Letter to Lucia and Greta / Catching Up
So I've fallen way, way behind in blogging over the past couple of months. Trying to go back and catch up on all the posts I should have been writing is daunting, so I'm just going to throw a whole bunch of things down here and start being more timely from here on out. In no particular order, some bits of our life:
Box Houses
The kitchen appliances all arrived in February, and Andrew and I turned the boxes into box houses in the basement for the girls. Each girl had a large room and a small room, and their houses were connected by a door. We hung twinkle lights. The girls decorated their walls with stickers and markers. They filled their houses with stuffed animals and blankets and Legos. The houses got me through a few days when Andrew was out of town, which is really the best thing a box house can do. Today, mid-March, we finally took the box houses down. I hope the girls remember them. I still remember the box houses Molly and I had when our kitchen was being redone decades ago.
Baby Clothes
I've been getting rid of baby clothes, finally. I've had no good reason for holding onto them this long. We know (well, I know) we're not having another baby, and most of the clothes have been worn--hard--by two kids. The huge plastic bins have been building up and building up. I think there were eight of them in the attic. So, this month, I finally pulled them out and started going through them. I'm not sure why I kept some of the things I did--leggings with holes in the knees, summer capri pants blackened from a hundred Brooklyn playground afternoons, t-shirts stained from acrylic paints. A lot of clothes I barely remembered the girls wearing. It was easy, in the end, to put aside the things that were too precious to throw or give away, and triage the rest. Donate, sell, give away. I'm not done, but I'm getting there. And I do feel some nostalgia at some of the outfits, especially for some reason the little clothes Lucia was wearing that summer I was pregnant with Greta, when she and I traipsed (well, I inched painfully) to Prospect Park almost every day to splash in the fountains and idle away the mornings. The one thing I can't get rid of: any of the sleepers. But we have a large attic, so there's no real reason to force it. The sleepers can stay.
So Much
One of the cutest things Greta says right now is "so much"--adding it onto ordinary expressions of appreciation so that she sounds like the most excited, appreciative three-year-old in the world. "I love these SO MUCH." "I love oranges SO MUCH." "I love hot chocolate SO MUCH."
Lessons
We signed Lucia up for swimming and ice skating lessons this winter, and both have been going well. She enjoys both activities, but she loves swimming the most. She wishes she could swim every day. She's pretty fearless, too: going fully underwater, jumping off the side, jumping off the diving platform. She's happiest on swim lesson day.
Snow
There has been too much snow this winter. Too many snow days. And for much of this winter the snow has been too hard and icy, and the temperatures too cold, to even do much playing outside. Somehow, we've emerged into near-spring. I will say, however, that snow days were a lot less nightmarish this year thanks to Lucia and Greta's astounding ability to a) play together joyfully with only occasional attempts to kill each other; and b) amuse themselves for long stretches of time doing just about anything. Last week, in preparation for Mom and Dad's visit, they "decorated" the guest room with all manner of toys and junk, even putting colored pencils and paper on the bedside tables so Gra and Pop-Pop could color. "They'll love it so much they're going to cry!!" Lucia kept announcing. Greta will play with absolutely anything; Andrew gave her a bowl of garlic cloves the other day, and she amused herself for over forty-five minutes. So we never lacked for things to do. I brought out some of my snow-day stash here and there, but mostly they just played. On the last snow day, we made Elsa and Anna braids to pin into their hats.
Big Girl Bed
Tonight, March 14, we finally transitioned Greta into a big girl bed. She wasn't climbing out of her crib (although she can, and has done so), but she is so tall that she was looking more than a little squished. And it was just time. We switched Lucia to a bed right around this same time when she was almost three and a half, so it seemed reasonable to do it now. Greta seemed excited, and she looked so cute all tucked in. But I'm going to miss my little Miss in her crib, sleeping there like a tiny baby. I feel a bit sad. The crib is all in pieces now, ready for the attic. And Greta is surrounded by her entourage of stuffed animals and plush princesses, asleep.
Favorite toys/activities:
My Little Pony, Magiclip princesses (princesses are having a resurgence around here), Legos, dressup, coloring and drawing, Frozen, watching movies, gnomes
Favorite books:
Golden Books of all kinds (especially, unfortunately, the Disney movie adaptations), My Special Day
Box Houses
The kitchen appliances all arrived in February, and Andrew and I turned the boxes into box houses in the basement for the girls. Each girl had a large room and a small room, and their houses were connected by a door. We hung twinkle lights. The girls decorated their walls with stickers and markers. They filled their houses with stuffed animals and blankets and Legos. The houses got me through a few days when Andrew was out of town, which is really the best thing a box house can do. Today, mid-March, we finally took the box houses down. I hope the girls remember them. I still remember the box houses Molly and I had when our kitchen was being redone decades ago.
Baby Clothes
I've been getting rid of baby clothes, finally. I've had no good reason for holding onto them this long. We know (well, I know) we're not having another baby, and most of the clothes have been worn--hard--by two kids. The huge plastic bins have been building up and building up. I think there were eight of them in the attic. So, this month, I finally pulled them out and started going through them. I'm not sure why I kept some of the things I did--leggings with holes in the knees, summer capri pants blackened from a hundred Brooklyn playground afternoons, t-shirts stained from acrylic paints. A lot of clothes I barely remembered the girls wearing. It was easy, in the end, to put aside the things that were too precious to throw or give away, and triage the rest. Donate, sell, give away. I'm not done, but I'm getting there. And I do feel some nostalgia at some of the outfits, especially for some reason the little clothes Lucia was wearing that summer I was pregnant with Greta, when she and I traipsed (well, I inched painfully) to Prospect Park almost every day to splash in the fountains and idle away the mornings. The one thing I can't get rid of: any of the sleepers. But we have a large attic, so there's no real reason to force it. The sleepers can stay.
So Much
One of the cutest things Greta says right now is "so much"--adding it onto ordinary expressions of appreciation so that she sounds like the most excited, appreciative three-year-old in the world. "I love these SO MUCH." "I love oranges SO MUCH." "I love hot chocolate SO MUCH."
Lessons
We signed Lucia up for swimming and ice skating lessons this winter, and both have been going well. She enjoys both activities, but she loves swimming the most. She wishes she could swim every day. She's pretty fearless, too: going fully underwater, jumping off the side, jumping off the diving platform. She's happiest on swim lesson day.
Snow
There has been too much snow this winter. Too many snow days. And for much of this winter the snow has been too hard and icy, and the temperatures too cold, to even do much playing outside. Somehow, we've emerged into near-spring. I will say, however, that snow days were a lot less nightmarish this year thanks to Lucia and Greta's astounding ability to a) play together joyfully with only occasional attempts to kill each other; and b) amuse themselves for long stretches of time doing just about anything. Last week, in preparation for Mom and Dad's visit, they "decorated" the guest room with all manner of toys and junk, even putting colored pencils and paper on the bedside tables so Gra and Pop-Pop could color. "They'll love it so much they're going to cry!!" Lucia kept announcing. Greta will play with absolutely anything; Andrew gave her a bowl of garlic cloves the other day, and she amused herself for over forty-five minutes. So we never lacked for things to do. I brought out some of my snow-day stash here and there, but mostly they just played. On the last snow day, we made Elsa and Anna braids to pin into their hats.
Big Girl Bed
Tonight, March 14, we finally transitioned Greta into a big girl bed. She wasn't climbing out of her crib (although she can, and has done so), but she is so tall that she was looking more than a little squished. And it was just time. We switched Lucia to a bed right around this same time when she was almost three and a half, so it seemed reasonable to do it now. Greta seemed excited, and she looked so cute all tucked in. But I'm going to miss my little Miss in her crib, sleeping there like a tiny baby. I feel a bit sad. The crib is all in pieces now, ready for the attic. And Greta is surrounded by her entourage of stuffed animals and plush princesses, asleep.
Favorite toys/activities:
My Little Pony, Magiclip princesses (princesses are having a resurgence around here), Legos, dressup, coloring and drawing, Frozen, watching movies, gnomes
Favorite books:
Golden Books of all kinds (especially, unfortunately, the Disney movie adaptations), My Special Day
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