New experiences in January

January has been a big month for Livia. Now that we are well into Livia's second year, I figured that we were done with most of the "firsts". But this month has proved me wrong. We began the month with Livia's first time in daycare. She actually has adjusted much better than we expected. After a few days, she was happy to hang out with her 2 teachers and 10 other 1-year-olds. She stays busy eating, playing outside, doing art projects, and running around the classroom looking at everything. She sits at a little table in a miniature chair. It is such a strange sight to see 10 one-year-0lds sitting calmly at their tables. The art projects are a new thing for her as well, as we had not starting doing this. In daycare she draws with crayons, makes things out of construction paper with glue, and even does finger painting with pudding. I am posting some of her creations here.

Livia is clearly a minimalist

If you look real hard, there are some faint crayon marks in the bottom center

I think she may have had some help with this one

At home, Livia has started building some creations as well. Here she stacked these 4 blocks by herself. She has also started playing with her Melissa & Doug stacking blocks (thanks Aunt Michelle, Uncle Robert, and Cousins Gabriella and Alexey!)

Last week, when Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa David were visiting, we went to our favorite museum. We decided to venture beyond the baby/toddler play area. First we hit the "big kid" play area, where Livia checked out some balls.

Then we went out into the regular part of the museum. Livia decided to walk into the reptile section.

The best part of the reptile section was a tree in the middle of the room. Livia sat down and played with the wood chips forever. She didn't want to leave them. As I have said before, it is always hard to know what will be exciting to a one-year-old.

There are some things that never change. Livia still loves to grab Cassidy's two favorite toys, the "blue thinger" and the "green thinger."

Cassidy has responded by modeling Livia's favorite hat

Right after Livia's first experience without heat in the middle of the winter, she also got to see her first real snowfall. We got about 4-5 inches, which is a huge amount for NC. The schools closed for at least two days. We all stayed home together the first day and got to watch the inauguration. After Livia woke up from her nap, we had a family romp in the backyard.

Livia bundled up really well in Gabriella's old snowsuit. If you look closely, you can see the strap of her Uggs on her right foot (thanks Grandma Mari and Grandpa Howie!). They kept her feet warm.

Me and my girls in the snow

Livia was not sure what to think of the snow

Cassidy has experienced a fair amount of snow in her almost 49 years of doggie life, and she LOVES it. As soon as we went outside, she started to run. Livia LOVES watching Cassidy run, so a good time was had by all.

Cassidy also loves to put her snout in the snow

Finally, we decided to put Livia down in the snow. She was pretty indifferent to the experience.