Kira's walking!

Out of no where this afternoon, Kira was standing up and as an afterthought took a few steps....was it fluke? We continued to encourage her, and no, it was for real...she has started walking, just like that!

October 17th

Hi all. We are having some beautiful Fall weather now, and are trying to enjoy it as much as possible! Eva's new things: she likes to tell me and other cars when it is time to go in the car by watching the lights. Try explaining a right turn on red to a toddler......forget it!! She also had another vaccine yesterday, and for the first time ever, she didn't cry and seemed quite proud of herself talking abut it with the dr and nurse as we walked out. Kira's new things: She now climbs the stairs up, quite rapidly. She is also, while standing up, doing little hops and throwing herself on the ground, totally laghing at herself throughout the entire porcess, She has also discovered Eva's old plush pink kid-sized chair and absolutely LOVES to crwal up into it and sit/play/hangout/jump...you get the drift...ANYTHING! In the video clip, she finally figured out how to blow on the recorder and...well, you'll see what she thinks of that! She is still signing very well, and has added Eva to her vocab (sounds a wee bit like Baba). I always marvel at how quickly they acquire new abilities at this age.

We love you Gretty!

My sister's dog passed away this weekend after a brief fight with cancer. We will all miss Gretta and all the different ways she made us smile and pull our hair out! Here's to you Gretticans, I know you are happy and free from pain now and eating all the delicious foods you love so much. You will be missed.

Beautiful Fall Weekend with the Fam

Mom, Jen and Family spent the weekend with us. We took full advantage of the beautiful fall weather and took a train into town for the farmer's market and hit the pumpkin farm the next day! The barrel train AND the MAX train were big hits with the older kids, as well as frolicking amongst the giant sequoias.

Kira's Standing Up!

On her birthday no less, Kira decided that she was ready to try this new trick of standing up all by herself! She seems quite proud of herself and will perform for us often. I fear the walking is just around the corner! At least it is cleaner in time for the wet and muddy winter weather!

Happy Birthday Kira

Kira Sorrel, one years old, is it really possible?! Mammy, Tia J, Uncle D and cousins Nate and teeg made it down for the festivities. As thepictures will attest, Kira thought the cake was pretty tasty, and the new toys pretty exciting!

Weekend Fun

The cool rainy weather has started in earnest, and so we look to indoor activities to entertain the little ones! Eva and I put up our Fall Decorations (to which she was exclaiming, "Ohhhh, Christmas Time!!") I did correct her, but the lights to her mean Christmas....at least until she Trick-or-Treats again this year, and then I am sure, Halloween will always be remembered in the future! SHe gets so excited to see the pumpkins too. We'll be heading to the pumpkin patch soon to 'stalk' up on corn stalks, pumpkins, and gourds. We took care of our friends kids and I planned an evening of more structured activities so that we didn;t have to referee the whole night! We made some "Boot Tracks", painted pumpkins (no pictures here, I had to be to on-top of the kids with the paint!), and played Hullabaloo. When Kira joined them, she was estatic, so into watching the older kids and dancing with them. She is really amping up the interaction with her sister and others and imitates amazingly well their vocalizations. In the video, she finally learned how to nod her u and down well, so she really amped it up to entertain herself (and us!).

Neighborhood BBQ

We had our first ever neighborhood bbq as a way to hang out with the neighbors we don;t normally get to.. It was a big success and everyone seemed pretty in to it! I was a little worries how our night would go as both girls were especially grumpy all day Saturday, I braced myself. Eva was fighting a cold, and every little thing caused a major, mucous-laden meltdown. I thought for sure there would be conflicts with all the kids, but she held it together for most of the evening until...........the Popsicles came out. Keep in mind at this point, she had already had 2 kinds of cake and a cookie, and it was almost time for bed anyway...we're not talking about a sweet-deprived child here. I of course said no, as did a couple of other moms, but some kids did have them, and boy was she MAD. She continued to talk about it up until bedtime books and and the next morning as well as we asked her about her favorite parts of the night before. Eva is with her friend Jon Jon in the picture, they are very sweet with each other (most of the time).
Kira was having a tough day too. She seems to be going through some sort of sleep transition, and I'll be darned if I have figured it out completely yet. So on Saturday, she had ONE short nap and kept giving us the sign for night nights, but when you would put her down, she wouldn't sleep! I think I tried putting her down over 6 times unsuccessfully that day (ARGGG!!) So uncharacteristic of her, and she was grumpy the whole time she was awake. She too had a gunky nose, so I am sure that was part of it. Anyway, Mike was a trooper, and finally got her down for a quick nap 5, and then she played her heart out all over the street. She seemed especially amped and excited about the fact that she was able to roam so freely where normally she can't. Not surprising, she need a bath before bedtime! In the pictures: whenever she gets a hold of a sword or light-saber now she wields it about and turns herself around in a circle. And the wagon, she is using that to walk around and around in a circle. quite ecstatic and pleased with herself! She is well on her way to mastering and assisted walk.