We’ve been keeping a little secret from the kiddos for the past few weeks and I was SO excited to finally get to do the big reveal today. Thankfully it was it was a gorgeous afternoon, so Sam and I walked to school to pick up Miss G, which allowed me to capture her reaction as we turned the corner onto our street and our front yard came into view. I had no idea how she’d react {kids can be a little bit unpredictable when surprised, can’t they?}, but she was so, so thrilled when she finally realized what it was and that it was ours to keep.
Oh my goodness… I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally tell Miss G that she was going to be a big sister! I actually found out that I was pregnant very early on this time around {thanks to feeling horribly before an upcoming girls’ weekend away in Abu Dhabi}, but because we wanted to be certain that all was good with the pregnancy and because 9 months is an extremely long time to wait for something that you desperately want when you’re five years old, we didn’t tell her until I was nearly 15 weeks along. At the time, we were amidst a busy summer with family, and since we really didn’t want anyone accidentally spoiling the surprise, it meant that we waited to tell most of our family members too {talk about some major secret keeping happening!} With the house being a constant stream of people coming and going, we decided that it would be easiest to surprise her with the news while on a little family outing to the park…
I think she was so thrilled that she didn’t even know what to do with herself. She got super silly for a little bit and then just would not let go of her picture of her new baby brother or sister.
Later in the day, a bunch of our family members joined us at the park, so she got to proudly share her news with them.
From then on, her baby photo pretty much went everywhere with her… To the farmer’s market where she’d explain to all of the shopping grandmas that she was going to be a big sister, to the skateboard park, on errands around town, and even to bed with her each night.
It goes without saying that she’s absolutely over the moon and we think she’s going to make the very best big sister.
Sooooo…. We have some news to share, but instead of sharing it myself, here’s us telling Miss G last week. She didn’t want to sit and chat initially {I mean, hey – whose got time for sitting nowadays, right?!}, but her reaction is pretty priceless.
Hahaha! I think I could watch this again and again forever. That grumpy little face turned wide-eyed smile just melts me and I’m so glad she’s happy.
Never once have we attempted to teach this little lady her letters, yet somehow she knows almost all of them. The way she hangs onto information blows me away.
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Because I just can’t help myself, here’s Miss G reading ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’ again, only this time through to the last page she almost always awkwardly skips ‘because it’s a tricky one’. ☺
Over the past month or so, Gracen’s been really into reading to us rather than having us read to her. Many of the books she enjoys reading most are favourites that we’ve read again and again {and thus she’s memorized}, and others have a strong pattern and easy-to-follow picture cues, like this one. It makes my heart very happy to see how much our little lady loves reading, and I hope that never changes. Here she is reading the first half of ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’
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Today as I was organizing the mess of mason jars in our hallway catchall closet, my curious Miss G spied some old wine gift tubes in the bottom. Naturally, she yanked them out and began drumming on them.
Before long, we’d yanked out all kinds of pots, containers, and bowls out and created an impromptu drum circle for the budding musician in our family.
Maracas, rhythm sticks, wooden spoons, a xylophone, and background music were added in along the way too.
Perhaps not the most neighbour-friendly activity if you live in a small apartment or have basement tenants below you (ours weren’t home), but great fun for a rainy day.
Here’s our little musician jamming out…
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Gracen’s been interested in letters, their names, their sounds, and words that begin with them for quite some time now. She’s also known how to verbally spell her name for just as long (longer actually), but the two had never really come together. While she’s asked me to print her name quite a lot, she’s never attempted to ‘make’ her name using her foam bathtub letters, her letter magnets, or any of the other alphabet manipulatives we have around the house.
Until tonight that is…
This evening she came to me as I was preparing dinner and said, “Mama, come see!” I went into her room to find that she’d climbed up onto her shelf, retrieved her baby blocks, and was carefully arranging them in order to spell her name.
Smart little cookie.
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Long ago, I told Brad I wouldn’t post this video online. But after sifting through all of our Kuwait photos last night, I just couldn’t help myself (sorry babe!). The cuteness is ridiculous and I’m hoping that makes up for me not keeping my word. I mean just look at those chunky thighs and that little booty… You simply can’t be upset after being witness to those.
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She spent the holidays singing this song for nearly anyone who’d listen, and believe it or not, it’s still alive and kickin’ even now in February (with killer dance moves no less).
♥
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