A quick update on a snowy day

It's a quiet weekend around here, mainly because Maia is away. :) She's spending a couple of days at Nana and Papa's house, which makes it strangely peaceful around here (well, except for the stretches of time when Eli decides to screeeeech!!!). I have a class to teach this afternoon, and Brian has preschool-related activities tomorrow (they're turning the kids' indoor climbing structure into a "beach hut" for these cold winter months--it's a surprise for the kids, so Maia doesn't know about it yet). After that, Maia will return to Ann Arbor with much celebration and fanfare, and we'll be going to our friends' house for dinner.

In other news:

• Maia finally started her gymnastics class this week, after last week's lousy weather derailed our plans to drive all the way to the west side of town. She had a "stupendous, divine!" time (those are her adjectives, not mine), and was very focused and attentive during her class. The class is small--there are only four other kids in it with her, which is similar to the number of kids she had in her various swimming classes. Gymnastics will go for another 18 weeks, and then we'll be fully into spring and ready to start playing soccer with Triangle Co-op's team! :)
• Eli is getting stronger and more active every day. He's sitting up solidly and well on his own now and doesn't fold over into what looks like a yoga pose when he's trying to sit up. He seems to be mostly on his way to crawling--he gets everything off the ground except for his knees, and he is able to scoot backwards. This is a bit of a surprise to me; I thought, with his size, he'd be likely to take longer than average to get to these points of physical development, but he doesn't seem to be.
  
• Eli and Maia both have these strong, BIG personalities, which makes our daily life eventful and sometimes loud and always full of laughs. Maia adores her little brother, and he seems to adore her. When they ride in my car's back seat together, I can look into my back seat mirror and see Eli staring at her, his eyes wide, with a smile of anticipation on his face. She'll play Peek-a-Boo or make silly noises, and he seems to hang on her every action. She calls him "Little Eeeez" still and wants to hold him, help him sit up, and help him play by fetching his toys. She's really eager to help us with the process of getting his solid foods ready, too. I think she gets a kick out of joining in that ritual rather than just watching me nurse him all the time. She's been a tremendous big sister; six months into it, I don't think her transition into older sibling could have gone more smoothly. We are so appreciative of that.