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January 2011
January 8, 2011
Many of you have written to complain I'm not updating frequently enough. I do apologize. It takes an average of 45 minutes to an hour for me to post on this site and it's so hard for me to find time to do it. To top it off, I had a list going of all the cute things the kids were saying and doing - and now I can't find it. So I'll do the best I can off the top of my head.
We had Christmas Eve with my mom, and Anastasia was ready to go this year. Her big gift was a bike, which she'd been lobbying for and which we'd convinced her she would have to buy herself. We even went so far as to have her open up a helmet and matching bike bell. Her Daddy said, "Now when you buy your bike, you'll have a helmet to go with it." Dear girl; I could see the disappointment on her face, but she said, "Oh. Well, for now I can use this with my tricycle." When at last she opened the bike (still in the box), she didn't believe it was really a bike!
Later that day, she and her daddy put the bike together and Anastasia tried it out. She got frustrated immedietly and said, "I thought this would be easier." Our sidewalks are in really bad shape, which was part of her problem, so we walked down a few blocks to where they are putting in a new park and the wide pathways were freshly paved. At first, she really struggled just to peddle in the right direction, but she kept saying, "I'm determined! I'm determined out of my mind!" And after some work (and some topples), she started to get the hang of it. She still needed help going even up a slight incline or bump; she just doesn't have the strength to do it on her own. And she doesn't have the sense yet to go anything but full speed downhill. (The little thrill seeker!) I hovered beside her, helping as needed until she said, "Mommy, let go. It's time to let go, Mommy."
So proud.
Little Zane wasn't nearly so enthusiastic about Christmas. He wanted the gifts (especially the cars and trucks), but he refused to open them himself. He spent a lot of time sucking his thumb, too.
Zane finally helped to open one of his gifts - his very last gift on Christmas.
On Christmas day, we went to my in-laws, which was fun. But by the end of two days of Christmas, Zane was a grumpy boy. The day after Christmas, Anastasia and hubby had their first father-daughter date. They saw a local, shortened production of The Nutcracker; it was Anastasia's first time seeing any ballet and she was enthralled.
Loving the Christmas tree.
Throwing snowballs is Anastasia's new thing.
We trekked up to the mountains to find a little snow.
Zane didn't freak out in the snow this time, although he sucked his thumb the entire time. He walked around in it and even called it "pretty."
Anastasia graduated from her "creative movement" dance class to "pre-ballet" this January. She is so very proud. In the past, a friend of mine who also had kids in the "creative movement" class took Anastasia to the dance studio, but now I'm taking her. So last week I got to see her dance for the first time. If you can call it dancing! She mostly ran when the other girls were awkwardly skipping, sashay-ing, and so on. But she followed directions pretty well, and clearly enjoyed herself.
Working hard.
Other stuff:
* Zane knows some colors! He has a ladybug that casts stars onto the ceiling at night time, and for a while we've been asking him if he wanted the stars red, blue, or green. He'd answer, but I wasn't sure he really knew what he was asking for. But a few weeks back, Anastasia asked him for a red block and he correctly gave it to her. Later, I asked him to pick up a blue book, and he did so. It's interesting how he picked this up without having it taught to him.
* Anastasia is quite the storyteller. She'll play with her toys, narrating stories for them. If she gets interrupted and must stop right away, she'll wrap up the story first. And the other day, when her brother was crying for one of his toys (that Anastasia was playing with), she had the toy leave the story before passing off the toy to her brother.