My Beating Heart

Our friend Meredith read my "Dear Santa" post and researched some options for gifts.  I had actually assumed that Lee would forget about the requests, but wouldn't you know, here she was at the Christmas party on Santa's lap, asking for a beating heart.  

So Bridges and I looked more closely at one of the products Meredith had found, called My Beating Heart.   We decided to get one for her, because we knew that she would really like it.   I just asked her today what her favorite Christmas present was, and she said "the beating heart." And wouldn't you know, most of the adults liked it a lot too.  It's suppposed to be very therapeutic!

How to Attack a Piece of Pie

Where do they get their likes and dislikes?  

Tonight we ordered pizza, and I watched as Lee ate a piece of pepperoni, starting at the crust and working her way to the tip.  Often she will eat only the crust and the pepperoni, leaving everything else.  Clara, who won't eat pepperoni, had a piece of cheese.   She held it upside down (as she seems to eat any handheld food that has a top and a bottom), eating from the tip toward the crust, but left the crust on her plate and asked for another piece.    

Nearly opposite.  How did that develop? 

Bananagrams

We received Banangrams as a gift this year. It's a bit like Scrabble.  The tiles are stored in a cute little banana-shaped pouch.  

I found this creation yesterday.  

The only words Lee really knows how to spell are "Lee, Daddy, Mommy, A (which she uses for "and"), I, and love."   She writes these words in various combinations on all of her drawings, but for some reason finding them in tiles was different, as if I had stumbled upon some secret message she'd left for us.  

This is the Year

This is going to be the year Lee gets on skis.  She is actually enjoying the snow this year!   We got quite a bit of snow right before Christmas, probably 18" over a period of a few days.  It was so beautiful - the second storm dumped this heavy snow that stuck to everything, and then it got cold and so for a few days it looked like a winter wonderland here.  But then the rain came on Christmas Eve, although we had so much snow the ground is still mostly covered.  

Actually, in the pictures below it's raining, but it was actually quite nice for sledding; not too cold, and the snow was nice and soft and so not too fast for the kids.

Here are the two girls going down with Daddy:

and getting a ride back up:

Here's Lee going head-first by herself (yes I can see her skiing now!):

And here they are going low-tech (who needs sleds anyway?):

Who's Going to Clean those Windows?

I had to question Santa's wisdom when Clara discovered window paints in her stocking.  I suggested that Santa might have to come back to help clean the windows.

But, I must admit, the painted windows add a bit of color to the house, and the kids did a great job with them.

Fairy House

Here are some pictures of the fairy house we built in September while we were up at Loon for the weekend.  A bit hard to see in the back is a lake made of white birch, complete with a boat house, a dock, and a boat, all of which were Lee's ideas.  

The front door and pathway (I especially like the hydrangea tree):

A detail of the table with bowls and cups:

The window box:

Ear Infection

Clara developed her first ear infection since having tubes put in.  She had been pretty unhappy for a few days, but she had a cold and of course there are always the teeth to consider (mercifully we only have two more to go).  

But then she woke up from her nap and I noticed a trail of dried yellow pus coming out of her ear.  Lovely.  So here we go again, I thought.  Only it turns out that with tubes, you can treat these with topical ear drops.  Great!  Only that's effective just 50% of the time.  This wasn't one of those times.  That night Clara developed aa 103+ fever and was sitting up in bed holding her ears and telling us how much they hurt.  So we filled the prescription for the augmentin, and within a day or so she was back to being happy.  

During this time I just kept thinking "I can't believe we all went through this for months and months last year."  Especially her.  

Dear Santa

A few weeks ago, Lee told me that she only wanted one thing for Christmas. But it was a secret between her and Santa, so she couldn't tell me what it was. At least, I thought, I'll be able to find out who is playing Santa at the church Christmas party.

Then last night, she suddenly said with great concern, "Mommy, I only remember three of the things I was going to ask Santa for."

Three? Uh, oh. She's definitely gotten more wise since last year, when she asked Santa for only a candy cane (so cute!). So I asked her what they were and she quite readily told me (so much for keeping secrets).

"First, candy canes."

Whew, maybe not that wise. Doesn't she realize we give her candy canes anyway?

"Second, a heart that looks real. When you push the button on it, it starts to beat. And third, a big rat. When you push a button on it, it crawls across the floor."

I asked her if she'd seen these things somewhere or if she'd just made them up. I imagined them, she said.

Hmmm......

Clara Turns Two

Clara turned two today.   She had a fantastic birthday, and she seemed much more aware of birthday things than I remember Lee being at this age (probably a function of being the younger sibling).  She knew it was her special day all day long, and she was in a jolly mood.   Bridges took the day off (as he does for all of our birthdays).  

We put up balloons and a banner, and made her favorite (waffles) for breakfast.  

She opened her presents in the morning (a magnetic doodle pad and a book).  I had made some fresh playdoh, and we put that out after breakfast and they played with playdoh for quite a while.   Then we went to Kids Playground, which was a lot of fun.  It was amazing how much better Clara was at getting around only four months past our last visit.   

After that we went out to lunch, and then came home.  My parents came before dinner and got to spend some time with the girls.  

Linda and Roger came by for cake aftewards.  Here's the carrot cake I made.  

Everyone remarked at how much more she's talking, as you can see in this video.