Snapshot of June

So, I've been lame in the blogging world. I still haven't posted about when my family came to town, and I plan on it. It is even started, but so much happened, that it seems a little daunting. in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of my awesome kids' developments. I also didn't realize Bill was posting some things at the same time. Check out his below.

Alice-

Alice is still about the sweetest little thing ever. She sleeps well, eats well, and rarely cries. When she does, it's short. She is laid back and beautiful and brings me so much joy every single day.

This girl LOVES to eat. She can't get enough. The only think she's snubbed has been the baby food turkey that more closely resembles cat food. I understand her rejection of that. She also wants her food continuously. If you wait too long between bites, she'll let you know. We've been giving her lots of table foods, and she likes everything. Her love of food has prompted some communication. She is always signing more! Her version involves putting the tips of her thumbs together. It's so sweet.

She has such beautiful eyes. And everything else. When we're out, I often get nice comments about her cuteness. Especially in the eye department.

I love this face- she often has her eyebrows pulled in this quizzical look. I think she's really trying to figure everything out. I think this curiosity is good. She'll use it to learn all kinds of good things.

This is definitely a water baby! She can't get enough. The second she touches water she kicks and splashes and gets very excited. She doesn't mind her face getting wet. It's so fun to see her! Here's a little clip of her splashing around. I love the legs!

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The biggest development in little Alice's life has been her ability to move. She's mobile now! Which is great, but changes my life quite a bit. She has the cutest little crawl. I can't decide if it's like an inch worm, or a frog. Either way, she's getting very good at it. She gets around wherever she wants to go, and leaves rooms with ease. Here's some footage of her in action.

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Sally-

Sally is such a passionate fun girl! She loves life and wants to enjoy it to its fullest. She is outgoing and friendly and loves to learn. You never have to wonder how she's feeling, she'll let you know. She's also very affectionate and I routinely get cuddles, kisses, hugs and love affirmations from this cutie.

I know this is blurry, but check out her face- she's plugging her nose with her upper lip- just like I can do. If only I could convince her to put her head in the water, she could put that skill to use.

Just like above, but clear and no funny face. I like this picture- yellow is such a happy color.

I know this picture has nothing to do with friendliness, but I'm using it to talk about that anyway. My grandpa used to say of me, "Emily knows no stranger". Sally is usually the same. She occasionally gets shy, but is usually ready to make friends with everyone around her. The other day at the playground, I was particularly impacted when she went up to some random kids and said, Hi, I'm Sally! Do you want to play with me?" She has no fear of rejection, just the desire to share her joy with others. Especially kids. She wants to be every child's friend.

This is Sally sitting at the computer. She loves playing games on this thing. we'll go to pbskids.org, and if i let her, she'd stay there indefinitely. She can move the mouse and click on all anything she wants. She'll follow the instructions and figure it out. It's amazing that she is using a computer already. She's not even three yet.

She has been all about books these days. She routinely wants to read 14 books in a row. She also likes to read them by herself. She has a few pretty well memorized (below is a clip). Lately, she's been wanting to put me to bed. It is so sweet. She reads, sings, says prayers, and gives me goodnight loves. I love it. I should say that the reason the video below is so shaky is that Alice was very interested in the hanging lens cap. She kept tugging at it.

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Here, I was trying to catch her singing. You can hear a little bit, but it's the overall behavior I find so funny.







Yes, she's asleep on the potty. So funny! This brings up two issues. Is Sally potty trained? No. She'll occasionally sit on the potty, but usually she wants nothing to do with it. She does have some cool panties that she likes to wear, and I think she really tries to keep them clean. mostly, though, she hold it in. I'm not pushing it super hard, because there's resistance and I don't want to make it a negative thing. It will come.

The other issue here is sleep. The reason she crashed here, was that she didn't get a nap this day. I'm torn, because she really needs a nap still- she does much better in the evening when she has one. (not to mention me needing her to nap) But she's having trouble settling down at night. She is often awake at 11:00 or later. In her room, but awake. We put her down, but she just wants to play. This doesn't happen when she doesn't nap. I've been trying to shorten her nap. I think that's the compromise we'll live with for now.

Together, the Nicolich girls are SO fun to be with. They love each other and life. They are so different, which is great. They both make me so happy.

This is a typical picture of Sally mauling Alice

We've been doing lots of fun things lately. playground trips (when we can stand the incredible heat), swimming trips, and blueberry picking. And of course, lots of fun and games at the homestead.

Sally loves these boots- even in this weather. I love her wearing them- super cute.

One similarity between our girls is their love of all things daddy. And with good reason. He is such a fun and loving papa. We are all lucky to have such a great man in our lives.