Girls Favorite Things

Our favorite things per ages as sort of merge to accomodate a 1 and 1/2 year old and a 3 and 1/2 year old. Some things they do separately but a lot of their activities are similar since they are with each other the majority of the day.

Some of Sadie's favorites…
1. Cruising in her red car with her feet kicked up and stomping around to her own drum...

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2. Ive been loving this stage where she chooses to spend a majority of her day saying "cuddle Mommy" and then if Im lucky she will cuddle till she falls asleep :) 

3. Sitting on Frog Potty… she ask to sit on the potty and pees most times. I think she would be ready to go through the potty training full on but I am not. I mean I will be glad to be done with diapers but I think the process will be faster and easier when she is a little older. Who knows by then she might have already trained herself! 

Some of Leighton's favorite things…

1. Books on Tape - I don't know why we didn't discover this earlier! The library is full of books and CDs to borrow. She loves it and I love it that she can do it independently and be read to when I need to be doing something else. We also listen to them in the car even when we don't have the book. Winning.

It even inspired her to write a copy of "the Lion King" too so there could be two copies for others to read while the tape plays

2. Dress up/Pretend Play- she likes to reenact movies or books a lot or pretend play school or waitress (as shown below) 

3. Work Dates- or Mommy/Leighton Dates- these are needed because as L puts it "Sadie blocks me from Mommy" ….meaning Sadie aggressively wants my attention when I am with both girls so it makes it harder for L and I to have uninterrupted time together. Solution for now is L skips naps sometimes on my days off and we go to a coffee shop to "work" or "read". She does writing or work books and I read usually. I enjoy our time walking together and the conversations. She has a soft side and sweet nature that is really exposed when we are one- on- one. 

4. Gymnastics- Leighton is loving her gymnastic class that I think we are going to have her birthday party at the gym as you can rent it out. Sadie happily watches Leighton and the other kids or plays in the sibling toy area. 

5. Learning- Leighton enjoys school and enjoys learning/new activities at home. I saw this online and thought I could recreate with a little food coloring, water and a dropper. It lets the kids see what happens when you mix colors instead of just telling them yellow + blue = green. 

Things the girls do together…
1. Hiking with friends. We crashed the Hudson's Sunday morning plans as they were going on a day hike and joined them at Redtown and Coal Creek trail at the base of Cougar Mountain. The kids enjoyed it. Leighton and Caroline got lost in their own sweet world talking about flowers and plans for living together when they are 18 (seriously I overheard L say "you can sleep downstairs and Ill sleep upstairs when we go to college")

2. Parks - with a little spring weather we have soaked it up at the playgrounds. Heck I even got out and played tennis with a coworker 1 day… first time in 4 years!!! It felt good. 

 3. Dress up. It is mainly spear headed by big sister, by Sadie likes to do her thing too. She is usually the chef but occasionally the fire fighter or puts on a princess gown.

3. Family walks- if both Wes and I are together to walk with both girls, we will let Leighton ride her balance bike and the other will push Sadie. Most of the time we end up at a coffee shop 

3. Some puzzles they will do together or color, paint, or play dough create at the same time. Putting a quarter in the horse was worth watching them try to hang on to it together. 

4. Storytimes- Mockingbird books in Greenlake has a free story time on Thurs at 11am.  A lady from the Jewish Library foundation comes. She does a great job with songs, guitar, sign language, engaging the kids with scarves/shakers, and even teaches a little Hebrew. Leighton really enjoys it and Sadie slips in and out...

 The girls love each other and that makes me smile big time. Big picture….