1/4/13

I'm quickly discovering how much I love doing this!  It forces me to take five minutes and create a lasting memory, all while stirring a spirit of thankfulness within me.

Recently I've been remembering how early Em gave up her naps.  When she was Sophie's age, she was pretty much done with naps.  Sophie, on the other hand, is a wonderful sleeper.  She sleeps almost twelve hours most nights, and still usually takes a two hour snooze in the afternoons!  Here she is this morning as we most often find her: clutching her bunny with a book or two within reach.

1/3/13

Sophie is a big fan of Diego these days, and she is forever asking to read this book.  Today she pointed to an animal in the book and said "what dis mommy"?  I was folding laundry, but glanced over quickly and told her it was a monkey.  She looked at me, smiled, and said "no, mommy dat a sloth".  Yup, I was just corrected by my toddler.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily,

Today we celebrated your fifth birthday, just two days after we welcomed your first cousin into the world: Julia Beth Plantinga! These five years have been filled with lots of growth and change, and it's hard at this point to imagine life without you, or even what you were like when you were only two or three years old. I think this picture from earlier this week of you making a snow angel captures it well: you are growing up so quickly that your mother and I can hardly keep up. Even your coat and snow pants barely fit (and if you knew the effort your mother makes to keep you girls not just clothed, but stylishly clothed, all while trying to appease the cheap Dutchman she married, you would know that she is not often ill-prepared in the clothing department). You have grown up so much, and I am incredibly proud of the little girl you have quickly become. You are smart, cheerful, caring, obedient, empathetic, and a great deal more.

I am perhaps most impressed at what a wonderful big sister you are to Sophie. All the instruction manuals for raising children say that when you have a second child, the first child is supposed to get jealous and whiny and generally behave badly. Well, you did not read any of those instruction manuals. Instead, for five days in a row before Sophie was born, you woke up in the morning and asked "baby Sophie come out?". You were ecstatic when you met her. When you first met her, you were happily munching on saltine crackers and I told you that Sophie was hungry. You immediately handed her your last cracker (a food which the toddler version of you often acquired by throwing tantrums). Others in the room didn't seem to think much of that, but I knew then that you were head over heels. Since that time, you have continued to ignore those instruction manuals, and been incredibly loving and caring to your little sister. You are what I call a "little mother" to her.

Sometimes I try to explain some of this to you when I tuck you in at night, but you are still only five years old and often just worried about how many stories we can read before I turn the lights out. So instead I'm writing it here, where you can read it once you are older. Perhaps it will be when you are a teenager and you have decided that your father has ruined your life by embarrassing you.

In any case, I'm so glad I got to help you celebrate your fifth birthday. As I write this on a cold day in January, my only regrets are that I can't take you camping right now (something you bring up FREQUENTLY), and that I am finishing graduate school and am often too busy to spend more time with you. Happy birthday Em, I can't wait to spend another year with you!

Love,

Daddy

1/2/13

Today we celebrated Emily's 5th birthday.  She requested a dinner of chicken nuggets and french fries, with ice cream for dessert.  She got to do pretty much whatever she wanted, which included skipping rest time in lieu of watching her Felicity (American Girl) movie, having a lot of chocolate milk, and opening another round of presents. We love you, Em!

1/1/13

This year, my resolution is to capture our everyday life in snapshots, and upload the pictures to our blog.  I have no idea who will be interested, or if I can really keep it up, but it seemed like a good goal.  To start things off, here is a picture of the girls after they have "helped" me bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies!

Merry Christmas

It is Christmas Eve and after a long drive back to Pittsburgh last night, Sophie woke up this morning, ate breakfast, and just spoke her longest sentence yet. She is repeating it like a mantra.

"I can't wait open presents.  I can't wait open presents!"

Merry Christmas!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sophie!

Dear Sophie,

Two already?!  How did that happen?  Just today I was recounting the story of how we packed up our entire house and moved two states away when you were only three weeks old.  Telling that story makes me feel like superwoman, and also like I might be a teensy bit crazy.  Why would someone voluntarily do that?  But I digress.  When I was talking about that time period, it didn't seem all that long ago.  Yet when I look at you, in all of your spirited, toddler glory, there is no denying that you no longer even remotely resemble that newborn who travelled to Pittsburgh with us two years ago.

Sophie, let me begin by saying that you possess a lively spirit.  All someone has to do is look in your eyes - at the way they positively glow when you smile, or when you're being chased, or when you have just stolen something that you know you shouldn't have - and your exuberance for life is abundantly clear.  But this spirit also means you have a strong opinion on, well, almost everything.  At home, you're not shy about letting us know when you feel something is not going your way.  Oh the squealing sounds that you can make!  I feel certain they would rival a stuck pig.  In other people's care, though, you seem to be slightly more amiable.  At church, where you play three morning a week while I work, they ADORE you.   They tell me of your kindness, your empathy, your intelligence, and your enthusiasm.  And I believe them, for I have seen these things too.  But they do not believe me when I mention the squealing, Sophie Grace.

You never stop, and while I know people say this about most little kids, it seems even more true for you.  You conquer physical feats that continue to surprise and amaze me; walking down steps with no railing, climbing up slides, hanging from tree branches, turning every curb into your personal balance beam, outrunning kids older than yourself, and once, climbing out of your crib when you were not happy about being placed there for a timeout.  Thankfully, that feat has not been repeated.  I will not be at all surprised if you excel in a variety of sports later in life, my little monkey.  You love to sing, to dance, to jump (you'll follow me around sometimes, saying "I hopping!" over and over again), to color, to swing, to read.  But most of all, you love to do whatever your sister is doing.  You're learning about sharing, though we've got a long ways to go.

Some of my favorite things about you are the way you'll read books with me, almost always finishing a sentence if I stop.  I love the concern that you show when anyone else is upset, frequently being the first to comfort your sister.  I love the way you sing every word of "Silent Night" and "Jesus Loves Me" with me when I am putting you to sleep.  I love that you sleep almost twelve hours at night and still usually take a two hour nap during the day.  I love that you have a passion for footwear, often changing your shoes several times a day before settling on yellow and pink polka dot rain boots.  I love the way you giggle, the way you frown, the way that you yell "I gotch you!" after you tag me.  I am so thankful that God chose me to be your mommy, and I will always, always be there for you.  Happy second birthday!

Love,

Mommy