NASTICS!

Or as most people pronounce it, GYMNASTICS! Amalia and Domi have been taking this great gymnastics class through the park district. It's 45 bucks for ten weeks! They have a spring floor and rings and trampolines! Sometimes I love this city.
Domingo is in the "big kids" class. Parents don't go up with them because the teachers say that when the parents are around the kids don't pay as much attention. Amalia is in the Moms' and Tots' class. I get to race after Amalia on the obstacle course and the highlight of the entire day, aside from swinging on the rings, is that if they make it around the course, they get a stamp! Amalia for hours will proudly show you the ink stamp on her hand and usually wants more.
Since we started gymnastics, Amalia has been practicing at home by doing something insane and then yelling TA-DA! If she could keep it to just jumping off the couch and not the other furniture, then I'd be ok with it. Anyway, here are some pictures from our awesome time at NASTICS!

22 months already!

Did I miss something? Oh yes, in less than 2 short months this little lady will be 2 years old. I can't believe it.
Amalia you are just a marvel. Everyone who meets you says the same things over and over, you are so adorable, you are so funny, you are so mischievous, you are so sweet. It's true, you have developed this really great personality that is all your own. And just as you are talking more and more, you are exerting a little more of your own independence, and moving away from always being so compliant with me, your dad, and most importantly and surprisingly, your brother! I knew the day would come when the scales would fall from your eyes and you would see that your brother was not the idol you made him out to be, I just didn't expect it to be this soon! While you still adore him and pretty much want to do everything that he is doing, you have stopped accepting his "trades" of cruddy non-toys that he offers when ever you have something that he wants to play with. You assert your own wants and this will very often lead to conflict, but you are no push over, even when it comes to fighting with your big brother. Hmm, I wonder where all this spiritedness could have come from?
Oh speaking of non-inherited traits, you are as stubborn as any person, or horse/donkey hybrid I have ever met or read about. If there is something you want to do or don't want to do it is just about impossible to change your mind or get you to forget about it. This has become a bit of a problem in the mornings when we have to leave for work and you weren't quite done with us yet. You pout and cry and stomp your feet and it is really an impressive show. The best still remains your angry pouting hominid face, complete with lower lip jutting out and brown prominently ridged. I must get a photo of this, but it is often a fleeting expression since once you see the camera you start hamming it up.
It really is wonderful that we've moved into this great house with its nice little yard. You love nothing more than going outside playing in the dirt, rubbing it in your hair (again, you and your brother don't seem to share a single characteristic and if you didn't look so much a like I would think you were switched at birth, or maybe he was!) and playing in the great outdoors. You even like the train and always let me know that it's going by.
It's hard for me to realize in the fast day to day how much you've really changed and grown in the past few months, but looking back to the monthdays-past I can really see the difference and it is incredible. My little peanut is a giant walking, talking, singing, dancing, running, climbing, "nastics" doing girl. But as I snuggle next to you when it's time to sleep and you pat my face oh so gently as you fall asleep, I know too that you are still my sweet little baby.
Love,
Mama

Spring time Sibs!

It's really true! I was driving home today and saw little leaf buds on every tree. Spring really is here!
The kids have been having some spring fun by going out in the back yard, planting seeds in containers and Spring "cleaning" both the garden and the house.

I missed Amalia's monthday post last month, but suffice it to say that the terrible twos come early around these parts. Amalia is now the same age Domingo was when she was born, and she is by far much clingy-er and more jealous than he ever was despite there being no new-born to compete for my time and attention. And not to take the comparison too far, but she is also much more prone to "tantrum" then Domingo ever was. I suspect it is partly due to the fact that he was much more verbal than she is and was able to talk things through at a much earlier age. But that doesn't account for it all. Amalia just has a much fiestier personality. Domingo has two modes, happy and miserable. He very rarely gets angry, and when he does its more like a flash and loss of control where he'll clench his teeth and fists and grunt or shout and then in a second, it's over. Not so with little miss tantrum-in-the-middle-of-Target. She has the perfect little angry Neanderthal face when she doesn't get her way or when she is frustrated, or generally displeased, which is more often than you might think. It is hard being a toddler with lots of wants, particularly with a mom who denies you unlimited cookies, power tools for toys, and doesn't even have her own ipod! (The fact that she at 21 months is perfectly able to navigate Chris's ipod touch blows me away!)
But despite her entering the terrible twos with gusto, she still has moments of unbearable sweetness. She hugs and kisses just about everyone she sees. She always says "Thanks!" when you give her anything, especially "yummyyummycheese."
She loves Domi even when he's making her life miserable: stealing her toys, demanding his story be read first, pushing her, tricking her, eating her candy, and basically paying me back for every mean thing I ever did to my sister and brother as a child, and there were lots. But there are really great moments between them too. Today I was changing her diaper, which she continues to hate, she said "Domi, Amalia's crying!" and he came over and said "It's ok Amalia, don't cry." It was one of those incredibly sweet exchanges that you hope for when you have more than one child. Of course it immediately devolved into snatching and grabbing of toys, but I captured the moment in my mind.
Here are some more Easter photos. The kids had a really great Easter in Morris, and who wouldn't with all that chocolate!