Laleblog: 2010

Thursday, December 09, 2010

November 2010

Dear girls,

Another month has passed us by, and here it is, almost the middle of the next month and I'm just writing to you. I really need to get on the ball.

So Emily gets to talk top honors this month because THE WALKING! It finally happened. And the whole thing just underscores how different you are from your big sister. When Rachel started walking, it was a few steps here and there, but mostly she preferred crawling for what seemed like a really long time after she took her first steps. But Emily, you took right to it. Maybe it's because you were older when you started walking, but literally, one day you were standing on your own, the next day you were walking, and a couple of weeks later, the crawling was almost completely done. Your preferred mode of transportation is now walking, and you never had the problems standing up that Rachel did. You were standing without assitstance before you could walk, and things have just taken off from there.

Rachel, you have really been taking off academically. You've been practicing a lot with your writing lately, and have gotten really good at asking us how to spell things and writing them down. Your drawings have gotten more and more clear as well, and a couple of weeks ago, you brought me a drawing of a woman, a man, and a little girl, and told me that you'd drawn your Aunt Sarah, Uncle Britton, and their baby (who is expected to arrive sometime in April). It was very easy to tell who each person in the drawing was.

You've also gotten really good at sounding out words, and you're starting to read things as you see them. Of course you'll always ask us first what something says, and usually we'll make you try to sound it out on your own. You really like to lean over and read the names of songs off the display on my radio.

Emily, you've moved from eating in a high chair at home to eating in a booster seat, though it seems like more often than not, we can only get you to sit still to eat a few bites. You'd much rather be walking around, and it's really hard to argue with a 1 year old who would rather throw herself out of her chair (and throw her food on the floor) than listen to reason.

Even though you don't want eat sometimes, you're always willing to brush your teeth. You love using your toothbrush on the 5 teeth you have in your head. You even understand when I tell you to brush your fronts. You used to walk all over the house with that thing in your mouth and it made me nervous that you would fall on it, but you'd throw a fit when I tried to take it away from you. Now you understand the ritual: when I tell you it's time to brush your fronts, it's about time to finish and put it away.

Rachel, you have gotten very good at planning ahead. You started picking out your clothes for the next day a few weeks ago, I guess because you didn't like the clothes we were picking for you in the morning. Now, before you go to bed at night, you'll tell us what you want to wear the next day, and if you forget, you'll tell us before we have a chance to pick out something for you in the morning. You're always sure to ask us if it's going to be cold or not, so you know if you need to wear long sleeves or short sleeves.

Your grandparents are now here for a few months, and the two of you couldn't be happier. You both love hanging out with them, and it's nice for us to be able to have them pick you up from school and day care, and have some other people around to keep you busy. We always look forward to this time of year, and I'm sure the two of you do, too.

We love you very much, and can't wait to see what Santa Claus brings you for Christmas.

Love,

Daddy

Posted via email from Laleblog

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Red and yellow, kill a fellow.

Found this little guy hanging out today while I was cutting branches and clearing brush on our land. Luckily I had my phone with me so I could Google images of coral snakes to confirm that it could, indeed, kill me. I didn't have anything to strike back with since I'd broken the blade on my trimmer earlier in the morning, so I just took a few pictures and let it slither away.