Another Friday, another playdate for Avery. Here are a few pics from our sunny morning yesterday with Natalia and (9-month-old) Miles.

-M

Speaking of waking up, Zoe recently started going straight for her sister’s room – and into Avery’s crib – in the mornings. (It’s great for us: It gives us a few extra minutes to stay in bed.) The photo below is the scene from this morning: Avery, who had been perfectly fine up until I walked in, very much wanted to get out – but Zoe was perfectly content to hang out there with her hippo.

-M

Those happy parenting moments I mentioned below? They also often occur when Avery first wakes up and happily greets us in the morning or post-nap; here she is one recent afternoon.

-M

There’s a very memorable line in a very not-memorable movie that Q and I saw a few months ago. In The Back-Up Plan, a young father is describing parenthood to someone without kids. “It’s awful, awful, awful, awful,” he said. “Then a small moment happens that’s so magical – that makes it all worthwhile.”

Why has this line stuck with me? Because it’s so true. Okay, I don’t agree that parenting is awful, but it does have its moments – like when Zoe gets so angry that she calls one of us names, when Avery throws a fit and tosses food on the floor at dinner, or when both girls are grumpy/whiny/extra clingy at the same time. (All of these things have happened within the last week.) The other day I got so frustrated that I announced to Q that I had had it – “I’m just going to get in the car and drive away,” I told him. (Of course I didn’t.)

And those “magical” moments? I get those, too – like one recent, brilliant afternoon when the girls and I were listening to music and doing art projects together (and I felt like I didn’t have a care in the world), when Zoe one day told me – out of the blue – that she was going to love me forever, and when I opened my eyes this morning to Avery’s round little face about two inches from mine. (“Ma-ma!” she said excitedly.) It’s times like these, as the guy said, that make the bad stuff worth it.

-M

A few days ago, after Avery knocked down (another) one of Zoe’s block creations, Zoe commented, “I wish she could be a big girl by now.” It’s got to be frustrating to have a little sibling constantly taking or ruining your stuff (as the baby in my own family, this isn’t something I ever experienced) – and I can see why Zoe wishes Avery was older. With that said, Zoe remains very loving, and she’s usually quite patient with her sister (only occasionally yelling or lashing out when Avery does something naughty to her). And their age difference doesn’t stop them from playing and having fun together – as you’ll see below.

-M

Before we left for Napa on Friday, Zoe and I met up with Zander and Xavier at the California Academy of Sciences. We weren’t there long (going on Good Friday, when a lot of kids have off school = bad idea) – but long enough for the three to visit the aquarium and do some artwork.

-M

Shortly before Avery was born, we took Zoe to Scientopia, a children’s “discovery center” in Napa. (It’s one of my last, pre-Avery memories with Zoe.) I’ve wanted to go back ever since, and we finally made it there this weekend. Like last time, Zoe did art work, had a puppet show and ran around in the play houses and grocery store; this time around, though, she had a playmate!

-M

Last weekend Q and Zoe joined the family at a Nationals game, and we finally have a few pictures to post. (As you’ll see, Zoe got a bit sleepy during the game.) No pictures of Gil as promised – but I assure you he was there!

-M

I had a hard time getting a good picture of the girls dressed up for Passover (together), but Q managed to get a few photos of the girls and me separately. And check out the side-by-side pictures of Zoe from last year and this year – it’s amazing the difference one year makes!

-M

We’re back from a whirlwind trip east, and a taste of our trip is below. Among the highlights: a birthday celebration for Safta, a baseball game for Zoe and the gang, and a Passover celebration for the family.

(Oh, and those pictures of Gil that I promised? He wasn’t feeling well, and so we don’t have tons – but there are some photos of him from the game floating around… I hope to post those soon.)

-M

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A few mornings last week Q and I woke up to giggles coming from Avery’s room. Zoe had bypassed our room and gone straight to her sister’s when she woke up, and the two of them (with Avery still in her crib) were now playing, talking, laughing – and acting like geniune friends. It really struck me: We have two little girls now. Avery is hardly a baby anymore.

In terms of our younger little girl’s temperament and activities, she hasn’t changed terribly much since last month. She still loves running around the house, preparing food in her sister’s kitchen, cuddling with and feeding her baby doll, and playing (and being affectionate) with her sister. (Hide-and-seek is one of their favorite games.) She loves going out – when it’s time to leave in the morning she’ll wave and say “bye-bye” and run to the door, and she’s often getting my purse or coat (“coat!” she’ll cry out) for me. She continues to mimic Zoe: She always wants to play with what Zoe is playing with or doing what Zoe is doing. As an example, she saw that Zoe had milk on her cereal one morning and insisted that Q pour some on her cereal, too. (She communicated this by a combination of pointing and saying one word – something we see a lot of these days.)

She is always chattering away, and Q commented to me that new (real) words are increasingly included in her monologues. The words we hear most often are “yeh!” and “okay!” – which she always says excitedly – and, of course, “mine.” (She doesn’t say “no” that much; she usually just shakes her head or runs away to get her point across.) She also loves to sing: It’s common for her to belt out the ABCs or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star when she’s riding in the car or lying in bed. And at the end of most songs – hers or mine – she claps.

She’s been a bit more tantrum-y lately, as previously mentioned. She tends to cry dramatically and/or go in the corner and pout if she doesn’t get what she wants. Dinnertime has been especially difficult lately: She has become very finicky (it’s the age, I know), and tends to get upset if we offer her something that doesn’t appeal to her. She has had a few time-outs, during which we put her in her crib for a few minutes – and she’s (usually) quick to apologize for her foul behavior afterwards.

I mentioned last month that she’s more open to new people and experiences, but that’s not always the case. She was quite shy during a recent playdate, she was a little freaked out about the giant Elmo at the zoo, and when Zoe’s teachers watched her during our recent parent-teacher conference, Avery sat at a little table – and didn’t move – for 30 minutes. (She wasn’t upset, though – and it probably helped that Zoe was standing next to her most of the time!) I think it’s going to take a bit of time before she’s completely out of her shell!

-M

Zoe talks quite a bit about her uncle Gil and how he lives in Israel. “He can still come over,” she recently said of him. “He just needs an airplane.” Well, little did she know that he soon would get on an airplane and come over to Safta and PopPop’s house; he surprised much of the family by flying in last week, the day before we arrived.

Our own trip here has been short – we’re flying home tomorrow – but we’ll post more, including pics of Gil, soon.

-M

Avery’s a big fan of food: She’s often running in the kitchen, opening cupboards, and pointing to what she wants to eat. (“Coo-kie,” she’ll say if she wants something sweet – whether it’s a cookie or not.) The other night she managed to get in the freezer and, despite her dad’s pleas, run off with the raspberry sorbet. Q took her picture and then, presumably, steered to her a better dinner option!

-M

Every few weeks, Zoe gets to do a show-and-tell in front of her class. One time she brought in a favorite book (The Monster at the End of this Book); another time she shared a photo of the four of us vacationing in Phoenix. For today’s presentation, she chose to bring Hippo – or, rather, a photo of Hippo, since toys and stuffed animals aren’t allowed – and she was so excited to share him with the class.

Just how much does Zoe adore this stuffed animal? She’s constantly playing with him, reading to him and throwing him little parties – and she can’t sleep without him. And the other day, when she was being particularly naughty and I threatened to take Hippo away from her, she cried out, “But you can’t! I love him so much!” (Awww…)

-M

My mom recently bought matching pajamas for Avery and her beloved baby. Getting a good photo of the PJ-clad twins proved challenging – but the ones below are still pretty fun.

-M