Howe's Life: Growing up

I really wish the kids would just pause for a second in growing up (I also wish they would hurry up and move out for college so I can have a morning with peace and quiet).

Eleanor is potty training now. She is so tall and has completely lost her baby belly! Ella is stubborn as hell (her teachers call her independent). She is a terrible communicator, generally just yelling random words at you while you try to piece together what she wants. But, she actually has a huge vocabulary and carries on full conversations with her sister and friends. Eleanor is obsessed with the dogs (Ours and Grandma T's). She wants to snuggle them and calls the dogs cutie - Lani cutie, Bella cutie. Eleanor is making headway with swimming, finally jumping in the pool by herself at class. She loves dance class, but hates actually dancing without me while she is there. She will watch the whole class and them come home and do everything that she saw. We've decided that Ella might need to take a break from dance to see if that gets her motivated to actually participate. Ella still loves shoes and clothes, but hates wearing any of them. She strips as often as she can and takes her shoes off in the middle of the school day! I love snuggling Ella and lately have gotten to spend many evenings snuggling in bed while watching ET until she gives up and goes to sleep.

Madeline has grown three inches since her birthday. She is now officially a kindergartner (agh!) and basically barely needs me on a regular basis. Madi can give directions regarding every routine in the house and helps Ella get ready for school and bed. She is still not stoked on meeting new people which led to Kinder orientation and assessment day being a terrible experience. Madi loves to come home and color or put her Koala Crate crafts together. She loves us to read to her and is working on recognizing words in our books. Madi has been having fairly regular afternoon meltdowns lately, I think she is exhausted from school and growing. She is an amazing bedtime kid now and is out within minutes of laying down at night, yay! Madeline loves to dance, was very interested in the Olympics and is killing it on her balance bike. I am looking forward to the day she can ride a real bike while I run with her - exercise and together time! Even though she is getting so big, Madeline still loves to cuddle and spend time hanging out with me, I am trying to hold onto those moments to get me through the teen years that are sure to come too soon.