Classic

This morning, we were all in the living room. Iain was putting Avery's new tricycle together and the girls were playing and helping. All of a sudden, Avery walks over to me, pulls my hair as hard as she can, and then starts smiling and giggling. I told her "No" and that it was very bad manners to pull hair. Then I said, rather rhetorically since Avery doesn't have too many words in her vocabulary just yet, "Where did you learn to do that?" (since it's not in Iain and I's normal repertoire to model this kind of behavior). Without any pause, Audrey pipes up, "I teached her."

Well, there you go. Not much left to be said.

Things That Make My Heart Melt

Today, the girls were having a picnic. They had eaten all of their food and Audrey said "we're still hungry" (now, mind you, this was after they had eaten a sandwich, grapes, raisins and a cheese stick). Our nanny told Audrey that there was no more food, so Audrey immediately took the raisin out of her mouth (the last morsel of food that had been packed with the picnic) and said "here you go, Aves."

It's funny how they go in stages ... last night, Audrey had a meltdown because she didn't want to give Avery a hug or kiss goodnight to tell her "I love you," but today she was going to do everything possible not to let her baby sister starve. =)

The Littlest Dancer

Even though Audrey didn't want to dance at her recital last weekend, she and Avery have been dancing all over the house this week with Grandma. At the store today, Audrey asked me if we could buy some tap shoes. I have no idea where she came up with that. Anyway, here's a video of Avery in action last night. I'll try to get some footage of Audrey shortly to post (it's really not hard these days ... it seems she wants to dance all the time now).

Audrey's cute quote of the week: we have some fire escape stairs from our condo that we call the "secret stairs", and she told me yesterday "We can't go on the secret stairs now. They're not available because it's almost winter." Well, there you go. I wasn't aware they were closing, so I'm glad she told me. =)

Audrey's First Dance Recital!

Today was Audrey's first dance recital. She's been in a weekly class with other 1- and 2-year olds, and during the recital today, everyone was dressed in a red leotard and red tutu and 'danced' to We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Here are some pix and video of Audrey in action.

Oh, wait, there's nothing there??? That's because Audrey refused to put on her 'costume' (even for just walking around the house) and didn't want to dance on the stage with her class (even in her 'regular' clothes). So we don't have anything to share. But both girls had a great time watching all the classes dancing, and we'll try again in the Spring. =)

What Happens When You Let a 2-Year Old Dress Herself

Audrey got a new skirt from her friend Elisa yesterday, and she insisted on wearing it to bed last night and then again today. It's freezing outside, so I told her she could keep the skirt on, but had to wear pants under the skirt. She also insisted on wearing her new yellow/pink flower shoes. When I tried to give her pink socks (not even sure those would have matched, but it would have been better), she insisted that the only socks she would wear were her soft red socks. She also had a very strong opinion about which sweater she was going to wear.

So here's the result. I'm sure people at the zoo this afternoon must have thought I was color-blind. Avery, on the other hand, in her bellbottoms, was about the best-dressed 1-year old at the zoo. Here's a pic of the 2 of them after we got home this afternoon.

Suitcases and Dinner

My mom left to go home yesterday and Audrey really, really wanted to get on the airplane with her. We toyed around with it for a few minutes, but decided in the end that this wasn't the best timing. In any event, in exchange for not going to Florida, Mim told Audrey that she could go pick out one of her Christmas presents early ... a new Princess suitcase that Audrey really, really wanted at Target. We went yesterday afternoon and, being the astute mom that I am, decided that two suitcases at our house would be better for my sanity than 2 girls fighting over one. So we bought two. Here they are yesterday, sitting in them ... Audrey was pretending they were carseats and that we were driving to the airport.

The other pix are of some good friends of ours who came for dinner tonight. Since our dining room is so small (and won't easily hold 8 people), we let the kids eat at the small table in the living room and watch Blues Clues while eating. I'm surprised they had time to eat anything, in between all the staring at the TV! The first is Audrey, Avery and their friend Elisa. The second is Avery and Massi sitting in the corner and playing together (well, really, just next to each other). It was so cute ... from the back, they look like twins.

Decorating for Christmas

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. Audrey was very interested at first in hanging ornaments on the Christmas tree, but after a few minutes, all they both wanted to do was either (1) take ornaments out of boxes (especially the glass and other fragile ones) and wave them around or (2) take ornaments off of the Christmas tree. We had a great time, though, and my mom was here to help.

Notice Avery's Camelbak ... because you never know when you'll need to re-hydrate during Christmas decorating. Also notice the Mardi gras beads ... they bring their own party in case the one we're throwing isn't fun enough. Now, does anyone have a good suggestion to get a 2-year old and a 1-year old to smile for the camera at the same time (or, for that matter, at all sometimes)??? =)

My Beautiful Niece

There does not exist a cuter 5-month old on this planet!