Before I write about Aubrie turning 5, here is a copy of a post that I realized that I never published!!! It's from when Aubrie was only 13 months old!
-------------
*She still won't stand up on her own, but she has started pushing chairs and a walker toy by herself. She seems to be on the same time line as Evan as to when she might start to walk. But I'm in no hurry! She can take as long as she needs! (******She walked at 15 months, but made us carry her until she was 17 months old. She then decided that it was faster just to walk whenever she wanted).
*She loves our new swing-set. I bought a baby swing for her, and every time I walk past the back door she is pointing at it to go outside. Evan really likes her swing, too, but is such a big boy now that he is ok to sit in the big swing while I push him.
*She jabbers all the time. There's still not a lot that we can make out, but she's started to say Mama a lot more often. She says it when she wakes up in the morning, or when she wants me to hold her. She still says stuff like Dada, Hi (sounds like i), bu-buy, and signs milk, more, and please. She hasn't signed "eat" in a while because she just leans over and points to the food.
*She LOVES to climb up our stairs. She'll go up a few, and then try to come back down before I turn her around and send her back up. Then once she reaches to very top, she takes off towards the bathroom as fast as she can crawl. She thinks it's a game while I grab her up. I love her infectious laugh when she giggles!
*Evan still doesn't like to share his toys with her. If she even looks like she's headed his way while he's playing, he'll run up to me and ask me to pick her up and hold her. I'm trying to explain that some of the toys are hers, and that she just wants to be next to him and play with him. But he doesn't like it when she messes up his way of doing things. I guess it's a good thing that he has a younger sister to teach him how to share; otherwise, he'd grow up having his own way and be terrible to live with as an older man!
*I sent her to school with real milk yesterday to see if she would have an allergic reaction, and I thought we were safe for a while. However, she started getting a rash earlier this afternoon. I'm glad to definitely know what is causing her rash. It'll be hard because almost everything has milk in it, but we'll make it work. At least it's not a strong reaction. All it does is give her a rash (can be really bad depending on how much milk she's had), some mucous in her nose, and some gas pains. (*****On this note; I've decided to take her to an allergist sometime soon to make sure that milk is all she's allergic to).
*She loves our new swing-set. I bought a baby swing for her, and every time I walk past the back door she is pointing at it to go outside. Evan really likes her swing, too, but is such a big boy now that he is ok to sit in the big swing while I push him.
*She jabbers all the time. There's still not a lot that we can make out, but she's started to say Mama a lot more often. She says it when she wakes up in the morning, or when she wants me to hold her. She still says stuff like Dada, Hi (sounds like i), bu-buy, and signs milk, more, and please. She hasn't signed "eat" in a while because she just leans over and points to the food.
*She LOVES to climb up our stairs. She'll go up a few, and then try to come back down before I turn her around and send her back up. Then once she reaches to very top, she takes off towards the bathroom as fast as she can crawl. She thinks it's a game while I grab her up. I love her infectious laugh when she giggles!
*Evan still doesn't like to share his toys with her. If she even looks like she's headed his way while he's playing, he'll run up to me and ask me to pick her up and hold her. I'm trying to explain that some of the toys are hers, and that she just wants to be next to him and play with him. But he doesn't like it when she messes up his way of doing things. I guess it's a good thing that he has a younger sister to teach him how to share; otherwise, he'd grow up having his own way and be terrible to live with as an older man!
*I sent her to school with real milk yesterday to see if she would have an allergic reaction, and I thought we were safe for a while. However, she started getting a rash earlier this afternoon. I'm glad to definitely know what is causing her rash. It'll be hard because almost everything has milk in it, but we'll make it work. At least it's not a strong reaction. All it does is give her a rash (can be really bad depending on how much milk she's had), some mucous in her nose, and some gas pains. (*****On this note; I've decided to take her to an allergist sometime soon to make sure that milk is all she's allergic to).
-------------
Now we can fast-forward to the present, when Aubrie is a smart, sweet, goofy, amazing 5 year old girl. Now that she is 5, I'm having to come to terms with the fact that she'll start Kindergarten next year. Aaagghhh!!!! She has kindergarten round-up in April, so that should give me some time to prepare myself for next August.
Aubrie still loves to pretend play. It's a constant battle with her brother as to what they will pretend (boy or girl games), but they can almost always work it out. Either that or they just combine Star Wars, Frozen, Harry Potter, etc, all into one game. There is a Little People castle that my friend Judy gave to Aubrie on her 4th birthday, and that is still one of her favorite toys to play with. We keep it in the bathroom so that all of the princesses can have a pool party at any given moment. (It's one of Elise's favorite toys, too).
Eating is kind of big deal with Aubrie, as I have a hard time getting her to eat anything but a tortilla with goat cheese. As with anything with Aubrie, I feel like it's a fight to begin with but then gets easier. Hopefully food is like that, too, and she'll be an amazing eater when she's older. The doctor didn't seem worried about it at her checkup the other day, as Aubrie was still on track with her growth chart. That made me feel better to hear.
Aubrie had an amazing 5th birthday party! As always, we loved getting to visit with family and friends who were able to celebrate with us. We also had some amazing guests from Arendale; Elsa and Anna came down all the way for Aubrie's party! We got to hear their story, sing some songs with them (Daddy even got to sing with Anna in front of everyone!), and even play in the "snow!"
One thing that Aubrie and I have been battling over lately is asking for toys. Oh. My. Goodness. I'm trying to think of a way to keep her focus on making others happy instead of which toys can make her happy, and the frequency of when she gets toys. Right now she asks for toys on a basis of about 30 times per day, and it's a real struggle for her when I explain (again) that we can't just go out and buy toys every day. We have started a chore/allowance system that I hope will work and help her understand that money doesn't grow on trees. It seems to be working because she checked off 5 things all on her own today! Hopefully this works... I'm not sure I can take her asking every 5 minutes anymore!
One of my favorite things about Aubrie is her sweet spirit and tender heart. She loves her siblings very much, even if they tend to argue periodically (daily). She loves to hand out hugs and kisses, though, and really does a very good job at using her manners with everyone. However, right now we're going through a phase where she wants to talk about poop all of the time, and I expect that comes with having an older brother. I asked her today if she thought Elsa (from the movie Frozen) would talk like that, and Aubrie said "no." Maybe that will work....
One of my favorite things about Aubrie is her sweet spirit and tender heart. She loves her siblings very much, even if they tend to argue periodically (daily). She loves to hand out hugs and kisses, though, and really does a very good job at using her manners with everyone. However, right now we're going through a phase where she wants to talk about poop all of the time, and I expect that comes with having an older brother. I asked her today if she thought Elsa (from the movie Frozen) would talk like that, and Aubrie said "no." Maybe that will work....
