Miriam, you're doing it wrong

*** oh my god. I wrote this so long ago and never published it! So long, in fact, I refer to Miriam as 1 year old and none of this is still true! whoops! well enjoy. I don't think the story has a shelf life. Should still be good, if not a bit stale ***

Miriam is so so so brilliant. She's clever; does very well communicating her wants and needs; easy to understand; patient about her limitations. She's seriously an exceptional child (says the mother) and I hope everyone reading this can be lucky enough to interact with her beautiful personality. 

But. But. She's still a one year old and doesn't quite grasp why or how we do the things she sees us doing. And so she's often doing them wrong. 

Here's a list of examples I've compiled, addressed to Miriam. 

Miriam, my love, You're Doing It Wrong

Using an umbrella: Get under the umbrella. Under. 

Trying to climb over the back of the couch: You feel you need to start from a lie down position on the seat cushions and climb your toes up first. Entertaining and painful to watch. And slow. So slow. 

Using binoculars: No. No. Just no. Backwards and pointed into the couch with your eyes sealed shut.

Sleeping: anywhere but here my dear

Playing with the dollhouse: No it's not your house. 

Giving baby a hug: Looks like choking. Probably feels like it too. 

Eating pizza: starts from the mid point, upside down.

Applying lip balm: you missed your lips but got your eyeballs. Impressive.

Saying Cheese

Washing your hands

Eating yogurt: that's Princess Amber, upside down, serving as your spoon. 

*the post ends here like this. I'm going to leave it as is. I'm sure I was waiting for Miriam to screw up some other simple task and provide more content for the post. And while I'm sure she did do that, I completely forgot what I was doing and here we are. xo

Miriam's 1 Year Photos

My good friend Marlo is a wonderfully talented photographer and Miriam and I had the privilege to spend an afternoon with her a couple days before Miriam's first birthday. Here's some of my favourites from that day.

Last night, as I was putting Miriam to bed I realised I'm going to miss the sound of her sucking her thumb. It's one of my favourite noises.

 This adorable headband lasted in her hair a whole 10 seconds

 Eating baby treats as efficiently as possible. Food may not have been the best pacifyer for our model.

At one point she started playing peek-a-boo with her dress. Where's Miriam???

 There she is!

and so on

 A behind-the-scenes candid moment

 That day we had just had a big snowfall, first or second of the season. It was so beautiful.

 Miriam really wanted to get outside and play

She settled for cuddles and kisses.

I'm sad our first year with Miriam is already over but we are so lucky to have more to come. Thank you Marlo for capturing this brief moment in time.

Aedia's Fourth Birthday Party!

My niece, Aedia, turned FOUR YEARS OLD yesterday. Meanwhile, I haven't aged a day...
Time does fly.

 The birthday girl with one of her amazing grandpas. 

Lucky girl had all her grandparents there!

As you can see she is wearing her "Christmas dress" even though it's her birthday.

(her words)

 Aedia was very good about reading all the cards before opening each gift.

But she was very serious about getting those gifts open when it came to it.

Georgina was also very helpful through the whole process. She believes in efficiet gift-unwrapping and will lend a hand where she sees fit.

  Katie made delicious cake! Or trifle. yummy yummy. 

It was oreo and strawberry at Aedia's request. Girl has great tastes.

Can't talk. Eating cake. 

This was the only moment of silence all evening.

And here's a little video of the evening.

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY AEDIA. 

You're growing up so fast and so beautifully.

Tot Romp

This morning Dave apparently gave Georgina pure sugar for breakfast because she was running around the house in circles just screaming (I'm not positive he did but she was exceptional today). I packed up the girls and brought them to tot romp, an indoor playground organised at the community centre for daily drop ins, in the hopes of burning off all that energy. We met up with Georgina's good friend Jackson and his little brother Oliver.

Miriam drove around

 While G did some climbing

Miriam scooted

While G worked on her balance beam skills. Look at that form!

Miriam played with Oliver

And Georgina played with Jackson

The parachute was the highlight.

Both girls fell asleep as soon as we got home so I would say it was a success! That or G was crashing from her sugar high. Here's a video summery of the day.

**You can click on the video to enlarge it if you would like.

Georgina Dancing

Since she was a baby Georgina has loved music. She would only fall asleep if Dave sang to her for an hour until she was a year and a half. She would only tolerate a car ride if someone was singing Wheels on the Bus nonstop. And still now, if we're having a bad day, turning on some music turns the  whole day around. Check out her moves she's been honing since the day she was born.