Observations from the girls' babysitter

Emma is 9 and she makes me miss my little sister so much! They like a lot of the same things. She is so mature for her age and I can always count of her to help me out with her younger sisters. Abri is 5 and is so cute! The things she says just crack me up! One day in church she smelt my arm and said, “mmmm you smell so pretty”. She has such long beautiful hair! It makes me miss mine so much. I spend the most time with Kayla and Cami. Kayla is 3 and reminds me of myself so much. She has this walk that she does when she wears skirts where she shakes her bum while flipping her hair. It’s adorable! Her parents are going to have to keep a close eye on her when she’s a teenager. Cami is almost 2 and is so sweet. She doesn’t talk but she sure does know how to communicate! She loves being tickled. Her favorite thing to do is grab something she knows she’s not supposes to and she’ll wait until someone screams NO! Then she runs as fast as she can. I may not be their mother but I have learned a few things while being a nanny on what it would be like to be a mom.

Camilla at 15 months

Running. Throwing tantrums. Picking and choosing what she wants to eat. Repeating things you say, though not always. Those are some of our highlights from the last three months with Camilla.

Here are some of the things I've absolutely loved.

Sunday I was walking down the hall at church with Camilla in my arms. We passed one of the portraits on the wall and I heard "Je-a" as she was looking at the picture of Christ. I think that's the youngest any of the girls have been when they've named him from a picture without being prompted.

A few weeks ago I told Camilla "Good job" for something (I think it was putting something away) and I heard "Ga ja" right afterwards. When I told Todd I thought she said Good Job, she nodded and grinned. Coincidence?

She now loves baths. At one year, it was like she was a cat the way she acted in the bathtub. Now, she actually wants baths and will try and take off her clothes to get in the tub herself. I know the change happened while we were on vacation but I'm not sure exactly what contributed to it. My best guess was the time we spent in pools on vacation solidified her love of water and she was willing to accept it in tub form as well as pool. I'm grateful--it's nice not leaving the bathroom soaked from head to toe now.

Kayla and her Charisma

I wish I had pictures, but with the craziness of the last few months and my overall dissatisfaction with my photo skills, I've seen the past few months go by in a haze that has no remnants on my digital photo cartridge or photo file. So, I decided to at least salvage my photographic failure with an attempt to catalog some remembrances with words--you know, the old-fashioned way of keeping histories.

Kayla, now three, has made me laugh a lot lately. She's really expanded her repertoire of vocal skills. Here are some of my favorites that made me laugh at the time. They may be lost in the retelling, but I figured it was worth trying.

Very matter of factly: "I have ex-ze-ma" while talking about how the dry patches on her legs were feeling that day. (This has been a battle for us for the past yr & a 1/2 to control the patches, with bouts of redness, bleeding, but the latest flare-up is getting better so we're putting up a good fight.)

Said with a smile and shiver: "It's chil-ly this morning"

Said of her clover Care Bear with pink sunglasses: "She looks sty-lish"

Putting a bunch of cards in the card holder together instead of one at a time: "I had to put them in one at a time because a whole bunch was dif-fi-cult."

Part of her charm is the way she ennuciates everything. She's very careful about her pronunciation and so her actual sentence doesn't come out quickly, but she thinks about what is going on and observes things that surprises me.

For instance, last night I got a call on my cell phone that was a wrong no., followed by a text from the same no, saying Linh, its allyssa, call me. I related the incident to Todd, with Kayla listening. Kayla then matter of factly repeated the situation a few minutes later: "That was Linh and Alyssa calling."

She loves reading, repeating whatever Abri or Emma is learning on their homework. She loves counting and singing the ABC song. Her favorite book is probably One Fish, two fish. What a cutie.

Camilla's Habits

• cupping her right hand and waving it in the air


• being stingy with her hugs--I miss the cuddly days. She is just too busy for such things most times.


• saying ba-ha, ba-ha, over and over


• crawling excitedly to meet Daddy when he comes home from work. If she happens to be upstairs, we hear an excited squeal and slow progress to make her way downstairs.


• if she wants to talk with you and you turn your head away, she adjusts her position to put her face back in your line of vision.


• taking pacifiers away from other babies (she doesn't use one)


• likes being in swimming water, but can't stand the bathtub


• she cries when you put her to bed-night or nap, doesn't matter-but she's happy as a lark when she gets up and will stay in her crib talking for about 20 mins before she starts wondering why no one has gotten her out
• she won't sleep anywhere but in her crib. The only exception is sometimes during 3rd hour of church when Daddy is holding her, she'll collapse for 15 mins (it doesn't work when Mommy holds her 3rd hour, though--why is that?!!?)
• she goes right to the blanket in her crib when she's tired. she loves to snuggle with it at least. she has to lay down with them by her face. I've been somewhat freaked out about this but she always sleeps with her head to the side.

I'm sure I've missed some of the things I've noticed lately but at least it's a partial list

Happy Birthday Camilla!

I couldn't let the week pass without officially tracking our little girl/baby's progress. From month 11 to 12 we've seen lots of changes.
She can now officially:
climb down the stairs consistently on her own (backwards)
walk 5 steps without assistance before falling down
drink from any type of sippy cup
stand for whatever period of time she so desires without assistance
climb onto the kids' picnic table--not something we've encouraged!

stand from a sitting position without anything to lean on for support

Update: 10 days after her birthday she was cruisin' around the rooms and walking up a storm. Whew, it can happen fast!

11 months and counting

Three teeth, officially! She loves walking with assistance, getting much better at doing it with just one hand holding and sometimes requests you get up from what you're doing to walk with her.

Logic of Adoration

Abri has a Wish Bear, her "Care Bear Baby" that she sleeps with each night. We had the misfortune of leaving it at my parents' house a week ago. She was really brave about not having it, but she was so disappointed. I had thought she was over it since she hadn't mentioned it since the first night. Then tonight we each shared a wish, and Abri surprised me: "I wish for my care bear baby back." Later at bedtime she couldn't go to sleep because she was thinking about it so much. I offered her some suggestions of other animals and here are her responses:
Yellow kitty: no, it's too small
Flower teddy bear: the thing around its neck bothers me; (when I say we can take it off) and its tummy is too soft
Brown bear: no, its tummy doesn't feel like Care Bear baby
[few others I can't remember]

Finally:
sheep [with a half-smile]: it's soft like my Care Bear baby. ok. [then off to bed]

Moral of the story: kids have their reasons for their favorites. I didn't ever appreciate just how much thought must go into those preferences.