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*A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016*

Matteo: You are a lover of chaos, kids, dance parties, baking, washing machines, excursions and experiments.  You are a bath splasher, a picky eater, a mud puddle jumper, a rule tester, a builder, a painter, a potion maker and a loving big brother.  You are a mix of defiance and sweetness, independent but clingy, adventurous, a fearless acrobat until you get hurt and then all tears and cuddles.  You are a hater of naps, sweet potatoes (except when fried), time outs, being told "no" about anything and wearing underwear.  You are affectionate, imaginative, very interested in citing the rules but never following them.  You are a joke teller, a coin collector and a silly monkey.  You are turned up all the way to an eleven during every waking moment.  You are four.

Lilah: Eight months old!  You have two little teeth on the bottom, which make your sweet smile all the cuter.  You LOVE to eat and have mastered feeding yourself small bits of food that we put in front of you.  You use your thumb and index finger to make a kind of shovel and then use it to move everything into your mouth.  You are happy and quiet the entire time you are eating.  There are very few foods you seem not to enjoy but you especially love zucchini, eggplant, avocado, cheese and blueberries.  You will also sit and play with new toys happily for the longest time.  You love plastic spoons, your brother's goggles, Elmo and being smiled at.  You are amazing. Thanks for being our sweet baby girl.

P.S. While writing this, Matteo has been dismantling his bed and is now using the mattress as a springboard to fly across his room...with no underwear on.  Lilah has been playing with a board book in her swing and smiling at us.