To get away from the winter and have some quality time with our friends and neighbors we went to the Cape Codder Resort on Cape Cod the weekend before last. We first went two years ago for our anniversary. Last year we invited Christina, Chanh, Zach and Ethan and had another great time. This year we all drove down on a Friday and had a really bad trip for some reason, traffic had just been awful around Boston with the snowstorms and despite leaving at 2:30 we sat in a ton of traffic until we got far south of Boston, not arriving until after 5pm. This year we had one extra family member, or at least one more family body as I was actually just barely pregnant at that point last year.

I wonder how old Celia will be when she wonders why she doesn’t have a doggy like the rest of the kids? It was a great weekend away. We spent a fair amount of time in the pool but each of the kids at various times just weren’t feeling it and ended up sitting in chairs while the rest of us enjoyed the water. Josie was enthusiastic at first and then her interest dwindled each time. Hopefully she’ll be more excited next year. Celia liked the water fair enough and tolerated us bringing her in and out and getting splashed.

We had some nice meals and rode the merry go round at the Cape Cod Mall a few times. Most importantly we got a little grown up time to whisper to ourselves while the kids slept and we played a board game at night. We had ice cream sundae’s, fruity blended drinks, and yummy fried food (not all in one meal) to make it all really feel like a vacation. We stopped by the beach on the way home and got a few pictures that I’ve already published, and capped it off with lunch on the way home at Panera, Josie’s favorite. On the way back through Boston we actually hopped off 93 and went to the aquarium quickly since we have a membership now. Both girls really enjoyed it and we liked having an easy quick visit without the extra effort of schlepping downtown. A rare moment of spontaneity from this planner!

Next year we need to remember to bring smore’s supplies for the nightly bonfire.

Wow, no subtlety with today’s theme on valentine’s day! I had Josie take ahold of my mom’s wedding band since it’s more interesting than mine. I will not be handing anything that small to Celia even though I don’t think she could get it in her mouth. Josie was not terribly cooperative today but I liked the expression I captured.

The job was to take a photo showing their aspirations and dreams. Josie’s plan right now is to be a doctor when she grows up. Celia will be her shot nurse. The nurse was not on duty today for these photos. Josie was playing the part of Dr Cohn from the story Madeline, her doll was Madeline.

Today’s assignment is to capture a routine that they do. This was easy today because most weekends Jordi and Josie (and sometimes the rest of us) go to our local bakery and get a spinach and cheese croissant. Here’s a shot of them walking (Josie riding) out the door. They put their hats on once I got the photo, don’t worry.

While we don’t see the developmental advancements at the rate of a newborn with Josie, she certainly has been making big strides and surprises us.

She has been memorizing books like crazy. She read The Cat In The Hat to my mother over the phone the other day and she knows most of the words. She will often correct us if we make a mistake. Even though it seems like she isn’t paying attention when I read  to her sometimes, she clearly is listening closely. She’s also been listening to books on cd during quiet time which has given her some more stories to learn; we just checked out a huge pile from the library last week.

Josie has continued to be very kind to her sister in general, although she’s getting a little more reckless with climbing over her or playing nearby, she doesn’t understand the size difference. She does clearly feel bad though when she makes Celia cry.

Physically, she likes to climb things which is rough since we’re mostly indoors right now. I’ve been trying to watch her to understand what is reasonably safe for her to climb and what is beyond her reach because she definitely is getting stronger in this department and deserves a bit more freedom. Still I really don’t want a trip to the ER.

The last three months have been tough as Josie has been getting increasingly frustrated at the world not doing what she wants it to do. Sometimes it’s just physically one thing will not fit someplace, other times she’s just unhappy that she can’t just play all day doing what she wants because other people have needs (like grocery shopping, or diaper changes) or even just her own bodily needs (like going to the bathroom and eating). She’s been digging her heels in and fighting us but we’re starting to find ways  to work together better. For the last week or so she seems to have calmed down a bit and choosing to do things herself by herself. We’ve also settled into more of a routine lately which has helped too I think.

Part of that routine change has been Josie dropping her nap. Instead we now have quiet time where I theoretically get time to do things, that is, if Celia isn’t awake and wanting attention at that same time and Josie actually stays in her room. This has made Jordi and I switch his schedule for leaving for work earlier in the morning so he can make it home for family dinner time, which is now at 6. I think the added time between when Jordi leaves and we need to leave the house for morning activities has made the transition easier on Josie as she gets to process them separately as opposed to being sad that Jordi is gone and then having to do what I say to get going too. We’ve also cut back on the number of activities we do out of the house too, trying to have a few more play dates where people come here.

For playtime Josie loves pretend, she pretends the doctors office, cooking, a hotel, gymnastics classes and I’m sure she’ll be pretending about the cruise we’ll be taking in a few months soon too! We otherwise spend our time reading and doing a few art projects when I can get things pulled together and Celia napping at the right time. Art is usually a short-lived time though, it doesn’t seem to hold her interest all too long. She likes to make collections of little things and use them at money, or stack them up in tall towers, or pretend they are groceries.

ETA (edited to add): She is also now clearly thinking faster than she can speak. Like me. She’s stumbling and stuttering trying to get the right words out as she jumps ahead of herself in her mind.

• Size/weight: 4T, don’t really know the height and weight right now, maybe I can update later
• Favorite food: breastmilk, cheese, pasta, yogurt – fairly wide variety, willing to try most things
• Favorite toy: baby dolls, doctors kit, anything with lots of little pieces that can be pretend things
• Favorite books: Dr Suess and anything by Kevin Henkes
• Favorite activity: Acting out scenarios with herself
• Sleeping: bedtime ~7:30; gets up ~6:30am
• New skill: reciting books from memory
• Teeth: 18. 10 on the top and 8 on bottom. Finally some molars!
• Vocalizations: Voracious story teller, non-stop talker and why’er

You might notice I skipped day 11. I’m still working on that photograph. Today’s assignment though was eyes, trying to capture the light in them. I really like this one of Celia, makes me want to wipe the drool off my screen. She’s making funny faces as she’s working to sit up.

Or maybe you like black and white better? I’m never quite sure when to do the black and white, I feel like I always like color, but I am often so pleased when I see other people’s photographs in black and white.

Josie mostly refused to look at me today with the camera. I got this one while she was busy eating cake at Zach’s birthday party. I shouldn’t really call it cake. She just picked up the volcano made out of icing on her fork and ate that while I ate the actual cake.

Today’s assignment is to photograph their spot in the house, where they are comfortable. While Josie has never been a frequent or great sleeper (the nap is already gone *cry*) she enjoys spending part of her time playing every day in bed. Our bed, her bed, no matter. They’re all still on the floor since we co-sleep and Celia will eventually be getting herself out of bed and we don’t want it to be a big fall. Today’s shot also shows my first pictures of Celia sitting up, she only gets a few seconds now before she topples but she’s on her way, as of last Saturday she couldn’t sit up at all.

These were taken in our bedroom after Josie decided that immediately following quiet time it was her birthday party in our bed. Hence she is wearing her ‘birthday’ dress, better than her bathing suit that she had on earlier.

I know this photo is opposite of how people usually want it, the mirror imagine is the one out of focus, but it just captured my eye.

And I just continue to play around with the camera some. Josie is sulking as I take photos of Celia, can’t leave her out of the shot, but she doesn’t want to cooperate either.

Here are some photos of Josie from a similar age. They really look very similar still, Celia’s just definitely got some more chunk on her.

This weekend we stopped by the beach on our way home in Hyannis. Lesson #1 – don’t let Josie stand in Jordi’s shade as her face won’t be exposed properly and there’s certainly no way to meter on her face and then back up as it was hard enough to get her to even look at me! There is a lot of light, so the background is exposed beautifully. I love the snow boots on the beach.

Lesson #2 – Tell Josie that it’s time to leave so that she will then run back to the beach and ignore me, having two seconds earlier been complaining about the wind and whining non-stop. Then I can take pictures by moving around her.

Doesn’t look like Celia inherited a dimple like me and Josie.

Today’s assignment was to get a photo of  them doing something they love and that is a passion. Gymnastics isn’t happening right now and Josie has new and different interests every day and so it’s hard to define her hobbies as of yet. But one fun overarching theme is her enjoying art projects and making a mess. She’s very much into the process at this point as opposed to the finished result, still I often have to get her to slow down and not just rush to be done. She can use a page of stickers in a minute flat.

Here’s she’s working on two valentine’s day crafts. The string is dipping in watered down glue and will be molded into the hearts and dry ideally into a heart shape. I think that project might fail unfortunately but we’ll see how it looks tomorrow when it dries. Also you can see the pile of crayons in the corner which we’ve torn all the paper off of (that took a long time and she kept at it!) and then melted into a silicone heart mold to make new multicolor crayons to give as gifts. It was a crafty afternoon. We didn’t feel like going to Costco, guess we’ll have to make that trip tomorrow morning instead.

One thing Josie will do occasionally upon being asked, and frequently without being asked, is entertain Celia. Of course she balks most of the time I ask her to do it when it’s convenient for me, but it’s still a joy to see them interacting when they do. Josie can just laugh at the dinner table and Celia will literally laugh out loud back in response. Very funny for all as Mommy tries to eat and hold a squirmy baby. Here Josie gives me the gift of a few moments with a happy baby by reading her the baby version of Go Dog Go.