There’s a slight dusting of snow tonight, leaving the remaining holiday lights in the neighborhood to look particularly dazzling. It feels like the week before Christmas instead of the first week of the new year.

So, hey, happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all made it through the holiday unscathed. Our girls apparently resolved to not sleep in 2008, because we had much screaming last night until we gave up at 3AM and I ended up in the basement with C. and S. snuggled up with M. in our bed. It’s an ominous start to the year when I have a 19 month old’s feet pressing into my head at 4:30 AM.

Speaking of the holidays, M. quickly picked up on one of my favorite Christmas songs, “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” last month. By the middle of December, she was singing along to the chorus each time we heard it. I tried to get it on video today, but she was in a very wankish mood and refused to cooperate. But trust me, it was cute up until then.

C. added a few new vocabulary words over the holidays. She loves Christmas trees, and yells “TREE!” and points each time she sees one. “Santy” is one of her favorite people ever. And she’s crazy for candy canes. One of the neighbors has candy cane decorations in their yard and she was super excited to see them still out this morning. “Candycane! Dah! Candycane!” (Dah meaning dad.)

She has another hilarious verbal routine. She likes to inform us when she’s dirtied her diaper. “Ah pooped!” (Ah meaning I.) She does get a little overzealous, though, and often says that when she’s just gassy. It’s even better when, after saying, “Ah pooped!” she adds, “Ah happy.” Who isn’t? It’s hard not to laugh.

She was very cute when she fell asleep in her high chair at lunch today. I could see it creeping up on her, as her chewing slowed, her eyelids grew heavy, and she stared off into space. M. caught her and said something to make her laugh, and she leaned her head off to the side, as if she was playing peek-a-boo with me. She smiled, closed her eyes, and fell asleep with the smile stuck on her face. I didn’t take a picture out of fear of waking her up.

I do have a hilarious photo of her I will share soon. She got somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be.

Oh, and thanks to the cranky, sleep-deprived girls, I think I saw a total of an hour of football today. Nothing is sacred anymore.