Puddles

It was a balmy almost 40 degrees today, so the girls and I went for a tromp around the neighborhood.  We met some neighbors and saw lots of dogs being walked.  On our second trip out, Emily swapped her snow boots for rain boots, the better for stomping in puddles.

Adamant

After a family walk, Emily wanted to stay out and play in the snow (by herself, in the dark, and about 15* weather).  When she finally came in, she begged to keep all her snow gear on.  We insisted she take of the mittens so she could hold her fork to eat dinner, but she won on the rest.

Adara's new word of the day is potty ("pah-ee").  All day she has been begging incessantly for "hep" taking her clothes and diaper off so that she can go "pah-ee".  She was so adamant about it today that I pulled out the baby potty.  It took some convincing for her to accept that it was indeed a potty, but now she loves to sit on it.  No success yet.  Twice today she told me "pee pee" over and over until I took off her diaper and sat her on the potty.  Both times she got off the potty, ran away naked, and proceeded to pee on the floor almost immediately.  So, maybe she is on to something?  

Reading & Drawing

  

We spent most of January down with the flu, croup, colds & the stomach bug, so there haven't been many adventures to report.  A few days ago, Emily made her first drawing that wasn't scribbles, with only a little help.  (It's a person laying down in a bed with "night night animals"... with some scribbles above.)  She also has really taken to the idea of learning to read, so we've been talking about letter sounds and sounding out words.  She has a friend who can already read and she was just amazed to see a kid about her age reading.  She's been pretending to read her books out loud.

Adara is talking more by the day, she has dozens of words and some basic two-word sentences.  I love it!  She also continues to be into everything, and happiest when free to roam.  (Result - her first big head bonk from pulling a stack of chairs down on her head at "Romp & Stomp")

Unrelated: I've updated our video page (link to the right) with lots of little video clips from the past couple years.  (Thank you smartphones.)

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!