It's been a busy fall here in the Trach household. Angelie has settled in well to school, and has a new best friend named Kate.



Sarah misses Angelie when she's at school all day, and looks forward to when Angelie's home again. Angelie, however, needs some wind-down time alone once she's home and goes to play in the "big-girl" room. (We've set up the formal living room as her play area with all the tiny toys Sarah can't play with yet.) Sarah stands at the baby gate and yells at Angelie, but Angelie's able to tune her out.

They do play well together though. Angelie teaches Sarah new ways to play all the time.



Halloween was fun. The girls enjoyed picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, and then Angelie painted them them look like her and Sarah.




Unfortunately the paint wasn't waterproof and due to the rainy fall we've had, by Halloween day the rain had washed the faces right off the pumpkins.

Angelie had a tummy bug and had to miss her class Halloween party and so wasn't able to wear her costume to school. Very disappointing! (Luckily Sarah didn't catch it.) She was feeling better for trick-or-treating though. Sarah lasted half the block and then Grandma took her back home, and Angelie and I finished the street alone. And that was enough for her. It won't be long until they won't want to come home until their bags are so heavy they can't lift them.



Angelie chose the pumpkin costume for "our little pumpkin". Angelie had bought a new costume, which was a horse you wore and it looked like you were riding it, but she decided last minute to just wear a princess costume she already owned. She rode the horse around the house though saying, "Ka-lunk, kalunk, kalunk..." I laughed and told her that horses hooves sound like "Clop, clop, clop..." but she insists it's kalunk.... It's now an inside joke.

Angelie helped me make Grandma's birthday cake this year. She drew the picture, of herself and Sarah, she wanted on the top and I transferred it on using icing. Grandma loved it!


We took Sarah to her first Santa Claus parade. She seemed to really enjoy it, until it started raining.



And of course, we've been to see Santa. It went really well! Sarah didn't cry at all (I had half expected her to) but she didn't smile and she did try to slide off his lap a couple of times. She was easily diverted by the jingling bells I held over the photographer's head though. Angelie didn't know what to ask Santa for for Christmas (I guess she doesn't see enough TV commercials) and asked for a "surprise". I think Santa was surprised by that! She also forgot to tell Santa we'd be going to Papa Bob's for Christmas so we had to right him a letter as soon as we got home.



Angelie asked to get her hair cut. She had been planning to grow it long "all the way to my feet" but the bangs in the eye drove her (and me especially since she wouldn't leave her barretts in) crazy. So we went to get a trim and she decided she wanted it all cut off. I like it! No tangles to brush out in the morning, and her curly hair does tangle! She seems to really like it too, even though a couple of the girls at school told her she looked like a boy. She's been really good at standing up for herself though, and she claims to not care what the other girls think. "I like it Mom!" Especially since she's gotten tons of compliments from teachers and other grownups.



Speaking of my little girl standing up for herself, she has just gotten her first report card and we have just gone through our first parent-teacher interview. Angelie's teacher, very diplomatically, said Angelie has a "strong personality". It has caused issues with another little girl who also has a "strong personality". Of course I had heard about this other girl from Angelie, and of course in Angelie's version the other girl was totally to blame. (I do not, however, have illusions that my child is perfect! LOL) Lately though, the girls seem to be getting along better. I think they've both been told to make an effort to be nicer to each other. Other than that, Angelie is doing very well academically and has exceeded expectations for this stage of JK. Hopefully that will continue. Ed asked the teacher if we should be supplimenting her academic work at home, and she basically told him to let Angelie enjoy these last few years of play, as the primary goal of JK and SK is social, and once she hits Grade 1 the work will really start.

Sarah is also coming along well. We're teaching her baby sign language (just as we did with Angelie) and she's picking up new baby signs every day. She's also started verbalizing a few sounds to accompany the signs. She says "La" or "La la la" for light, and "Eee eee" for monkey etc. Her impersonation of an elephant and a hippo is hilarious. She knows the signs for water, milk and bath, and gets very excited when we know what she's trying to communicate. Even though she still doesn't say much but makes herself understood. She's got a temper and is showing signs of a "strong personality" herself.



She's a blankie girl. She chose an odd shaped blankie from the bottom of a laundry basket filled with baby blankets. The blankie has feet in it! It was originally intended to swaddle a baby in and let them still kick their feet. We never really used it. So now Sarah has a blanket with pockets! And I have actually found toys tucked into them.