The girls, Tobi and I had a nice Valentine's Day today ... although we were missing our forever valentine. Daddy is in Asia (Japan & India) this week so it is just me and the kiddos. We had a really great weekend. The weather was beautiful and everyone was in a great mood. We enjoyed walks to the park, lots of fresh air and tea parties. We also attempted our first arts & crafts project (a Valentine’s Day card and finger painting masterpieces for Daddy). The girls enjoyed it for exactly 5 minutes and then they had had enough and I couldn’t get their hands cleaned off fast enough :) 11 months is such a fun age. The girls are both changing so much day by day and are constantly making us laugh.
Kenzie you took your first steps on Friday, January 28th, just a week shy of your 11 month birthday. We definitely did not expect you to be the first to walk given that you were the laid back baby with jello legs :) but you proved us wrong. At first you would only take a couple of steps at a time and then lunge forward to have me or the person closest to you at the time catch you, but your confidence and balance are growing day by day and you are so proud of yourself. And we are so proud of you! The week that I returned from Geneva you went through a bout of separation anxiety. If I would leave the room or even your line of sight you would start screaming and bedtime was awful because you would scream when I went to put you down … I guess you were afraid that I would leave again. It made me so sad. Thankfully you overcame this in about 5 days. You get to know new things by putting them in your mouth. You love to feel the textures in your “touch & feel” books with your tongue and will routinely stop mid crawl/walk to bend down and taste the floor (yuck!)…. Let’s hope that this is just a phase. You love your nightly game of chase with “Daddy Monster” and will giggle in delight. You are a little bit shy and can get somewhat apprehensive when “strangers” come to the house or when you are around too many new people.
Lexi, you are not walking yet, but you make up for it with all of your climbing. You love climbing up the steps and are now also an expert at climbing down off of things. You really seem to have no interest in walking … you cruise around while holding on to objects all day long, but as soon as we try to hold your hand to have you walk you develop jello legs and get all goofy on us :) I am sure one day you are just going to suddenly get up and walk. You are our social butterfly. You love being around lots of people – you are a big flirt at Gymboree and whenever we go out to dinner – and when you people come to visit you are constantly babbling as if you are telling them lots of stories. You also went through a spurt of extreme separation anxiety while Daddy was out of town. You wanted me to hold you constantly and would scream and cling to me when I would try to put you in your crib at night. I think you were scared that since Daddy was already gone, that Mommy was also going to leave. It was awful … but thankfully you too overcame this in a few days. You love being upside down and also love playing chase with your Daddy.
You both love going out to eat. Your favorite restaurant at the moment is a casual Mexican restaurant near our house. The waiters always pay lots of attention to you and you eat it up. You also love the cheese quesadilla. You are both great eaters (although you do have your picky days). Kenzie you are our little chipmunk or “Chubby Cheekers” – you stuff you little cheeks full of food while you are eating and an hour after we have finished a meal we will find you chewing on a green pea that you had stored for a snack. Lexi you are going through a phase where you like to rub your hair when you have finished eating which makes for quite a mess and some very interesting hairstyles.
You are starting to play together more and more and I love watching those precious moments between sisters. Of course there are also lots of little spats over toys (or Mommy’s iphone most frequently). You girls light up my life and I am so blessed to have two such beautiful daughters. I celebrate you my loves on this day of love!
