Learning to Share

I wish that I could have captured this entire sequence on film, but basically, Elizabeth grabbed Emily's hand the other afternoon and said "Come on, Emily. Let's go upstairs and play." And so the two of them toddled through the house, up the stairs (with Elizabeth carrying Emily's baby), and just played in THEIR room for 45 minutes, while Lee and I relaxed downstairs. It was amazing. Emily loves being in the same room as Elizabeth and it is really starting to seem like Elizabeth likes having Emily around as well.

Elizabeth helps Emily by carrying Baby up the stairs (Emily has Lambie)
"Reading" from Emily's stash of books. Although we are moving into longer and longer stories with Elizabeth, the reality is that she knows many of the shorter stories by heart and enjoys "reading" them to herself and to Emily.
The girls read together.

Chatty Baby

Emily is turning into quite the talker. We are continually surprised at her words - she seems to learn a new word every day and is really talking up a storm. Although I had to prompt her for this video, there are times when we can hardly get a word in edgewise. She clearly takes after Lee....

Elizabeth at Play

We have noticed that when she engages in imaginary play, Elizabeth's animals and little people are always very polite and cordial to one another - which is a far cry from the real play time between Elizabeth and Emily, especially when they both want the same toy! Elizabeth is actually a very polite little girl and she clearly wants to make certain that her "friends" are too.

Hangin' Out with Grammy and Grampy

Today, Grammy and Grampy drove down from New Hampshire for the day. They got to watch Elizabeth in swim class and get a tour of our beloved YMCA. After swim class, they came back to the house and had a great time playing with the girls. They did puzzles together, built block towers and checked out the bunk beds. Emily had a great time getting tickled to death!! You can see all the pictures from their visit here (warning: you all know that I am a crazy picture taker, but lately, the numbers have increased as I recently got a new camera and have been doing a lot of experimenting with settings, flash, etc.).

Even though our new camera is great, Grammy's still blows us away!

Swimming with Daddy - "motorboat" - Elizabeth's pool favorite

Puzzles are Elizabeth's FAVORITE activity right now, so these were a big hit!

Check out this belly, Grammy.

Tickle time!!

Elizabeth shows off her new bunk bed

Crazy Like A Fox

I was doing dishes Thursday morning when I noticed a fox galloping (for lack of a more descriptive term) through our backyard - by the time I grabbed the camera and got our front door open, he was halfway up the street. It was a weird sight at 7:30 a.m., but from the tracks in the snow in our backyard, he's been hanging around a lot lately.

Big Girl Bed Update

For those of you interested in Emily's progress in the big girl bed, she is doing really well. On Saturday, she screamed blood-curdling screams for a couple of minutes after we put her down for her nap (no Elizabeth to comfort her), but was so tired that she fell asleep rather quickly. Saturday night, she broke for the door when it was time to get into bed, shaking her head vehemently and Sunday night was a repeat performance; but both nights, she went down within in a few minutes. Last night, she actually went right over to her stool when Elizabeth started up the ladder - we helped her climb into bed and she laid down without so much as a whimper - of course, Elizabeth cried for a while, but we can't have it all, can we?!?!

The girls are not yet officially sharing the room, as we still have all of Emily's things in the nursery. I have a February trip to New Hampshire planned and while we are away, Lee will likely transform the room from "mine" to "ours" and begin the process of converting the nursery to a guest room.

Swimming Lessons

Elizabeth started the winter session of swimming lessons at the Y today. She did great - with each week, her fears seem to dissipate and we are hoping that by summer, she will be able to swim on her own (with some assistance, of course).

Saturday Morning Dancing

I would say that they got their dancing abilities from Mommy, but that might be stretching my own abilities....

Babies No More

Thursday was Emily's last day in the crib as Friday night, she went to sleep in her big girl bed. She was pretty excited about the transition, as we talked it up all week, until she actually got in the bed - and then the screaming began! Elizabeth, though, got her through the ordeal. We expected crying for a long time but it stopped within a minute or two as we heard Elizabeth calming Emily - "it's okay Emily, Mommy will come check you later, Mommy will come get you in the morning" - and so on. For as difficult as Elizabeth has been the last few weeks, it was refreshing to hear consoling and calming her sister, rather than pushing her or yelling at her. There's no denying the sisterly bond they have.

Reading Peter Rabbit
This is an adjustment for both girls - Elizabeth has been sleeping in the top bunk for a few weeks now, so she quickly showed Emily the ropes.
Time to climb into bed!
Sleeping peacefully (around 11 p.m.)
A little bed head, but happy nonetheless. She was pretty pleased with herself. Here's hoping that nap time goes smoothly today!

Acting Silly

Emily is developing quite a silly little personality. She loves playing peek-a-boo and pointing to her eyes, nose, hair. But most of all, she loves being silly and getting tickled and chased around the house.

If Only....

....moments like this could last for longer than....well, moments!! It was so sweet when Lee and I peeked around the corner Sunday morning and saw the girls quietly watching television together - but less than a minute later, Emily was screaming as Elizabeth bopped her on the top of her head. Sisterly love....

Our Tired Girl

After a day of unusually loud whining, crying, complaining and just being a pain in the you-know-what, Elizabeth literally dropped off to sleep in the car after a quick visit to the mall. This doesn't look too comfortable to me, but she's still sleeping. . . .

Wagon Rides

Taking advantage of the recent nice weather as much as possible, the girls have been taking almost daily wagon rides in their new wagon. We started with little rides around the yard and around the block, but they basically show no interest in getting out of the wagon once the short rides are over so this week, Lee has been taking them to the neighborhood playground almost every afternoon. They love it!!

Crazy Hair Girl

Check out these pictures of Emily with wet hair - it's so long and even when it's wet, there's no stopping the curl!!

Baby Anders

Here are some pictures from when we hung out with Baby Anders on New Years Day. We had not seen him (or his mom and dad) since his baptism in October and couldn't believe how much he had grown!

Cutie pie
Noah and Henley, hanging out on the couch - a "kid free" zone.
Nicole and Anders

Alumni Games

This afternoon, we drove up to Massachusetts for the Groton Alumni Games. Elizabeth really enjoys watching hockey, so it was particularly exciting for her to see Daddy play - and he's easy to spot with his green pants. It was a pretty long trip for a pretty short game, but Lee really enjoys it and it has become a bit of a tradition for our little family.

A good luck kiss for Daddy from Elizabeth
They were pretty enthralled with the game, at least for a good fifteen or twenty minutes!
There's Daddy!!
Emily, Lee and Elizabeth
Elizabeth thought that she wanted to go on the ice with Lee, but apparently not....

A Little Rapper's Delight, Anyone?

Here is Emily, kickin' it old school style....

Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do

This morning, we took down our beloved Christmas tree. Like last year, it was difficult for Elizabeth to say goodbye and she spent some time trying to convince us that we should just go cut down another one. Although taking down the tree is pretty difficult for me as well (knowing that it will be 11 long months before we start decorating for Christmas again), once it is out of the house, I always feel like we gained a couple of hundred square feet in house. I know that Lee was quite relieved to get the girls play space back.

Elizabeth learns that the tree is coming down today.
There was no way we could get it out the door without taking it apart - that's what my dad used to do, so it seemed pretty normal to me, although Lee thought that it was evidence that this tree was way too big!
Yep, she's pretty upset
By the time Lee was done, that's about all that was left - oh, and several thousand pine needles.
Even Emily seemed to have a hard time saying goodbye.

Guess who discovered YouTube?

A little touch of Singapore

The girls got these really cool outfits from Uncle David, who is in the middle of an 18 month stint of living and working in Singapore, as Christmas gifts. They look absolutely adorable in them!!

As you can tell, they love the outfits - must be the nice, soft fabric.
Check me out!

Presents from Uncle Mike and Auntie Kelly

The other day, we received a box of Christmas presents in the mail from Uncle Mike and Auntie Kelly.

Presents!! Yippee!!

Hello Kitty crayons - which are already being put to good use!

And a pencil case to keep them safe from Emily

Emily got a hilarious t-shirt - "i'm having a bad hair day"