Happy Birthday to Daddy! We should have taken a family photo at Robby’s 40th birthday party, but I always seem to think of these things after the moment has passed. Instead, we offer a photo of Robby and Julia sharing a joyful moment of play.

Robby enjoyed his birthday and birthday party a lot. We celebrated the night before with friends and then on his birthday with a family meal. I hope I will be as graceful when I move on to my next decade.

We love you, old man!

“Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” — Jack Benny

The photo is from a super-sweet evening where Julia was all about her Daddy. She pulled him up from his chair to dance with her. They danced for a long time together!

Julia deserves a praise-filled update because of her reaction to changes that occurred a week ago. First, we retired the pacifiers. We bundled all of them together and talked about the need to say good-bye to them. We thanked them for being helpful to us and then they went away. She has asked for them and has been reminded that we said good-bye to them. She doesn’t ask again at that time for them. We went several days without any additional requests until we were in the car on Sunday and she was beyond exhaustion and asked for it. As sad as it is to tell her no, she has been so great about giving them up. She has taken every nap and gone on to sleep at night without them.

Second, we retired daily milk bottles. Mama completely mis-read Julia’s love for milk. I did not think Julia would take milk from a sippy cup, but I also thought she would quit asking for milk too. She gives us really sad faces when she asks for milk and gets it in a sippy cup. She keeps asking for the milk and then only drinks two sips before abandoning the cup. We have increased the amount of yogurt and cheese in her diet to keep dairy and some healthy fat in her life. I do not know how long she is going to hold out on this, but the Mama is determined to not go back to a bottle despite her desire for Julia to drink milk.

Lastly, on Thursday, Julia’s crib side came off her bed. We were dreading the things that come with this piece of freedom, but so far so good. Every night, Julia has gone to bed and stayed in bed, with the exception of trying to follow Emily out of the room when Emily disobediently got out of bed. Amazingly, the girls have left each other alone at night. They are still taking their mid-afternoon naps in different rooms, though. I know Julia is a bit naive about what she could do, but I could not have hoped for a better acceptance of the rules that are associated with her new found freedom!

Our baby is growing up quickly these days! We are so proud of you Julia!

Julia graduated to her big girl bed tonight. When Daddy got home, he removed the side and installed the safety bar. Both girls were excited. Emily understood what was happening, but Julia kept checking on her Daddy to see what was going on.

The girls enjoyed playing together in Julia’s bed. Emily was not pleased when she had to get out at bedtime. When Mommy suggested that we take Julia’s photo, she thought that she needed to have her jammies on first. She is so proud of her bed. She made sure her water was on the same shelf as Emily’s, now that she can get out to drink it.

What a big girl you are Julia. We are proud of you!

(4 yrs) Emily loves to dance around the room, especially when she is supposed to be listening or doing something else. She just zones out and off she goes. I love that she enjoys it so much that she puts that much effort into it. I have asked her where she learned different dances and she tells me that one of her Thursday School teachers teaches her. Every day she spends some time twirling around or making leaps and bounds somewhere.

Another game Emily is interested in right now is to play pretend “Goldilocks”. She will get out three bowls, three chairs, and make up three beds. Then she will assign play acting roles for other family members to act out the story with her. Emily likes to play different roles in this story, so you are never sure who you will get to be. If someone tries to be adventurous and like a different porridge or sleep in the wrong bed she will correct you, although she will not make you “do it right”. After playing once or twice, she is satisfied and willing to continue to play by herself eating porridge, sitting in chairs, and laying in beds.

Notice that Julia’s mouth is imitating how she is imagining the Mama eating the food off the spoon. I love it!

(27 months) The girls are always finding new things to play and making new favorite games. Julia has been exploring the dollhouse in the last week in new ways. At Christmas when we got the dollhouse she was more interested in dropping pieces down the stairwell or inspecting each piece.

This last week she has become very interested in playing with the dolls and the furniture. One game she plays is to go to her play kitchen and “fix” a bowl of food and then take it to the dollhouse. She takes turns feeding the different dolls with a big spoon. It was hilarious!

Our dollhouse family has grandparents, parents, a son, a daughter, a baby, and two “best friend” dolls. When Julia plays with the family members she sings a little happy song and occasionally interrupts the song with a doll making a comment to another doll like “night-night”. Once the interruption is gone the song resumes immediately. Her favorite dolls to play with are the kids. Emily rarely plays with the baby, but Julia does all of the time. Occasionally other toys work their way into the dollhouse. One day I noticed that a small Elmo doll was riding the rocking horse and playing in the pack-n-play with the baby.

Aunt Rachelle got to have a short visit with baby Elizabeth (her parents and grandparents too). It was a nice visit and wonderful to meet little Elizabeth. We enjoyed the simple pleasures of hugs, baths, talking baby-talk, a walk around the mall, and lots of photos. I told Elizabeth all about her cousins in Tenenssee. Hopefully, the girls will get to meet her soon.