Happy birthday Dido!

I'll share my first-ever resolutions tomorrow, but first I wanted to wish Dido a very happy birthday. We got him an ice cream cake and sang "Happy Birthday" and "Mnohaya Lita" to him tonight.




I didn't get to eat any cake but it looked so good that I kept lunging for it. Dad promised me that I'll be able to have some cake for Dido's next birthday, but I'm not sure I can wait that long!

Julia's 10 resolutions for '10

Okay, now that Christmas is all done (I'm already talking about next Christmas!), it's time to make some resolutions for 2010. First, let's see how I did with my 2009 resolutions:

1) Become more self-sufficient. Check!
2) Learn to jump. Two-for-two. I'm going to ace this thing!
3) Say goodbye to my diapers. D'oh! I'm not potty-trained yet.
4) Say goodbye to my crib Done. This one was a snap.
5) Say goodbye to my pipa. Darn it! Another no.
6) Get the people at Red Robin to clap-clap-clap for me on my birthday. This one wasn't as fun as I thought, but then again, I think I'd enjoy it a lot more this time around because I wouldn't be so nervous about all those people crowding around me.
7) Continue to be as adorable as I can. Of course!
8) Make the "terrible twos" not-so-terrible. I would say yes, but my frequent tantrums say otherwise. So this is a no.
9) Find out why Mom and Dad keep asking me if I want a brother. We all know the answer to this one now, so that's another yes.
10) Be a good sister, whatever that means. I'm a great sister, so at least we ended on a high note.

Okay, so I did 7 out of 10. As far as resolutions go, that's a pretty good percentage, but let's see if I can do even better this year with my 2010 resolutions:

1) No more diapers! I didn't pull this off last year, but Mom and Dad have been warning me that the potty-training starts soon (maybe even this weekend) so we're going to finally make it happen.

2) No more pipa! Here's another holdover from last year, and as much as I still love my pipas, even I am beginning to realize I'm getting old for them (which is why I always pull them out before I go to school, so my friends and teachers don't see). And Mom and Dad keep saying that when I turn 3, the pipa fairy will come and take all my pipas away. So my pipa days are numbered.

3) Learn to share with Henry. This will probably be the hardest resolution of them all this year. I've gotten great at sharing with my friends and cousins who come to visit and play with my toys, but I go apoplectic whenever Henry touches any of my stuff.

4) Ride a roller coaster with Dad. I cannot wait to do this. This is finally the year!

5) Eat lunch at school. One of the reasons I wanted a backpack for Christmas was so I could take my lunch to school. Some of the kids stay after school for a lunch session, and I'd like to try that myself. It doesn't have to be every single day, but I'd like to see what all the fuss is about.

6) Dunk my head underwater. I really enjoy swimming, but this is one thing I haven't mastered yet. Let's see if I can pull it off this year.

7) Swap my car seat for a booster seat. I'm ready for a booster seat, so it's time to upgrade!

8) Learn ballet. If Angelina and Belinda (the main character in another line of books that I've recently fallen in love with) can do it, so can I!

9) Learn to ski. Come on, Dido, show me how it's done!

10) See a movie. I've started to watch a couple full-length movies at home (namely, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty & the Beast), plus I sat through The Nutcracker, so I think it's time to go to a movie theater and watch one there.

And that's it! I think it's a pretty good list. Henry will post his resolutions tomorrow, and then the competition will begin to see which of us do a better job completing our list in 2010!

Wrapping up Christmas

At long last, this is our final Christmas post. It's been a long (and gift-filled!) journey, but we're almost at the finish line. Our relatives from Connecticut (and California!) came down to visit shortly after Christmas, and Henry and I really enjoyed spending time with (from left) Abby, Ava and Sophia.


It's been hard to tell from these photos, but our whole family was sick for much of the holiday. We were all sniffling and coughing as we opened our gifts, but Henry had it the worst. The day after Christmas, we found out that he had a double ear infection, and also had bronchiolitis, which required Mom and Dad to make him use a nebulizer four times a day for a full week to help improve his breathing. I don't know what he did to tick off Santa and cause the big guy to leave him such lousy presents under the tree!

And now that the holidays are almost done (Dad says the tree is going down very soon - sniff!), I wanted to share some of my favorite things from this holiday season. After several weeks of listening to Christmas music, watching holiday specials on TV and reading Christmas-themed books before going to bed each night, here are my favorites for Christmas '09:

Favorite Christmas songs: "Jingle Bells," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (especially the Bruce Springsteen version), "Deck the Halls," "Up on the Housetop"



Favorite Christmas TV specials: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Shrek the Halls, A Sesame Street Christmas, Prep and Landing, NOT Rudolph

Favorite Christmas books: The Sweet Smell of Christmas, Olivia Helps With Christmas, Merry Christmas, Curious George!, Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, Santa Mouse

And let's close with a video of a game that my family played during the holidays. It started one day when I saw Mom and Dad kissing Henry under the mistletoe, and I whined because I wasn't included. So they picked me up and all four of us danced and kissed under the mistletoe. Since then, I've enjoyed having us all recreate the moment, where I pretend to be upset—and then we all celebrate under the mistletoe. Here's a quick look at that:



Now that we've put a bow on Christmas '09, it's time to get to those 2010 resolutions. Check back tomorrow for those!

Say Uncle!

Henry and I don't get to see Uncle Ryan nearly as much as we'd like, because whenever we do see him, it's a guaranteed good time. For Christmas, he bought us the best gift: our very own wagon! When Henry gets a little older, Mom and Dad will be able to take us both into town in the wagon. It's going to be so great. But until then, I guess it's all mine to enjoy! Since it was too cold to go outside, Uncle Ryan took me (and some of my favorite Christmas presents) on a test drive through the house:





But Uncle Ryan does more than get us great gifts. He gives Dad a break by lifting me up and horsing around with me, like when he "helped" me with my new hoppity ball:




And don't worry, Henry had plenty of fun with him too!


Thanks again for everything, Uncle Ryan! Come back and visit us soon!

Happy 2010!

Happy new year everyone! We're not old enough to stay up until midnight (though Henry tried his best, getting up at 10, 11 and 4:30 in the morning), so we had our New Year's celebration early yesterday. Mom, Dad and I had a champagne toast (okay, it was apple cider), and Dad brought home lots of fun New Year's paraphernalia from Times Square that I had a ball with. Even Henry got a chance to join in the fun! Take a look at these photos and video of our festivities:







Henry and I hope that you all have a happy and healthy 2010 (we hope that we have a healthy 2010 too)! And yes, we will have some resolutions to share with you (and we'll look back on how I did with my 2009 resolutions), but first we have to finish up the rest of the Christmas posts. So you'll have to wait until next week to hear our goals for 2010.