Trade you

A miracle has occured at our house. Lily and Elsa have learned to say "trade you" before they have learned the word "mine." Oh, happy day! The girls are into trading everything. They are really adorable. They go up to each other and say "trade you." Then they switch toys and stuffed animals. They have even applied this concept to food, plates and sippy cups. They'll be halfway through a meal and decide to trade their forks, or chicken nuggets or scrambled eggs. It is getting pretty wild around here.

Of course they still fight and steal each other's toys. It can be a one-sided negotiation depending on how badly the other wants the object. But, at least now the grabbing is prefaced with a polite "trade you."



Elsa holds the toy trumpet, while Lily blows. (and yes, they are still obsessed with the cardboard boxes). They've figured out how to make the trumpet make noise.


Mark was so excited that he excavated his trumpet from the back of the closet to give the girls a lesson. Here Lily is learning to press the buttons.


Elsa gets a chance to work the mouthpiece.


They are also getting pretty good with their silverware. Here's Elsa showing off her skills. As you can see, they've graduated from their high chairs into booster seats. They now sit at the table with us.


We've also started doing artprojects. Here are Elsa (L) and Lily (R) working on drawing. This is the first time that they've actually used the crayons rather than eating them.


Lily demonstrates icecube painting. (Food coloring in the icecubes). The girls are working on a special Valentine's Day project.


Elsa being a cutiepie in the chair. She's rocking her bear. Elsa is turning into quite the walker this week. She's been going all over the house. Yay Elsa!


And cutiepie Lily in the chair, she now "poses" for pictures. Her other new skill is jumping. She's pretty funny because half the time she lands on her bootie!

In other news, Mark got the job! He won a Postdoctorate teaching fellowship at Princeton. So, we are going to have a couple of Jersey Girls (at least for the next 1-3 years). We are excited about our new adventure. It will be tough to leave the beauty of California for Jersey. But, we are looking forward to living in a small college town with direct train service to NYC (only 45min away).

We will be moving in the spring or summer depending on our housing situation. We're trying to get on-campus housing.