All Done! (clap clap clap)

Just a follow-up entry about Gabriella's growing communication skills. This evening she was happily occupied in the excersaucer as I cleaned up the kitchen and put away (some) of the leftovers. After a little while, G caught my attention and, looking straight at me, lifted her arms out in front of her and clapped her hands together. When I asked if she was all done, her face lit up and she reached up for me. Communication replaces frustrated cries. Ahhhhhh...

Baby signs and phonemes

Lisa just called to share a new Gabriella feat with me. This morning, when Gabriella was finished eating her morning meal, Lisa cleaned her up and removed her bib. Gabriella looked up at here and made the sounds, "Ah Duh!" (which I like to think of as primitive phonemes) and started hitting her arms with her hands (which is very similar to the hand sign we've been using with her to signify "ALL DONE!"

Later this morning, Lisa was cleaning and tidying up in Gabriella's room (in anticipation of her good friend's arrival today), and Gabriella was playing happily in her crib. After awhile, Ella apparently decided that she had entertained herself for long enough (a big help to mommy!) and used the same physical action and verbal queue to let Lisa know that she was "ALL DONE" playing in the crib.

Though these verbal and physical actions are definitely subject to parental bias and interpretive overlay, the coincidence of the two events in such close temporal succession is a pretty compelling reason to emit the Proud Parental Glow (PPG).

Hope this finds whoever is reading in great spirits on this fine, sunny, reasonably mild Monday before Thanksgiving.

God Bless,
-kevin

Dashing... Snowing

We've really got to keep a close eye on Ella -- she loves baths, loves to stand at the bathtub and dream of taking baths, loves the bath toys...

And, wow, can she rocket on all fours!



Meanwhile, Lisa spent some good time outside this evening as she, Ben and Josiah relished the day's accumulation of snow crystals by covering every inch of the backyard with sled tracks, imprinting snow angels, and building a "snow princess alien".

Earlier in the day, as soon as Ben saw the snow starting to stick on the ground he informed me, "Dad. We're goin' sledding!" A short time later Josiah announced that he would be making snow angels on Sunday morning.

Cheers to Lisa for making certain that this early season snow was not wasted.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly, we've made a start on some minor remodeling in the playroom thanks to Mom and Dad T's visit today. Dad helped me work out the details for the storage cupboard/platform reconstruction (ripped out most of the existing counter to give the basement drainage installers access to the walls and floor on the south end of the basement). Dad also put quite a bit of time and energy into getting the insulation measured, cut and installed. Lisa had a roast going in the crock pot, so we also enjoyed a very warm and tasty meal--perfect on a cold, snowy day!

Box girl

Gabriella's new car seat arrived yesterday, in its trademark step-shaped box. The boys spent the morning watching cartoons and transforming the box from a seat (it collapsed under Ben - no injuries) to a dog house to a slide...

Later I gave Gabriella her chance to play in it. Here's a photo from just before she decided it really wasn't that fun :) As you can see, the boys' activities transformed the box into an, um, bursting flower of cardboard delight!

Halloween, Reprise

Today we deliver to you, the viewer, a photo of Josiah's favorite ghostly pumpkin (courtesy of a friend's husband) from this past Halloween, the aforementioned astronaut pics, and some genuine Halloween photos of Gabriella in her Punkin' Fairy costume (as opposed to the one taken during her "fitting" session a week or two prior).

Here are the brothers Astronaut, decked out for trick-or-treating...



[rear/side view]


and, earlier in the week, at Josiah's preschool party.



Newsreel: Astronaut meets giant mouse and ninja

From Halloween Costumes and Parties 2008

And a bit more Gabriella Grace, genuine "Punkin'" for a day :)

Two Astronauts and a Little Pumpkin Fairy

Gabriella's First Halloween

Our little lady is almost eight months old and had her first Halloween trick-or-treat experience last night. She lasted the entire 2 hours, sleeping for about 45 minutes of the trek. The night was just beautiful, a-typical for Trick-or-Treat in Iowa, and a perfect evening for two precocious astronauts and a darling pumpkin fairy to make the rounds.

We ended the night with our small group, topping off a beautiful, safe, generally un-eventful Halloween night.

Here's a sneak peek from a week or so ago when G tried on her costume.

Go Iowa State!

A few weekends back, Cyclones played the Hawkeyes. We wore our red and gold, cheered the great plays and lamented the not-so-great, but the Hawks won it in the end. The gathering included lots of old friends from our days at Camp Okoboji. It was great to catch up and watch our kids enjoy playing with one another.

Hmmmm - this could be explosive!

Thanks for playing Uncle Todd

Thanks for coming by to play with us, Uncle Todd. Your beard is a lot of fun to play with.

We are glad you are back in town.

Ladybug Shoes

Gabriella's morning activity was pulling off and eating her butterfly shoes. See the look of pride when she finally gets them both off for the second time, and I decide to give up trying again? Either way, it kept her busy.

Happy Unbirthday to us!

The last morning of our friends visit, we had a happy unbirthday party. Here are a few shots.
First is Felix enjoying his cupcake behind the frozen "I Spy" game. I froze toys in layers of ice, and we twirled it to play I Spy over lunch. It was fun, but we will try again and see if there is a way to make the ice freeze more clearly next time. Also, we decided doing one with Halloween themed things would be fun, or in the summer when you can take it outside and chip away at the ice or attack it with warm water bottles.
The next photo is the kids dressed up with their clothes on backwards.
The last two are the "I Spy" bottles that we made. Each child put the same 30 items in the bottle, then filled it with birdseed. They played the game with them on the way to airport to see our dear friends as they headed home. We were all so sad to see them leave, and so greatful to have such wonderful friends!

Renaissance Festival

On Sunday we went to the DM Renaissance Festival. It was the first time attending this one and we had such a good time.

The festival was just the right size to let the kids have some freedom and still keep and eye on them. We rode the chair rides, climbed the kids tower, the kids had their faces painted and glittered. We saw several entertaining shows. The first photo shows them with a puppeteer, where each of them got to act out a member of the royal family, which was a household item with eyes. After this they saw another storyteller who had Terra and Josiah come up to be a giant ogre and a dragon. They both loved being up front and the parts were perfect for them. We saw a couple more shows, dragged them away from some more adult ones. After prying them away with promises of fair food, we each enjoyed a different treat, then watched the jousting, did some shopping, and spoke with some of the performers. Afterwards, we headed to friends house who have a lovely home in the country. The kids played outside, looked at Dorthia's beautiful gardens, ate pizza, and watched the bats flying overhead, and through the sun room! It was a beautiful day to be out.

Around the house

Over Labor Day weekend, Ben and I worked together to clean, prime and paint my old dollhouse. My parents had a family friend build it for me when I little. I really wanted the big pink plastic Barbie house, but I am so glad they had this made instead. I had intended to put it in Gabriella's bedroom as a bookshelf, but the boys thought that was a crazy use for a cool dollhouse. Over the weekend the kids all worked together to arrnage furniture from the treehouse and create dishes and food out of sculpy that we baked and added to the dollhouse. I think Lydia and I had just has much fun as the kids making our tiny pancakes, hamburgers and tacos.

Terra and Josiah made up stories about "Cross-Eye," the kid ogre who spent most of the weekend scaring them, and joining in their paly. Here they are headed out to hunt for him, or hide from him, or make traps for him.

The kids did a lot of going up and down the streets in wagons, scooters, on bikes and in the power pumper. It is designed for one child, but they tried lots of ways to make it work with two.

Here is Gabriella enjoying some cuddles from Lydia. G had a miserable cold for the first two days, but got better as the weekend went on and was able to "play" with the kids too.

Reiman Gardens with friends

A few weeks ago, our friends from Montana came for a long weekend visit. We had so much fun with them, and were so sad to see them leave. The kids played beautifully together and had boundless energy all weekend! Here they are at Reiman. It was fun to have them all there again, as it was a place we went together often when they lived here, and my have they all grown in those three years.

At 6 Months I am...

* Well-rounded (pudgy cheeks, legs, tummy, arms -- everything),
* 16 pounds, 1 ounce,
* 25 and 3/4" long,
* blessed with a 44.2 cm round head.

On Thursday, Daddy took me to the doctor's office (and pin cushion practice, but more on that later). The nurse and the doctor were very nice, but I was sooo tired and wanted my daddy to hold me. I know Daddy loves me, but he laid me down on the table and held my hands when the doctor checked my ears. He also laid me down on something cold and hard, and I didn't like that either. When I'm older, I'll lobby for fuzzy towels on the baby scales instead of a thin paper liner.

The nurse said that I weigh 16 pounds, 1 ounce and I am 25.75 inches long. The doctor said he is very happy with my growth, and that is a very nice thing to say, but when he held me for just a little bit I was kind of sad until I tried to grab the thing hanging around his neck (Dad says it is called a stethoscope). I didn't get that stetho-thing from the doctor, but he gave me a nice book about sleepy babies and I like baby faces :)

The nice nurse came back and she smiled at me, then Daddy laid me down on the table again and held my hands and she gave me something icky to drink - yick! And then she poked my legs FOUR times :( I might be only six months old, but I know that I'm not a pin-cushion. I was mad and I didn't try to hide it! Then Daddy picked me up and cuddled me and in 2 or 3 seconds I stopped crying and just snuggled him. In time, I'll forgive the nurse too.

Guess what else can I do now that I'm six months old?
* I can sit up if somebody sits me down on the floor (as long as I don't lean backwards to far)
* I eat cereal and avacodo and today I get to try sweet potatoes
* I'm very chatty, especially when Ben makes me laugh
* I am starting to like peek-a-boo
* I love to watch myself in the mirror
* If the TV is on I like to watch the changing colors and listen to the talking, talking, talking.
* I scootch and roll and army-crawl all over the floor (and I have a sharp eye for any little specks that might be laying around,
* I like to stand up when Mommy or Daddy holds my hands.
* I love having my diaper changed (and have for a long time)
* I have two teeth (they came in last week)
* I like books (they are fun to chew on! And I like faces.)
* I'm starting to get a little shy, unhappy with people who are not my mommy or daddy or brothers -- but just sometimes.

Twofers - Toofers / Avacado

In the past week, Gabriella's lower two incisors made their appearance, pushing through the gums to form two little white lines with BITE. She's evidently learning the hard way that her teeth are sharp -- one morning she woke up with a slightly bloody lip!

Also, Ella has learned to eat baby cereal successfully (some parental patience required) over the past couple of weeks and we've introduced avocado (mixed with cereal and milk) into her diet. The latter engenders some amusing, well-animated expressions when the cere'ocado mixture is too lumpy or includes too much of the soft, flavorful, yellow/green fruit flesh.

-k