Freeze dance

I know, it's been a while. Between the holidays and starting a new job, it's just been a challenge to get everything done everyday, much less post to the blog. Although I do have an iPhone now, so it should in theory be easier to post, but I hate typing on the iPhone. Anyway, I thought I would post this video of the kids dancing the other night. They were supposed to be getting ready for bed, but they ran into Ian's room and shut the door (they do this often and Ian tells us that only kids are allowed, with Lia yelling encouragement behind him). I hear a lot of thumping and a heavy backbeat and opened the door to find this:

Ian taught Lia the "freeze dance" game and as you can see, Lia caught on to the part about yelling "FREEZE!" but not so much the actually freezing part. She also yells, "I WON!"

Over the holidays, with all of the family here, she grew and learned so much and she is now such little know-it-all. She says new words all the time and surprises me with what you knows and understands. She likes to reprimand Ian and tell him what to do: "No, Ian, no touch!" "SSHH! Quiet! Daddy sleeping!" "Sit down, Ian, sit down!" Actually, she likes bossing all of us around.

Our friend Francis always likes to say, "If I were benevolent dictator...", so when he and Zeynep had their little Elizabeth, I gave them a onesie that said "benevolent dictator". Well, Lia has this thing where she can't decide between two things and will tell you she wants something, then promptly switch to the other. For example, every night we have the same struggle at bedtime. First, she says she wants Daddy, so I leave the room and she promptly screams, "Mommy, bao4 bao4!" like I've left her with a stranger. So I come back and take her and Jeff leaves and she screams, "Daddy! Daddy!" This goes back and forth and finally, whoever has more patience that night takes her. This is EVERY NIGHT. And this is just one thing. (This also happens when she chooses her socks, when she wants me to put cream on her bottom, when she wants to read a book... you get the idea.) So Jeff has determined that in our house, we do not have a benevolent dictator -- we have an unstable tyrant. Sigh.