Playtime

Although Hayden will occasionally tell me he needs "a vacation from Marlo," for the most part he adores his little sister. The feeling is mutual. Marlo lights up when Hayden is around. She's also fond of his toys. The top 2 are probably the train tracks and the RC robot, Tribot. Marlo likes to chase Tribot around and try to grab its head. She also claps randomly at it, as if to convey her general sense of approval. Like her brother at this age, Marlo is fascinated by all things that move: cars, trains, balls...and now, apparently, robots.

Also, if you look closely at these videos, you may witness Marlo's patented "butt bounce." She can propel herself pretty far across a room using this method. She crawls well, but some situations just seem to call for the butt bounce instead.

False...but happy...spring

After a brutally cold winter, and less than a week after single digit highs, we were treated to 55-65 degree weather. Hayden's been stir-crazy inside, and so have I. I'm not entirely sure if Marlo noticed.

So when the weather broke, so to speak, we headed outside. The bike came out of the garage. The shiny new scooter from Christmas finally made it out of the living room. We've spent the last few days rediscovering the yard (and all the leaves that never got raked) and creek.

Hayden loves all things on wheels so he was thrilled to play with his "outside things." Unfortunately, he couldn't bring all of them out (he likes to line them all up) because some are in storage. And, his helmet is also in storage so he was instructed "not to go fast."

This was Marlo's first venture outside since her newly aquired mobility.


She's always liked being outside...but now she can get down and dirty. Literally. She puts everything in her mouth. Everything. To date I have fished out a screw, a rock, a lot of pieces of paper, bits of pinecone, and one of those wooden screw covers on furniture. So, outside gave her a lot of new things to taste. Leaves were the biggest temptation. I'm pretty sure she ate a few. She's fast, and I also had to keep an eye on Hayden.

When Hayden was a new crawler, he didn't like the grass. He wouldn't crawl on it. He just sort of sat there and looked at me like, "what IS this?" Marlo...she's off. Right into the muddy yard. So she ate some dirt too.

And yesterday, I even saw a butterfly. In March!

Of course, it snows here in April. And even May, so it's not really spring. But for a little while it feels like it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The holiday season this year was marked by the kind of tightly wound excitement that only a 5 year old can generate. A whole month of making cookies and candy, counting the days with candy canes, visiting Santa (see below) and staring wistfully at packages under the tree--all of that build-up can make even the mellowest preschooler a bit hyper.

But all of that aside...for me, the best part of Christmas was seeing my two kids together. Those of you who know our saga also know that for a long time we thought that Hayden would never be able to share Christmas traditions with a sibling. And so for me, the simplicity of peeking in at my two peacefully sleeping kids on Christmas Eve--dressed in matching jammies--well, that is the best Christmas present I could ever have.

We got some other good presents, of course. Santa brought Hayden his very own robot. I got Ben Guitar Hero World Tour (and now Hayden can "rock" on drums). Marlo got wrapping paper to eat.

On Christmas Eve, we did Secret Santas, and the kids got a lot of fun things. Highly notable was Hayden's new jokelopedia, which may possibly mean that at least a handful of his jokes will make sense. We gave the kids their matching jammies and some Christmas books on Christmas Eve. Marlo slept through some of the excitement but later, bolstered by a nap in the car, cheerfully posed with her brother before she passed out in her crib. Many of us can remember sleeping poorly the night before Christmas, straining to hear a sound from Santa and counting the minutes until 6 am when we could shake our parents awake. Hayden appears to be unaware of that particular tradition, because he also passed out in his bed. He was completely out within minutes of hearing his night-time story.

On Christmas morning, I got up with Marlo around 7. Hayden was still asleep. Marlo decided to start Christmas morning with a bang by knocking a glass off of our kitchen island (it shattered). Hayden slept through that. He's always been my good sleeper. Once we finally woke him up, perhaps a first for a 5 year old on Christmas morning, we enjoyed Santa's loot. Hayden helped his sister open presents and Ben and I enjoyed the chaos. Marlo was thrilled by the shiny paper piling around her, the lights on the tree, and Hayden's robot (thoughtfully filled with batteries by Santa) going in circles around her. There was snow outside, hot coffee for the grown-ups, and cinnamon rolls in the oven. It doesn't get much better than that.