Happy New Year!

Hannah and Leah are 1 year, 2months, 2 weeks and 6 days old and Joseph is 3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days old. The girls stayed awake past 8 o'clock last night (usually they are crashing and rubbing eyes by 6:30), but perhaps it was a sugar induced spurt of energy from the chocolate cake or all the excitement of running around with friends. And speaking of running, Leah actually has quite the fast dash. Especially when she doesn't want to get caught with something, like say for instance when she steals something from a cabinet or grabs her sister's pacifiers out of her crib. Leah shoots out of the room as fast as she can go and takes off down the dining room stretch before anyone can catch her. (and no, Leah does not actually use the pacifier since she very much enjoys her thumb, she just finds it amusing to steal them away from Hannah). Both girls have been making a lot of jibber jabber, but they've also started using more words. Hannah says drink, up, mama, dada, uh-oh, whoa, doggie, mange (Italian for eat) and sometimes will repeat things like cracker and shoe. Joseph knows many words of course, though now some of them are bigger and longer (like frustrated), and he has been emphasizing by using "very, very" lately (like I am very, very frustrated). He has also memorized quite a few books, and recognizes the letters that the words start with and uses his finger to trace them while pretending to read (amazing how many words he gets right). And let's see, what about Jay and I. I have almost mastered the Santori family lasagna (if only I could time things right to allow for it to set), I can pick up and carry two one year olds at the same time (not as easy as you would think), and as of today I now have glasses. Not officially or required by law, but to aid with seeing in the dark and far distances (I'm thrilled, really). Jay has turned into the best xbox kinect dance revolution dancer this side of the Mississippi and can race his car in hot pursuit which such skill and speed it would blow your mind. Much more useful skills that he has developed (though you never know when we might be in a dance competition or high speed chase) is the ability to transform a transformer (despite that they are apparently suitable for preschoolers I am not able to perform this task) and fix things around the house (leaky things, broken things, waspy things). Neither of us have yet mastered how to tame a tantrumous toddler, but hey, you have to have something to work on right? Let's just hope we pick up a few new skills before the girls turn 2 later this year. Happy 2011!