Another winner. Team USA, New York took the Kids Choice Award at the snow sculpting competition in Breckenridge, CO last week. I'm very proud of my daddy - and sorry that I wasn't able to be on the team.
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Construction update. Life officially got more crazy last Monday. The construction crew arrived to start on the house. Day 1 saw the upstairs mostly gutted. Day 2 saw the existing dormer fully removed. Day 3 saw the inital framing in place. Today is day 7 (in work days) and the roof is going on. It's taking some adjustment to live in an 'apartment' again. Pete and I find ourselves tiptoeing around the house once the kids are put to bed in fear of waking them with noise. But for the most part the construction project has low impact on our daily lives. I have some pictures of the progress, but need to charge the batteries in my camera before I can download them to share.
Why I'd make a bad stay-at-home mom. I only had my back turned for about five minutes while I was helping Max put together a dinosaur mobile. Last I checked, Esme was safely in front of the bookcase, taking her picture books off the shelf. I could hear her making noises from the next room, so knew she was fine. A few minutes later I walk in to check on her again, and this is what I found. As you can see, she wasn't contrite at all. Of course, my breaking into laughter probably didn't reinforce the "Esme, no!" message that I tried to impart.
New pet. Before I left for my last trip to London, Max asked if I would bring him home a robot pterodactyl. Well, I said, I'll take a look, but if I don't find one I'm sure I'll find something equally cool. As far as I know, Max completely made this request up. It wasn't something he had seen elsewhere, but what he determined would be the most awesome thing ever. Needless to say, a robot pterodactyl did not make it home in my suitcase from that trip. (But dinosaur shaped gummy candies seemed to do the trick!) Fast forward to Christmas. Wouldn't you know, the Discovery Store actually makes a robot pterodactyl. When Max opened his special gift from Santa his eyes opened wide and he was actually speechless for a moment. We have named it Terry, and Max calls it his "pet." Terry flaps his wings, walks a bit, and opens his mouth to receive the fake insects that Max feeds him for dinner. And every time Terry makes squawking noises Esme squeals with delight. O...
Personality. Aside from the fact that she's cranky and demanding lately because she's been sick, Esme's strong will is also coming to the fore in her language development. She's recently added two new words to her existing small vocabulary - mine and more . I knew she'd start talking once she decided it was worth her while!
Beautiful Girl. Some photos of Esme taken on Christmas Eve with a big smile for Grandpa's camera. Her favorite room was the sun porch where she could climb into the rocking chair and admire Grandpa's snow sculpture models of animals - elephants, wolves, loons, more elephants... They were both ecstatic.
Christmas vacation? I'm just not up for writing clever entries yet. We are all still sick. Yes, you read that correctly. Six weeks later and no relief. Took both kids to mom's clinic the day after Christmas. Put Max back on antibiotics which did the trick. Esme was pronounced fine (just a croupy cough) until she started throwing up the next day. Then last night, just as it seemed that a few lingering coughs and some tiredness was all that remained, Max and Peter started throwing up. Welcome to 2007. There were some lovely and funny moments over Christmas and New Years and I'll tell you about them when I'm not so sleep deprived.