Margot sait ce que elle veut.

We've had wonderful weather here, and the girls have enjoyed being outside again after the long winter. We went to the park on Tuesday (it was 70F). Margot loved swinging. She laughed hysterically the whole time. I'll try to get a picture of it next time we go.

Margot is saying "boo" for book and "ba" for ball. She seems to be picking up words more quickly than Chloe did at this age. I am sure that is partially due to Chloe, who talks all the time.

Another cute Margot thing: when I put her finger food in front of her, she picks out what she doesn't want and throws it on the floor before eating what she does want. It is funny to see her little personality developing.

Chloe has a fixation on time lately, telling me that she will do something in 14 minutes, for example. If I ask her what time it is out of the blue, she always has an answer, something like "30 o'clock." She tries to read the clock, too, but just focuses on the minute hand to tell the time for the hour.

Chloe went to a birthday party last Sunday at a "FunWorld"-type place. She liked all of it, except the big air-filled castle where the kids can jump around. She was terrified in there. She loved the smaller version of it, though. Overall, she had a great time with the kids.

Les filles dansent

Margot "talking" to a doll


Chloe sewing on my old sewing machine


Margot's smiles


Chloe laughing

If flickr is looking a little strange lately, it is because I am using my account to hold some pictures for my last master's course: Multimedia Concepts and Authoring Tools. That is also why I haven't had to time to post pictures of the girls, but my parents have uploaded some on their page. I put my favorites above.

Chloe has loved her "big girl" story time at the library; she has one more week left. A few weeks ago, she went to a sock hop, which she adorably calls a "hop sock," and had so much fun dancing with the kids. She showed me a new dance move when she got home: spinning on one foot. Margot has started to dance, too--so sweet. I'll try to get a video of it to post. Margot has been also going through some major teething. Two more popped out last week, and her gums look all swollen. I'm sure more are on the way.

Les filles grandissent...

Little Margot is keeping me on my toes, crawling all over the place and exploring everything, especially the phone and the vacuum cleaner. Chloe's places to play with her big girl toys are slowly reducing when Margot is awake. Margot loves all of Chloe's tiny toys, and she can reach everywhere in the living room. Two days ago, Margot even managed to climb up two stairs.

Chloe is getting so big so fast. Today, she is going to her first library story time for big kids, which means that she goes without Mama or Papa. We also got word that she got a place in the preschool class we wanted, which will start next fall. She'll go in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Last weekend, I took the girls up north. Chloe loved it even if there was snow past her waist. She even went with Grandpa on the "big icy lake" to go ice fishing. Grandpa was a trooper--carrying Chloe down the hill, through the woods and deep snow, to the lake. The girls had a great time (check out a few pictures on flickr).

I forgot to mention a couple weeks back that Jerome took Chloe to her first symphony. The MSO holds Kinderkonzerts every once in a while, and this time they were playing Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au Bois dormant), among other things, upon which the Disney movie songs are musically based. Chloe was so excited, telling Jerome, "Papa, they're playing my songs." So sweet. She also got to attend a workshop beforehand where she was able to try playing a violin.

La photographie et une vidéo

Check out my flickr site for a new collection of photos by Chloe, some new pictures of the girls, and a video of Margot crawling. I love crawling babies...such a fun stage. Margot is exploring everything, and she likes to sit in front of the stairs and stare at them. They must look like the ultimate challenge to her right now.

Chloe's pictures are great. I weeded them a bit, since there were 300. I'm not sure anyone loves her photography enough to see 24 pictures of the couch. Anyway, she is playing with the camera's special features, adding borders and so forth. Enjoy!

Se tenir debout et la Saint-Valentin

A little update from our household:

Margot
Margot has started to pull into standing entirely by herself. She was able to do it if you put her in a sitting position first, but now it's the real deal. My mom set her in the crib for a moment this morning, and returned to find her standing holding on to the railing, which was really cute until she fell down. I guess she'll learn quickly how to get out of standing position. Also, I may have been hearing things, but I really thought I heard her say "Mama" yesterday.


She also had her first play time with another baby her age last week, Makenah, who was crawling circles around my little Margot. Margot can move, but it is not crawling, yet. She crawls for about three steps and then goes down, then she is right back up for three more, then down again. She'll get there. In any case, she can get where she wants to go, which is usually where Chloe is playing with her teensy-tiny toys, which brings the girls to a whole new chapter of their relationship.

Chloe
Chloe is super-excited for Valentine's Day. She has been holiday crazy ever since Christmas, which was great fun in January, the month of nothingness. That's okay--she kept me busy with her "art projects." Regarding Valentine's, she already has it planned out whom she is making a Valentine for, whom she is getting a Valentine from (just Papa) and what the Valentine will entail (card plus heart sucker). Jerome and I never celebrated V Day, but we will now!

Chloe's friend had a birthday party yesterday, and Chloe had a lot of fun. In her treat bag, she got a sparkly calculator, which she calls her i-Phone. Blame that one entirely on her grandmother, folks; we don't even have an i-Phone.

A bientot! (I know, I know. It's without the circumflex accent. Apparently, Blogger doesn't accept accents. How disappointing!)

UPDATE:
Margot woke up from her nap...and is crawling! Yeah!

Il fait si froid, dehors; ici c`est confortable: Deux

So it's a little bit chilly here: -3 out right now, with a low today of -20 and wind chills of -40. For you Celsius people: that's -19C right now, with a low of -29 and wind chills of -40. School is canceled, which is the fun part of the show, since frost bite sets in at this temperature in one minute.

Il fait si froid, dehors; ici c`est confortable.

I must say that Chloe has cool taste in music for a three year old. Her current favorite artist is Edith Piaf, favorite song "Milord." She can sing it well, too (I tried to sing it with her, but she corrects me-- "No, Mama, 'vous asseoir à ma table.'" On a related note, I am noticing more and more little bits of French that Chloe knows that I don't--it's amazing). Other top songs: "Miss you" (by The Rolling Stones), "Brave Margot" (by Georges Brassens), "Because," and "Here Comes the Sun."

We went to the Milwaukee Public Museum yesterday with Sophie and Kristin, and I was amazed at how much Chloe loved it. She was terrified of the butterfly room (there are butterflies flying all around and landing on you--not Chloe's cup of tea), but loved everything else. I think her favorite was Old World Milwaukee, where you can pear into the windows of fake immigrant houses and shops from about 120 years ago. Check out flickr for a few more pics!