Adele is 3!

Today is Adele's 3rd birthday. The last three years have flown by and she has really changed and learned a lot in the last year. It's been wonderful to watch her learn and grow. Here's an epic look back over her last year.

One year ago in December she had just been given a walker by her physical therapist and was practicing walking with that. She was not taking any steps alone at all.

She was just starting to talk more and was a happy, easygoing little girl, who didn't really like to sleep.

By January though, she was starting to insist on having her own way in decisions involving clothing...

February came with a visit from my Mum and Adele took her first unassisted steps!



And discovered that she liked to make art...

In March she read books and rode on her tricycle for the first time.

Her legs were too short for the pedals but she did a great job balancing on there while I pushed her around.

In April she finally started earning her keep...

And in May lots of fun things happened!

Fiona and Adele started becoming friends who could do fun stuff together...

And Fiona taught Adele about the wonderful world of all things creepy crawly.

Adele practiced building with duplo and making more art...

And in the same day she learned how to walk across the wobbly bridge and walked all the way home from our local restaurant holding my hand (more videos here). 

Adele also started speech therapy every two weeks to help her with some sounds she was having trouble with.

In June we enjoyed the warm summer days and Adele got over her fear of carousels. After this photo was taken ;-)

In July we hung out with friends and family, and met cousin Virginia...

And she generally exhausted herself with fun!

In August we went corn picking and Adele ate the freshest corn ever...

And became obsessed with hugging animals.

Both girls started at a wonderful new preschool that has 1/3 special needs kids and 2/3 regularly developing, so she can have some extra help where she needs it but also gets to hang out and do everything the other preschoolers are doing. So far she absolutely loves it, and is very happy there.

In September my parents visited and while they were here Adele figured out how to stand up in the middle of the floor. This has been (and still is) a big challenge for her.



We also all went to the zoo to visit the dinosaurs and in this video you can see how well she is doing with her (new, shiny, 4 wheel) walker, and the improvement in her speech!



In October she had a blast celebrating Halloween - decorating cookies, carving pumpkins and trick or treating with her cousins.

And of course we spent some time raking, throwing, and jumping in leaves.

Adele began to insist on walking longer distances without holding a hand or using her walker. On one occasion she just stopped and toddled off, leaving her walker behind. She has been doing this in bare feet too, which is tricky. Once she gets going she has a hard time stopping and she falls a lot but is undeterred. She still has a hard time getting up on her own but during the last week she's been getting up unassisted more and more when she doesn't have her braces on. Ben tells me that she managed to do this with her braces and shoes on for the first time yesterday so she's making great progress! Here's a video of her walking around in Best Buy.



As if that wasn't enough, October was the month that Adele was day-time potty trained!! We took a long weekend when the girls were off school for conferences and just went for it. The first day was messy but the rest of the weekend was awesome, and she has not looked back. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to be almost diaper free!!

November was another month of fun. In November she went from walking to dancing!

Here she is doing some dancing. The girls heard this song on the radio and loved it. They both sing along. Don't blame me :-/



At Thanksgiving dinner she graduated from the high chair to a big girl stool at Grandma's house. She hasn't fallen off yet :-)

And that brings us to December. So far she has had a birthday! We celebrated on Sunday with Ben's family and my friend Emily (who brought a delicious cake!).

She got a Dora doll and backpack from Grandma and Grandpa and a doll stroller from the Tennants, and the obvious next step was to put Zak the rat in the backpack and then take him for a ride...

Today she took cupcakes to school to share with her friends and then we picked up Daddy from work and went to the mall for some dinner and fun. Her favourite foods are rice and broccoli so we found somewhere that had those foods, menus you could colour on, and happy hour beers, and everyone was had a great time. The tropical paradise theme was just an added bonus.

After that the girls each chose one ride and we headed for the carousel and the Diego rescue bus. 

And then home for cupcakes. 

And that's it! A year of Adele. She has worked so hard this year and is doing so well. She is a lovely little girl who continues to be happy and smiley and although she has to work extra hard in many physical ways, she never gives up, she just keeps going. When she manages something new, or difficult she looks at us with a big smile on her face and Ben, Fiona and I cheer for her like crazy. She loves animals, both furry and buggy, and is very creative. She has also found her voice in the last year and talks much more in conversation, and in standing up to Fiona which is a good thing! She has opinions and she wants to share them. She cares about Fiona very much and sticks up for her and worries about her if she is upset. She is quick to share, and has a large, kind heart. 

I re-discovered this song a few weeks ago and in the past it's been a nice song, but now when I hear it I can't help but think of Adele. So if you've made it this far, here you go :-)

We are so very lucky to have this sweet little love in our lives and could not be more proud of her. Happy 3rd Birthday Dell!

Now please stop waking up at night. Seriously. You're three now! You can do this!!

Fiona is 4

Once upon a time, after a long and fairly traumatic labor, the loveliest baby was born.

















And now that baby is four years old. FOUR.

Four.

My brain can't quite adjust to that fact, so I won't dwell on it.

For the last month (at least) every morning she has asked us if it's her birthday yet, and why her birthday takes SO LONG! You can imagine her joy that today was the day.

We began the day with some presents and then Ben went off to work and we had pancakes.

Then after pancakes came brownie making.

After pancakes and brownie making came baths. Anything involving chocolate and syrup is pretty much guaranteed to lead to a bath.

Then we headed to the library with some awesome friends. Fiona's friends Annabelle and baby Penelope have been out of town for a couple of weeks so it was great to see them.

Adele enjoyed this Garfield book.

Library was followed by lunch at target. Then we braved the downpour and sprinted to the car to head home so Adele could take a nap and Fiona could work on one of her presents - a paint-your-own piggybank.

Masterpiece!!

We also chatted with Granny and Grandpa and Aunty Ali on Skype, which was fun.

After that Adele got up and we headed off to our second social engagement of the day.

Another favorite baby friend - Ethan.With favorite adult friend Tanya.
















We brought some cookies and the aforementioned brownies and my super talented friend Gena and Fiona's friend Aubrey made these awesome martini cookies! (Does not contain actual martini.)

THEN we headed home for birthday Pizza and... CUPCAKES!! All Fiona wanted for dinner was cupcakes so after declaring she was done after a few little pizza bites I gave up and we lit the candles.

Yum.

Yum.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.


















Then a few more presents, and a couple of scooby doo episodes before off to bed.

I don't know about Fiona but I am completely exhausted!

I feel so lucky to get to spend time with this little girl who seems to be growing up so fast. She is smart and quick and kind and loving.

Here's a story. The four of us went for a walk together a week or so ago and decided to stop on the way home and share an ice cream cone, one of Fiona's favorite things (can you tell the girl is a bit of a sugar fan?). After we got there we discovered that Ben had forgotten his wallet and I had not brought mine. Fiona thought it was funny at first in an "oh, silly Daddy" kind of way until it dawned on her that this meant no ice cream, at which point she burst into tears. A very, very kind person, seeing how upset she was, gave us $2 to get her some ice cream, and she was very happy and grateful. On the way home, while licking the strawberry cone that she chose, and shared with Adele, she told us that next time Daddy should be sure to bring his wallet so that we can give $2 to someone else who forgot theirs so they can have ice cream too.

And that's the Fiona I love so much. The part that walks backwards singing "Peppa Pig" to encourage Adele to get from A to B with her walker. The part that cheers for her when she arrives. The part that wants to help and share and learn and is so excited about new things, and really disgusting things and things in general, like looking up different kinds of dogs and spiders and snakes and dinosaurs and baby birds hatching out of eggs on the internet. That's the Fiona I love to snuggle with. Happy Birthday my sweet big four year old girl.

December Events

I'm sure you'll all agree that December was a busy month! Well it flew past here and now it's January already. Happy New Year everyone!

We had a lovely month - my awesome cousin Catriona and equally awesome sister Ali both visited and Ali stayed for Christmas.

Gingerbread houses were constructed by Ali and Fiona...

Christmas photos in cute matching dresses were attempted, with partial success, but they never made it into christmas cards...

We performed a dramatic enactment of How the Grinch Stole Christmas in the annual Hamer talent show. There were many other spectacular talents on show this year too... here's 10 minutes of the most impressive talent showing you've seen.

Santa Claus stopped by and brought Fiona the backpack she wrote to him to ask for. She had what she described as "the best day ever" opening presents from all the kind and generous friends and family we have. Adele had fun too but was a little overwhelmed.

Adele had a big assessment at Shriners, which is an amazing hospital for children specializing in (among other things) orthopaedics. We are lucky enough to live very close by and they provide services for free to people who do not have insurance or whose insurance doesn't cover the treatment they need. She's been diagnosed as having mild cerebral palsy which almost exclusively affects her left leg, and we're going to be doing physical therapy there two times a week in addition to the PT we do once every 2 weeks through the Minneapolis schools early intervention program. There's no reason she won't learn to walk, it'll just take a while, but all the extra PT will be great.

We headed to the U.P. for New Year and stayed in a log cabin in the woods with some friends.

Minneapolis has been eerily warm and almost totally snow-less so far this winter, so Fiona was very excited to stomp around in the snow up there.

Adele doesn't like to wear her mittens so didn't last long but enjoyed rolling around in it and observing for a while.

We had a great time hanging out with friends, and Fiona and Adele loved making two new friends of their own.

Today (and I did initially plan to just write about this before feeling a need to summarize the whole month) Fiona requested that I paint her fingernails (for the first time). She noticed a girl in her class at daycare had hers painted and asked me to do hers for her. She asked for red, which, luckily, is one of the two nail polish colours I own (the other being clear) so I painted them for her. I'm guessing that this is only the beginning of many requests for things she'd like because her friends have them...

She was so happy she kept bouncing around and it was very hard to get a picture in focus!

So that's the excitement for today. And who knows what tomorrow might bring!

Adele is 2!

On Saturday Adele became a 2 year old. Here's what was happening two years ago, and here's the post I did on her first birthday, which really feels like it was just last month.

Ben's family came over on Saturday and crammed into our tiny kitchen for lunch to celebrate with us.

Adele had been singing "happy birthday" to herself all morning and was really happy.

After the obligatory savory course came the part everyone had been waiting for... (chocolate chip banana) cupcakes!

After cupcakes were licked, smeared, smooshed and eventually consumed, it was time for presents!

I was surprised at her first birthday that she got SO excited about opening presents, and nothing has changed. After she opens something she gives it her whole attention and only wants to play with that thing. Like bottles for her poor, perpetually naked baby...

A book about Elmo...

this cell phone from Grandma and Grandpa...

She also got an adorable tea set from the Tennants but I didn't get a picture of her excitement because the box was in front of her as she was squealing with joy.

It's amazing how much changes so fast. So now we have to have the "look how she's grown" progression...

Birth (well, 2 days old) 3lbs 2.8oz

1 year old. I can't remember how much she weighed... around 14lbs? Clearly my brain is running on fumes.

2 years old. Has a check up on Thursday so we'll find out how much she weighs then. Around 20lbs probably... more depending on how much snow she eats beforehand...

And talking of snow, it snowed. We all went out to play on sunday and Fiona climed up the snow mountain and made snow angels while Adele just plowed straight through with her walker.

Adele, over the last year you have worked so hard and learned so much. You are the same sweet girl as always but now you are holding your own with your sister and not letting her push you around. You love so many people (and a few animals) and let them know with the smiles and hugs and slimy kisses you share so easily. You're smart and funny and we are so proud of you. Looking forward to seeing what the next year brings, tiny love!