Avery has been in a particularly good mood lately, as is evident in these videos from the weekend. I love how she dances around and gets so much joy from her toy!

-M

I’ve had a rough week: Work was (unexpectedly) busy and a bit stressful, and I, in turn, was more tired and stressed than normal. As Zoe was heading to bed the other night, she cuddled up next to me and said, “I’m going to love you forever.” And suddenly, my week didn’t feel quite so bad…

-M

Yesterday marked the last day of Hanukkah, and the girls had a fabulous holiday. Highlights included lighting the candles (Zoe) or trying to light the candles (Avery), dancing around with Safta and PopPop (who were here for the first few nights) and Dan and Jenny, and, of course, opening presents. Here’s our last week in pictures.

-M

A year ago this week, I blogged about feeling bad about Avery’s little-sister status:

Things for Avery are way more chaotic than they ever were for Zoe: it seems like she’s always around loud talking/singing/crying, and she’s often poked, prodded and squeezed – especially when she’s eating. (For some reason, Zoe loves to come “see” Avery when she’s enjoying her milk.) She also doesn’t get our sole attention like Zoe did as a baby; I feel like much of Avery’s time is spent on the sidelines, watching us interact with her much more high-maintenance sister.

For many months I felt sad for Avery – even a bit guilty that I had her, since it felt like she was playing second-fiddle to her sister. I’m happy to report, though, that those feelings went away, for the most part, a long time ago. While it’s true that Zoe is still (relatively) high-maintenance, and Avery does her fair share of watching from the sidelines, Avery has emerged as a vocal and strong member of the family, too. (The first time I saw her pull Zoe’s hair in retaliation for something, I actually felt a little proud. This is a little girl who knows how to stand up for herself, I thought. We don’t have to worry about her!) Considering this and the the fact that Avery gets the love and attention of three people, not just two, I think Zoe’s little sister has it pretty good!

-M

And lastly, here’s a video of Zoe and her birthday buds being sung to this weekend. (No more kid-birthday posts until June – I promise!)

-M

Below are the promised pictures from Zoe’s party – a joint one with Zander and Miles that included a visit from Dora the Explorer. Given all the running around she did, it’s no surprise that Zoe’s celebration ended with a long (and much-needed) nap with Safta.

-M

Zoe’s birthday party was this morning. She seemed to enjoy herself (pictures coming soon), but having a party two weeks after her real birthday got her a bit confused. “I’m five!” she declared more than once. When we reminded her that she was only four, she explained that “Mommy said before that the next time I celebrated a birthday I’d be five.” Good point, Zoe!

-M

Last night marked the first night of Hanukkah, and there was plenty of excitement at our house. Here are some pics of the girls bouncing around with their dad and opening presents.

-M

Zoe knows all about Thanksgiving now (the teachers prepared the kids last week by talking about the upcoming feast), but she’s still a bit confused by the turkey. This morning, as we were playing with some of Avery’s toys, Zoe picked up a play platter of turkey and offered some to me. “It’s a feast chicken,” she said.

-M

Avery has shown little interest in TV – which is great – but she was quite happy to sit with her sister and watch a show the other morning. Once she and Zoe started fake-laughing, I grabbed the video camera (and I couldn’t help but laugh myself when Avery kept looking at it and saying “cheese”).

-M