Dora House

Tori finally got her Dora house. Marie picked up one at a yard sale, and Tori as it out, along with all of her little people and their houses. The family room looks like a toy store. She was also happy to get more dress-up clothes. She is all set for play time.

Mommy

Tori has taken to calling me Mommy. I don't know where she picked it up, but I am not Mommy. Christian still calls me Mom or Mama, and Eli just slobbers on me. Tori has been very cuddly lately, demanding that I pick her up and carry her everywhere. She also likes to play with my hair She is turning into my girl, while Eli is a daddy's boy. He prefers Huts to me, just like Tori did as a baby. Poor Huts. His left arm is about to break off.

Miss Mumbles

Tori has turned into a bit of a mumbler lately. She doesn't want to speak up or clearly. She's too busy doing 2 things at once to concentrate on what she's telling you. So after the 5th time of asking her what she said, you usually have to break her trance, look her in the face and ask "what are you saying?".

Last night we tested her speech ability by trying to pronounce certain words and as long as she was paying attention to what she was doing, she said it clearly enough to comprehend. Once distracted, Miss Mumbles returns. It doesn't help that she has such a quiet voice, until she has a hissy fit that is!

We'll see how it goes with her speech. She is probably just going through a phase like her brother is with certain letters.

Fit Thrower

Tori has become one. She throws a fit when things do not go the way she wants, like her dad being too busy to wrestler with her on Monday night. Boy, did she get into a tizzy and mope around the house. Silly girl! It only gets her in trouble; it never gets her what she wants.

Pink and Purple

These are Tori's favorite colors. She is turning into a girlie-girl. She loves to buy sparkling clothes and shoes and has said she wants her hair to be longer. Then again, she likes her haircut because everyone tells her it is so cute. She likes dolls, makeup, princesses and all of that jazz. She is also into jewelry. We'll see how long this lasts.

Scooter Queen

Tori got a scooter for Easter, and she was all decked out in her pink shirt, shorts, tights, helmet and pads for an hour ride up and down the sidewalk. She has been asking for this scooter for some time now., She is also thrilled with her Pj Sparkles doll and took her to Sharon's.

Miss Impatient

Huts picked up the materials for the swing set and Tori wants to know why it isn't together yet. Who cares if it rained and snowed this weekend. She wants to know why Dad has not taken the time to get her swing set up and running. She is going to bug Huts to death until he gets that swing set put up.

Sleep Walker

Last night after the kids went to bed I heard the pitter-patter of little feet running around upstairs. Most of the time the cats are chasing each other up and down the hall with the kids out of the way. After counting the 4 cats sitting downstairs, I went to investigate the sound. It was a little girl who had gotten out of her bed several times.



By the time I got up there, she was back in her bed crying because she knew she was in trouble. She had woken in the night the previous night and wanted to sleep in our bed. So she thought she could do the same tonight, except we weren't in bed yet. So she kept checking. She didn't figure out that if she climbed into our bed and fell asleep, like Ollie did a few years ago, that we'd probably let her sleep instead of putting her back in her bed. Once she fell asleep, she never woke up during the night. It was just getting her to fall asleep in her own bed in the beginning that was the trick.

Craziness

It all started around 8 o'clock with Tori throwing a horrid fit. She was clearly tired, so I told her it was time for bed. She kicked and screamed her way up the stairs and then wet her pants. Huts spanked her, and she kicked and screamed some more. I spanked her. She continued wailing until I gave her a small drink. Meanwhile, Eli was fussing. I finally got him asleep and Christian in bed. He had decided to be good. Eli got up at 11 for a bottle. Tori got up at 3:30 to get into bed with Huts. I moved to her room and Eli got up. I gave him a bottle and the morning routine started a little before 5. Guess who fell asleep in the car, Eli and Tori!

Tori Skiing

Bathtime

That's what Tori requested at 1 in the morning. I gave her drink of water, only to return five minutes later to her wanting a bath. I put her in bed with me--Huts was sleeping in Eli's room and she slept ok until about 2. Then she started mumbling and groaning again, but this time, she didn't say why. It was a long, night for the four of us. Christian is the only one who looked rested.

Sleepy Girl

Tori is always fast asleep when I get into the car, at least I better say so, or she throws one whopping fit. She loves playing games, and this is one of her favorites. I don't enjoy it per say, but it is certainly better to see her happy little face than to hear her wail. No plans for the weekend, so we'll see how she handles that. Who knows what we will end up doing, especially now that it is going to be cold outside.

Water Bug

Tori loved the water park and woke up early on Sunday morning demanding to go down there. We went home instead, much to her dismay. She played on everything, with and without her brother, and only threw fits when she missed the big bucket splashing down. She couldn't seem to understand that the bell was a reminder that the bucket was about to be tipped over. She came back to the room waterlogged and tired. We went to meet Chip and hear a story and she scarfed down the cookie. Guess she was hungry from all of that activity.

Tori The Do-er

Tori-the-Doer was back in action this weekend. After dinner at the hotel on Friday, we went to the water park and Tori went immediately to the water slides. Down she went as fast as she could. She played in the kiddie pool for awhile and then went to the bigger slides by the dumping bucket. She hopped down the slides without her brother's hesitation. Back up again for another run. Once she heard the bell ring for the bucket dump, she'd run over to get water dumped all over her. She'd try various ways standing, sitting, kneeling, laying when the bucket fell. Once she was soaked from the bucket she'd come running over to us with the biggest smile. It only got to be a problem when she would miss the bucket dump and she would throw a fit. She also loved putting her face in the water and trying to swim under water. The girl is a fish and her water soaked smile coming up from swimming would completely show you her love of water.



Skiing for her was just as fun. She was eager to try, even though her boots had too much snow to get her ski's on to begin with. She was slow walking in the boots, which helped get them caked in snow. I scraped the snow off and eventually got the ski's on. Tori happily went in line and up the magic carpet. She fell over a few times. On one occasion, she got off the carpet and was helped to catch up with the group by being pushed. However, the person let go and Tori took off down the hill with no one holding on! Luckily the other instructor stopped her before she fell or ran into something or someone. All the activity tuckered her out and she was ready to call it quits. We went back to the water park that night for more of the same fun and she had milk and cookies with Chip too. Early Sunday morning though, the cry went out, "I Want To Go To My Poooooooooooooool!".