My front steps, just the last one actually, which was enough to sprain my ankle, badly, painfully, how-the-heck-am-i-supposed-to-care-for-my-kids-when-I-can’t-walk-ily?

Did it last night, right before Jordi got home thankfully and also thankfully in front of our neighbor who is also an ER doctor! Fantastic bed-side (sidewalk-side?) manner.

So I’m trying to figure out how to be a halfway decent gimpy mom, thanks to friends and family who have already helped me out!

Here’s a pretty picture from before the accident.

Two weeks ago we were lucky to get a visit from Jordi’s mom and sister. They stayed with us a few days and Vanessa ran the BAA half marathon around Franklin park even! Her first half marathon race and she did great. We did a lot of eating out, exploring the city and also showing them our own routine. We started off on Friday morning by going to the local ‘paint your own pottery’ place. Celia’s never done it before and Josie’s only been there once before. They both picked bowls. I haven’t snapped pictures of them yet but I’ll have to do it. As usual Celia mixed up all her colors into one general yellow/orange, I had anticipated that and gave her colors that would meld as such. Josie chose a few other brighter colors and kept them separate. We picked them up the next week and they love to eat out of them and enjoy them. Friday afternoon we headed down to the park and showed off their bike riding skills before enjoying a nice dinner at Punjab.

Saturday morning included our usual routine off to Quebrada for breakfast and then we went into Harvard Square for some playtime and lunch before returning home for snack. Saturday afternoon we brought the ladies into their hotel in the city and joined them for dinner in the prudential shopping center at Wagamamas.

This picture I took in front of the Harvard Square movie theater which has now closed. No midnight rocky horror for my girls there!

The next morning was race day, and after a super-short visit with my cousin will at my parents house, we headed over to Franklin park zoo and caught Vanessa running at mile 12 as she’s inside the zoo. Our friend Steve also happened to be running and see us there so he got some extra cheerleaders too! Vani was running with a smile on her face and did great.

Sunday afternoon we got Celia back home for nap and I took Josie to a birthday party while the other ladies rested up from the big morning. Then we all met up for dinner again at the prudential before we were all too exhausted stay any longer. Monday I took the girls into the city to the childrens museum before meeting up with everyone for lunch just outside of Jordi’s office. Then Tere and Vani made  their way to the airport at the end of their quick visit. It was a jam-packed weekend!

This past Wednesday Celia turned 2 year olds! I cannot believe where the time is going. Celia is our little ball of energy and life in this house. She hits the ground running in the morning and is ready to zoom all day except for her nap. Yesterday she walked all the way from home to Josie’s preschool, over a mile. Took us a long time because she wants to play with everything, jump on every wall and explore, but she made it. She races her balance bike down the block and climbs up and over everything she can. She’s had her share of a few accidents but nothing too bad yet (knock on wood). She’s not as fearful as Josie was at this age but I’d also say she understands her limits a little better which is an interesting combination.

In the last three months, she has learned how to talk, and talk and talk. Our house is very loud with at least two people frequently talking at once. She’s making five and six word sentences and is generally very polite in her requests, big sister sets such a good example. She starts off the day with ‘Mommy get out of bed. All done sleeping!” She’ll ask what things are called all around her, like the heating vents at the grocery store today. She mimics most everything Josie and I say and since Josie’s been so enamored with numbers lately, Celia can now rote count to 13, but she doesn’t understand what she’s saying. She’ll point to things while saying the numbers even, but no idea about one-to-one correspondence yet. She’s even started to sing little songs, especially anything Josie brings home from school or makes up.

When she’s upset or frustrated now (which is quite frequently) she mostly just breaks down into tears or screams, she’s not hitting or biting anymore or even pulling a full on lay-on-the-floor and scream fit. She’s frustrated mostly because we’ve done something for her that she wants to do for herself, or she can’t do the thing she wants to do for herself, like zip things up or peel her own banana from the start. If I give her the words for what she needs she will quickly calm down and use them. Still there is some typical sibling shoving. She also uses the phrase ‘two minutes!’ instead of the typical ‘one minute’ because shes prefers to delay things even further. She does not like to pick her things up which is a constant battle.

Her favorite thing to do is play outside. She loves the sandtable and the climbing structures and the swings. She’ll sit on the big girl swings a bit, but really loves the baby ones for the relaxing ride. She rides her bike to the park or library. Just going out for a walk is an event in itself for her. She also loves art projects, but it’s all self-directed at this point. She has no patience for my ideas of what might be going on, she just wants the materials and to explore them for herself. Paint is a big favorite and she just got a ton for her birthday so we’ll be very productive.

Her eating habits are starting to get finicky which is frustrating as I often find my children at odds over what to eat and what they like. Some days she’ll eat a lot, and others she won’t eat anything but fruit and yogurt for breakfast or snacks. She loves to help in the kitchen, especially washing vegetables and fruits if I let her play in the sink too when she’s done.

It’s been a nice change to have some one-on-one  time with Celia while Josie is in school, I can answer her questions more quickly and focus in on whatever’s got her attention. She’s taken off now with puzzles and is easily doing 9 piece ones. I’ll introduce her to the bigger ones as soon as I can get some time to get them out from the basement. She’s so very pleased with herself when she’s finished. She’s also an avid reader and has some patience for the longer non-board books, but still mainly prefers the short board ones. We read a lot of Sandra Bonyton right now, like Happy Hippo, Angry Duck. She loves to read potty books too, but no far no real progress there.

My two children playing together is such a joy to see. They’re very often so good to each other and playing so nicely. They have some squabbles but in general Josie will read to Celia and help her, and Celia will follow Josie’s lead for games. Until she won’t, and then they’re both frustrated and we move on to a new activity!

• Size/weight: 2T and some 3T, 36″ tall, 27lbs
• Favorite foods: breastmilk, sour cream, avocado, cheese
• Favorite toy: puzzles
• Favorite book: The Belly Button Book
• Favorite activity: riding her bike, playing with Josie
• Sleeping: bedtime ~7:45; one nap 1 hr 15 minutes at 1:30; gets up between 6 and 7 (on the good days, 5am on the bad)
• New skill: calming herself down and using full sentences
• Teeth: at least 16 and more coming
• Vocalizations: numbers

[photo credit goes to my mom for good focus and hitting the button]

Everybody jump jump!

Three days a week now Celia and I drop off and go pick Josie up at pre-school. Celia is always excited to ‘go pick up Josie’. She suggests it even when it’s nowhere near pick up time. Now though she’s gotten into a little routine of wanting to wash her hands at Josie’s school in the bathroom every time. Sometimes we’ve been outside playing and that’s fine if she’s got some dirt she wants to get off. But now she’s managed to invent a reason if I say no, it’s ok we’ll just go home. She digs around in her nose until she finds something worthy of washing off. Little stinker.

Yesterday Celia had two new firsts! Those don’t come as often anymore so it’s fun to see them. First off, she had a meltdown fit because I washed her hands because she refused to do it, and while throwing herself crying on the bed, she was also yelling ‘frustrated, frustrated!’ She expressed her feelings in words! I love it.

Second, we started her on her journey of trying nuts. Starting with nutella, aka hazelnuts, because that’s what she most wants. We’ll have to do peanuts and almonds and pecans too and have a lovely nutty holiday season!

Josie’s preschool is doing a little fundraiser if anyone would like to buy some stuff or wrapping paper. Most of the stuff is not perhaps something you’d need, but the wrapping paper is cute and decent quality and they have some gourmet food and cookies. It’s from Meadow Farms. If you’d like to join in, let me know and I’ll give you the code so Josie and her school get credit. The fundraiser supports kids who need scholarships to her school. (Code: JA1151)

I realize Celia hasn’t had any throw herself down on the floor and cry fits for several days. Could we be past that phase? Here’s a few pics from last week from the drama queen herself.