It is inching closer and closer to Christmas and I know it will be here soon. I still want to do so much! Make more cookies, go to the Holiday of Lights, take the girls to see Santa (even if Ava is afraid!), go to the Nighttime Zoo festivities...there just isn't enough time! Ava and my mom made some ornaments for the tree and Ava and I painted them, they turned out really cute. She doesn't have the attention span at this point to finish a project so I usually end up finishing it, along with cleaning up a huge mess. But that's ok, at least she is exposed to different activities and to art. Thanks mostly to my mom. She brings over her "lesson plans" and has so many ideas of what to do with Ava to help develop artistic creativity. Ava is in a huge puzzle phase right now. She loves doing puzzles and she is good at it! She can do a 23 piece puzzle all by herself and does a Sesame Street puzzle book with 5 different puzzles in it over and over again. Ava continues to say the most incredible things! Of course as I am writing I can't think of anything specific, but she really knows exactly what is going on. My favorite parts of my day are when I go to get her out of bed and lay down next to her and she just starts talking up a storm about her dreams or what she wants to do or what we did yesterday. (basically all things happened "yesterday" even if it was a few days or a week ago). It is such a magical time of day for her when everything is fresh and she says "Good Morning Mommy!!". Then I get her dressed and sometimes it all falls apart and she gets in a mood or sometimes her good mood when she wakes up carries through the morning. But before she gets out of bed, she is just so lovable. My other favorite time of day is when I walk in the door after coming home from school. She runs to me with urgent news about what she is doing with Jeanette. She is so excited about is and she yells "HI MOMMY!" and gives me a huge hug. It is the best!
Lucy is now sitting stable, so that is encouraging. She still needs a pillow behind her, but overall, she is pretty stable. She wants to crawl so badly! She just can't seem to prop herself up. If she is laying down, she is like an upside-down potato bug, she can't right herself. She gets so mad when she wants something and can't reach it. It must be very frustrating not to be able to move forward to get what you want. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth with so much enthusiasm, it is incredible! She is extremely driven to get what she wants! She is as passionate as Ava is, but where Ava is thoughtful, Lucy is impulsive. It is so interesting to see their differences, even though Lucy is so young, there is little that is similar between them, apart from their appearance. They truly look alike, but Lucy seems younger than Ava was at this age. Ava seemed more grown up, even back then. Lucy is much more of a cuddler, a baby-baby. Ava was more on top of her game at that age. I remember driving up to Passover in Newport Beach with Ava in the backseat and Ava basically demanded that I read her the Farm book over and over and over. She got upset whenever I stopped reading it. When I read to Lucy, she just lunges toward the book with her entire being and wants to eat it. She loves pictures in books and is excited when I read to her, but it is hard when she just wants the book in her mouth. It is especially frustrating to Ava when I attempt to read to the two of them together. I get Ava's point of view that Lucy wants everything she sees...she does!
I love my two wonderful girls so much and am excited everyday as they grow and change. A big part of me doesn't want them to grow any bigger. I just want them to stay like this forever. But I am also thrilled when they reach new milestones in their development. Parenting is a complete and total paradox! And I love it.
