A Month of Firsts

March 2011. Sounds simple enough, almost forgettable. But for those paying attention, it was a month of firsts. The smiles, the sense of accomplishment, the positive esteem gained are all obvious. In no particular order (unfortunately), here's what we can think of, off the top of our heads, that have made this month quite a special one in our household:

Amalia's Firsts

• Started to babble ("da", "ba" and "ma" being the most common)
• Learned to respond to her name (though there were glimpses of this in the past month, now it's unequivocal)
• Stood up
• Stayed standing (for over a minute... and counting)
• Began to 'cruise' with ease
• Took her first steps (her current record, set a few days ago, stands at 7 steps)
• Developed a love for walking hand in hand with mommy or daddy (sometimes with Irini holding the other hand)
  
• Started to initiate games with her sister

Irini's Firsts

• Can count - with relative ease - to twenty (or so) in English, Spanish & Greek
• Picks up Amalia and takes her for walks around the living room (not recognizing the facial features of her parents screaming "watch out!")
• Was initiated to underwear instead of diapers at Buzzy Bee
• Subsequently stopped using diapers at home (except for sleeping)
• Had her first in-car "I have to go wee" moment, but held it for close to two minutes while daddy used his best Formula 1 driver impersonation to get off the three lane road and reach the lawn of the National Theater (Istana Budaya) where, under the shade of a friendly banyan tree, Irini releaved herself outdoors for the first time
  
• Learned how to add 2+1 and 3+1 (at least by memory)
• Displayed one-to-one number recognition (according to 'Becca) while re-hanging all the Pumpkin Patch clothing she had taken off the rack in a recent visit
• Started singing/dancing her first pop single, from the Korean girl band 'Wondergirls', "I want nobody but you, choo choo" (as she puts it), dance moves and all... much to the awe/surprise/chagrin of her father who, with Rebecca and Scott in attendance, had just been listening to Irini sing such international favorites as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round". We have since found out that it's being taught to the students at Buzzy Bee for their end-of-term show on April 17th.
  
• Learned how to write her first letter: I (with this development she can now write 60% of her name in English/Spanish!)
• Took her first swim (okay, maybe just a couple kicks, but still) underwater with her eyes open!

Informal Family Portraits

For what seems to have been the longest while, Natalia has been intent of finding a professional photographer to take family pictures. Formal pictures were out of the question...Laurence would have none of that dressing up stuff. So, as time passed and Natalia realized that the longer we wait the less the chances of having both our daughters in that 'young and cute' phase, she took it upon herself to work things out.

The photographer, Nikki, came just before 9:00am on Sunday morning. A few minutes earlier , Irini had begun her battle against being told what to do. No, she wouldn't wear a white shirt. No, she didn't like the idea of photos at all. When the photographer came she was cautious at best, and though Amalia was happy as can be to be the center of attention, Irini sat in the background being somewhat difficult. Tears flowed freely at times. Then the doorbell rang. Scott and Rebecca had arrived! Rebecca being particularly enthusiastic took over and allowed us a few glimpses of smiles from Irini. Between being told to move this way and that (so Irini's face would face the light) and trying to keep Irini interested and happy, it was an interestingly fun experience.

The shoot moved downstairs with intermittent sections of "no, no, no" with thumb in mouth (a relatively new development we are not happy to see) so you don't take a picture of me, and other times when Irini was happy to oblige.

In the end we had a set of photos that were good enough, although Irini's photos were lacking. No matter. We said goodbye and waited for the arrival of the digital prints, which happened today. The photos were a delightful mix of beautiful faces and family smiles. What isn't shown is that, especially for the group photos, between each group photo there was a falling back of Laurence - while holding Irini - and then a return to the sitting position, the movement of which supplied enough of a comical relief to get a shot or two of. Then came the nuclear family photo of the four of us. If you notice, Natalia and Laurence are smiling at the camera while the girls are looking somewhere to the right (their left). What could it be? It was Rebecca and Scott, of course, doing their version of some dance concoction - a combination of rock meets merengue. It turns out that Scott has some pretty impressive moves after all.

We tried hard to find things to keep Irini's mind off of the shoot.... "oh, there's a snail over there!", "let's put our feet in the pool and see how fun it is!", and here and there Irini would put up with our antics. But when Amalia decided that it was nap time, her early tears were followed quickly by an immediate packing and scuffling upstairs.

Enjoy the photos, and just try your best to imagine all the in-betweens. :-)