January

During the 2-day "Christmas ski school", Willow didn't really "get it", but I guess it was good preparation, because on her very first Saturday lesson, she got it right away. It was remarkable, really. She went out with her teacher and her class and the next thing you know I looked out the window and she was snowplowing down the bunny hill all by herself. I could hardly believe it. She's had the same teacher every week - Alex. I think he's done an awesome job.

On her second or third class, it was a nice day, so my mom watched Seda while me, Josh and my Dad all went out with Willow after her lesson. We brought her up the chair and took her down the "deer trail" beginner hill far over on skier's left. It is steeper than the bunny hill. She did really well, and we had a blast skiing with her!

It was pretty nerve-racking bringing Willow up that black chair. It doesn't have a safety bar, and the support bar is in the middle so it's not easy to put your arm around her to hold on. Josh did the hard work; I watched nervously from behind. 

It's been such a cold, snowy winter. Willow's ski lesson has been cancelled three times because of the cold. They'll make it up in the spring though. Here's Willow in our pathway from the house to the garage. That's not a bank from the snowblower or anything. That's just the snow depth in our yard.  

Seda reached some milestones in January. She said her first word on Janury 4: "kitty". Then the next day she said "dog" (she says "gog"). That quickly changed to "goggie" and she's been saying it ever since. She'll still say kitty once in a while, if prompted, but goggie has become her favorite word - she pretty much calls every animal a goggie. She also started waving bye-bye in late December. The first time she did it, she was waving bye-bye to her friend Mayona when Mayona was leaving our house. Oh, she also started crawling in December/January, and also cruising around the coffee table. It all happens so quickly it's hard to keep up. Here are some pictures of Seda with her friends. We hung out with Jari on New Year's Day....

...and attended a chili cook-off at Maggio's one evening where she hung out with Mayona. :)

Here's Seda chilling out one warmer day at the Nara sled hill.

Some bath photos:

This picture cracks me up. These are some of the dress-up clothes that Willow got for Christmas. The red tutu was mine from a ballet recital when I was a kid. 

 

Seda showing off some of her new skills. Looks like trouble to me!