Dear Emily, what an amazing couple of months you have had.  We had a fairly busy run up to Christmas between daycare concert, catching up with friends and family and then Christmas day itself of course.  You had a ball opening presents (you totally understand it now!) and were so excited with your new play kitchen.

There followed 3 weeks with all of us at home together which saw so many changes in you.  Your talk and chatter about absolutely everything now, presenting your ideas several times in a row, each time slightly differently or expanding on your idea as you work out how words go together and how they explain your world.  Each morning while your sister had her nap, you had dedicated time with me, your dad or both of us and we played outside – blowing bubbles, riding your balance bike or doing craft.  I think this was your favourite part of the day.

We had fabulous outings to the zoo, water play, various parks, hanging out with your grandparents as well as spending a LOT of time at our local playground and walking around our neighbourhood.  While you love both mummy and daddy lots, you are definitely more of a mummy’s girl which means I get lots of cuddles and lots of demands that I do thigns for you rather than anyone else.

You also had your first haircut recently.  This was a pretty big even for you and you really didn’t enjoy it at all.  There were lots of tears and pleading, but you were very brave and sat on my lap and let the hairdresser do her job.  You now love your shorter hair and it’s so much easier to take care of and doesn’t hurt when we brush it out for you.

You were very eager to return to childcare by the end of the break and so excited that Sophie would be coming with you too!  You fell straight back into the routine and have had an absolute ball.  Your confidence has been lovely to see and you are coming so much more out of your shell and interacting with the other kids there.

You are a sweet, clever, curious little girl with increasing confidence which is beautiful to see.

Dear Sophie, an amazing couple of months for you too.  Your toddling has transformed into walking and now you are pretty much running!  It’s gorgeous to see you walking along and reaching up to hold a hand if you get a bit wobbly or determinedly pulling your hand away and asserting your independence.  Watchign you and your sister play together and twirling in our loungeroom (and falling over) has everyone in fits of giggles.

You have absolutely loved having everyone home with you for several weeks and have grown so much in that time.  You are becoming more and more confident at the local playground (including a couple of incidents that really scared your parents while you worked out your limitations!) and can now walk around for about half the time we are at the zoo.  You even now enjoy playing with water – a sprinkler in the backyard, the water fountain area at Olympic Park are a couple of our favourite places on a hot day.

At some point you stopped eating mushy food at all and are now eating almost the same as what your sister does.  You are loving pretty much everything we offer you, just as your sister did, and enjoy trying all the new things on offer now.  You also finally had 4 more teeth come through in mid-January bringing the total up to 10 teeth.  Your hair is slowly getting longer and getting all these gorgeous curls at the back.

You had your first day at daycare this week.  It was a big deal for us while you are quite the little extrovert it is a huge change for you after being at home all the time up to now.  Much to our delight, you absolutely loved it!  You have loved having a new environment to explore, toys and games to play, people to interact with and so many different activities to do.  You are exhausted at the end of each day, but always in a good mood as you seem to thrive on all the interaction.

You are our happy, giggly, determined little girl, who is growing up so quickly!

Love you both lots and lots and lots xoxoxoxo

Where to start… Our illness of the month for September was conjunctivitis, No fun for anyone, with Sophie and I both still feeling the lingering effects of it.  Emily, otherwise you have had a wonderful month.  With the warmer weather we have been getting out and about a lot more and you can walk for so much longer now – it’s rare that you want to get in the pram at all when we go to the zoo now and we sometimes stay for close to 3 hours.  Your talking is also coming along at a great rate – more words, concepts and longer sentences are coming out every single day.  Even the carers at your childcare have commented on how quickly you are coming along.

Talking of childcare, you have started spending a bit more time with the “big kids” in their play area in preparation for moving into a new room next year.  You are loving it and playing with new toys and people is so much fun.  The best part though is that you can always take yourself back to the little kids room when you have had enough and need a bit of space and quiet from time to time.

You are getting braver and more capable when playing at the little playground next door to our place and have even started interacting with some of the other kids there at times.  Your cousin Ben visited during the month and the two of you had so much fun playing together on the slide!  You are so helpful as well, at childcare, you help with making the cots, passing out morning tea, bringing the other kids their drink bottles.  At home you love bringing toys for Sophie to play with or giving her a cuddle when she cries, and if we ever leave our phone within reach you make a grab for it so you can pass it back to us!

Emily, you are our happy, chatty, helpful, bossy little girl who loves being outdoors, going for walks and is obsessed with going to the zoo.

Sophie, you are growing up so quickly now.  Not quite walking, but you pull up on things every chance you get and can easily stand unsupported for quite a while now – even while bouncing up and down because you’re so excited at what you’re doing!  You constant happiness and joy with everything continues to amaze us.  You have your moments when you are tired, hungry or not feeling well and get a bit cranky, but they tend to pass very quickly.

Your appetite continues to grow and we are slowly but surely increasing how much solids you get and adjusting meal times to try and make sure you aren’t hungry.  You and your sister are playing together more and more, looking at books together, chasing each other or just smiling and holding hands.  You are becoming more aware of your surroundings and the people who visit in your life and it is wonderful to see you getting involved in things.  Our favourite ‘stop crying’ distraction is still singing songs to you – especially action songs where you have something to watch as well as listen to.

We have moved bedtime around again and you and Emily both go down in your cots at the same time now.  It’s a bit of a struggle as you are both excited to see the other, but it seems to be slowly settling into a routine – early days for this yet though.

Sophie, you are our happy, bubbly, sharing little baby who is growing up so quickly.

Love you both lots and lots and lots xoxoxoxo

For more Letters to Our Children posts, head on over to Rebecca’s blog!