Pedal Faster!

Luc lost the barring on his bike pedals last week. The bike shop told us it would cost almost the price we paid for the bike to replace it. So we decided to go home.
Last spring, a neighbor from down the street gave Luc a 16 inch Trek bike. For free. How nice of him because those bikes are at least $200. Luc wanted to be outside on his bike yesterday, so we tried his trike again. But the wheels jammed. So Frederic brought out the Trek bike and pumped up the tires. We told Luc he was going to try to learn how to ride a bike now without training wheels. He actually did really well! But he was scared of falling, so after 10 minutes he was ready to stop.

All that Glitters

I went to my friend Rachel's baby shower yesterday afternoon. I quickly changed into something cuter than sweatpants and snuck out after Aria had gone down for a nap. When I came home, Aria was awake and came running over to me to say hi. Right away she noticed the necklace I was wearing. (It's a hematite stone with little "diamonds" around it. It was my Grandma's necklace. I had never worn it before, but I thought it matched my outfit well that day.)
Aria's eyes wouldn't leave the necklace. She took it in her little fingers and stared at it. Then she looked at me and said "princess necklace." Then she asked to wear it. I couldn't say no. The smile and look on her face when I said yes was priceless and like I had never seen before. She'd never been this excited ever over something. She must've thought it was magical (she's been very into Moana lately).
But then I like to think she could feel the connection that it was my grandma's, her guardian angel's, necklace.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

Luc's "what I'm interested in":

-Making and creating things (a.k.a.- crafts with Grandma)
-Experiments
-Magnets
-Practicing writing his letters, learning to spell words
-Memorizing lyrics to songs and singing
-Lego

Aria:

-101 Dalmatians
-Moana
-Make up
-Dresses/skirts/"dress up"
-Nails painted
-Bows in her hair
-Jumping in puddles

No More Teething!

Aria's last 2-year molars came through and we didn't even realize it.
Her second top molar came in about 2 weeks ago. I went to check on it this weekend to see how far it's come and then decided to see if her bottom ones were on their way. What a shock! One is almost all poked through and the other's point it out. I guess these didn't bother her too much because she's been sleeping fine, not too cranky (any more than normal), and her nose barely ran.
I'm so happy not to deal with baby teething anymore. Our philosophy for the kids has been to allow them to keep their pacifiers until they've cut their 2-year molars. After that, they can use a stuffed animal, lovey, or in Aria's case, a Dora doll, as their comfort object. We don't see a physical need for pacifiers once they no longer need something to soothe the teething discomforts.
So now we start the many ways to get Aria unattached from her pacifiers. On her own, she can go all day without it if she's kept distracted. But once she gets upset over something or goes to sleep, she wants it.
Instead of dragging this out with poking holes in them (which I don't like to do because I get scared if they fall apart when she's sleeping, she'll choke), only allowing them in the car or when she's sleeping, and then transitioning out of those phases, I want to just throw them away, deal with a few days of her looking for them, and then be done. But she's doesn't transition as well as Luc did on these kinds of things. And she also has a fiery spirit. Her fits are monstrous. Am I willing to deal with those instead of dragging it out?

Aria,

I waited for this day to come for many, many months. Now that's it's here, it's as bittersweet as I knew it would be. I'm happy, yet a little heartbroken all at once.

Since you've turned two, you've gained an independence about you. You've also eased out of that leech-attachment to Mommy. No longer all afternoon and evening are you begging me to hold you (actually you prefer to walk all the time on your own now). You don't scream in horror when I put you down for a moment. No more can I get you to sit on my lap while you eat your dinner. And when you wake at night, it's simply for a drink of water or a pouch, then you're back to sleeping in your crib. You don't even need me to pick you up anymore; you don't even ask for it. You're now content with sitting in your crib as I walk out of the room to get you your midnight snack. It doesn't scare you anymore; you know I'll come back like I say I will. It seems you actually prefer your comfy bed now over laying with me on the couch. -that part I do not mind, because I get a little more sleep.
But I do miss our hours of cuddling.

Can you slow down a little bit, please? You're growing up way too fast for my liking.

-Mommy

Luc,

You made me extra proud of you last night.

Before bedtime I was looking through your school folder one last time and noticed the little envelope for money to give at chapel the next day.  You were standing there with me and I thought I'd nonchalantly ask you if you wanted to give some coins to the poor for chapel tomorrow. I half expected you to say yes and ask for money from my wallet, but you walked right into the kitchen to get your chore jar. I opened it for you as you opened the envelope, and I handed you the six quarters that were in the jar that you had just earned this weekend (from helping empty the dishwasher, cleaning the toilets with Daddy, and carrying the sofa cushions in and out of my trunk). You proceeded to take each coin, one by one, and put it in the envelope. As you were doing so, I mentioned you didn't have to give all your coins, just wanted you wanted to give. But you said you wanted to give them all.

At bedtime, you told me you wished the envelope were bigger so you could give even more money (when you had it to give).

There's a part of me that's waiting to see how you'll react in a few days or weeks when you look at your chores jar and notice the money gone. I'm wondering how you'll react when you realize you gave all your coins away and they're not there to spend on a new toy. I'm happy to know that the lessons we're teaching you by giving our used clothes, toys, books, etc. to others in need, and you helping Grandma buy cans of food for the poor at Christmas time, have made an impression in your mind and heart.

And even though you wanted to give more money to the poor, I hope you know that in God's eyes you gave them millions of dollars because you gave them all that you had.

I love you,
Mommy

Aria's Birthday Party

 Aria's party took place a little late after her birth day.  -This year, Christmas was over the weekend and so was New Years, so it had to be pushed back to the following weekend. At 2, she doesn't know the difference. When she's older, we'll have to see how that works.

Aria loves Peppa Pig! When it's on TV, she's absorbed completely. So we decided to make that her theme this year.
We kept her party small, just family. I also made it super easy on myself and got some sandwiches catered and also got the cake made by Wegmans. They have a cute Peppa Pig picture to put on top, and that beats me trying to ice any cake, any day!

 I did some low-key, last minute party decorations:

 Aria got so excited everytime I put something up, she had to go around and touch each picture.

The super cute Peppa Pig cake:

Her precious princess dress (thank you cousin Kendall!)

 It started to snow heavier when the party was about to start, so the grandparents were a little late, and Uncle Dave came later in the afternoon (we celebrated Grandma's birthday at dinnertime).

 

The night before Aria's party, I was prepping some side dishes and Luc realized he hadn't made anything for Aria. He wanted to make something at Grandma's that day, but I guess he forgot. We told him to color her a picture, but he insisted it had to be more than that. Frederic got home early, and since I was too busy to find something on Pinterest (that we actually had the materials needed already at home), we suggested he go to the store and pick out a little gift for her. Frederic brought him over to Toys R Us and searched for her gift. Without wanting anything for himself, he left with a Peppa Pig purse that you can color. As Luc stated: "Because she loves Peppa Pig, and LOVES coloring!" And she loves to be a girly-girl, so this was a prefect present for her indeed. And she loved it.

Aria had tons of fun ripping open her presents:

And before the cake was even set down on the table, she had already blown out the candles. So we had to relight them so I could get pictures of her blowing them out:

 

And coloring with Bonne-Maman; because this little girl cannot go a day without coloring:

Even though Aria was fighting a bad cold, and we got about an inch + of snow, she loved her little party!