Dora and Minnie!

 Eliana is a huge Dora fan, if you couldn't tell already from her Dora birthday cake and Dora wall decals:) She is now requesting a Dora suitcase for Christmas. Her Dora-adoration has recently ramped up until she eats, breathes and sleeps Dora!

Literally:) I made her a Dora pillow right after her birthday so she gets to sleep on Dora at night. We own one Dora movie (Dora and the Superbabies), which she has watched approximately 342 times and knows by heart. We often get Dora movies from the library for her to watch and this week she has started acting out Dora!

If you aren't on the up and up with the Dora know-how, here's the scoop. (because I'm sure you're dying to know!) First Eliana straps on her Minnie Mouse backpack (close enough to Dora's backpack:), then she claims to have lost something and tells me we need to call for Map..or "nap" as she calls him! Then Map tells us where she needs to go to find her missing item.

For example: Today Eliana claimed to have lost Baby Anna (who was resting comfortably right next to her in her cradle, mind you). She strapped on Backpack, called for Map. Or I should say we both called because I follow her commands! E said Map told her she needed to go through the kitchen, around the exersaucer, around the pack n' play and then she would find the "Lost Baby!"

Off she went following Map's directions and before you know it, Baby Anna was saved! :) Thankfully, Swiper, the sneaky fox, didn't show up to steal Baby Anna this time.  It is very cute. I love that her imagination is really coming out right now!

Her second favorite character is probably Minnie Mouse. She doesn't know a ton about her but has a cute Minnie backpack and winter hat, thanks to her Grandma. A couple weeks ago one of our little neighbors stopped by (with her mom) to pass on her old Minnie dress-up dress to Eliana! She wore it the whole next day, out to stores and all:)
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Samuel, who claims NOT to have a crush on his friend Leah, talks about her non-stop. As in, I probably heard her name no fewer than 10 times today. I know he's very excited about going to her birthday party on Saturday but still! It is very interesting to watch this. And a little scary, too!

At dinner tonight, Samuel said, "Mommy, a lot of the kids at school (and this is where I always brace myself!) talk about crushes. What do they mean?" Zakkai jumped right in before I could say a word and said, "It's when you're in love!!"

Oh dear. I explained what a crush was and then told them they were not to have girlfriends for a long time! Zakkai said, "Mommy, in kindergarten, my old lunch teacher told us we couldn't have girlfriends until we were 6! And I'm 6!" Ha! No way, Jose!

This is crazy! I wasn't expecting to talk about crushes with my 6 and 8 year olds. Kids are so advanced these days! Or maybe, I just prefer to let my kids be "kids" a little longer than the rest of the world. Or....maybe I'm just out of touch with thing!

I am getting old after all:) Happy Wednesday!