1 year ago, Neck control and backseat driver

Here is Cecelia last July, lecturing her relatives on the various uses of the spoon. (little known fact: it is an effective means of getting the attention of a parent when it comes in contact with a hard surface.)
Here is Fiona's newest trick, along with the turning over from back to front trick, too, of course. She is in a very cute phase at the moment. Chunky, smiley, and noisy. She makes these strange guttural sounds that I have never heard from baby or adult before. sort of like growling.
And here the 2 girls share the wheel. Fiona's interested in whatever her older sister is into, and she is desparately trying to will herself into a standing/ walking position. It must be hard not to be able to keep up!

Yes, I will allow that they are cute.....

Here is Fiona nearly upright. But not enough to prevent her from collapsing forward, which put her in the middle and bottom photo positions, after a rightward turn. Several cute things from Cecelia today: the first is: A girl named Hope watches Cecelia these days for me in the mornings, and Cecelia thinks the name rhymes with poop. So it's, "Bye, bye Hoop!" The second is: I am a swedish fish addict, and picked myself up a bag this afternoon. After Cecelia and I have each had a few fish in the car, I stash the bag in the side compartment on the driver's door of the car. In which car I let Cecelia play when we got home. A few minutes later I realized my mistake and looked out the window to see cecelia stuffing the empty bag back in the compartment with a face full of fish. But she proved to be quite generous. When I said, "Well, can Mommy have a fish?" She dug around in her belly button and handed me a 'fish'.

July 4th, 2007 and 2008

This oldie was taken on July 4th last year. Miss Cecelia trying to pry the grate off of the fireplace. She hasn't tried that trick in ages, now that I think about it. Ah, those were the days. Now she has access to the silverware, to my poor, long suffering laptop, among myriad other un-kid friendly items. I like the hair swirl in front.
And cut to July, 2008. A typical morning or evening in the Clary household. Cecelia hamming it up for the camera, reading Hop on Pop ( a lesser known, early Dr. Seuss work) and refusing the sit in her high chair. Fiona enjoying the toys her sister has given her, I mean, thrown at her.
Closeup of toy playing. I think I have said it before, Fiona is much more interested in toys than her sister was or is. And she is making the funniest noises these days. Let's see what do they sound like? A little like the radio sounds when it goes into 'alert mode', or a tone deaf old lady with no teeth who still wants to sing in church.....I will work on my analogies.

Summer is here...

And the time is right for sisterly bonding. Fiona really can't sit in this position for long. In fact, a few secs after this photo was taken, she started to topple to her right. She is just about turning herself over these days. She is desparate to catch up with her big sis, poor girl! She wants to get up and go and her little legs aren't ready yet. This purple elephant toy is a favorite. She shows more interest in holding toys and objects than Cecelia did, or does. Corduroy is one of Cecelia's faves. Jim and I have it memorized. "Corduroy is a little bear who once lived in the toy department of a big store.....".
Here is Cecelia Rose on the J Bar (from Bousquet Ski Area in the 80's) swing at her great granny Barbara's house yesterday. We were there for her cousin (once removed) Katie's graduation from high school party. The young man standing behind her is Martin, Jim's Uncle Joe's three year old son. He was very kind and shared the swing with Cece. She was not so kind in return and followed him around all afternoon insisting that whatever he happened to be touching was 'My, my...no, MY!!'
Awwwwwwwww......here is Granny Rose and the two girls. Cecelia is the 'I-want-to-be-on-your-lap-too-if-she-is' phase. Fiona just wants her Counting bugs book.

Father's Day and one year ago......

This was late afternoon today in the back yard. Doggie Alice checking out sweet-smelling Fiona here. As you can tell, Fiona is somewhat more chunky and shall we say, 'filled out' than her sister was at the same age. She has prominent big, brown eyes, as you can see in image #3.
Cecelia has a new slide for the yard thanks to our neighbors, and she enjoyed standing on it and walking down the slide. Luckily it is about 2 feet off the ground. Here is her hands on hips, imitating Mommy stance. She is coming out with new words nearly every day now. The last few days the favorite was 'dirty', more like 'durry', usually about feet or clothing. Today she came out with 'shursh', as in 'Where's Mommy?' - 'Shursh' (church).
Aforementioned big brown eyes here. Fiona's new skill is grabbing and holding onto anything in her grabbing radius.

And here is a golden oldie. June 22nd, 2007, in Harvard Yard, Cecelia Rose 9 months old and Fiona hadn't even made herself known yet..........And Baby #2 is now, at 3 months, wearing this dress.

Three months old Fiona and new tricks by Cecelia

This first photo was taken this morning. Cecelia is very cute with her little sister in the mornings when we are all at our freshest. Late afternoons are not our best times. Fiona is looking more like her mommy lately, so they tell me. She is fitting into clothes that her sister couldn't wear until she was 5 or 6 months, and she just turned 3 months on May 27th. I went through a nasty bout of food poisoning this week and Fiona was my faithful, easy companion, satisfied to nap on the couch all day long.
Cecelia's latest trick is putting on her clothes and shoes! She insists, "Idoddit" ( I got it) and manoevers her right foot into the left sneaker, sandal, etc. She does better with dresses.
Here is the little one. She is mellow and smiley, making gurgling noises and charming us all.

Franklin and Mothers Day

Fiona and Mom went to Colorado to visit my Peace Corps friend Linda and her boy Franklin, Fiona's soulmate. They were born on the same day! This pic is Linda's mom and daycare provider, Ann, holding both babies when Linda and I returned from a quick escape to Starbucks. Pic #2 is self-explanatory; Cecelia studying doggies on cuteoverload.com. And pic #3 demonstrates Fiona's not knowing what to make of her funny Grandpa David at our Mothers Day brunch. Spring is here and next time we venture onto the playground I will bring the camera, promise!