Easter and the end of April
I just checked back and we updated only 2 weeks ago, but I feel tons has happened!
Me and the girls on a cuddly afternoon
We finally got our kitchen together- Yay! That was a huge relief. No sink and counters for a few weeks is way to many weeks.
After
We were able to get together with my cousin Erin, her adorable son Elian and Auntie Peggy (who Maisy just loves to bits) at Superfranks in Pleasanton. The place is amazing. Plenty of rooms for kids to play in safely with servers to bring you food! It's clean and fun for all.
Erin, Elian, Maren, me, Maisy- this is the best of about 8 photos.
Maren being a big girl
Maisy is loving school! She was able to go 3 days last week, but this week she will go only once. She thoroughly enjoys her teachers and being with her friends. She in no way has any separation anxiety and doesn't bat an eye when I leave. Her teachers are very impressed with her language and communications skills. She pretty much wants to either play in water all day or paint. She is an avid painter! Better at school than at home, because she isn't the most tidy painter. Maisy is in a phase where she is having serious issues with everything she wears. There are only about 3 Maisy approved items of clothing and they aren't for cool weather, so getting dressed these days are a bit of a struggle. We try to narrow her choices and then make her pick one. She'll even pick something out herself, but then when she gets it on, it doesn't feel right. She also must dress herself, which is okay, except for when she can't get the clothes on and it upsets her. Whew- we've been having all sorts of fun with this. It's getting slightly better now. We kind of just let her wear whatever- just to avoid a huge deal and we will just let her express the little fashionista inside herself!
Maisy at school with some of her classmates
It's really fun to see the girls start playing together. Maisy will run for Maren (her Mareny) if she's sad because a hug from her will make her feel better. She says she misses Maren most when she's at school. They love shouting back and forth to each other and giggling.
Playing sisters
I got to play a card game with Maisy yesterday. She was totally into it! We played open handed Go-Fish. It was her first card game. Her patience is really increasing.
Going fish
Maren now has two teeth! They came in pretty quickly and we had a couple of rough nights. We also started giving her baby snacks. She's still not sure about them and can't get them into her mouth by herself, but will enjoy them and grab for more after she's given one.
First baby snack
She's a good baby sitter now. She has rolled over, but doesn't do it regularly. She isn't exactly scooting, but will move all around, mostly in circles and backwards. She's really so grown up though! I can't believe how fast the time is going. She is still not sleeping through the night. We are working on it though. If she cries in the night I generally just give her a bottle of water while she's still in her crib or give her the pacifier. This works 75% of the time. The other times- she whines a bit then falls asleep then wakes up 30 minutes later crying again, where we start the process all over. Some nights are better than others.
We had a great time dyeing Easter eggs this year. Maisy was so gentle and really able to be trusted with the eggs. She is so growing up. Yesterday and today she made her own sandwich for lunch (PB&J) using a knife and everything. She's so proud of herself- and so are we!
Maisy and Dad working on the eggs
Mama and Maren watching the eggs
Dad, Maren and Maisy
Girls and their eggs
Easter was great. The girls got up and the Easter Bunny had left very nice gifts for them and had hidden the eggs. Maisy was a master egg finder. Uncle Steven came over for brunch and we pretty much just hung out all day and ate several courses of food and ended the day with some ham.
Checking out what the Bunny left
Flying with Uncle Steven
The best family photo we could get- we took about 10!
Today the girls had studies at UC Berkeley Infant Cognition and Language Lab. Both girls did wonderfully! After the study we had a picnic on the UC Berkeley Campus and while we were sitting there, I remembered that there were dinosaur bones in the Valley of the Life Sciences Building, so I took them in there for a look at all the cool bones and fossils.
Maren doing her ping pong ball study
Maisy picking her prize for her study
Picnic
Checking out the T-rex
Not too much else planned for the end of the month. We are very lucky to have Mimi and Papa J come visit us in just a little over a week. We are all looking forward to their visit- it's been too long!
Hope you are enjoying your spring.
Much love,
Todd, Becky, Maisy and Maren
