Sister Love

One of my favorite things lately is how much the girls love each other.  Adara asks for Emily when she's going to bed and when she wakes up.  Emily often doesn't want me to put Adara down for her nap, so that they can play.  She likes to carry Adara around, or lead her around by the hand, and Adara will put out her arms for Emily to help her down from her perch on the couch, etc.  If they wake up at the same time, Emily often climbs into Adara's crib to play.  Very sweet.

Last week I took Emily to her Romp & Stomp program at the library while Adara stayed home with Alasdair.  At the end of class, Emily asked, "Where is that baby?"
L: "What baby"
E: "Our baby.  Adara"
L: "She's a home with Daddy, remember?"
E: "Aww!  I miss her!"

Skiing

Emily surprised us all last winter by taking to skiing with a passion.   She's been asking to go again ever since, and this year she's moved from being held upright while sliding downhill, to short spurts of "skiing all by myself!".  We even braved the Sunrise chairlift.

Snow

Both girls love the snow.  Emily will stay out by herself long after Adara & I have gone inside.  Favorite activities include: snowshoeing, shoveling & making snow cakes.

Adara Updates

Adara had her 15 month checkup yesterday.  Right around the 50th percentile for height (2'6") & weight (almost 22 lbs).  The highlight as always for both girls was the wooden rocking horse in the waiting room.  I think Adara has turned a corner lately (maybe because her molars are mostly through or because she's able to do more things physically?), but she's been a lot less cranky.  She continues to adore her big sister and want to do whatever Emily is doing.  Emily has taken a lot of interest in playing with Adara lately, they love to run around the house in the evenings, climbing on & off the furniture and laughing hysterically.  Adara still sleeps with her bunny, and also takes special interest in her baby dolls.  Still very attached to mommy, but doing much better being left in the nursery or at a friend's house.  She loves other babies, most especially 'baby Emily' - my good friend Jill's daughter who is just her age.  She's a great sleeper, diving for her crib when it's time to be put down.  We're starting to cut back the morning nap a little and she's been sleeping in later (7 or so) in the morning (hallelujah).  She's currently in 12 or 18 month clothes.  Not as good of an eater as she used to be... she has very strong opinions and would happy eat only yogurt and animal crackers.  Pretty steady on her feet, loves to run and climb.  She "talks" constantly, and has about 10-20 recognizable words: Mama, Dada, Emily, Adara, wa (water or walk), mo (more), nana (banana, food), bu (bunny), uh oh, no, ya, you (thank you), nigh-nigh, bye-bye, buhbuh (baby), Mimi, Papa, eye.

She loves the bathtub, and climbed on her own when I stepped out of the room to get her towel last night. :)  At big sister's insistance, we tried Adara's first ponytail today!

Christmas in PA

 We drove from Westford to Glenside the day after Christmas, which turned into an 11 hour adventure due to a snow/rainstorm, but the kids did well and the car time did give us some quiet time.  We had a really great few days in Philly with the whole family, and were also able to see some friends.

  Please Touch Museum with Katie & Luci

  Snow on our belated Christmas!
(We were 3 for 3 this year for snow on Christmas:)

the whole family

Christmas in MA

We spent a few days around Christmas at my parents house.  Tiring, but wonderful.  Emily & Rosalie play so intensely and constantly that they just completely exhaust themselves.  The first night we tried out the "Festival of Lights" at our local ski area, which was fantastic!  There was a wagon ride through woods and fields decorated with lights (sort of what you'd see in someone's front yard, but lots of them, and large) as well as little scenes.  There was also a carnival set up with kids rides and games.  It was well done, with lots of outdoor heaters to warm up by, and even fire pits where you could roast s'mores.  All the kids loved it.

Mike & I and my parents took the older girls to the Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in, which was lovely and included a time for the kids to go up front and hear a story.  We saw some friends we hadn't seen in years - we always wish there was more time to catch up!

 Twas the night before Christmas...

 Christmas Day we stayed home, and Grammy T, Cindy & Grant and Becky & Brian all came for lunch and the afternoon.  :)  The big girls really enjoyed their gifts (especially the doctor dress up clothes!), and kept trying to run off and play before we were done opening gifts.  They are at such a fun age of delighting in whatever surprise they open, with no expectations.  We had a dusting of snow, just barely enough to play in.

Left alone in her high chair, Adara managed to pull the box of cookies onto her tray.  She had pulled the top off and was happily munching when we found her!

GG reading Emily a night night story.

Christmas at Home

Since we would be travelling for the holidays, we did a little family Christmas a few days early.  We'd made each girl a cardboard house (we'll decorate them at some point), Adara got a homemade book of family pictures and Emily got a sleeping bag.  The next day Emily was an angel in the the church Christmas "pageant."  We also did the advent reading, which was not our finest moment!  Adara yelled "no! no! no! as we walked up, and then promptly squirmed out of my arms and stomped away (thankfully a friend grabbed her for me), and then Alasdair let Emily 'help' light the candles, which took forever.  So much for a cute family moment!