What they're up to now:

I was just thinking about how much growing up has happened in our house during 2008 and went back to my post in January 2008 to see how far we've come. This one is for the books (and the Grandmas.)

Grace is:
*still being driven crazy by Hattie
*sharing a room with Hattie
*loving her new ipod and all the music freedom it brings (meaning she can listen to her favorite songs over and over whenever she wants.) She also has lots of pictures and a family slide show on it that she likes to watch.
*playing with playmobile toys "playmo" as she calls them
*dressing herself for school
*wearing the color blue, head to toe, every day (this helps with her dressing herself. Her very favorite color is blue, she always wants to wear it, so ALL of her school clothes, outerwear, and everything she was sent for Christmas are blue.)
*still not doing her hair, but will now let me blow dry her bangs with a round brush so that she doesn't have "ski jump" bangs for school
*getting some loose front teeth
*my WEED. It's my new nick-name for her since her legs and arms just shoot out of her clothes and she's starting to look like a baby giraffe.
*loving kindergarten. She and her friend Eamon are the only ones who did NOT want the snow day yesterday. Her teacher told them to wear their jammies inside out and backwards and sleep with a spoon under their pillow to hope for a school cancellation. Grace wore her jammies the right way, no spoon.
*loving her friend Eamon. He and she do everything together at school and they are anxiously awaiting their next play date.
*finally used to the school bus, but still waves at us the whole time the bus backs up, turns around, and drives back down the road. Hattie and I get cold while we stand and wave back.
*reading fluently, just about anything.
*doing really well in school.
*going to speech therapy once a week at school. Her "K" sound is getting much better and we're hoping they'll get to the "G" sound before the end of the year so that her name changes from Drace to Grace.
*drawing or writing something nearly all day long no matter what else she's doing on the side
*into anything Chinese after seeing the movie Kung Fu Panda and watching the Olypmics held in China. She loves Chinese food (particularly Teriyaki chicken on a stick), chopsticks, writing, symbols, dragons, books, and plans to have a Kung Fu Panda/Chinese theme for her birthday party.
*missing the Binghams in Primary (she got new teachers this year after having the Binghams since Sunbeams)
*getting an allowance - $10 a month
*paying her tithing - now she gets to give it to her daddy!
*saying reluctant prayers that go something like "thankful for this day, thankful for............(finally she will think of one or 2 things), please bless that I will sleep and have a good day tomorrow....
*trading every other day for feeding her FAVORITE dog, Velvet. She feeds Velvet on odd days and Shadow on even days.
Hattie is:
*loving her sister
*a big girl in a big girl bed in a big girl room with Grace
*speaking, articulately, talking incessantly all day long in long complicated sentences.
*saying "you just never know" at odd times during the day
*singing the ABC song all the way through with all the letters
*counting to 12 by herself
*drawing on anything in her immediate surroundings, no matter how much paper is given to her
*not quite potty trained, but might be if her mom tried harder
*loving BABIES BABIES BABIES - real or dolls, it doesn't matter
*excited that she got the moon bounce for Christmas and tells everyone that Santa brought her a moon bounce and a baby bottle
*dressing and undressing herself
*still showering with mommy most mornings, but isn't so insistent on it
*a demon when she's tired
*an angel when she's in a good mood
*2 going on 16
*extremely photogenic and has a million dollar smile - (it's not just us, everyone says so.)
*wishing she could go to school - she might get her wish next year much to her mother's dismay (this will require potty training though!)
*loving her "class" at church, finally, she will go to nursery and stay by herself
*saying prayers that used to list every family member she could think of (extended family too), now she is down to "sank you for Gracie, amen." She is truly thankful for this one person in her life. Grace wishes she didn't love her quite so much.
*still on the OCD wagon. Her night-time, planets aligned, routine is a bit exhausting
*into anything that involves dancing, singing, music, or jumping
*watching Curious George every morning with Grace before school and then watches Sid the Science Kid after. (for the record, I do NOT like Sid the Science Kid - Curious George is a MUCH better science show. Oh well, she's only 2!)
*addicted to apple juice and will never get potty trained as long as she insists on drinking it as she goes to bed
*eating a very boring diet of cheerios, quesadillas, ramen, chicken nuggets, apples, and green beans. Oh, she'll eat soup too.
*listening to the same song in the car over and over and over and over. It's "Radio Song" by Super Bus. She calls it "sunny sunny" because it is sung in French and she can't understand what they're saying.
*excited about her new snow shovel so she can help Grace and Daddy at night.
*a good helper! She folds laundry, does dishes, cleans the bathroom, and picks up. I wish she was big enough and old enough to actually be able to do the whole chore by herself. I dread she will outgrow the desire to help before she's big enough to do it. She can actually set the table all by herself.
*trading feeding Velvet and Shadow. She feeds Velvet on even days and Shadow on odd days.