The Best Big Sister

Yesterday Cherelle and I signed Charlee and Jayden up for swimming lessons. Charlee is very excited about them. She keeps asking if she get to go to "wimmin leddon" today. When I tell her yes, she says "Awtom." (awesome) She has been saying "awtome" a lot lately. Her other favorite thing to say is "Oh man!" She says that about 10 times a day, whenever she asks for something and the answer is no, when she trips or does something clumsy, when she is told it is bedtime, or when she is asked to clean up a mess she made.
Justee is officially off the bottle, yay! I decided that she is now big enough to move on to a sippy cup. I don't let my kids have binkies, bottles or things like that after they are 15 months old. Justee isn't there yet, but it gets harder the older they get so...she had her last bottle on Fri. morning. She did not like the idea of the cup at first and I was a little worried that she might not drink out of it, but I am a strong believer in the cold-turkey method. I think when you are making changes like this, you just have to do it. You just have to take the thing away and not give it back no matter what. She is doing just fine with the cup now.
I got after Justee the other day and she started crying. The first thing she did was run to her big sister Sydnee and give her a hug. Sydnee is great about comforting her little sisters. When Charlee is upset, the first person she runs to is Sydnee as well. She runs to her begging, "Ug Ninny ug!" I remember when Sydnee was little (I guess I shouldn't say when, she still does this but it started a long time ago) and she got in trouble, the first thing she wanted was a hug. I might sound mean here, but I wouldn't give her one until she stopped crying because I didn't want to encourage crying. As soon as she would calm down I would give her a hug and we would talk about what she did and why she got in trouble. Now the younger two run to Sydnee first to get hugs when they are in trouble with me. Then they usually go to Daddy if he is home and then they come back to me. If they are hurt they usually come to me first and if they are in trouble with Daddy then they go to Sydnee and then me.
I'm glad that Sydnee is such a great big sister. Charlee and Justee really love her and love getting to play with her. Sydnee has been giving them piggy-back rides lately and they love it. It is so cute to see Justee on Sydnee's back just smiling from ear-to-ear. I need to get a picture of it.