12/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014." 

More about the 52 project here.

Dani: my littlest leprechaun. She's 99% imp and I can't get enough of her. 

Mila: She was so funny on St. Paddy's day. Steve had forgotten to dress her in pajamas with green in it the night before, so the first thing she did the next morning, even before coming into our room, was get dressed in this. No pinching for Mila this year!

11/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014." 

More about the 52 project here.

 

Mila: It's funny but looking back we realize she's always done this hands-jammed-in-mouth thing whenever she's feeling shy or nervous. That's our Wugs. 

Dani: Her and I had such a sweet, calm morning alone last week doing some gardening in the front yard. She was my striped gnome helper.

10/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014." 

More about the 52 project here.

 Mila: This was Dani's baptism day. The past week we had been 'celebrating' all of her babies getting baptized, including Pinocchio over there. Her idea, not mine. p.s. same headband she wore on her 2nd birthday :)
Dani: Here she is in her baptism gown, and you can see the glimmer of a tear at the bottom of her left eye. There may have been some howling. Baptismal water on the head is rough, folks.

1st Friday of spring

There's a shift in our day's rhythm that's come with the changing season (this is the best time of year to be a Floridian. Not hot. Gorgeous.). With the extra hour of daylight YAY! we've been spending it outside in that glorious bath of afternoon sunlight; gardening, tending to new flowers, new trees, eating mulch (Dani), setting out the bubble machine, making plans for a vegetable garden and a sunflower house, riding bicycles and scooters, eating dirt (again Dani). My parents gave us a barbeque for Christmas (thank you!) and well, grilling. I have a section in my summer recipes folder (yes I have a folder with recipes just for summertime. No shame!) just for grilling that went sadly unused year after year. Not this year! And canoeing. We went today; it was our first attempt with the girls unless you count the time we put Mila in a kayak in Hawaii and she screamed her head off, hating the life jacket. I count that. And in comparison everything went wildly better. Mila was amazing in the canoe, she is absolutely so ready for this stuff. Dani was doing a little up-down up-down I am the captain now thing (good movie! highly recommend) which in theory sounds benign but add wind, strong currents, and an alligator sighting not beached but in the water with us and well, I'm still saying better than the Hawaii moment. This spring's gonna be a good one.

9/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014." 

More about the 52 project here.

Mila: Her half birthday was last week and we gave her our old point-and-shoot which never gets used anymore. She's getting the hang of it. I love seeing her perspective on things when she takes pictures with my iphone. 

 Dani: Her first time going strawberry picking, she was in her element. Besides avocadoes, strawberries are Dani's favorite. 

National Day of Reading

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Steve made green eggs and ham for breakfast and we visited with the Cat in the Hat at a nearby bookstore. And by visiting I mean I high-fived and ooohhed and ahhed about how friendly he was but Mila stayed a solid 10' back and breathed a nervous 'hi' from afar. While Steve waited out a Dani car nap at the closest shady spot he could find. Geez ;)
In honor of Dr. Seuss I thought I'd share the girls' favorite books lately. Dani is also really starting to get into books, she'll thumb through those pages with a purpose all her own. I marvel at it but it's no wonder really, her adored Mila "reads" constantly. She doesn't yet read of course but the way she devours books, talking out loud and describing the pictures (so funny! her inflections are hilarious. So, she'll say at the beginning of a page. So. The girl told him, you'd better not go. So. His dog was over there and planning to climb the mountain. So. The mama, here she is trying to get her baby to sleep.) Sometimes I try to use the time while she's reading to do other things, but my favorite moments are when I stop and listen to the way she tells the story. So without further ado:

The Black Rabbit
Last year Steve and Mila checked this out at the library on a whim and Mila loved it ever since. The library got it back of course but luckily The Black Rabbit was under our tree Christmas morning. I don't know if it's Black Rabbit's shadow, or if there's a little fear mixed in there, or what--she's always been captivated. When I ask Mila what's her favorite book these days she replies without hesitation Black Rabbit.

Three Tales of My Father's Dragon
Officially the first chapter book we've been (successfully) reading aloud to Mila (Alice in Wonderland: not successful. too soon :)). I got it based on a recommendation from this post and Liz is right--it's a great transitional book to chapters because of the pictures every few pages. I didn't think Mila would be into this but she is...she'll initiate my reading it, always a good sign. We're about 1/3 of the way through so we'll see how she enjoys it as the story progresses.


The Pout-Pout Fish
This will always be the first book Dani Lu showed a genuine, delighted interest in, the way Mila gravitated towards Llama Llama Red Pajama at the exact same age. Interestingly enough, and randomly, they're both Kohl's books. Marmousch buys the heck out of Kohl's books, thank you Marmousch. Make sure when you read it aloud you over-exaggerate the blub bluuuuub bluuuuuuuuuuuuub part, that's every littles' favorite.


Goodnight Moon
okay who in the world with small children does not have this book (is a link even necessary??)? I'm in the camp for digging this sweet book...but totally get the naysayers who find it creepy, I'm good friends with some of those said people ;) but I like finding the mouse on each page, and noting the different time changes, and now Mila likes finding those things, too. I've been reading this aloud to Dani each night as part of our bedtime routine and she now is over the moon (see what I did there?) for this book.

Grandfather Twilight
This is one of my favorite bedtime books, it's sweet and magical and brings out a sense of wonder in the world. Such a nice final thought and imagery with which to drift off to sleep. Actually Mila was just reading this to Dani tonight at bedtime, and her improvised version was just...well duh, what else would a proud mama say but adorable: "And then he lifted up the pearl to the sea and it became the sun of God." And I'm pretty sure she meant sun and not son. Oh Wugs.

 Spoon
We don't yet own this book, I bought it for my nephew Robi as part of his Christmas present since he had just turned six months and the big eating solid food milestone. Oh this book is sooooo sweet. It's funny and heartfelt with such a great love thyself message. We have another one of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's books, Little Pea, which we also love (weeks went by where Steve would read this book to Mila every single night) and Duck! Rabbit! just might be my favorite Easter-ish book of all time. Therefore I've come to the conclusion that Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a children's literary genius.

The Day the Crayons Quit
Very clever and original, I love this kind of book. I bought this awhile back but haven't yet given it to the girls, I think it'll be an Easter hoard. This kind of book gets me excited about reading more books to our girls. 

And of course, Dr. Seuss--we love you! We love you a whole lot around here.