what do you think...?

What do you think, Mom? Do I look like a little Aunt Mer?

5 months old!

"Make a smile, L.!"

this is L's version of posing for the camera.

(also: if you feel like you've seen this dress before, it's because the only time she's not wearing it is when it's in the laundry.)

Boasting and Bragging

L. has been working on some new skills over the last few weeks. Lately she has been fostering an obsession with a particular coloring and activity book, and devotes a good hour or two a day to it.
She gets me to read the instructions and to some she'll say, "That's too hard" (it usually is, for her), but with others she'll work diligently to complete the whole page. She is good at finding pairs and circling them, at matching activities, finding opposites, counting items and then circling the appropriate number, and she even understands the concept of rhyming. Good girl.
She also loves to read and identify letters, and has recently started to express interest in writing. Today we went to the beach with our neighbor and they were practicing writing letters, and their names, in the sand at one point. I interrupted so I could chat with our friend and then looked over my shoulder to see that L. had written out "MOM" clear as can be!
And then, this afternoon, as we walked back towards our apartment after visiting with another neighbor, I handed the keys to L. so that she could help me open the door. She has been practicing and has almost got it (if I lift her up to reach, of course). I turned to say hi to someone and turned back to find L. empty-handed. She had very thoughtfully sent the keys through our mailslot.
Sigh. I guess there are some 3-yr. old limits to this child's braininess after all. The lesson: teach her how to spell 'key', but don't let her anywhere near them!

1980

Strolling

she's just so photogenic!

so guilty

uh oh. Mom caught me doing something I shouldn't...

so lost in thought

Utterances & Isms

L.:
"ah-pee-tuss" (octopus)
"hiccup" trucks
mustaschios (pistachios)
nidea (as in: "i have a nidea, Mommy, let's go to the park!")
a nother nidea (as in: I-don't-want-to-go-to-bed-so-I'll-just-keep-talking-about-nothing!)

A.:
Has very few words. Bike. Bye bye. Juice. Shoes. The usual 1 1/2 year old stuff.
And today I discovered a new one, after leaving her to fend for herself with her milk and cereal (at her insistence). From the other room I hear her calling, "Mess! Mess!"
She also has a word for 'hat': Hast. (minus the 't'. Oh, and minus the 'h'.)

Baptism

Godparents

Road Trip

We recently got in the car and drove 6 hours through the desert with no A/C. The kids didn't complain, and LOVED being sprayed with the water bottle.

Little Slaves

The kids' godparents insisted the place be Spick and Span for their arrival.

Violating child labor laws---see what you are making me do, WJP J.D.!!??!!

Bedtime

Bathtime

Sandcastle Contest: a couple favorites

"Oh the Places You'll Go..."

Alas, we have had to bid the public transit system adieu.

So maybe you are wondering: how do we get around town now? Well, it's just so easy.

L. can pedal her way around any old street that isn't a hill. And if we run into a steep incline (or she decides that she's not going a single step further--although never in a Million Years would she Dream of throwing a tantrum over this), I can usually line it up just so, and with the stroller push the trike (with her on it), then keep moving.

But when neither of those are an option, just pile them all into --or rather, onto-- a stroller. And if L. keeps her legs up, it's not so hard to push it, and it only weighs about 85 lbs; what a breeze.

Three carseats in the back of a VW Jetta? No problem (if you slam the doors shut really hard). Oh, and keep A.'s loving fingertips away from BR's eyeballs: L. gets the middle seat.

japanese fashion show (thank you, Page!)

delicate maiden riding side-saddle

squished samurai

samurai baby

little japanese darlings

at the "bahk"

we enjoyed an outing to the park the other day. Well, some of us did, anyway.

"Bahk" is one of A.'s new 'words'. She mostly grunts and squeals still. But when we pulled into the parking lot and she got a view of where we were headed, she got SO excited: "WOW! Bahk!"