for a wedding, and came a few days earlier so we could see them too!  They rented a house on the beach and we joined them for a lovely time.  Unfortunately, I was sick with a NASTY upper respiratory infection that nearly prevented us from going...but, I was one and a half days into antibiotics and feeling like I could possibly manage it so off we went.  I did start to feel a little better as the trip went on, but couldn't sleep because of the horrid cough that accompanied my illness.  Nastiness aside, we had a grand time.  iXy needs more time with her grandparents because she was suddenly kind of shy and a little overwhelmed!  Good thing they get to come for a long visit in May!

ballet

Xaris loves her ballet class.  Technically, it's ballet and tap, but I think the ballet part is the only part that really counts for her.  She loves it.  And her teacher Miss Sarah is pretty fantastic.  It's not easy to get 3 year olds to pay attention and follow directions...unless you are Miss Sarah.

I have tons of photos and videos...but am having trouble figuring out how to upload my iphone videos to the blog.  If anyone has it down, I'd love advice!  This was the experiment...but I had to e-mail it to myself and download it from there, and it was shortened in the process.  Anyway, I'll keep trying to figure it out!

Azeltika & Ainka

I am still learning who Azeltika (ezeltica? Aziltika?? Who knows....) is.

Sometimes she is one of X's small dollhouse dolls, sometimes who she talks to on her play phone, and sometimes neither, but the name still comes up.

Imaginary friend? 

I can't think of where she might have heard that name or word or anything close to it before--but we've heard Xaris say it often enough lately I've started asking questions. What I've learned:

Azeltika has long yellow hair

Her nickname is Zelki 

She has a friend named Ainka

Is this sounding familiar to anyone? Some kids' show that I don't know about or a character from a book I haven't read yet? 

Or---do your kids have imaginary friends? Anything I need to know/be aware of/prepare for/try to prevent? 

:) this is fun so far! I'll keep you updated on azeltika's fate. And I'll try to blog more often. 

instigated....

Ilane offered kisses for the first time tonight.  She has given kisses lots of times, if we ask.  We'll say "dame beso" or "dame muah" (kissing sound).  Tonight, she started saying "mmmmmm aaaaah"  (not mama, because she mastered that one a LONG time ago :)
After a few times of her saying mmmmm aaaaah, she leaned into my face, and I got it!  I gave her a kiss, she laughed, and repeat.  And repeat.  And repeat.  And repeat.  :)  

I love it.