February 11th 2011 - Best Friends

So much has been going on these last couple of weeks that it is hard to get all of the updates out on the blog. I mean first we had all the Christmas season, with all of our awesome daily adventures in the US. After that we had the birthday season with a lot of little parties and a couple of big ones. Sandwiched in between all of the good times we had there was a period where we were all sick, with Alicia having to stay in the hospital with Mommy for 6 days, while a sick Daddy tried to take care of a sick Damien at home.

Now that things have calmed down a bit, I can fit in a few of my favorite pictures and a little blog about one of the cutest developments that has occurred in the last little time with the kids. The kids relationship is really gelling together. Damien has started to realize that he needs to be gentle when playing with his big sister. Pulling hair is not something that she really enjoys, so he figured out that he should stop doing that. He has started to be so nice to his big sister. Now whenever we put Alicia in her chair, Damien comes over with her favorite toys. He then puts them up on her little table so she can play with them. Some of the toys he loves to bring to her are "Mr. Octopus," her little drum, and of course all of her beads. Then Damien stands next to Alicia and plays with her. He makes all kinds of noise, which Alicia loves to be part of. She thinks he is a funny dude because as Damien is banging on the table she just smiles or laughs, as if she is thinking; "This kid is crazy." I think that she is happiest that he is not pulling her beautiful curls anymore.

Damien has not only been getting along with Alicia while she is in the chair. A sequence of events that almost brought me to joyful tears occurred when Alicia was laying on her play-mat. Some music was playing while Alicia was laying on her back on her mat. She was banging her hands on the ground to the music and doing some Alicia singing along with the tunes. This caught Damien's attention, so he walked over to her in his cute wobbly, but extremely stable walk. He stood over her seeming to think, "I want to play with her, but how?" He then squatted down to the ground grabbed her hand that was still banging on the ground, held it in his hand and banged it on the ground together with her. It was so cute, that Linda and I melted.


Alicia and Damien playing with all of Alicia's beads.




Alicia and Damien like to sing and laugh together.




At first Damien loved playing with Alicia, but Alicia was a little suspicious....



....Then Alicia realized that playing with Damien was a lot of fun!!!