The Good, The Bad and The Obey

My mom asked me recently how we decided to (mostly) stop calling Elia "Nugget" and using her real name, and when we'll do the same with Bay So.  I determined that while Nugget was snuggly, adorable, and hilarious, Elia (her alter ego) began to bang on keyboards, rip pages out of books, write on couches in pen, and steal things from nightstands.  It was then that she met her first true nemesis, the Obey.  After enough "Elia" moments, we dropped the "Nugget" altogether.  She's still snuggly, adorable, and hilarious usually.

But now we see the first fruits of the same Jekyll/Hyde nature in our Bay!  Before long she too will meet the Obey and join the first name ranks with her older sister.

Hard to believe.  One example--this fall, Bay and Elia attended a pre-second reception rehearsal dinner for our newlywed friends Brandon and Vicky, which happened to be in an unfenced backyard right around bedtime.  The result: here's a picture of Bay, alone on a bench at the reception the next day, because her older sister was not invited back and stayed with a babysitter instead!  Bay sports the same dress that Nuggs wore at the Dombach wedding!  

Left: To be fair, Elia spends a lot of her energy on learning new skills like pumpkin gutting, shown here with BFF Kyle at our Parkside Young Marrieds "Lumberjack Luau", rather than on obeying strict "no-wandering" policies.  Right: Bay So chooses to forego the Luau's annual Caber Toss event, instead watching from a comfortable distance.

  

Left: Elia excels in other subjects like Reading.  An average day includes reading every children's book we own, and reading one of them 8 times.  Right: She also tries very hard in Sharing class, but still manages to flunk every exam.  This photo was taken moments before the eruption of a giraffe-less Sophia and the swatting of a shameless Elia.

Despite their differences, we have witnessed the early warning signs of their wonderful, dangerous alliance.  Here they subdue an innocent aunt, and on Christmas Eve nonetheless!  Oh the powers they wield.

Bay So Spotlight:

 

Bay turned one year old on December 18.  She eats many foods, and lots of them, can very nearly stand on her own, flies up steps, falls down steps, plays alone well, but CANNOT WILL NOT be held by anyone other than Mom or Dad, and cries for sleep starting right around 5:45pm.  

She wears all her sisters clothes, plays with all her stuff, and looks cuter than a marshmallow puppy ribbon koala.

 

And she still thinks Mom and Dad are cool enough to come to her party, no matter what they're wearing.  Right: Bay expresses gratitude for her birthday cupcake (surely the first sugar she ever tasted...) but is not ready to share with Dad.

 

Christmas travels were action-packed fun!  We managed to tackle family photos with both sides and all siblings present this year, though only Elia's left foot made it into the final round of the Kauffman Christmas photo shoot.  She'll try harder next year.  Both girls love all their presents, and each other's presents, but some rise above them all.  Notably, Elia's cupcake game gets ample attention and playtime.  Like, everyday.  We keep it in the office with the door closed so she doesn't lose all the tiny pieces in places where So can devour them, but that game alone helped Elia develop the ability to turn doorknobs.  Baby So truly loves her fridge animal magnets more than any other gift.  Perhaps not more than any other gift box or gift paper.  I think she would choose boxes and paper over her toys every time, because they're fun AND food!

Some of our favorite family gifts include a bike trailer (getting pumped for spring!), plus a year-membership to the Akron Zoo and Akron Children's Museum!  One of the many reasons to have children--to live vicariously through them as you get to visit all the best places in town (i.e. zoo and play places) where you can't go without kids or being creepy.  The Children's Museum just opened this year, and we recently made our first visit!  Elia loves the kitchen/market play zones and the corn-sifting box, and Sophia just wants to roll around in the pillow-laden giant bird's nest playpen and climb up the jungle gym over and over.  Other than Dad helping with foot placement, she lifts her 17lbs of bulky muscly baby all the way to the top!

Many thanks to our family's innate ability to win random raffle prizes, because we won this professional photo shoot this past fall!  The girls pick and choose which emotions to show in each picture, so as to display an accurate spread of daily life.  Here they opted for "distracted" and "unsure."  Good work girls.  Look out for the next episode featuring a (possibly) bipedal Bay!  Her moment will come!