Old Man Winter Strikes Again

Somehow, Mother Nature saw fit to give us just enough ice overnight that Mom (and by default the girls) scored yet another snow day. For those of you not keeping score at home, that marks 10 of the last 11 days (be it for weekends, weather related cancellations or because of MLK Day) that Mom has been able to spend the entire day with the girls. With a snow dump in the forecast for later this week, we get the feeling that there will be an elongated amount of bonding time still to come.

Gwendolyn spent her holiday yesterday getting an assessment from a speech therapist. While she’s not significantly behind her sister currently, we want to make sure she doesn’t lag there for long. So, she will be adding speech to her regularly scheduled physical and occupational therapy visits. Speaking of physical therapy, Gwendolyn also had a P.T. session yesterday as well. She did exceptionally yet again. Each day her leg strength continues to increase which is an incredible sign.

Another interesting Gwendolyn development is that she seems to be growing apart from her beloved binky. Of late, Mom and Dad have noticed that in circumstances where she used to rely on it, Gwen has begun actually swatting it out of her mouth if it’s placed there by one of us. That combined with the fact that Mom had to purchase her a “2T” outfit for the first time this weekend, is yet another reminder that they are growing up all too quickly!!!

Poor Braelyn still struggles with the best way to offer affection to her sister (at least we THINK that's what she's attempting to do). Lately, she’s been trying to snuggle up nice and close to Gwendolyn… But more often than not, she gets a little too close and winds up sitting ON Gwendolyn instead. Needless to say, as a result of all that extra time spent at home with Mom, this has happen more an more as Braelyn tries to jockey for Mom’s affection. At the end of the day though it still seems to be Braelyn attempting to show just how much she loves her sister. For instance, whenever Gwen cries, Braelyn waddles over and plops down right next to her, often times trying to pat her head, as if to say “its okay.” This weekend, Dad even noticed Braelyn continually lying down next to Gwendolyn on her blanket when a cry-fest ensued. Who knows, maybe that’s just Braelyn’s attempt of saying “It wasn’t me, Dad. Look, I’m sleeping over here so I couldn’t have done anything to make her cry!”

;)

The girls are beginning to enjoy eating outside of their highchair more and more. The older they get, the better they seem to be at keeping their food on their tray or in their mouth. The dogs don’t seem overly thrilled with this new development. Still, outside of our scrap-hungry dogs, Mom and Dad are pleased to report it’s made multi-tasking much easier. Whenever we aren’t all confined to the kitchen for snack time, it affords us the chance to fold laundry or vacuum while they eat.

Ah, the simple pleasures of parenthood!