What is Kira up to at four weeks old? Well, not too much, given that she's still in the newborn (sleep, eat, excrete, repeat) stage. However, she is awake and alert for longer periods of time and is clearly growing bigger by the day- she's already outgrown at least two outfits, both of which weren't outgrown by her older sister until Arielle was six or eight weeks old. She's given us a few smiles and even a giggle or two, but we're pretty sure it wasn't intentional just yet. Kira is still waking Mommy and Daddy up every two or three hours at night- something they're both looking forward to changing, hopefully very soon!
And what about Alex and Arielle, the just-four-months-away-from-being-two-years-old older siblings?
Ari has become quite the independent little girl lately. Whereas before she was very clingy and attached to Mommy's hip, she's now the more independent of the two older siblings. This week at My Gym, Ari ran around the gym by herself, never looking over her shoulder for Mommy. In fact, Mommy turned her back for a moment and when she turned around to look for Ari, she was clear across the room and had made her way to the highest point in the gym all by herself (that's a proud smile on her face):
Not to be outdone, her brother joined her as soon as he saw where she had gone:
Meanwhile, Kira hung out with the other younger siblings of Alex and Ari's classmates:
Today in school, Ari didn't even blink an eye when Mommy had to step out of the room for a few minutes. Ari has also learned some new "tricks" lately, one of which involves taking off her own pants. We just hope she keeps that trick to our house and doesn't try it out in public. Here is Ari having fun in the indoor playroom at school earlier today:
And what about Alex?
Alex has turned into quite the little imp this month. He is a bundle of energy and loves to run around the house, laughing hysterically and encouraging his sister to join him in mischievous endeavors like climbing on furniture, games of tackle and hide and go seek, and tug-of-war with their little sister's blankets. Alex and Ari often join forces to entertain themselves and they are very good about sharing and taking turns. It's nice to see how they look out for each other.
They even found another use for their sand pails- in addition to making great hats, they also make nice seats for viewing the world going by outside our front window:
While Ari has become more independent, it seems that Alex is now a bit of a Mommy's boy. While Ari was fine with Mommy leaving the class today, Alex required some special attention from the teacher to calm him down until Mommy got back. He was all smiles, though, when the class went to the indoor playroom and he found a new friend (from an older class) that seemed to have about as much energy as he does. Here are Alex and his new friend jumping on some gym mats in the room:
We've learned that we have to be careful about what we say around Alex and Ari. Because Mommy always tells Alex and Ari to "ask nicely" if they want something, Alex's new favorite phrase is "ask nicely," and he uses it any time he wants something. Alex wants a pretzel? He will say "ask nicely" over and over again until he gets one (he doesn't quite seem to grasp the concept that "asking nicely" involves saying "please"- he thinks "ask nicely" is the equivalent of please, apparently!) He also seems to think that if he says "ask nicely" enough, he'll get whatever he wants. So Mommy is a little sick of hearing "ask nicely" all day, but she appreciates the effort. Alex and Ari also remember promises made long after the statement comes out of Mommy or Daddy's mouth- like the other day when Mommy told them that maybe Daddy would take them down to the basement (with the ball pit) to play when he got home. She told them this about an hour before Daddy got home...and as soon as he walked in the door, both ran to the basement door and declared "down, down!" It's amazing how much they remember.
So while it seems that we're entering a new phase with Alex and Ari, one that may involve more attitude and assertions of independence, it's all a lot of fun and very rewarding to watch them develop their own personalities. And it reminds us to appreciate Kira's quiet, cuddly stages while we can!
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