Babysitter And Photographer.

As I do the local preschool rounds, i.e., attend requisite open houses in an effort to - hopefully - enroll A. somewhere next Fall (nearly all of our desired schools have lottery systems - wish us luck!), we've enjoyed having babysitter M. over to watch A. & E. This weekend, she sent me this photographs that she took of our dear E.

Of course, when I replied to her message with the pictures, I demanded to know "are you a photographer?!" She denies that she is, insisting that photography is - for now - a hobby. And then of course I insisted that she feel free to take pictures of my kiddos any time. Because I certainly can't take these kinds of photographs! Thank you, M.!

Sick Day And A Short-Cut Story.

A few weeks into 2012, folks, and we have our first colds. Oh, dread! And this particular cold - which hit A. and E. simultaneously, thankfully - was a doozy. A., who recently started going to school two days a week, missed school, missed her first-ever Spanish class, and her much-loved music class. The kids were down and out, couped up, and it was time to be creative. E. was along for the ride and desperately wanted to do whatever big sister A. was doing, especially when it came to playing dress-up.

As A. approaches three-years old, she wants to do everything "all by [her]self!" And this includes making her lunch, spreading-knife and all. Feeling under the weather was no exception. She would continue to do everything all by herself, just with sniffles and less-than-usual sleep, i.e., sleep-deprived stubborness.

By the way, see those short, short, SHORT bangs? Yeah, those weren't intentional. Here's the story: on "picture" day (no less), I trimmed E.'s nails and foolishly set down the nail-trimming scissors and stepped away for (the classic I-swear-it-was-only-a) minute. When I returned, I found A. holding the scissors against her head, beneath her barrette and proudly exclaiming - to my horror -, "LOOK MAMA! I CUT MY HAIR!" So, the hair that I worked so hard to grow and finally had looking much like this (though typically out of the eyes) . . .

. . . was chopped off. I try not to think too much about it (and when I do, I try to be thankful she didn't cut more or from the top of her head). Even in the moment, I just had to breath and move forward and, you know, prepare for the pictures that would be taken later. Pretty classic, right? Ah, well. A week later we had A.'s fine work, er, enhanced, by a haircutting professional. And now we wait and watch it grow. All the while, the scissors shall remain in a top-secret, you-will-never-find-them location.

"Did You Save The Whale?!"

Well, we didn't save the whale, so to speak. And that's because A. scribbled all over it with dark marker. But we did take a picture of it. If you haven't figured it out by now, this whale is of the artistic variety. Drawn by our very own budding artist, A. She does a lot of scribbling, coloring, painting. And A. has recently started using a tracing book. But she has never, ever, ever quite drawn a whale that actually kind of resembled a whale. I mean, she's two and a half!

That's pretty exciting, right?! (If not, we understand. This kind of thing probably only appeals to the proud mama and papa and we can't help but subject you to it.) We promise you, no parents were involved in the drawing of this whale (M. just looked at this and said, "people aren't going to believe that drawing."). No, really. A. drew it. And, really, she does not get her drawing skills from me. This comes from her Papa (who, if I recall correctly, has said his mom, A.'s Grandma D., can draw quite well). It's been awhile since she drew this whale and we're back to 'abstract' paintings, but we're excited to see what she draws next. To be continued!

Happy 8th Birthday, J.!

While we were in Michigan, we didn't just celebrate the new year with a shindig - we also pulled out our party hats to celebrate the birthday of our very, very dear 8-year old cousin J. It's a rare occasion that we get to see our family, so to gather twice for two celebrations was, well, exquisite!

I love the picture posted above. I look at it and wish we had more familial moments like these, gathered around the table, the kids happy and chatting, together as they should be.  Oh, while I'm at it, here's another one!

And what fun it was to "decode" J.'s birthday cake, which he decorated himself. Can you figure out what the cake says?

I'm not sure there is a bigger toddler-fan of J. than our little A. The girl loves him and older cousin L. And she tests their seemingly limitless quantities of child-patience, insisting that they play hide-and-go-seek with her over and over and over . . . graciously, they do. Thank you, J. and L. for playing so wonderfully with our girl and for making her so happy.

Now that we're back home, I will hear A. make quiet, personal reference to her beloved cousins every now and then. Just the other day, I heard A. whisper to herself, "Uh-oh spaghetti-o. That's what cousin J. says." And when we received a thank-you note in the mail from L., A. insisted the note was hers and asked us to read it and re-read it to her.

I love our home, I love where we live. But nothing - nothing - compares to spending time with our family. Thank you all for making our holidays that much more wonderful.

"Nigh' Nigh'!"

E. is joining the ranks of baby talkers. If you make a sound or say a word to her, she'll mimic it back. And that makes us so happy! Some of her (or our) favorites include her sing-song repeat of "thank you", which does not sound like "thank you" as you and I say it, but more like "tooooooo oooooooo!" And then there's my favorite "nigh' nigh'!" when she waves her hand at me, turns her head to her crib, and declares her intent to sleep. Not to be left out: the oft-inspired "UH-OHHHH", the popular "bye-bye" and "hi", plus the obligatory "mama" and "dada". We think she calls A. "Ney-Ney!" since whenever A. enters the room or comes on the scene, E. shrieks this seeming abbreviation (cute!).

The girl is changing so quickly and I can't believe the time has come to plan her first birthday party. Really?! She's standing on her own and so ready to take those first steps.

E. is also working on four teeth right now. She's the owner of two lone bottom ones. Waiting for the four top ones to break through has been a slow, excruciating process. A. was a different kind of teether. We'd have a day or so of discomfort, never interrupted sleep, and suddenly a tooth would appear. Not with E. She's suffering a bit more, dear girl.

E. loves to play peek-a-boo (A. did, too, around this age. Remember?). And, as I've mentioned in a recent post, she gets into everything. I shouldn't complain - all this chasing after her, I think, entitles me to at least four desserts per day, right? Oh, and food! E. is in that heavenly non-picky baby-eating stage where everything appeals to her. The girl eats everything. If only (fingers crossed) this adventuresome appetite would last.

When E. isn't eating, exploring, or talking, she's learning her signs. She learns best from Sister A. Anything A. signs, E. will repeat. And speaking of Sister, E. wants whatever A. is playing with at a given moment and when E. doesn't get her way, she wildly flaps her arms. A. simply responds, "Calm down, E. Here, play with this," offering a not-usually appealing alternative.

Can you believe E. is 10 and 1/2 months old?! I can't.  Except that I feel like caring for two children, now that E. is older, seems to be a little lighter, easier (for now; the easy/hard phases never completely disappear and seem to alternate every few months, yes?). For the time being, too, E. kind of listens (or, rather, responds to a firm voice, unlike daring, laughing, not-fearful, scoff-at-the-law sister A. who loved testing boundaries well before turning 2). M. and I marvel at her rate of response to us: "What? She listens? Did you see that? I said, "on your bottom" and she sat on her bottom! Who is this child?!" We'll enjoy it for now, right? (As I'm sure I've just jinxed our recent smooth-sailing and next week will surely be one of defiance, tantrums, and drama . . . oh, Parenthood. You're never boring, that's for sure!)

Par-TAY!

Happy 2012! We rang in the New Year at my parents' house in Michigan. We were joined by our dear family earlier that evening for a roarin' good time.

And M.'s brother R. drove out from the D.C. region to join in the festivities, too. We loved having him there with us. With my parents watching over the kiddos earlier New Year's Eve afternoon, M., R., and I ran out for coffee and just chatted. It had been a long time since the three of us had a kid-less moment like that. It was fun, like old times!

The cousins played, opened holiday gifts, and we ate the way people like to eat when having a par-tay: well (Mmmm, broasted chicken! Mmmmm, broccoli salad!).

Relatives talked, laughed. It was the perfect New Year's Eve celebration. And, again, it was wonderful to share the holiday with dear family. May there be more moments of fun togetherness, health, happiness, and new great memories in '12!

The Henry Ford Museum.

For once we visited a museum NOT in Washington, D.C.! Happily, we made a trip to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, while visiting my parents the week between Christmas and New Year's.

E. enjoyed the vast lego-train exhibit, while A. was enthralled with the trains. And, really, anything the museum allowed her to sit on.

What a great, great, great place. The sheer size of the locomotives, the vehicles - just wow. The visit was worth every minute, worth every penny (friendly reminder: we're not used to paying museum entrance fees in our neck of the woods!). Next on our Michigan to-see list: the neighborhing Greenfield Village, of course!

Merry Christmas '11!

Merry Christmas! Whew - where did that year go?! It went by so quickly that our November and December seemed positively frenzied. But all of the hard holiday work was worth it and we found ourselves happy to enjoy A.'s third and E.'s first Christmas at home. But first there was our annual Flemming's Christmas Eve dinner, which had us cleaned up and dressed to our nines. As we headed out, we made cookie deliveries to dear and appreciated neighbors, addressing them from "The Elves".

A. really caught on to the tradition of opening presents.

And she enjoyed our almost-daily December read of The Night Before Christmas, especially the actual night before Christmas when Uncle R. read it to her.

And we can't leave out A.'s request that we leave Santa milk and cookies (she suggested celery, too, but I forgot!) and his reindeer apples, water, and carrots. He reciprocated with a fun load of extra-specially chosen  gifts for A. and E.

E. kind of woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Baby emotions do not discriminate among the days of the week, let alone holidays. But she did enjoy playing with toys (as did sister A.!).

Christmas Day, after the excitement of opening gifts concluded, M. made the best-ever roasted chicken, which we enjoyed with potatoes, roasted carrots and roasted brussel sprouts and stuffing. I think this particular meal may have to become a tradition as well.

We hope you and yours had a lovely and warm holiday season. Every year I look forward to the lights, the music, traditions, new practices. And then when it's all over, I'm a bit relieved. I've learned in recent years that this time of year is hard work for the mamas. But as I said above, it was all worth it.

"Go Away And Eat Some Bugs, Squirrel!"

The girls spent a generous amount of time looking and laughing at our friend, the squirrel. I found their interest helpful, as their shrieks and window-pounding kept the mischevious squirrel away from a tempting not-in-the-trash-bin bag of garbage.

I encouraged A. to help keep the squirrel away, to which she replied, "go away and eat some bugs, squirrel!" And when the kiddos weren't squirrel-gazing, E. was helping herself to the contents of the kitchen.

Whew! This girl gets into WAY MORE than A. ever did. A. was never a cupboard or drawer explorer. E. is. And I'm so unprepared! (Comically, in this picture it appears as if E. is making last night's beef stew dinner. I wish!)

"All I Want For Christmas" - The D. Family Version.

This holiday season, we're celebrating family, friends, health and - above all - each and every day we have together. As we count our blessings and look back on our last, un-blogged month, I thought it only appropriate to put together a little movie of our most recent pictures (Mid-Nov. to early Dec.), setting them to a sweet holiday song (so turn on your volume!). Putting it together reminded me just how lucky we are. Every single day. Just enjoying the little things.

And as we prepare for the holiday season there isn't a single thing on my supposed Christmas list (okay, I did just give my mom a few ideas, but she asked . . . And she is my mom, after all!). Everything I want I already have and simply long to keep forever: M., A., & E., our families, and our friends. What more could we possibly need besides daily, all too often under-appreciated, simple moments: mealtime, playtime, bath time, outdoor time - just to name a few among so many other that make up the minutes of our days.  We hope you're enjoying the simple pleasures in life, too. Happy Holidays to you and yours.