Evelyn goes green

Evelyn is apparently going to soon be vastly reducing her personal carbon footprint by eliminating the use of diapers. Her first foray into this territory was pooping in the potty at a restaurant tonight where we went for dinner. The other patrons of the restaurant were able to celebrate with us, as Evelyn announced her accomplishment to everyone when she came out of the restroom. In the short 20-minute period between getting home and going to bed she successfully used the potty 4 more times--we think she was so excited that she was actually doing something rather than just sitting there, she had to get up and run around a bit before she realized that she wasn't actually finished!

We'll see how tomorrow goes....

Sister comforts

Tonight the girls were playing in the piano room while Louise, their babysitter, was making dinner for them. At some point Evi started wailing so Louise came in to see what was going on, thinking that maybe it had been a premeditated assault from the elder sibling (even though that NEVER happens around here! Ha!) However, when she came in the room, Sierra had her arm around Evi and was rubbing her back and Evi had her head nuzzled up under Sierra's chin (apparently she had stood up under the piano and bonked her head). Sierra told Louise that she was comforting Evi and that everything was going to be ok. Does it get any sweeter than that? Really?

Diagnosis

This morning Sierra did not want to leave the house when we were all ready to go. We explained that we couldn't leave her home by herself, etc., etc., but she was not pleased about it and proceeded to bestow upon us an extended crying fit. She really doesn't cry all that much (usually it's the tinier tot who holds that distinction in our house) so Evelyn was a bit astounded by the whole thing. She came up to Sierra and kept saying, in a "poor-thing" type of voice, "Look! She's tired!"

Math whiz

Tonight at dinner Sierra ate her first serving of five pierogies and then asked for more. Jonathan gave her the last one from the serving dish and then starting cooking up another batch since people still seemed hungry. When they were ready he asked Sierra how many more she wanted. Her response was, "Five more. Then I have eleven!"

Drowning in dolls

This afternoon we had to go to Target to pick up a couple of things and we ended up (surprise, surprise) walking down the aisle where all the dolls and Barbies are. I could just see Sierra's head spinning because she wanted to look at everything on both sides of the aisle and she couldn't figure out where to start, or what to look at. At some point she looked up astounded, threw her hands in the air, and said, "Mommy, I'm totally surrounded by dolls!"

Keeping up with the Jones's

Evelyn loves to do whatever she sees Sierra doing. After witnessing Sierra's foray into story-writing earlier this week, she now talks in "story mode" whenever she picks up a book. Here's one from this afternoon:

"One day a worm went out of the house and said "I wonder.... where is the moon? I wonder, I wonder..."

Girl power

Approximately 10 seconds after having finished putting on Evelyn's shoes I looked over to discover her taking them off again.

Me: Evelyn, why are you taking your shoes off?
Evelyn: Because I can.

Science fiction debut

As dictated by Sierra (transcribed by Mommy):

The Tree of the Bustiati

Easter Lily went on a walk. She met lots of persons and she gave each of them some candy. She came back home and met her father... but she didn't like any of her food that her father gave to her.

Then she went out to her garden and watered all her plants. Then she went inside and did all her work. And then she went outside and went on another walk.

When she started walking, all the Easter Eggs came out and started walking with her and singing with her. And then the people started putting water on the Easter Eggs and her.

And then the Bustiati came flying out of the tree and he flied all the way over the world. The Bustiati flied all over the world and met a new friend in a new world. THE END

A Very Short Walk

Once Penelope was living in her house. Then she met Isa and went on a walk. Misa meeted those two friends. Then they said, "No, we have to go home."
THE END

Nana's Biking Adventure (written with some--very little--help from Mommy)

Once upon a time Nana was sleeping and she waked up. And she noticed that it was a beautiful day outside. And then she rushed downstairs to eat breakfast. And then she went outside and went on a bike ride.

She saw so many beautiful houses. And she passed a playground, too. She saw lots of tents with people inside. The people in tents were visiting from another world! All of them looked like frogs! Nana didn't know what to do. Nana didn't want to do anything.

She biked away as fast as she can. And then her chain went funny. The chain got mixed up with the gears. And the frogs came and helped her to fix it up. Nana rode home, and she felt good about the frogs helping her.

The next day Nana said, "I want to go on another bike ride!"
THE END

The power of self-propulsion

On our way to a farm to buy produce today, we were following behind a tow-truck that was pulling a car. The girls both wanted to get a better look, but the truck was going faster than us and we didn't want to attempt to catch up to it on the windy country road that we were not familiar with. We were commenting on how fast he was going (it was rather remarkable, and somewhat scary!) when Sierra said, "Yeah, he's probably getting a good work-out!"

This is from a kid who travels a LOT via bicycle and stroller, so she's heard that one a time or two before! :-)