Snow Cookies

It snowed for the first time this winter (the freak October snowstorm was in the fall). We spent the weekend in the time-honored tradition of families for ages: watching a bunch of TV and repeatedly separating the kids, who regularly clobbered each other. Between multiple viewing of Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, we also baked cookies (some winter-themed, some Valentine, some alphabet), and took a family outing to Costco. Do we know how to party, or what?

New Scarf!

A lazy holiday weekend... the only big events were Molly's playdate at a friend's house where she surprised us by eating lentil soup, and Henry's brand new scarf, knitted by Grandma T. We love it! Henry was very excited to have it and was telling everyone he met about the new scarf. Thanks Grandma!

Baby Steps Towards Big Kid School

How is it possible that today we registered our wee little firstborn baby for kindergarten in the fall?

So Long '11, Welcome '12

Another year clicking by. Watching kids grow is the surest way to feel the passage of time. I can look back on this blog and see the changes in the kids so clearly. Molly continues to grow, change, learn, delight, challenge, and amaze us. She's now spent almost a whole year in speech therapy and we're seeing the improvement. We hope those pesky "sh" "z" "j" and "ch" sounds will be conquered soon. She has entertained us with her dancing and singing, blessed us with her many terrific watercolor paintings, irritated us with her constant excuses for why she won't do something we'd like, impressed us with her fortitude on nature hikes and zoo trips, and surprised us with her cleverness and keen memory. No more promising something and thinking she'll forget about it later! She has also been a great big sister to Henry. Seeing their relationship (with its ups and of course its downs) has been a real pleasure for us. They can fight and whine with the best of them, but then have real moments of tenderness and affection that melt it all away.

Henry's changes are in many ways more obvious, given the rapid growth kids go through at his age. He's gone from a babbling baby to a real live toddler. His verbal skills are evolving on a daily basis. Not to brag (or, well, TOTALLY to brag), but he is by far the most verbally advanced child in his room at daycare. We think that makes him a favorite of the teachers as well, since he can express exactly what he wants to do, so he generally gets to do it! He's the teachers' helper and is the best participator in the class reading and singing activities. His love of books is evident to us at home as well. He's a very engaged listener while we read, and asks questions about what's going on in the books and answers our questions about the books as well. With all this self-expression comes the dramatic meltdowns and screamed demands as well. His first response to practically everything is "No!". But his next most common response? A sweetly chirped "OK!" And despite his endless fights with Molly about sharing (or his lack of sharing), he is clearly devoted to her. He lights up when he sees her and says "Where is my sister?" when he is missing her.

We had some great adventures this year -- many trips to the zoo, paddleboating, vacationing in Maine, visits with the all of the grandparents, the wonderful farm stay with kittens and baby cows, the five cold and dark days after the Halloween snowstorm, and our lovely holiday season when we got to see so much of our families. 2012 will bring many more adventures, including Molly starting kindergarten in the Fall.

As much as I sometimes can't wait for the day when the kids outgrow their irrational, illogical, kid-brain insanity that can drive me out of my tree, I know that it does all go by too fast. Here are some of my favorite pictures of 2011, which allow me to hold on to the memories just a bit longer.

Christmas 2011 Unwrapped

We had another successful holiday season in our house. We manage to spread the holidays across a whole week because of visiting with two sides of our family. The kids are one day going to ask how come Santa visits each grandparents' house on different days. My answer for all things Santa? "It's magic!"

Our first Christmas was at Grandparents H.'s house nearby. A wonderful meal, of course, and a great round of gift giving and receiving, including handsewn goodies and lovely full silver setting in our pattern. Here's the kids dressed up for the Christmas meal:

Then it was on to visit my parents in Washington DC for our second Christmas this past weekend. We had a nice lowkey visit with nothing more planned than Christmas itself, which is more than enough. The kids enjoyed repeated viewings of "Finding Nemo" and several visits to the brand new fancy playground literally directly across the street from the house. We all enjoyed the wonderful food my mom prepared -- chicken pot pie on Christmas Eve and roast beef on Christmas Day.

Some Christmas shots:

The Pez in the stockings was a hit.

J's stocking had an "Emergency Clown Nose" for crisis situations. Brilliant!

Thanks again to our wonderful families for making the holidays so special and joyful for us and our kids. We are truly thankful and so, so lucky.

A Sandwich Takes a Lickin'

Henry enjoying a sunbutter and jelly sandwich.

Chatterbox

Henry has been impressing us (and his teachers) with his verbal skills these days. He's quite the talker and is much more advanced than Molly was at the same age. He speaks in complete sentences, like "Can you read this book to me?" or "I want to play with this toy" or "I miss my sister" or "I want to go in the bath." He's got a subject, verb, and object in there! Molly was speaking in much more rudimentary phrases at the same age -- I know this because I have this old Mollywoggin post to remind me.

Who knows if this is just the "second kid" effect where he's picking up more skills at an earlier age because he has a model to follow, or if he's just a plain old genius (of course that must be it), but either way we're enjoying hearing what's on his mind.

He's also at the age where he will repeat whatever you say to him. I've been having some naughty fun teaching him to say things like "You scared the bejeezus out of me!" There's something about a 2-year-old saying "bejeezus" that just cracks me up to no end.