Spring is here and Vera is all about the outside world. She gazes out the windows longingly and walks right up to the front door and tries to pry it open with her little fingers. We've been going on lots of walks through the neighborhood, made several trips to the park, and are spending tons of time on the back porch. Yesterday I filled up a couple containers with water and she went crazy, pouring and dipping and filling and dumping for what felt like forever (Probably only 30 minutes...but in toddler time, this is like sitting down to watch two movies in a row!).

She is also learning how to drink out of a cup without the sippy cup lid. At daycare the other kids in her class don't use sippy cups, so she's started to refuse drinks in sippy cups at home, trying to pry the lids off herself. She definitely had some good drinking from a cup practice during the water play. And she especially liked it when I'd pour water out of her new watering can and she'd dance in and out of the sprinkles.

What fun! Happy Spring to everybody!!

gettin artsy

A couple shots from our brief but impressive artsy experiment

on the back porch yesterday.

Don't worry-it's non toxic paint!

Love, jesse.

Movin on up!

Vera has had a busy week! She moved up to the one year old classroom at daycare, so instead of being the oldest kid in the class, she's now the youngest one by several months. She is loving the new toys and the new climbing structure. Her teacher says that the other kids try to look out for her and cuddle with her and she's not having any of it - she wants to play like a big girl! On her first day in the new room, she got a pot and a whisk from the play kitchen and started "cooking" and then she put plates on the table and sat down.

Besides all that excitement, we had a visit from Gramma Sue, Great Gramma and Grampa Fleming, Aunt Katy and little baby Ellie! It was wonderful to have them here, and a real treat for us all. Vera was very curious about Ellie and had one eye on her at all times. At one point, Gramma Sue handed the little baby off to someone else, and Vera ran all the way across the room to get on Sue's lap. She was ready for some Gramma-Love.

Today, Vera and Mike and I went swimming at the YMCA and then walked home in the sunshine. When we got home Vera marched out on the backporch, sat down next to Sabine and signed "food"...she wanted her snack, and she wanted it outside. It was a great idea. She sat and had snack and then played by herself on the porch while I watched from the kitchen window a couple feet away. It was pretty darn adorable. She had a full conversation with Sabine, waving her graham cracker in the air and talking away and then pausing to gently pet her, take a swig of juice from her sippy cup and then talk some more. She sat quietly next to Sabine for a couple peaceful minutes before tromping back into the house and signing "more, more, more".

Being able to communicate with her is the best. This kid is hilarious and we love her so.

jesse

A little bit of box play.

This box has sat in our living room for a month. Vera has pretty much ignored it.

Today I put it on its side and she was all about it.

One million apologies for the shaky camera work.

Enjoy!

Snow Day!

With 1-2 inches of snow sticking on the ground we're enjoying a quiet day of no daycare and no work. Thought I might as well take Vera outside this morning to experience the fluffy white stuff and see what all the fuss is about. She was in awe..plodding down the snow covered street in front of our house leaving little pint sized foot prints and trudging down the hill into our side yard. She was unusually silent, just looking around and taking it all in. She kept pointing to the trees and the cars and the houses and looking to me for some explanation. I gave her a pretty good tutorial on snow angel making and demonstrated multiple times, but she just looked at me like I was crazy. I couldn't bring myself to drag her down in the snow with me (sorry Katy!) All was well till she hit an unexpected snow covered curb and face-planted in the chilly white stuff. She came up screaming, with a completely white, snow covered face-tongue out licking and spitting snow. We headed inside, where she was able to dry off and warm up and within minutes of being freed from her snowsuit she ran over to the couch pointing up to the window. She spent the next half an hour balancing on pillows looking outside, curious to see more of the snow

..but from a distance.

Happy winter to all!

Jesse

ps. just realized the pictures posted in backwards order. But you get the idea!

2009 - Love it.

We are feeling so lucky. We had a magical Xmas in Miami, where we got to meet and love on our Vera's cousins Isabela and Mia which was such a treat. On Christmas Eve we had an almost surreal trip to the Miami Zoo with Grandma Mary. There was hardly anyone there-and we got to see so many wonderful animals- Mike and Vera even got to feed the giraffes! After a very relaxing holiday we returned home to a Super Sushi extravaganza New Year in Asheville with Pop and Uncle Anthony. And then last weekend we visited the Hansen clan in Raleigh and got to meet and adore our new cousin Ellie and celebrate Xmas all over again!

It has been a month of play and fascination for Vera. She has been such a sweet and patient traveler- always herself even in strange new circumstances- she's such a trooper! She is growing and changing every day and becoming more of a little independent person. She is loving all her new Christmas toys. It seems like before Xmas she played with paper towel tubes and golf balls and now post Xmas, she's all about her new doll house, her blocks, her baby doll and her little tent. Though I did find a couple golf balls in the doll house the other day. She's having a great time, and working hard to express herself more and more-which is a huge treat for us. I can't wait till she can tell me exactly what she's thinking. As of now- I've got her making some pretty accurate monkey noises when we look at pictures of monkeys and she's quick to announce "uh-oh" after she throws (with some serious force) her sippy cup down from the high chair or pushes a block tower to the ground. Lots of giggling, plenty of dancing, and a tremendous amount of running away at full speed with high pitched squeals and blowing kisses.

Good times, good times. Love to all, jesse.

YaY!!! Eleanor Claire is here!

A fantastic and whole hearted "Welcome, Baby!" to our new sweet cousin,

Eleanor Claire Hamilton

We can't wait to meet you!

Love and Joy and Happy New Year to all. What a wonderful world!

love,

jesse and mike and vera grace.