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Today I am thankful for the excitement that comes with an upcoming birthday for Lucy. She is just beside herself as she waits for her big day. She knows that she has been getting packages in the mail recently. Today her big present from us got delivered. She is getting a dollhouse. There is a giant box by the door downstairs. It came while she was napping. I wondered what she would think about this. She woke up in the best mood from nap today and we went downstairs while Annie finished up her nap. I was holding her when she caught sight of it. She said she needed down right away. She marched over to that box and the questions started immediately:

What is this?
Is it for me?
Who sent this?
Should we open it?
Is it for my birthday?
This sure is a big box.
What do you think it is, Mom?
I really think we better open this package.

After I told her it might be for her birthday and that we had to wait, she just couldn't forget about it. Every time she has walked by this enormous box she has hugged it and said that she really can't wait to know what is in that box. So, so fun. There are some things about them getting older that are just awesome. But I still need her to stay my baby for a while longer.

Tonight Annie ate blackened tilapia like it was the best thing she has ever tasted. She cracks me up. I can't even begin to say how wonderful it is to have one child, even though it took a lot of work, that will just eat what I give her. Lucy has about 5 staples and if those foods were to disappear, she might just starve. She did eat really well tonight though and I got lots of fresh veggies down her, which is always a nice surprise for me. I think Annie eating everything at least makes her want to try things. She tried the fish tonight. Of course, she spit it out after she told me it was yucky, but I was still shocked she even put it in her mouth.

I tried something new tonight because I am just at my wits end with Lucy's mean behaviors toward Annie. We have done everything - about 150 time outs, talking with her about why we can't do these things, praising her to no end when she does something nice for Annie, etc. I can usually see when the aggressive act is about to happen and try and stop it before it happens. I saw it coming tonight but couldn't stop her in time. She made this mean face and then reached down and pinched Annie really hardly. And you know what, I reached over and pinched her right back. Now before you start lecturing me, I did NOT pinch her hard at all. In fact, I know it did not hurt at all, but she was SO shocked that it made a huge impact on her. She just looked at me and then started bawling crying. I had a talk with her about how that was not fun at all to be hurt by someone else, blah, blah, blah. She kind of moped around for 30 minutes. Then all of the sudden she snapped out of it and started apologizing to Annie over and over for pinching her and how she won't do that again. This has never happened before. I always have to tell her to say she is sorry and it is so obvious that she doesn't mean it. She shows no remorse for what she has done. Tonight when I was putting her to bed she was face to face laying down beside me and she said, "Momma, I really am sorry for pinching Annes. (Lucy and I call Annie Annes all of the time) I am not going to do that anymore." I also apologized for pinching her and I really do think that for the first time, we might have made some progress with this. She is not used to be bullied, she is always the bully, so it was an eye opening experience. Part of me feels guilty for pinching her, but I really was getting no where with her and think we might be getting there now.

Other than the pinching incident, we have had a great day. We went to the party store and I let Lucy pick out her balloons for the birthday party. She loved that. She also picked out some treats for the goody bags. Again, she is just so excited that she doesn't know what to do with herself. We also made some cookies while Annie was napping, so that was a really fun thing for just Lucy and me.

I love today's pictures. So sweet.

Some day Annie's big prints will be on the walls like her sister's. They have been on the dining room table for months.


Why are my babies so stinking cute?


Some days Lucy wants a "special treat" for getting her pictures done. She really turns it on when she wants something. She thinks this pose means treat. Ha. I assure you I did not teach her this.




Evidence for those of you who doubt she can ever be a grump. Aren't her lips the best?










LOVE this.


Are you looking for me?