melted smoosh

you love sitting in the Boppy! (your little toes are just too cute) dear Victoria,  you are well and truly into babyhood now -- I feel like every day your face changes a little, new rolls of chub appear on your arms and thighs, and you figure out a new way to express yourself, mostly through your constantly expanding "vocabulary". obviously, you're a ways off from speaking words, but you squawk, squeak, trill, chortle, grunt, snort, and make just about every other sound imaginable. you get especially loud and exuberant at night when it's time for bed! you continue to be the happiest little babe, belly-laughing at your sisters and grinning up at Daddy and me whenever we look at you. Greta says you look like a raspberry pie with your round, rosy cheeks! she also calls you her little chicken nugget, and Cece calls you "Vicky Micky".  you are finally rolling front-to-back, and are just a hair away from rolling back-to-front (you'll get 3/4 of the way there a

dear Cecilia Bedelia,  I can hardly believe you are seven years old! you have grown so much in this past year. you still love to make us laugh, and you also are maturing and take your responsibilities very seriously. you love your first grade class. your favourite part of school is your small group reading time (to no one's surprise, you're in the advanced group -- I would guess you're capable of reading on a 6th grade level). over the course of this year, you've learned how to articulate your /r/ sounds perfectly. I'm happy for you because you sometimes felt self-conscious about your speech, but my mama heart was a little bit sad to lose that precious bit of your babyness! you like to help me in the kitchen and you're always up for a board game or card game. in the summer, you'd ride your bike around the block, stopping to chat with various neighbors along the way and getting to know three different kids who live just across the street but with whom we'