They played in the snow today while I shoveled snow.  I let them play but I didn’t play with them.  There’s a saddening difference that guilts me tonight.  So everyday, despite being with them sometimes, the busyness of everything else that needs to be done, even despite chores including them, distract me from really being with them. 

So I make time to spend quality time with each of them, esp. in wonder, in laughter, and in embrace.

I make sure they listen to music everyday, making sure I switch the genres.  Even tonight, as Emma slept, Zi composed original songs, mainly singing people’s names, inserting the word "cry" and "night night."  She also sang "Hey Delilah" along towards the end when she could actually pronounce the words.  She’s amazing.

Zi, at 20 months, can really speak in phrases now.  Still a year old and her speech continues to boom, and surprise me everyday, saying words that I don’t even consciously try to teach her.  Just today, as we were descending the stairs, she said, "I love you…..too."