Above, Daniel playing at his Chanuka party at school. Below, Cousin Isy and Emily
Above, two of our play group friends. Below, Nathan plays hard with his trains.
Above, Emily and her friend Co Co. Below, Daniel makes his first snow angel.
Above, all three play in the beginning of snow. Below, Nathan tries on his new Thomas underwear. The last picture is one of our many Lego creations.
Hi,
I am so proud of my children. I have seen so many ways that they have grown in the last couple of months. They are all talking in phrases, and I can understand so much of what they want. The comments they use are so funny, too. They say: sure, yeah, okay Mommy, no thank you Daddy, yummy, delicious, yucky, yes, look Mommy, and excuse me. I can usually understand what song they want to sing or play on the radio. They carry on conversations with me and each other. It is so much fun. It is also helpful when they don't feel good and can tell me what hurts. It is not as helpful when they begin to tattle on each other.
They are also so interested in different things. Daniel is both the adventurous one still and the most cuddly. He pushes the envelope (and occasionally the boundaries) but then will ask for a kiss and tell me he loves me. He excels with technical things, and he completely works the camera - from turning it on to taking pictures. His teacher, Judi, has called him a flirt because of the way he grins and plays with the girls in class.
Nathan has been exploring a lot with his trains, finding new places to play them (like the kitchen table). He loves experimenting with different colors on paper and poses for pictures with a big "cheeeese." He is the most cautious physically, but I think he knows the most words. He can count to 20 (minus numbers 15 and 16) and has a laugh that draws everyone in. He also seems to always be observing and studying everything.
Emily is singing all the time. She asks me to sing songs with her all the time. Her word sounds have increased exponentially and it is so easy to understand what she wants now. She loves playing with her little people and has made friends with others in play group. One of the pictures I included is her holding hands with Co Co (one of our playgroup friends). She is also still a little bit of a "Monkey do." She sees what others are doing and jumps right in.
They all are loving Legos and their imaginations are blooming. I am brought new creations called towers and boats all the time. They have become more independent, and are doing many more things on their own. They can take off their shirts and pants (though they don't do this often, luckily). They are getting interested in potty training. Emily told me after she poo pooed that she wanted to sit on the potty and why. Nathan loves his Thomas underwear and wore it on top of his pants one day.
We had snow a few days and they loved touching and running around in it. It was fun for them to experiment with the new texture. They are still loving school and they talk about Ms. Judi all the time. All of the teachers know them by name, and they have been spending a lot of time with the older two year old class. The teachers have said the children love to be with the older children and are trying to copy some of the things they do. They now sing and dance with Ms. Dana (the music, Judaics, and art teacher) and love to paint and glue. Nathan came home one day talking about Tu'bishvat. They also sing the songs at home that they sing in school. They now know their upper case and lower case letters and sounds.
We had the opportunity to see Jen, Joe, Jo Jo, and Isy in North Carolina this New Years and it was great. The children had a great time in the snow and meeting Joe's family. Emily absolutely adores Cousin Isy, and Daniel followed her around like he was as old as she was. Meme and Poppop also came to visit at the beginning of the year. The kids had a blast with them and knew them from the start!!!
