Clarke Family Adventures: Changes, changes, changes.

When I married into the military life, I knew that it would come with a lot of ups and downs, and a whole lot of change. Having two children under 3 has only made this lifestyle more complicated. When we found out we were moving (again) we'd barely been in our new house in London a couple months. Thankfully we were able to arrange it so the move didn't happen until we'd been in London for a year, so as to not disrupt the girls again so soon. That year went by quickly and now here we are, moved into yet another new house, this time in Lyneham. Ceci won't turn 3 for a couple months and yet she's already lived in 3 houses!

The good news is that we love our new house. Though we were not super excited about having to move away from London, the fact that our new house is quite a bit bigger has been a big plus - especially with two growing girls and their growing piles of toys! The bad news is that moving with two toddlers is less than fun. The logistics of physically moving from one place to another and then unpacking and organizing everything you own is so much more complicated when there are little people constantly needing your attention. But alas, we survived. The house is pretty much sorted and we're starting to settle into our new life out in the countryside.

We enrolled both girls in nursery (aka daycare) for two mornings a week and jumped right in the day after we moved (since Ceci was already used to going to school two mornings a week we wanted to keep her routine as normal as possible). And Cali was so ready to start school - each time we'd pick Ceci up she'd clamor out of my arms and go off to play in Ceci's classroom while I talked to the teacher. And each morning when we'd hang out together alone while Ceci was at school I swear I could hear Cali thinking "ugh, you again?" Haha. Just like her big sister, Cali is so inquisitive and needs stimulation and other kids to play with. So since we were getting Ceci settled in we decided to go for it with Cali as well. And they both did great! On Wednesday we went in for a short meeting with Cali's teachers to go over her schedule and to let Cali get used to the teachers and room while we were there with her. During our meeting, Ceci's class was playing outside so she joined right in, hardly noticing when we went inside with Cali. The next day they were both supposed to go for an hour, but Ceci woke up with tummy pain so stayed home but Cali went in alone for an hour in the morning and did great - no tears when I left and her teachers said the only time she cried was when they had to wipe her nose (poor thing has a terrible runny nose and it's so sore!). On Friday, we sent both girls in for a slightly abbreviated session (8:45-11:45 instead of 8:30-1pm). Ceci was in a great mood, talking all morning about going to her new school and running up to the door shouting "I'm so excited!". Cali also did great - reached out for her teacher when we got in and was wriggling in her arms to be let down to play. She napped right on schedule with no issues and again was only teary when they wiped her nose. Hooray! I also got 3 hours alone, with no children, to get things done (slightly hampered by the fact that I inadvertently locked myself out of house - new confusing locks, ugh - but that was thankfully remedied quickly).

Big girl with her new backpack

As if all of that wasn't enough change, we also were told by Jay's new unit 10 days before our move that Jay will deploying to the UAE for six months, starting the beginning of April. Ugh. We did not see that coming (especially since standard notice of overseas deployment is 6 months and we'd been told only a few weeks before that there was nothing on the docket until at least July). After much thought and discussion, we've decided the best thing for me and the girls is to move in with my parents (in good old Haverhill, MA) for most of the time Jay is away. Especially given that we'll have barely been in our house a month and a half when he leaves, and we're now 2+ hours from Jay's family, I don't really have a support system set up. Plus, my jobs are both remote and the girls aren't in full time school, so there's nothing holding us here. (So thankful that my mom and dad are up for this crazy challenge!) . We're leaving before Jay does to make the goodbyes easier and coming back just before the school year starts as come September Ceci is entitled to go to school 5 mornings a week for free. We're of course going to miss Jay terribly, and it's going to be a big change for all of us, but the girls and I are also really looking forward to enjoying a summer stateside and getting the chance to spend lots of time with family! And though this situation isn't ideal, we also realize we're really lucky, not only to have the opportunity to move in with my parents during this time, but that this is the first time Jay will be away from the girls for any substantial amount of time - given that they're going to be almost 1.5 and 3 the first time he leaves, they've gotten to spend a ton of time with their Dad, which isn't common for a military family. And Jay was able to see all the big milestones (their births, the newborn phase, crawling, walking, first words, etc). So all-in-all, we're in a good place with it, and we're trying to stay positive and optimistic!

And our living situation isn't the only thing that's been changing - the girls themselves are have grown so much in the past couple months!!

Ceci is in a full on dress phase. Every morning she wants to pick out the dress she's going to wear and how she wants me to do her hair (Anna braids are still a big favorite). She loves all things pink and princess, as well as dinosaurs and Peppa. Her language skills improve by the day - she's constantly adding new phrases and words to her repertoire and her sentence structure is maturing. She also has started the Why questions and Where's It Come From. Thankfully she's still at the stage that whatever simple answer we give usually suffices (C: "Mumma, where's pears come from?", M: "They grow on tree", C: "Oh, ok, great.") though occasionally the questioning continues (C:"Mumma, where's bread come from?" M:"It's made from flour" C: "Oh, and where's that come from?" M:"From wheat." etc. etc.). I don't know where she picked these questions up from, but they're constant, and she's so curious in our answers - you can really see her trying to process and understand the hows and whys of it all.

Ceci continues to love knowing what comes next and adapts amazingly well when she's prepared for something ahead of time. So we've kept up with the visual calendar and we read books about anything on the horizon - this was really helpful with the move as it was on the calendar months ahead of time and we read books about it again (saved from our last move) so when the movers came and when we had to unpack she was completely unfazed. As such, we've already started talking to her about Daddy going away (though we're presenting it as Mumma, Cali and Ceci going on an adventure to Nan and Gramps house but Daddy has to work instead). She's actually really excited about it, especially as we talk about all the fun things we'll do in America, and the people she'll get to see. We've also introduced books about Daddy deploying or Daddy going away for work but we haven't pushed them - they're just around and she occasionally asks to read them. Just like with the move, I suspect she'll pull them out more and more as the day we leave approaches.

She still loves all things dance and music - she went to her first ballet class this weekend and loved it. And saying goodbye to our weekly dance class in London was possibly one of the hardest things for her. She also still loves to help, whether it's with laundry, cooking or cleaning - and she's actually now more of a help than a hindrance!

Helping Daddy take the trash out

She can count to twenty consistently, knows all her shapes, colors and letters and can recognize her name in writing. She recently started to understand how many - recognizing one, two and three objects without counting. And she's finally grasped counting by pointing - doing so independently up to about 5 and with a little help reminding her to slow down and realize which she's missed or already counted when there's more than that.

Ceci still naps most afternoons, though there are occasional days, maybe once or twice a week or so, that she doesn't sleep and instead lays in her bed talking/singing/rolling around for the two hours until Mr. Sun wakes up. Most of the time she does sleep for about 1.5hrs, and then happily goes to bed at night from 7-7, but I know the days of consistent afternoon naps are numbered. I'm holding on to them for as long as possible, though, before I transition her to quiet time with low key books and toys. As long as she remains happy to stay in her bed every afternoon from 1-3pm, I'm sticking with it!

Passed out - she's still loving her big girl bed

Our little Cali Cat is growing by leaps and bounds as well. Her communication in particular is exploding! She now knows several signs that she uses regularly - milk, all done, eat and more/again in particular and has a go at saying them too. And she can also sign light, ball, drink, train and car. She makes sure her point gets across using whatever combination of signing and sounds necessary. She hands me the remote if she wants to watch TV. She pulls on my shirt in addition to signing milk if she wants to nurse. She pats my legs and puts her arms up saying something resembling "up" if she wants to be held. It's been absolutely amazing to watch.

She knows the hand motions to wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, and twinkle twinkle little star, and has started trying to sing along too. She can tell you what sounds the dog, monkey, elephant, lion, and tiger make. She says Dada clear as day, and occasionally comes out with mama and something resembling Ceci. She says hi and bye with a wave, gives high fives and does cheers. Her newest addition is saying "ummm...." when she's deciding on something, just like her sister does! She also tries to put on her socks and shoes and really helps when you dress her. Like her sister, she loves helping and does her best to unpack the grocery bags (she's freakishly strong -carrying wine bottle and milk jugs across the kitchen!), doing laundry, wiping the table and especially tidying up (she's great at picking up toys and putting them in the box/bag where they belong).

She walks confidently, and climbs incessantly. She can now get onto our couch and knows how to move objects to help her climb up onto other things. When I do flips/stunts with Ceci she climbs on top of me, insisting she gets a turn too. She loves drawing and often pulls out the magnadoodle board to play with. She also loves stickers and putting any type of cloth she gets her hands on around the back of her neck like a scarf (thankfully just draping, not wrapping).

The little muchkins impress me (and challenge me) every day, and I couldn't love them more!

Here's a few pictures from the last couple months...