They are getting to be so big!

Ava officially moved to a booster car seat this week. I had been trying to figure out how to arrange the van to accommodate three little ones. Yes, it has plenty of room for them all, but how to we best set it up so we can easily access all three to help buckle them in. I figured out Ava would have to go in the back, so I moved seats around a bit to make it easy for me to buckle her in. And it worked!

I had tried to find a cheap booster deal via CraigsList, but when that didn't pan out I went to Plan B - buy one new, but do my homework and find a sale/deal/coupon. Plan B fell flat too! It looked like I was going to have to stick to around $40 for a model, but I didn't take this too badly. With all of the money I have saved on baby gear over the last three years, this is a small price to pay. Then I thought of a Plan C - head over to the new Target store, which opened on Sunday. Perhaps they would be having some in store special or coupon I could use to take the edge off the purchase. Sure enough we hit the jackpot! A booster seat I had ruled out due to price had been temporarily reduced by almost 1/2 and was now in my price range. As Momma Kay said, my streak remains unbroken.

I had pumped Ava up for the shopping trip by telling her she could help pick it out and she picked all right - the bright, hot pink seat with "Girls Rock" written all over it. (To be fair I only gave her this and a plain black seat as options; who wouldn't pick the cool one?) She loves it! And she loves being in the backseat too. She feels like such a big girl, having her own cupholder, a place to put her sunglasses, and above all else she can undo the seat belt buckle to let herself out, saving me another chore. Woo hoo! We are so excited for her, but a little piece of my heart breaks to think she is growing up so much!

Lily too is growing by leaps and bounds. She speaks so much these days and I can usually figure out exactly what she wants. She also has to do EVERYTHING her sister does, which is super cute and sometimes a little annoying. After three days of Ava complaining about her thumb (probably a scratch), I broke down and gave her a Band-Aid. Lily witnessed this and threw a fit until she got a Band-Aid too, which I just plastered on the side of her arm. She walked away a happy camper. Last night Ava wanted to have some "nekky time" (i.e., naked time, they get to run around in diapers), so I let her since I had to change her anyway. Lily saw that Ava was sans clothes and started tugging at her one-piece saying "nekky girl". She had to do it too! Of course I obliged, that request was easy.

A request that wasn't so easy was yesterday afternoon, when she asked to watch Signing Time. Yes, she can actually say "Signing Time" in her own way and I knew what she wanted it. It's her favorite show, and although wholesome and completely educational, the answer still had to be no since they had already watched a bit of TV that morning. When I told her "no" that was the end of her world. She proceeded to cry, drool, scream, blubber, and generally lose it completely while I tried to hurry and fix lunch. Which she then wouldn't eat, so off to bed she went. The combination of "no" and tiredness is not a great pairing. She has been melting-down more recently though when she is not instantly gratified, like when lunch is not ready when she wants it. Isn't she a little young for this? Oh well, I treat her like I would treat Ava, or any fit-throwing toddler - I ignore them or try to send them away/to time-out.

I had to actually take a small video of the moment to share with Elliott when he got home from work, so I guess I will share it with you too, in all its un-glamorous glory. Don't feel too bad; it's only because I told her "no" to something she wanted: