3.31.19 - March joy statuses

I seemed to have had a higher than usual number of joy inventory statuses this month, so I guess it was a pretty good month.

3.30.19 - Kid Snippets - Excavator, Calimento, Clara and Jane go up the hill

Kid snippets: this afternoon while Clara was playing pretend she said "Let's go up the excavator!"

Me: Do you mean 'escalator'?
C: Yeah, excavator!
M: Can you say "Later"?
C: Later.
M: Escalator?
C: Excavator!
M: Can you say "See you later"?
C: See you later!
M: "See you later, escalator!"
C: No, *Hello* excavator!
M: [laughing] Say "Es"
C: Es
M: Cah!
C: Vator!
M: No say "Es"...
C: Es
M: Cah!
C: Cah!
M: *Later*!
C: Excavator!
M: Okay fine.

In other news, I wish I'd captured on video the moment Jane saw me after I finally got home yesterday. She could hardly have grinned bigger and she let me carry her up the stairs (normally she wants to do it herself). She was basically in physical contact with me most of the evening. Similarly when Clara woke up from a nap she wanted me to hold her and cuddle for a good 20 minutes, which is very unusual. I know they can't articulate it very clearly but they seemed pretty happy to see me. <3

The ABA therapist has been practicing key questions with Clara and the two newest are "What city do you live in?" and "What state do you live in?" Clara understands "Sacramento" but keeps forgetting the word "California," so instead she says "Cali-mento!"

The weather is beautiful today so for awhile we walked around the apartment complex. There are some very small grassy hills with trees at the top, and Clara and Jane kept asking me to sing "Jack and Jill went up the hill" while they ran up the hill and then "fell" back down. I switched the song to "Clara and Jane went up the hill" and they just thought that was hilarious.

3.29.19 - Kid Snippets - Clara is not coming

If I call Clara from the other room and she responds "I"m cominnnnnnggggg!" it means she is definitely not coming. And if I ask her to do something and she says "Okay, just a second!" she definitely has no intention of doing the thing. Just now she even said "Mom, wait!" while doing the ASL sign for "wait." So at least she's listening...?

3.12.19 - Kid Snippets - Clara wants band aids, Jane's vocab right now

Today if Clara slightly bumps any part of herself against anything, she claims it hurts very much and she needs kisses. After kisses she also asks for a band aid (so far to no avail).

Also here is some of Jane's top vocabulary right now. She seems to prefer "B" sounds:

--bup = cup
--boop = book
--bey bey = blanket
--bah = ball
--Bobo = Bobo (one of the teddy bears)
--aiwah = Clara
--i wah = I want
--eee = eat (if accompanied by "eat" sign)
--No! = NO! (This is the favorite, really.)

There's a lot more but those are the first that come to mind.

3.3.19 - Clara's 4th birthday

I went to wake up the kids at about 7:45a because I hope to get Jane down for an early nap before the train museum. When I walked in I told Clara it was her birthday and said "Happy Birthday!" and she sat up and said "Cake!" and pretended to eat some cake.

By some miracle I managed to get a lot of cleaning done in the morning while Jack was at work and I was home with both girls. They really enjoyed it because I moved some furniture around to vacuum and that was apparently SO EXCITING. I didn't even bother to put the coffee table back because they were having such a fantastic time running in circles around it and giggling. I even finished making Clara's cake on time.

Even though they got up later than they do during the week (closer to 8am than 7am), Jane still went down peacefully for a nap early enough that she was awake again before it was time to leave for the train museum. Just as we were getting ready to put the girls in the car, Henry arrived at our apartment with a whole bunch of red and purple balloons, which was also very exciting for them. Clara wanted Henry to drive with us to the museum but was mollified when we told her he'd meet us there.

Also joining us at the museum were Erin, and also Beth and Hunter! Clara and Jane seemed slightly confused but pleased to see those two outside of Beth's house, haha. The kids had a great time. In contrast with last year, Jane does *not* want to be held at all and wants to walk/run every where herself, which overall is actually a lot easier (she is a high density child). Seemed to me Jane loved how much space there was to explore and Clara loved the trains themselves. I love the older gentleman who (I think) volunteer there and have tons of knowledge about all the trains. They remind me of Grandpa. <3 Same with the elaborate model train set on the 3rd floor. It's pretty fantastic. We lingered there awhile and really the girls, especially Clara, could have probably sat and watched it a lot longer, but I moved us along because Jack and I are both pretty tired these days.

After the museum we went back home and the girls played intensely with all the balloons while Erin ran and got ice cream and Henry ran and got everyone In & Out for lunch (even Clara, since she can have their gluten free fries). After lunch we busted out the chocolate cake with sprinkles, gave Clara 4 candles, and sang her Happy Birthday (she sang along). She and Jane made a delighted mess (especially Jane) of their cake, and then they were both more interested in the balloons than the presents for quite awhile.

Eventually we did open presents though. Clara has gotten really good at it all by herself. She got a whole new set of play food and a pretend birthday cake complete with candles (which is perfect since she pretends everything is cake and ice cream anyway). She also got a Magna doodle (which was a huge hit with Jane) and a model Golden Gate Bridge for the Brio train set. Jack set up a pretty beautiful train track incorporating the bridge and Clara played with it for quite awhile. Then she made what looked kind of like a thrown of balloons to sit Jingle Bear on and continually fed him the fake birthday cake for a long time.

Throughout the day she also got to video chat with Aaron, Katie, Josiah, and Naomi, later Mimi, and later Jama.

And while most of this was happening (during the time we were back at the apartment) I got to catch up with Henry and Erin, which was nice in itself.

And then the girls went to bed basically peacefully (probably totally wiped out).

Overall it was just a wonderful day.