Little Dude turned six on Monday. I'm glad I got this genuinely happy picture of him with his cake; he tends to make silly faces in most pictures lately. He just finished kindergarten a few days after his birthday, and with turning six and going into first grade he's really not a 'little boy' anymore. Little Dude got a lot of Batman-themed building toys for his birthday and they were perfect for him. He loves spending time creating things with Lego or Trio. He also loves computer games and was thrilled to get his own email address for his birthday. Little Dude is a strong reader, although he doesn't read for fun very often during the day (he does read before bed most nights). He'd rather play outside on the playground, ride his bike, or color. For Christmas he got an atlas and he loves looking at maps and flags. Lately he has been playing well with both his sisters and they all have a great time together. We all love our Little Dude and were happy to see him turn six!

As you can tell, this little girl has discovered the power of choosing her own clothes. Of course the rainbow striped shirt goes with the flower pants. If you dare to disagree, you will face her wrath. This picture was also taken outside, which is P. Bibby's new favorite place to be. It's spring and the weather has been warm enough to play outside most days, and she loves it. We got a new big playground and she loves to swing. The playhouse and slide are just a little too scary for her, and it's scary for Mommy when she thinks she should just fling herself out of the playhouse instead of climbing back down the ladder. We need to help her get over her fear of the slide or learn how to climb back down backwards.

We have, however, taken off the baby gate from the stairs and P. Bibby is now free to roam the house. She loves to play with the toys downstairs, and sometimes gets into a bit of trouble by finding fun things to do in her sister's room down there too. This past week we hit another milestone when she insisted on sitting up to the table with the rest of us. I got out the booster seat and put away her high chair with a tray, and she is super happy to have her own dishes to eat with while she shares the table with us. It's fun to look over and see her sitting up like such a big girl!

She talks really well and is very expressive. She also likes to sing little songs to us and loves to copy the things her older siblings say. P. Bibby loves taking baths, playing with Duplos and Little People, digging in the dirt outside, and reading books. She can be pretty stubborn lately, but most of the time she is sweet and a lot of fun to have around.

When I asked to take P. Bibby's picture, she ran over to stand by her marble race and said "cheese!" Unfortunately it is hard to capture her smile because our camera is a little slow and she is very fast. She is in love with the marble race and has taken it over from Little Dude. Lately this little girl has learned the power of 'mine' and even made her big brother cry the other day by taking his book and proclaiming "me book" "mine" "me penguin book". I had to explain to him that his sister's declarations did not actually make it her book. She is quite a little chatterbox lately and a great copycat. Her older siblings love to teach her new things to say; however, it is the spontaneous ones I love the best, like "kiss" when I'm leaving for work or "tanks" when you hand her things. She still loves to eat and is generally a good sleeper. So far this winter we've also been in good health too (knock on wood) and we've only had one ear infection that cleared up well with some antibiotics. In this picture her face was looking particularly red and chapped, but we went and bought some ointment and it is feeling a lot better. If I forget to put it on, she will look up at her dresser and say "keem, face!" This year was a fun year for Christmas and P.Bibby learned many new words: tree, star, santa hat, candy cane (her favorite), baby Jesus, donkey, and lights. She is a sweet, happy little girl and we are all looking forward to celebrating her at her party next month! (To see how much she has grown up, check out this post from last year. Now she has teeth and hair!)

These pictures are from back in November. Who knew raking leaves could be so much fun?

I forgot to post Halloween pictures! It's almost Thanksgiving, but better late than never, right?

I've been behind in posting, so by now P.Bibby is actually almost 21 months old. I can't believe she's almost two; every day she is leaving babyhood behind and is really becoming a sweet little girl with a big personality. She is still pretty mellow most of the time, but has discovered that she has opinions and the ability to express them. During the day we usually hear a constant whine of "color", "color" while she tries to open the cabinet where the markers and crayons are kept. She also loves to eat and if anyone is eating anything she will beg to have a bite. P.Bibby is also our clown. She loves to do little dances or say silly things to make us laugh. She has an adorable little laugh and one of her favorite words lately is 'funny'. She will do something silly, look at me, and say "funny". She talks a lot throughout the day and many of her words are quite clear. I've been trying to teach her the alphabet, but mostly she'll just look at letters and say "ah, ooh" rather than the letters themselves. Another favorite thing is getting on her socks, shoes, and sweater, so she gets really excited when we go anywhere (and very sad when someone else is going somewhere without her). A few weeks ago we finally hit another milestone: pigtails!