First snow!

We were wondering when it would start to feel like winter. After the 60 degree day the other day, I thought, yeah, I'm not sure how much I miss Minnesota right now. Sivan was so excited about the snow. She was too young to really play in it last year and today she was really excited. The only problem was she didn't want to keep her mittens on! Adam built our first snowman on our deck. We're doing well--looking forward to the end of our semesters! We're going to Florida and we can't wait. Yasmine got a job an assistant professorship for next year at Mt. St. Mary College (aka "The Mount") and is still agonizing over the whole decision (namely leaving Sivan in some still-to-be-decided daycare). Sivan is a non-stop talker. People comment a lot about this. She loves asking people "What you name?" Recently she picked up on the word "idea". She repeats it but I can't imagine she has any "idea" what idea means. She could play for hours in the bathroom sink. She also is starting to say and do things that really make me laugh. Today she insisted on standing up to pee. (This week, she's doing really well on the potty training, but seriously, potty training sucks. I have never spent so many hours a day two inches from a toilet seat.) Anyway, I said "who stands up to go potty?" "Eitan" (a boy in her preschool class). "I thought so" I responded as I then tried to muddle though a conversation about how Eitan is a boy and boys have different areas (areas is a term Adam coined when she was a newborn). I finally decided it was time to introduce the word "penis" but Adam censored that (frankly, I think he hopes his daughter never learns what that word is). Sivan understood that Eitan was a boy but then stood up. Then she slipped off the stool, the potty fell in the toilet, and Sivan was on the ground. Adam said "that's why you don't stand!" but then we tried again to explain that girls sit. Kiska, my dog was put to sleep a few weeks ago, so we had another conversation about that since Sivan grew attached to Kiska in a couple days we visited. We tried to explain Kiska is sleeping for a long time. Sivan said "I want to wake her up". Then I just explained she is somewhere else. Who knew conversations like this begin this early? The other day Sivan told me the weather is broken and I have to fix it (it was a cloudy day). It's things like this that just make me chuckle a lot. Because Sivan really loves sleeping with us and waking us up, we decided to get a "Tot clock" which is colored blue for sleeping and yellow for waking up. She learned the concept very quickly but two nights ago I had to go back in to comfort and retuck her back in and I said "what color is the clock?" and she said "uh....it is NOT blue". I can't believe she's lying to me already! She is really becoming so independent. She wants to put on her own diapers, wants to clean up her own messes (which are sort of like cat in the hat returns--her "cleaning" just makes it messier) and basically, she wants to do EVERYTHING by herself. The only thing I'm learning to keep this rebel under control is the importance of routine. So we have rules. Things like "no pacifier on the potty or no pacifier when we leave the car" (stay tuned for the war that will be waged over the pacifier...it is going to be...awful), or "sit on the bench to take yoru shoes off when you come in". Once she gets the rules, she becomes very serious about them (she hands me the pacifier when we leave the car or reminds me to take off her shoes). Or today she cried because I forgot to use the "time out chair" for her time out. Our favorite rule is "don't bite the dentist" (we worked on that one for a good week before her first dentist visit, but I can't say she obeyed that one...). HAPPY CHANUKKAH!