this week in pictures

we awoke this morning to the first legitimate dusting of snow on the ground...not my favorite sight, but to make it this far without a few inches is something to be grateful for.  however, i will say that losing the perceived hour of daylight between michigan and illinois is really hard on the circadian rhythm.  the sun sets literally at 4pm here.  at 4:30 it's pitch black outside.  it leaves our bodies wondering why it's bedtime when we aren't even yet hungry for dinner, and leaves my brain wondering why i'm not busy knitting away with these kids long since shipped off to dreamland.

it also really complicates our ability to leave the house.  in addition to the usual obstacles (somebody, adults included, is always hungry or tired), winter brings far fewer hours of daylight, which really limits the areas we can walk/run around safely , and putting two kids in snowsuits and packing them into the stroller just to grab something from the drug store is often too daunting a thought to even consider.  thus, we become more sedentary and stir crazy these months...it has begun.

walking to whole foods at 5pm

we have been busy indoor bees this week.  as anticipated, the tree went up.  i can take absolutely no credit for it.  dad really took one for the team to provide us with the centerpoint of our holiday enjoyment, and enjoy we do.  i'm sitting next to it in its twinkly splendor as i type.  this is the first time bean can really appreciate it, and reese is doing so in his own way as well.

now that david cares about running and fitness again, our workouts have parted ways, as he's no longer interested in walking at a good clip while i jog beside him.  compounded with our 2 hours of daylight, i've said goodbye to my beloved runs by the lakeshore and have adapted to running in more populated areas, usually the magnificent mile.  it's crowded, but fortunately i don't run much faster than the window shoppers browse, so it's not too bad.  i take my camera to capture charming holiday moments like this:

sorry folks, she is wearing underwear.

the kids really got slammed with shots this week, four apiece.  we felt especially bad for bean, who we promised was only getting a flu shot, only to find that, attentive parents and practitioners we are, we totally overlooked her 15 month appointment.  so she got hit with flu and dtap, undoubtedly the most painful combination of vaccines possible, and two others for good measure.  i will maintain until i die that my most recent tdap was worse than reese's labor and delivery.  poor stinks.  but, they seem relatively unscathed and have been indulging me, dancing around to christmas music most hours of the day.

both of them have turned real corners in their eating.  reese developed a real taste for sweet potato/apple/carrot/prune puree that has him scarfing down bowls of cereal that would put some adults to shame.  bean has really excelled at using utensils.  not surprisingly, she's quite insistent upon it now.  she's not incredibly effective yet, but she refuses to eat at all unless she's holding a spoon, so she splatters food all over the kitchen while i sneak bites in her mouth.  clever as she is, she eventually catches on and needs to have spoons in both hands, so every meal requires at least three spoons.

and if she sees you using something besides a child appropriate utensil to feed yourself, be prepared to hand it over.

we bought some suction bowls to try and contain the mess somewhat and make it easier to aim the spoon without a moving target, but these were no match for the might of bean.

reese has gotten so proficient at eating and bean so exceptional at feeding, it was only a matter of time before the two of them joined forces:

bean has added to her repertoire of intelligible words "book" and "cup" although she uses these words for many objects not limited to books and cups.  she is also able to recognize some letters now.  she continues to say "dai dai" for bye bye, but lately she's been saving a "bah bah" exclusively for her friend the el train that passes frequently by her window.  she continues to expand upon her dance skills, and has developed a real fondness for the free credit score commercial, which she has fully choreographed.  reese continues to slither and nudge rather aggressively around the apartment and his dad claims he is starting to reach for us when we pick him up.

other than that, my fingers have been busy on the needles whatever spare moment or two i can find.  how is it that i've been knitting non stop and have only two xmas projects completed, and one turned out rather poorly (sorry, dad)?  fortunately, i'm not knitting so much that i no longer enjoy it (so it's hard to imagine when that point would come), but the project i just started is really rather taxing.

say what you will, but to me this appears to be more thread than yarn.  it's so delicate, my needles feel dopey trying to poke their blunt noses through the loops, and this project is not incredibly forgiving of fat, dirty, curious little hands and mouths.  it doesn't lend itself to mom knitting, so it's progressing quite slowly.  so slowly that i've been working on a side project that moves rather fast so i can still feel a sense of accomplishment.

i can't remember how old i was when my grandma gave me my first pair of needles and yarn, but i think it was before i started school...certainly a needle and thread was.  right now bean takes a real interest in anything i'm doing, but i'm really excited for her dexterity and attention span to grow to the point where we can spend long hours knitting together and sipping tea.  and reese, too.