Happy New Year! (from home, sweet home)

After being delayed in San Francisco because of the east coast blizzard last weekend, we finally were able to fly back to New York on Thursday. We took a non-stop flight that left at 9:30AM and had us walking through our door at 9:00PM New York time. We are so glad to be home! We have been gone for almost three full weeks! We are so happy that we were able to see so many family and friends, however, it is a huge relief to be back in our own space with our own routines, more sleep and less sugar (and therefore less reasons for tantrums), and a little more chill time.



The wonderful part of getting home on Thursday night was that we got home just in time for a three day weekend! That meant that we all have had a few days to slowly adjust back on jet-lag, which has been a blessing. From Thursday to tonight, Aidan's bed time has gone from 12midnight to 8pm, and Kiana is getting close, too. So, hopefully we are setting ourselves up for a happy return to daycare tomorrow!



On Friday and Saturday, we took advantage of the remnants of the snowstorm to go sledding! Daddy pulled out the sleds and got us all out of the house, and we had a blast! Aidan went off the jumps with Daddy, and had a blast by himself as well! Kiana went for the first time, and seemed to love it! We had fun introducing her to one of our favorite winter traditions. On our way home, it took us a long time, because Aidan could not walk more than 2 feet without making a snowball to throw at Daddy - he would say, "Daddy, I have a secret message for you!" and then would hit him with a snowball! (It was a wonderful walk!)


Sunday, we went to Costco to stock up on our supplies, and then Daddy made a big Laurenza meat sauce batch to fill our freezer. We got supplies to make our own ice cream, too, and the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment that Julia got us has been freezing long enough that we'll be able to do that, hopefully this week! We are looking forward to using it!


Here are some other updates:


AIDAN:
- From the beginning to the end of the vacation, his views on California completely changed. When we first were there, he once asked me, "Is California crazy!? They have trains on the road WITH CARS?" (There are street cars in San Francisco but not in NYC.) But, when we got home, he said, "I want to live in California!"
- He had a blast feeding Kiana Rice Krispies, and she opened up more happily for him than for either of us parents!
- He has been introduced to a *lot* of TV over vacation: new movies include: How to Train Your Dragon, Bolt, The Incredibles, and Despicable Me, as well as random "kid" shows on TV. (!)
- He LOVES his superhero action figures that Daddy got him for Christmas. While I was feeling sad about the switch to "good guy beats up bad guy" imaginative play one day, I started paying more attention and realized, to my happy surprise, that he was being much more creative! He was playing with the "good guys" (Batman and Superman) not the "bad guys", and was having them fly around using teamwork and teaching each other how to do things. I love it!


KIANA:
- Now that the vacation chaos has subsided, we've started to do better about feeding Kiana food more regularly. This weekend she's tried mushed-up grapes and Rice Crispies, and she LOVED it when Aidan fed her the Rice Crispies!
- She is also "feeding" Daddy! When she chews on Aidan's plastic "farmer" people, and Daddy opens his mouth and asks "Can I have a bite?", she takes it out of her mouth and puts it right into his!
- Kiana has a really cute "shy face" right now: when we play peek a boo or "zooming" in to see her games with her, she'll hide her face with a giant smile and then peek back at us with total glee in the game. :)
- We've discovered that Kiana is totally ticklish! If you get her ribs, she completely cracks up. It's adorable!
- She really sounds like she is saying "Aidan": she says "Ay-ya" or "Ay-dah". She also really sounds like his saying "Hi!" or "Hey-yah!" as a greeting. SO cute!