Living with angels

I know I still have all of Christmas to catch up on, but I just wanted to record a few cute things the girls are doing and saying.

Yesterday I was having so many contractions I told the girls that our baby was coming soon. I wanted them to be as excited as I was so I was telling them how fun it was going to be to have a sweet little baby to love and take care of and how cute and beautiful she will be. I said, "and she'll be so beautiful, just like you (pushing on Ryn's nose) and just like you (pushing on Elle's nose)!" And Ryn smiled and pushed on my nose and said, "and just like YOU!" :)

Ryn loves to dance and is constantly asking us to watch her latest moves. Yesterday afternoon I had on some more up-beat music and the setting sun was blazing through the windows in the kitchen while Ryn and Elle danced together. Instead of complaining that the sun was in her eyes (like she does in less than a tenth of a second if it shines in her face in the car), Ryn stopped and exclaimed, "Look! The sun is watching me!"

If we don't notice something Ryn's doing quickly enough, Ryn's unique way of getting us to tune in is to ask, "Mommy/Daddy, can you say, 'Ryn, what are you doing?'" It makes me laugh every time. One day,as I was doing something on the computer when she wanted my approval and attention on something, she added, "Mommy, can you say, 'Good job, Ryn' and smile like this?" (and she showed me the toothy smile she wanted as a response to her accomplishment).

Ryn's new favorite song to perform is "A you're Adorable". She knows all the words and sings it daily. I laughed out loud the other day, though, when I heard her change all the pronouns to direct the song's praises to herself while she was going to the bathroom. "A-- I'm adorable, B-- I'm so beautiful, C-- I'm a cutie full of charm, D-- I'm delightful and E-- I'm exciting and F-- I'm a feather in your arms..." (some of the grammar was more difficult to figure out so I was proud of her working through it and thought it was a great little English exercise, even if it was a little boastful :).

Elle is fully talking, singing, expressing and understanding everything. My all-time favorite word of hers is pacifier, which she pronounces 'pacifawer'. She knows when she's supposed to be sad, excited, happy, mad, compassionate, etc, and over exaggerates each expression. She scrunches up her eyes and nose and will fake a crying sound, saying, "She's so sad, she's cryning." Tonight she floored us when Carma pointed to me and said, "who's that?" and she said, "Mommy and baby Eden." We've only been talking about that name for a few days!

Her favorite question that she asks everyone NON-STOP is, "Mommy/Daddy/Grandma/Ryn/Rynan (Ryan)/Grandpa/........., what DO-ing?" Then you answer her and then she either gives a big, "Ohhhh" as if you've just clarified everything for her, or she repeats what you said as an overly intoned question, "doing dishes?" and then gives the ohhhh. She really has a hunger to understand and be an active part of everything. She is definitely our little expressive!

When she's being a little too expressive and we need to get her attention, Kev taught her a great trick. He just holds her up close, says her name a few times, and then she'll stop and put both hands on his cheeks and say, "What Daddy?" It melts us every time.