Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Whew. A lot going on in Linden's world these days. She popped her first tooth a few weeks ago and is very interested in flashing it to anyone who will admire it. We call her the Saber Tooth Baby. It is a very very cute tooth and we look forward to the arrival of its pearly white companions.

She has also figured out how to maneuver herself around a room. It isn't crawling exactly, but she gets places and fast. She can crawl, but she always goes backwards. When she wants to go forwards, she rolls and twists and wiggles until she gets where she wants to go.

Linden continues to be sweet and charming all the darn time. She is such an easy baby, gentle and happy. We are all so smitten with her. Eli loves her so much and is always bringing her toys and giving her hugs and kisses. He is still a great big brother and we're really proud of him for it.

Eli is also a sweet kid. He is SO smart we hardly know what to do with him. He talks nonstop. Really. Nonstop. We are experiencing some of what some of our friends referred to as "three, the new two". He is showing some willfulness and desire to assert himself. he gets really frustrated and acts out when he doesn't get his own way. It is all to be expected but hard to take sometimes. We're all working through it together and he is such a neat kid between the episodes of yuckiness that it balances out. His new favorite phrase is "Mommy, I love you all the way up to the rocketships and back." Heartbreaker, that one.


Speaking of Matt and Erin, Linden's baptism was a beautiful event. It was a lovely day in November. She and Eli both behaved beautifully and thanks to her great Godparents, we had a really nice party at our house afterwards.



Linden also had a great Christmas. She got a lot of clothes, much needed clothes. Her Godparents, Erin and Matt gave her this awesome hat. And they also gave her... PINK JOHN DEERE COWGIRL BOOTS. Did you hear me? PINK. JOHN DEERE. COWGIRL. BOOTS. They're a little big yet, but she'll grow into them. Now if only I can find a pair for myself...




We had a big old Christmas at Casa YoSim. Eli got a lot of great gifts, a tool set, a guitar (!), a great car track racing set and lots of costumes. I had a great time making many of the costumes, an apron, a superhero cape, a doctor's coat. He also got a set of stick-on mustaches, a gold wig, a feather boa and a cat face. He has had a great time with all of his gifts but I have to admit, the costumes have given the rest of us the most laughs.





I love this picture. This hallway in our house is so amazing, wide and long like a bowling alley. Last week, in an attempt to create more play space and to reduce the echo, we put down a couple of rugs and a toy bench in the hall. It looks great, but I miss this clean open feeling.





Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree!






Our new house is beautifully shady and surrounded by lovely trees. Unfortunately, this means a lot of leaves in the fall. Eli, continuing in his love for "helping", likes to rake leaves with daddy. They have a great system for packing the leaf bags. After a bag starts to get full, Daddy puts Eli in the bag to stomp down the leaves. It is great fun for everyone involved.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

And another ridiculous conversation form last night...

Eli: (coming out of his room after bedtime, looking very sleepy but clearly awake) Mommy, there's an elephant in my room.
Me: excuse me?
E: There's an elephant in my room and he's bothering me. A pretend elephant.
M: That's terrible. Say to him, "Mr Elephant, you are being very rude. Please leave my room. I'm trying to sleep."
E: Elephant, you're rude. Go away. (totally without a trace of humor or irony)
M: See, there he goes.
E: Thank you Mommy. (goes back to bed)
E: (ten minutes later opens door briefly then closes it again.)
M: (going in his room) Eli, is everything okay?
E: (very sleepy) No Mommy, there was a pretend giraffe in here and I had to let him out.