Unlike many of our fellow FS famillies, we made it through the holidays with little to no incidents of sickness. Just one little overindulgence in fizzy New Year’s juice on Neko’s part.
This year was especially fun for Christmas, as Neko was old enough to play “Santa.” I tried to label the packages I wrapped with a big capital letter, rather than a whole name, to help her with that. She wasn’t quite 100% accurate on identifying the right recipient, but she did get it right a few times. The morning Skype calls with family were fun, though they made it hard to kid-wrangle, and so Neko had a little bit of present-meltdown. We took a break for breakfast and came back to it fully focused on making it go smoothly and she loved helping unwrap and watching to see what was in everything, even those things that weren’t for her. Of course, Christmas is followed close behind by her birthday, so she had another great day of opening packages just a few days later. Her top gifts (as far as what she’s loved?): a Bikle (aka bicycle), a rather odd-looking monster doll, and Duplo blocks. She also has really enjoyed all the new books and clothes. Panda, on the other hand, has been thrilled with the (hunting dog) bell.
The clothes were particularly useful, as at her 2 year checkup this week, she moved from the 15th percentile in height and weight to the 75-90th percentiles.That’s a huge jump!
Panda’s still a tank, and crawling around like a mad woman now. You can tell she has nearly as little patience for it as Neko did, as she’s trying to crawl on three limbs and carry stuff around with the other one. I bet she’ll be cruising soon. In the meantime, she’s also got her sister’s love of jumping and has begun to cackle wildly when she’s in her doorway jumper. It’s terribly cute.
Neko’s birthday party is this weekend, and we’re celebrating it with her favorite activity: jumping. Expect pics soon.
Neko and Panda's 
Hi, Neko and Panda, via Matt and Lauren: You had a good Christmas! Sounds as if parents know what to get, or Santa. We had a fine time at Laurie’s, with both her kids and families there, plus 2 big dogs who got their stockings first. Then peoples’ stockings, then a big briakfast. The grandparents and parents showered Marshall with goodies, especially towards their interests: a great little piano from Megan, on whifch she played several pieces, after which Marshall didn’t just pound many keys at once, but more like real music. Laurie gave a big painting/writing easel which didn’t get fully opened for transport. 6 of us took a long walk out back, with muddy ball throwing, followed by swims for dogs to clean them up at the neighbor’s pond. Then a huge turkey dinner, after which we packed up and I came home with Dan and Megan, also Mike, who had to work next day at KP clinic in Vancouver. It was nice to hear from you-all, thanks. We’ve had some fairly good weather, fog and drizzle, to be replaced by lots of rain the rest of this week. We’re short of water, so that’s good, especially since it’ll be snow up higher. Laurie reports rocks to watch out for on the slopes. At least on Bachelor, which is higher than Mt. Hood, tho both have been skiied and boarded quite a lot anyhow. Guess I’d better quit, but Happy Birthday this weekend to one little girl!! Love, Jeanne S.