Hannah is 1-1/2 (and 15 days)

Fifteen days ago, our little Hannah turned one and a half! I swear, it feels like a lifetime ago that we took this picture. I think she's had a major growth spurt, gotten a new tooth, and tripled her vocabulary since then. But the last 15 days have been full of school, work, snow shoveling, cleaning, packing, traveling, family, and holidays, so I'm a little late!

As of this writing, Hannah has 12 teeth (4 top center, 4 bottom center, 4 molars). She has several words, including "yea", "no", "hi", "bye", "nigh-nigh", "Ma-ma", "Da-da", "moh" (more), "cuh" (cup), "mik" (milk), "uh-p" (up), "dow" (down), "buh" (book), "wah-wah" (water), "hat", "cheeez" (take-my-picture-now), "nooo" (nose). Of course, she understands many, many more. She responds to commands and questions like, "How old are you?", "Where's your nose?", "Where are your ears?", "Clap your hands!", and "Say, 'hooray'!" She sings / moves along with "Twinkle Twinkle", "Row Your Boat", "Head Shoulders...", "If you're happy and you know it..." And she often actually follows instructions like, "Pick up your cup and bring it to Mommy!"

Hannah's been doing quite well in school. We hear daily reports of how the older kids want to play with her, the other toddlers (and the teachers) want to snuggle with her, and how her mischievous nature gets her into trouble and her coy smiles get her back out. She does occasionally throw quite a ruckus for our benefit when we drop her off or spend time in the classroom, but I'm told she's usually pleasant when we're not around (if somewhat feisty and spirited).

It's hard missing so much of her everyday life while she's at school, but she does seem to be blossoming there. It's been quite nice seeing so much of the girls while traveling. (Except, of course, when it's not!) They've both grown up so much these past months. I'll try to share some more photos soon, but for now:

time zone change...

Note to self: Apparently blogger doesn't allow you to have different time zones for different posts. So, when you finally changed your time zone last night, your past posts were shifted 3 hours into the future. Don't suddenly start thinking that Sylvia was born on the 28th or anything!

Sept 15: The East Coast Edition

Our little Hannah is 15 months old today!

(And Sylvia is 4 years, 1 month, 19 days)

And today is also Buca Day (the day before our wedding anniversary, when we drive too far to have dinner at a Buca di Beppo):

Like last year, we were not quite sure if we would be able to keep our little tradition alive. (Also like last year, Hannah is not at 100%, and the nearest Buca is over 30 minutes away.)  But, again, we made it! Even though Hannah spent the morning screaming and fussing, she was somewhat rejuvenated after a 3ish-hour nap, and our Buca outing was generally pleasant -- even the car ride!

Both girls have been in school full-time for 3 weeks now. They are both doing very well, but the school schedule is rough for Hannah, who only recently graduated from 2 naps a day to 1, and that 1 nap usually started much earlier and lasted much longer than her naps at school do. She's been increasingly tired and grumpy, which is not helped by the runny nose, congestion, and new teeth. (She has at least 8 that have broken through total: 3 front bottoms, 4 front tops, and one bottom molar; and other molars and teeth seem to be pushing toward the surface). The last couple days last week, her teachers commented that they were surprised to find that she is, actually, not always happy. No, she's certainly not. We call her "Hamster" (derived from "Hannah monster") for a reason!

Both girls have grown up and matured so much since our big move. Hannah is getting better and better and walking and climbing. She says up, mamamama, daddada, moh (more), muh (milk / food), hi, and she shakes & nods her head to indicate no and yes respectively. She also waves to greet people or say goodbye or good night. And she responds to many questions that we ask her or instructions we give her (like, Do you want food? or Get in your high chair.) She also loves to go outside and play on the playset, and she is far too bold about climbing & sliding

Sylvia is in another golden age of good behavior right now. Of course, she still gets in to trouble and has fits, but she is much more likely to pull / keep herself together and be sweet and helpful. Albeit ridiculous. She is ridiculous. For example, today her baby doll "kept hitting" her, so she put her on time out. She asked me if the baby doll could come to Buca. I told Sylvia that she couldn't come unless she was going to "be nice". Sylvia "asked" her, and the baby "said" no, so Sylvia decided to leave her in the car. That's probably not the best example; just the most recent!

Her motor skills have been noticeably improving. For example, she can now write her name (kinda... S's are hard!!) And she can write other words with some guidance. And she is generally very good at a game that is basically identical to the classic card game "War", except with a special deck of cards that each have the numeral, the written word, and the correct number of fun animal cartoons, and the word "war" never comes up. Like Kurt, who introduced us to this game, we call it "One, Two, Three Flip." You might wonder what it means to be "good" at war -- arguably the most dull and least skill-based game of all time. Well, what I mean is that she almost always knows which number is bigger, which I don't think she would have been able to do a few months ago. This version of the game also incorporates some simple addition, which Sylvia has been doing well with. With guidance, she has been able to add the numbers in the deck (0-13) and the plus cards (+1, +2, or +3). Today, for the first time, she started "counting on" by herself for the first time. (This is when you see 3 + 2, and instead of having of having to count from 1, like 1-2-3-4-5, you start with one of the numerals and count on, like 3-4-5.) This may be more interesting to a developmental psychologist than it is to other people...

One last thought... Lest you think that the ice cream that our family posed with in the above picture was in a normal margarita glass, I give you:

Sylvia is 4!

So, this happened. And now, 4 years later, I have this funny, quirky, chatty, clever, kind, stubborn, occasionally devious little person living in my house, bossing me around.

I was nervous about Sylvia's fourth birthday coming so soon after the move -- before she really knew anybody locally with whom we could celebrate. Fortunately, we were away at a conference for several days before her birthday with many friendly faces, and we all got together to throw her a little party in a hotel lobby -- complete with decorations, cookies, and presents. It was a pretty decent affair considering that we had to 'plan' it with absolutely no idea what kind of space we'd be able to find, and it took place less than 24 hours after our plane landed.

Sylvia had fun.

And she had a good week. During the conference she got to hang out with her Gramma & Papa, who flew out to help with the kids. And then we hung around for a few extra days for down time with friends. (This post is about a birthday, so I won't say too much about the trip, but it was surreal having so much time without Mom'ing during the conference. The grandparents were amazing, and the kids really made us proud. And in our down days with friends, we actually got to hang out and play games at night when the kids were asleep, which was also a nice break from our normal lives!)

Sylvia's birthday was only 2 days after we got back home from our trip. She had one day of school in between, and the school told me that they didn't want me to bring treats for the kids, but they encouraged me to bring a 'craft'. Like a sucker, I took them up on it and ended up preparing a craft for most of the day and then spent over an hour in the school helping with the craft and then getting dragged around to read books and watch kids do whatever they do. But in the middle of it all, all Sylvia's classmates sung happy birthday to her, and she dug her little face into her little hands and beamed.

We decided that all of the above should be enough to satisfy the need for group celebrations, and we planned to have a family outing on the actual birthday. Sylvia woke up and came downstairs to find a pile of presents, and she was so content to play with them that she didn't want to go on any of the outings we suggested. We did make some cupcakes that we shared with some neighbors. And on the promise of noodles and ice cream, we got her out of the house for dinner, where she was again sung to with her face in her hands. All and all, I think it was a good birthday.

"How old are you?"
(Both girls actually did answer correctly; don't hold my shoddy camerawork against Sylvia!)

How many PhDs does it take to assemble a swingset?

Day -16
Max drives 40 minutes to the nearest Costco with a play set in stock. He loads it into the car with help, drives, it back, and we move the 5 boxes + slide into our garage.

We try to contact a handyman to help us set it up.

 

Day 0
After multiple attempts to pay other people to do the heavy lifting for &/or with us, we give in and decide to give it a try. We start where any reasonable person would: we watch the DVD. The instructions say that 2 adults can assemble it in 2 days.

Day 1
Sylvia agrees that she really wants her play set to be set up, and she will patiently allow Mommy & Daddy to build it.... "But, can you get me something to eat... And some toys... I'm bored... Is it done yet?" And so Mommy spends most of her time trying to get the kids set up with something that can distract them.

By the end of the day (with very little help from Mommy), Steps 1-5 (of 36) are completed.
 

 

Picnic table (above) was Step 1

 Ladder & rock climbing wall (above) were Step 2
Putting up the walls of the clubhouse (above & below) were Steps 3-5

 

Day 2 
While Hannah and I lay about the house, moping hoarsely, and Sylvia runs back and forth between trying to engage me and asking Max if she can play in her play set yet, Max completes Steps 6-17.

More of clubhouse is assembled.


The second level gets a floor

And structural stability is added for the swingset

Because the next steps are assembling / lifting / connecting the roof and swingset, which are allegedly 3-person jobs, we call it a day. But Sylvia at least does have a clubhouse (with a door!) to play in.

Day 3

While I am laying around on the couch, Max completes Steps 18-22: adding more boards to the clubhouse walls, adding a toy steering wheel & telescope, and assembling the roof supports. The next steps require at least 2 people, so I finally rally.

We assemble the roof and decide that we can get it up with a little help from our ladder, instead of a 3rd person (as recommended). Unfortunately, this means we also didn't have anyone to photograph the absurdity of us maneuvering the roof.  You'll have to trust me that we did get it up there, and it was absurd.

  

We make it through Part 1 of Step 28 before we decide that the rest will be much easier if we wait until the next day, when Sylvia will be at school.

Day 4
During Hannah's morning nap, we wrap up Steps 28-32. Again, we prove that our ladder is a decent substitute for a third human person.

 

By the time Hannah wakes up, we have mis-assembled, un-assembled, and re-assembled the swingset posts, attached the swings, and driven stakes into the ground for stability.

Hannah slows down the process a bit for Steps 33-36 (which includes attaching the slide, finally attaching the ladder & rock wall that we built in Step 2, and screwing a little plaque onto the side (see below)

But we did finish!

 

Sylvia will be very happy when she gets home from school today.

pictures from Hannah's birthday

Hannah is one!

Hannah got to celebrate her birthday morning with friends! Flying back
from a trip today, so more later...