Hannah is THREE

I spent much of last weekend watching Hannah and savoring her last days as a two-year-old. I observed her sweetness, her curiosity, her cleverness... and her temper! And just how much she had changed in just the last few months. It's a cliché because it's true: They grow up so fast!

My uncle, aunt, and cousin were visiting on Saturday, and we all took a trip to the Museum of Science where Hannah made friends with a baby chick.

After the exhaustion from the day, Hannah fell asleep on my shoulder, and I got to re-visit the joy of relaxing while snuggling my sleeping baby. These days, she is usually far too busy.

    

Here are some things about Hannah:

• Hannah has lived in Massachusetts for more than 2/3 of her life. So I shouldn't have been surprised when she began speaking full sentences -- with a Boston accent. She rides in a "cah". She plays at the "pahk." Which park? The one "ovah deh-uh". It's pretty cute.
• Hannah can recognize the letters 'H' and 'S' and thinks that, respectively, they always stand for 'Hannah' and 'Sylvia'. Anything with an 'H' is, therefore, Hannah's. (Things with an 'S' are sometimes Sylvia's...)
•  Hannah loves school. She's in the 'Stomper Room', and is exceedingly proud of that. She's always excited in the morning to get in the "cah" and go to "ghool" and see her teachers and friends. In the fall I'd ask her what she did every day what she did, and she'd just announce "I Dom-per!"  But now she actually tells me in some detail what they did and who she played with. (And she can pronounce "Stomper".)
• Very recently, she reached 2 milestones that we'd begun to think would never come: She recognizes and names colors accurately, and she can say "Sylvia". We kind of miss "Sivia" and "See-uh". But it's nice to actually know what she means when she says "da gween one".

Fractionally older

Last week we had about 2-3/4 days home from school, courtesy of Juno. The first full snow day happened to coincide with Sylvia's half birthday. That's right, my first born is 5-1/2! Since we were home for the day anyway, we celebrated with scones for breakfast, a half-birthday crown, a chair picture, and - of course - a lot of snow.

At 5-1/2, Sylvia loves to do art, write stories, and put on "shows". Her favorite activities in school are recess and library. She does not care for gym. We're sort of amazed at the work that she brings home from kindergarten sometimes. At home, she loves to play "school" and "family" with her sister and their dolls. Mom & Dad aren't very good at these games, but she makes due.

Hannah's half-birthday went unnoticed in December, but we took a moment last week to acknowledge that she was turning, roughly, 2-60/97. At 2-1/2(rounding down now), Hannah is talking more and more, engaging in more conversations, fully playing along with Sylvia's pretend games, putting on her own pants & shoes (correctly at least 1/3 of the time), and trying to put on her own shirts & socks (100% failure rate so far). She is also widely recognized as having a great smile, great curls, and epic tantrums. Seriously, they are something to behold.