By Myself

Ella can do a lot of things by herself...when she wants to. She can get dressed, go to the bathroom, go swinging, all by herself, but chooses not to. When she's in front of her friends at school, she will do all of these without assistance, but with us she wants us to always help her. I'm not sure if this is an early manifestation of peer pressure or not.

She'll show us something that she can do by herself if we encourage her:



There's some who say that preschoolers' personalities, when they relate to what they want, are like cavemen in their impulsiveness. I hope not. If you weren't a self-sufficient caveman you would get eaten, so that analogy really doesn't work.

Maybe she doesn't want to everything by herself right now, I'm proud that she's becoming a little girl right before my eyes.

Felix's words: He can say the word "three", but it comes out like "tee". No, he's not a math genius who's already counting at 17 months. We hold him over the bed by his arms and legs and swing him onto his back. "One, two...".

Felix is Walking

Up and Down

To my great relief, Felix can now climb down by himself off the bed and the couch (hopefully no more falling off anymore!). He scoots himself backwards on his tummy to the edge and then lowers himself down to the ground. Coming back up again is another matter, most furniture is too tall for him to climb. He just stands at the edge, one leg raised like a dog about to pee, and demands, "Pah! Pah!" (as in UP-pah).

Bikes and Tykes

I got Nicki a bicycle for Christmas and a couple of weekends ago, the weather allowed us to try it out. Nicki had also managed to scavenge a couple of kid seats for a song, so we were able to take them with us. Ella was surprisingly happy on the back of the bike, just taking in the sights and pointing things out to me as we passed them. The only part she dislikes is when I stand up and pedal to make it up a hill, or when I allow the bike to wobble a bit too much for her liking.



Felix loves the bike, but hates the helmet. Usually, once we get going, he forgets that he's wearing it as he smiles at all the things he sees. The seat he has is one of those front mounting seats, which the bicycle dealer says isn't available here because he wasn't sure if they've ever been approved by whoever approves bike safety here. It's perfectly stable and I was extra careful in making sure it was firmly mounted. But if we see a police officer, we try to look inconspicuous.

It may be not perfectly legal, but it's comfortable for Felix.



Sometimes a little too comfortable.

Happy Birthday Oma!

Ella has a special birthday message for Oma!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Happy Hanukkah

.... and Happy Sinterklaas (Even though there's no greeting for this, according to Nicki).

I'm convinced Felix is a girlie man, as our governor says. He wears leg warmers.



He wears a princess crown.



The other day he just had to reach out and play with Ella's "Hello Kitty" dress. I'm telling you...I don't want to cast aspersions to his lack of understanding of gender roles, but he is, as we say, a little "festive." He should be a manly man, grunting, watching sports, and playing with trucks while smoking a cigar. That's the manly way!