It is 2011 and we are once again back into the groove.
Marie is back to her wrestling her friends at school, Andy is stitching up foreheads and delivering babies, Kelly is fixing those speech sounds, and Charlie is probably napping and wishing he were hunting.
It's amazing how quickly we can fall out of our structured schedule with a small break from reality. Over our Christmas break we were a little lax about Marie's napping and bedtimes...we are paying for it now. Let's just say that you never really know how important sleep is until you hear "mommy?" at 4 a.m 2 days in a row.
With 2011 here, it is only natural for us to look back at how much our lives have changed.
Andy has started his 3rd year of medical school which means a different rotation site every month. This has been a big change as were used to our schedule with him in Des Moines all the time the previous 2 years. His 3rd year has definitely been a learning experience. For example, I just got off the phone with him and he was talking about how he had been the one to catch the baby in a delivery! That is definitely more exciting than reading about it in a text book.
Obviously our biggest change is Marie. She is officially a toddler and is taking that role very seriously. If we had to pick one word to describe her, I think it would be independent. Marie has always been independent.
A perfect example is this photo:
She was determined to eat that spaghetti with that fork all by herself.
It's amazing to us how she is understanding body language and facial expressions too. Over Christmas she was playing with her cousins and they were acting like Marie was the baby. So, they put her in a wagon and pulled her around the house.
Can you tell what Marie thought about this idea?
Her newest milestones include balancing, talking, and singing.
She loves to try to stand and balance on random objects around the house...I am thinking she will be a gymnast someday.
Her speech is expanding every day. She is putting 2-3 words together now along with her lovely conversational babble. Over Christmas she was looking at a snow globe and she said "I see boy."
Saying goodbye to someone includes, "bye, see ya." She says all her friends names at school and she loves to label the family members when we look at pictures together. For some reason Grandma always comes out with a different name...And she is great at saying "thank you."
She is now enjoying singing in the car with me. As we drive to and from school I sing and she joins in if the song is just right.
Another new thing is how she reads books. She doesn't always want us to read to her. She likes it if we sit next to each other and we both read our own books.
Here is a recent video of her reading to herself and her stuffed sheep, Baa.
We welcome 2011 and can't wait to see what Marie comes up with next.
sitting in her new doll stroller and saying 'cheese'
Andy has started his 3rd year of medical school which means a different rotation site every month. This has been a big change as were used to our schedule with him in Des Moines all the time the previous 2 years. His 3rd year has definitely been a learning experience. For example, I just got off the phone with him and he was talking about how he had been the one to catch the baby in a delivery! That is definitely more exciting than reading about it in a text book.
Obviously our biggest change is Marie. She is officially a toddler and is taking that role very seriously. If we had to pick one word to describe her, I think it would be independent. Marie has always been independent.
A perfect example is this photo:
She was determined to eat that spaghetti with that fork all by herself.It's amazing to us how she is understanding body language and facial expressions too. Over Christmas she was playing with her cousins and they were acting like Marie was the baby. So, they put her in a wagon and pulled her around the house.
Can you tell what Marie thought about this idea?
Her newest milestones include balancing, talking, and singing. She loves to try to stand and balance on random objects around the house...I am thinking she will be a gymnast someday.
Her speech is expanding every day. She is putting 2-3 words together now along with her lovely conversational babble. Over Christmas she was looking at a snow globe and she said "I see boy."
Saying goodbye to someone includes, "bye, see ya." She says all her friends names at school and she loves to label the family members when we look at pictures together. For some reason Grandma always comes out with a different name...And she is great at saying "thank you."
She is now enjoying singing in the car with me. As we drive to and from school I sing and she joins in if the song is just right.
Another new thing is how she reads books. She doesn't always want us to read to her. She likes it if we sit next to each other and we both read our own books.
Here is a recent video of her reading to herself and her stuffed sheep, Baa.
We welcome 2011 and can't wait to see what Marie comes up with next.
sitting in her new doll stroller and saying 'cheese'
Love the photo of her in the wagon, priceless!
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