signs! and a tooth!

quickly, because she's impatient today...

hazel signs! i can hardly believe it, already. we noticed some pronounced mimicking about two weeks ago, so we started signing a few signs to her (bird, dog, milk, fan, light... all the important things :), but hadn't really yet gotten into the habit of doing it consistently.

on tuesday night, when i was in and out of sleep due to a 102 fever, i saw her watch the dog jump off the couch, then stick tongue in and out, then look at me for understanding. i responded, then she did it again and looked at the dog. wow... but i'm borderline delirious, did that really happen? despite my state, she was absolutely clear.

so two days later, after just having arrived in ND for christmas, as she was lying in my lap i noticed her eyes had locked onto something. she stuck her arm up and swiveled her wrist around, and sure enough, i looked up to see we were right below the fan. since then, she's repeatedly signed for dog, fan, and now light, too. (of course, milk is the one i really want her to learn so i know when she's hungry, but in order for her to learn that, i actually have to remember to show her the sign as we're nursing... i keep forgetting.) anyway, i'm sort of in disbelief that she's already old enough to be signing, and half-crawling, and clapping... time is flying by.

she's so cute, she claps (in this funny splayed-finger tapping sort of way) to inspire interaction. she claps, we can't help but clap back, and on it goes, and she gets the biggest grin when we "get" her clapping or signing. i'm sure she's thinking "finally! you people finally understand what i've been trying to tell you..."

due to a canceled flight, we killed 8 hrs at minneapolis airport on thursday (gotta love that playscape across from gate C12! the tram and moving sidewalks are also very popular). while eating a snack with eva and allowing sleepless papa to rest a bit, i noticed... hazel has a tooth! the lower left tooth was just *barely* poking through, and already now two days later it's much more pronounced. and, she already bit me (in her sleep, so it surprised both of us).

today it is -13 degrees F (-39 with wind chill... and that's not the low, that's just the mid-afternoon temp). eva spent the morning making a gingerbread house, and had a grand old time, and got the hang of piping the icing herself. christmas prep continues, as everyone works on projects in assorted groups whenever the recipient is out of view (though, not much of that has really happened yet... difficult when no one can leave the house.) larry contemplated driving to bismarck to get the supplies santa will need to make eva's gift (i think santa needs some help sometimes, right? the elves must get exhausted) but was deterred by the crazy wind chill. i mean, not that he's any stranger to this.. the first time he ever visited me here (my first year of college) it was -60 and we finally left the house to walk 5 blocks to my friend's house... only our eyes were showing, but i was still pretty sure we were going to die before we made it back home. luckily, we made it, and lived on to produce two pretty entertaining and cute kids. good thing.

catching up

i'm bummed out that i haven't posted in so long, it makes me feel like time slips away unaccounted for or something. but guess what? it seems that having two kids (combined with it being the holiday/travel time of year) means i haven't had as much time as i'd like. shocking, i know...

mostly it makes me a bit sad because there has been so much cuteness and so many fun things happening that i want to share all of it, but the snippets and sentences i think of while nursing a baby to sleep stay in my head, because i can't type enough with one hand.

at the moment, eva is snuggled on the couch to my right watching sesame street. last night she vomited all over me at a restaurant, and larry and i handled it like seasoned pros. i don't even think anyone else knew what had happened, even counting the fact that both eva and i had to basically strip in the parking lot. i think we get parenting bonus points (merit badge, maybe?) for that one. hazel is sleeping on the couch to my left, zonked out probably because she hasn't been sleeping much, particulary at night, resulting in a tired mama who refuses to just give up and go to bed at 7 like i should, because i have too much to do.

we're enjoying the holiday season (despite any side-effects of the list making and checking and such). eva has become obsessed with christmas songs, and in about two weeks, she's learned so many songs. (did anyone know there's a humorous second verse to jingle bells, by the way? fun. oh, and not the batmobile one. it's about a guy being passed over by a sleigh-driver after falling in the snow.) rudolph is her favorite and she sings it beginning to end over and over. frosty and jingle bells and "we wish you a merry christmas" and silent night are all runners-up. we've been doing our advent calendar (which became a hit in the craft blog world and is showing up all over the place (google "recycle advent calendar" and i'm the top three hits, crazy!). eva enjoys finding a new tiny ornament to hang on our (rosemary) christmas "tree". she's been sewing felt ornaments for her friends. sweetest of all is that larry has been reciting (from memory :) "twas the night before christmas" to her to fall asleep to many nights.

i'll have to catch up with news from maker faire, our month in ND, hazel's new tricks at 6 months, news of eva's growh from her endocrinologist appointment, etc. but all that must wait. i can smell that hazel to my left needs a diaper, and i was waiting until she woke up. she has now pushed herself up to semi-sitting and is happily watching TV along with her sister. oops.

in case i never catch up on all that, though, what i really want to record about this time is the sweetness, the goofy playfulness that inserts itself into our days together, the inquisitive learning and leaps of thought from eva that astound us, and the overall joy. this is a great time. tired and busy, but so happy. i would freeze time right here for a while if i could.