Monday, May 2, 2016

Ivy Today - Spring 2016


Now that Ivy is 4 and up to so much more, I realized that I need to start jotting things down about her and her character and the ridiculously cute things she says and does.

Overall, Ivy is so so much like her big Sister in her demeanor, character, and personality.  She is JUST AS sweet and kind and loving and obedient.  She is certainly a perfectionist...on herself and with things around her (this is something I strive to soften in her).  

She has a grand imagination and her favorite game to play each day is imagination/pretend.  She literally calls them "Princess Imagination Games".  So, how it usually plays out is this:  She will be watching a movie and halfway through it, she will want to stop watching and say "ok!  I have a new game!" and then she wants to play the main character and assigns the supporting character's role to me or Mark.  It's quite amazing...and can get a bit tiring.  But I love her imagination!  I see story-telling or drama in her future.

She is an incredible eater.  Since I raised her paleo from the start, that's all she's known and so totally love vegetables and fruits.  She barely eats grains and sometimes could care less about them.  If she has a sweet thing, she can rarely even finish the smallest portion.  Everyday, her typical meal consists of a protein, a mix of raw or cooked veggies, and a fruit.  Nuts are thrown in for snacks...and occasional gluten free crackers.

As I have been observing lately, it seems obvious that she is a second-born child.  She is definitely a follower and not a leader.  Though, Vienne was barely a leader.  But, Ivy would prefer to play with older girls...hands down, every time.  She does not care to play with kids younger than her...doesn't have that instinct to lead them.

She is a homebody.

She LOVES words and books.  I can see how she is going to excel in literature and english and the arts.  She has a very strong vocabulary and is always asking the meanings of new words...then she will use them correctly.  For entertainment in the car, I keep a basket of CD read-along books from the library.  She is listening to stories ALL the time.  Often throughout her listening, she will hear a new word and ask it's meaning.  Most recent words were:  "collapse", "brambles", and "appropriate vs. inappropriate".

One thing that has been ridiculously adorable is her increasing conversational skills.  She is an only child, now, and lives in a house with 4 adults (Grammy & Grandpa) so she is often surrounded by appropriate but adult conversations.  Typically, at the dinner table, if there is a lull she will pipe in and ask everyone around the table a few questions.  This is how it typically goes:  "So, Grammy, how was your day today?....."What did you dream about last night?"  This is all completely on her own without my prompting or real training.  It might've started from a very small seed I planted many many months ago when we were in our apartment.  Grammy would come and visit on Wednesdays and the moment Grammy would come through the door, Ivy would bombard her with requests to play with her.  Grammy always needed a few moments to set her things down and settle in and greet with me.  So, I started to prep Ivy, before Gram showed up, and suggested that she give Grammy a few moments after she arrives and maybe try to ask her how her morning is going...give Grammy some attention before making it about yourself.  But seriously, that must've planted some seed in her because she has grown to be so mature in her thoughtful conversational abilities!  For a 4 year old that is impressive!  It is so stinking cute.


puddle jumper

Cinderella dress with a mermaid crown

a rare moment in jeans!  She is wearing Sissy's clothes so it was an exception.

making dirt soup in Sissy's favorite hoodie

her eyes

Pocahontas

Ariel eating her first clams!

Simba saying "roar!"

yes, she is licking butter...I caught her!

just chill-axin'



Easter - wearing Vienne's pink tulle dress that she last wore at her 4th birthday tea party.

Just LOVE her


ALWAYS full of joy

hahahah Snow White's bum

Wanting to be like Sissy so she tried copying that pic of Vienne eating with her feet!

sunshine and daisy chains

she LOVES to be barefoot

"The meadow!!"  She loves to pretend to be Bambi and run into the meadow, shouting that.






Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Ivy's Play

Ivy is now 4 years old and her imagination is awesomely wild and wide.

Everyday, Vienne used to ask "where are we going today, Mama?" and everyday Ivy now asks "who am I going to be today?"  She likes to dress up and take on a new character everyday.  Characters are typically inspired from movies or books and she always assigns roles to me and Mark.  It is her FAVORITE game and if my imagination was as vast as hers, then we could play this all day...alas, mine is not and I often run out of things for us "characters" to talk about and re-enact.

Today's character play was a bit different.  Today she wanted to be "Sissy" and I was to be Ivy.  She decided that today was Vienne's birthday party (in Heaven) and it was requested that I wrap toys up to be presents given to her by Jesus, in Heaven.  Very creative!  And, she kept correcting my voice telling me that I was supposed to sound like "Ivy".  Oh my!  Hilarious....and so sweet.

Here are some pictures of her characters over the past weeks:

(Cinderella - of course)

(Rapunzel's hair...she has a Rapunzel dress but I don't have a pic of her in it)

(Pocahontas)

(Simba)

(Gia the Cheetah from Madagascar 3)

She is SO fun.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

My little artist

Ivy is proving to be quite the little artist:

Ivy's first collage.  She cut out all the pieces except for the circle of the sun.  She was the one that determined that the green shape looked like a kite and that the cat head looked like a cat's head and that those were wings.  I made suggestions for the rest.  She glued and drew the wind, around the kite.

Ivy's first collage "person".  This was all her except for the fingers.  Mark said that she had been quietly working with her scissors and paper and glue, while he prepared lunch.  Yes, we can trust her with scissors and glue at age 3!    She cut each shape out and then composed them altogether to creat this person!  We were quite impressed!

Here she is organizing some collected nature objects to construct another collage.


Together, she and I created this monster creature.  

This is her first practice at painting intentional objects.  Step by step, line by line, she copied my strokes.  My example is the right and her's is the left.

Same as above for a flower.

And after the previous 2 practices, this is her first independent masterpiece.  All I did in contribution was call out suggestions/instructions from the kitchen while she painted.  "Paint a line for the tree…"

My little artist…who can paint with carpet beneath her, even!

This is her most recent creation on a white board.  A man running through grass with a flower and a tree and a sun and cloud overhead.  The only parts I helped with were in suggestions for what she could add and I did the right green foot and the green fingers, as well as the base of the trunk of the tree.




Friday, July 31, 2015

More things she's said

While watching the "Going to Mars" episode of Backyardigans, Ivy kept calling the martians "Marshmallow aliens".

Ivy has taken in interest in rhyming and now requests to do rhyming words while in the car.  I love it!  She's so good at recognizing what rhymes!  Clever girl.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

She said...

"Mama mama!!  I had a Miri size poop!"

"Haha.  Haha!  I'm a crazy little girl, Mom!"

"wallamelon" = watermelon

"zweeba" = zebra

"flumb" = thumb (my favorite!)

"fligilator" - refrigerator…just like Sissy.


Saturday, March 14, 2015

the best feeling

When your 3 year old little girl runs up to you, out of the blue, and throws her arms around your neck, turns her head back over her shoulder to look at your husband and says:  "Dadda, I love Mama" and then turns back to look straight in your eyes and tells you:  "Mama, you my best friend"….

It is the BEST feeling in the whole world.

What a treasure I have.


(she is trying to reach through this hole to give me a kiss…saying "kiss kiss kiss!!!")




Sunday, March 1, 2015

Things she says 2/2015

We were unloading our cart at Costco and Ivy was holding tight to a box of fruit leather.  I told her that we needed to put it on the belt and pay for it before opening it.  She just held it and looked at me.  I finally had to pull it gently from her hands.  Her eyes welled with tears and that crinkled up sad face looked up at me, about to break.  I pulled her from the cart and hugged her and she said "Mama, you breaked my heart".


Me:  "Ivy, you're amazing."

Ivy:  "I do my best."


At every nap time and bedtime, when I tuck her in, after songs and prayers I lean in, nose to nose, and whisper "I love you soooooooo much and you are so very special to me.  And, you make me so happy."  I started reassuring her this because one of her common questions has been to check on me with "Mama, are you happy?".  She is very sensitive and very intuitive.  And, unfortunately, this mama has a tendency to be moody and emotional at times.  It worried me that she was growing paranoid about whether I am happy and whether she is frustrating me or making me happy.  :(  So, I started this reassurance with her.  And, each time I say it to her, she always says right back "NO!  I love YOU and you are fecial (special) to ME and you make ME happy!".  We go back and forth a few times and then both settle in agreement that we both love each other so much.
I haven't heard her ask me whether I am frustrated or happy in a few weeks now!  ;)