Tons of new pics in the December 2009 folder.

Warning: this blog post is best read by people are genuinely interested in me bragging about the awesomeness of my kids… you will likely roll your eyes because I am definitely feeling quite proud of them today!

First, I can not believe that it is almost Christmas Eve. I am so excited about this Christmas, celebrating with our family and friends. 2009 has been an interesting year for us as a family. Lots going on and it seems like we have hardly had a chance to breathe at times. The biggest shift I have had, in myself, is a quick dose of reality that reminded me how lucky we are as a family. We have been very fortunate, in a multitude of ways, and I am trying to spend this last week really being thankful of that.

Speaking of thankful, I am most thankful for having had the chance to watch both girls grow so much this year. My friend Rachel, summed it up so eloquently when she described looking at her son (who I have to agree, with some personal bias, is super awesome!), “Every time I watch him am awe inspired and weepy that something that I made in my belly now has abilities and talents that far outshine anything I could ever do.” Being a parent is such a surreal feeling.

And since I already know how great my kids are (well, when they are not driving me nuts with what I can only describe as a severely unbalanced mental disorder, also knows as tantrums)… I figured I would fill everyone else in on what they are up to these days.

Lily: Lily continues to develop into a full-blown kid. I may venture to say she is practically a preteen. She has such strong emotions and thoughts about everything and lets you know when she does not agree with what you are saying. We have been spending a good portion of this month trying to develop a sense of how lucky she is by gently exposing her to the fact that not everyone has the things she has. We spent several hours clearing out toys for her to donate and picking out gifts for the Toys for Tots drive. I am looking for ways to involve her in some of the volunteer projects I am beginning in January. Look back for updates on that!

She is also thriving in school. She is starting to do some basic sight word recall and identifying letter sounds. We have been really focusing on letter sounds over their actual names andthat seems to be helping. She also just began writing some basic words, like her name. Today she did it without any prompting from me, I was so proud of her!

Emilie: Emilie also appears to share the creativity bug Lily has. She has started gripping crayons and markers properly and can draw and fill in simple shapes with a crayon (and by fill in, I mean fill in anything around the shape… including the table or walls!). She also has started to understand how to use glue and paint and is a huge fan of eating both. I love watching her get excited every time she makes something on a piece of paper.

As you saw, Em is also walking. She is an odd kid and really only likes to walk when no one is looking. I watch her walk from the kitchen to the living room from the corner of my eye but as soon as we make eye contact she falls to the floor and starts to crawl. She has also learned the word “No”. I use the word, learn, loosely because she likes to say it but certainly doesn’t like to follow it.

Emilie’s favorite thing continues to be puzzles… and that can be any kind of game she has to “figure out”, which includes putting together train tracks, using a shape sorter, putting money into a piggy bank. She is big into music and will stand in the middle of the room and dance by hugging herself and shaking her tush. She likes to repeat noise patterns like La-de-dah-la. She can typically repeat a pattern of up to 4 sounds. It is super cute!

In case you needed a reminder… I kinda think my kids are awesome.

So Emilie is a sneaky walker… she only likes to do it while no one is looking. We FINALLY got some video proof.

All is fun until your kid moons everyone on a playdate… ha! We have been enjoying our weekly playgroups lately… but this past weekend took the cake. It started with trains and it ended with tushes… Lily and Aidan’s tushes to be exact. It can best be summed up with a quote from Jen, “Did Lora tell you that Lily mooned everyone Friday? It was funny for a split second until Aidan tried it too. Strangely enough I didn’t find it that hilarious anymore.”

And while Lily is growing her first crush… Emilie just keeps growing. Period.

Need proof?

12 months later…