MarkHu Baby

progress with the house

2012-01-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

We have been taking up cracked vinyl tiles from our living room and dining room floors. Almost done. I have a 3x4 foot area left. Saturday Mark scraped loose paint and plaster from the living room ceiling and patched. The girls and I have been working on removing wallpaper from this room. This is a project the girls started and initiated when I was napping a month ago. half a wall to go. It feels so good to see progress.

sprouted bread

2012-01-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

I've been buying sprouted cinnamon raisin bread for the kids. The course dry texture takes some getting used to. Emily wanted me to take a picture of her eating this sandwich :)

Clothespins poem

2012-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Claire made up this poem in November. I don't think I ever posted it.

Clothespins
Clothespins, clothespins
on my pants
on my wrants and dance
Clothespins, clothespins
in my dish, in my fish
how many clothespins do you wish?

Photos

2011-12-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

busy vacation

2011-12-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a week long vacation over Thanksgiving and visit to my Parents in AZ. Thanks Mom and Dad for all the creative inspiration and time to get crafty. Also had a good visit with Linda and her family and bought an armload of wool sweaters and started an Etsy sight.

kinesthetic phonics

2011-10-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

We have been using some books called Explode the Code for Phonics. I have been supplementing with some active games that I though of. I wrote each of the letters for the sounds we've been working on a piece of paper and set them around the room. For the first game (musical chairs variation) I sing and when I stop the girls stand on a letter and tell me what sound it makes and a word that starts with that letter. The second game we use the same papers and I call out a sound and everyone puts foot on the letter that makes that sound (I plan to do this with blends, digraphs, sight words etc.)

Home schooling in full swing

2011-10-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

http://homeschoolersla.blogspot.com/2011/10/getting-ball-rolling.html
See above link to see what we did this week.

I realized that I need to do more planning ahead of time. I just purchased some books to help with reading/phonics/writing instruction Explode the Code
I also want to purchase a Spelling curriculum but will wait and see how this works out.

We started attending Community Bible Study on Tuesdays and the kids have been learning Bible stories and verses while the women meet to study the book of Job. Afterward we go the the park to play with other home school families. Also joined MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers)which meets every other week. This has been a nice break.

quilting

2011-10-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

My latest kick is quilting. I've been obsessed with making quilt blocks during the past three weeks. I went to the first meeting of a new quilting group made up of moms from mom's club. We decided to work on a sampler doing on block per month this year. I got carried away and made 9 blocks so far for that project. Mark got excited about the idea too and he and I made our first 8 blocks of a joint venture. see photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68397681@N03/6220948691/in/photostream

I hope I can maintain my enthusiasm to see both these quilts to completion. I am nervous about the sashing and quilting and binding. One thing I am noticing is that the more you sew the more you learn and it doesn't take long to gain new sewing skills. The last two blocks I made for are much more sophisticated that the first 7. I wouldn't even have attempted them a few weeks ago. I'm gaining more confidence day by day and am hoping this will seep into other areas of my life. Except for the dining room table and chairs which are covered in fabric, I am actually maintaining more discipline in the are of tidying and cleaning the house. (Of course it helped that I had a babysitter Thrs morning for 4 hours and Mark took the girls on various adventures yesterday.)

hats hats hats

2011-09-29T15:55:00.001-07:00

I'm sewing like crazy around here. I just made these two hats and 5 quilt blocks!!! The one Emily is wearing is not her size but very sweet on her nonetheless. I still have a few finishing touches on each.

little chef

2011-08-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. Just haven't felt inspired and the kids are running me ragged.
I took a cute video of Emily today helping mix up sourdough biscuits. Here I posted a still. What happened to the button that let's you upload a video?

Claire has been enjoying listening to audio books of Stuart Little, Little house on the Prairie and Winnie The Pooh.

video from the archives

2011-07-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

Last month we got a more powerful computer with a more spacious hard drive, so we have been reviewing old pics and videos. There are some real gems.

video of Claire twirling in a paper bag vest

From MarkHu Baby album on PicasaWeb.com

sweet memories

2011-06-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

We sure enjoyed visiting with all the grandparents during the weeks before and after Claire's 5th birthday. Thanks to all of you for chipping in and helping out in so many ways.
Today in the car driving back from the YMCA Emily said that she wants us to move to Canada to live with Nana.

other activity

2011-06-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

See new posts over on http://artimom.blogspot.com/ and
City of Angels Christian Homeschool Community
aka http://homeschoolersla.blogspot.com/
and videos at http://www.youtube.com/markhu2

From PicasaWeb

packing box fun

2011-05-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

We all enjoyed the contents and box from Oklahoma.

Christ is Risen

2011-05-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

New vids of the girls.
Christ is Risen!

cutting skills with scissors

2011-04-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Emily is doing a remarkable job cutting paper with scissors at the tender age of 2.5. She holds it in one hand and can make a 1 inch slice into a paper or cut a 1 inch strip into little pieces if I hold the strip for her.

I cleaned up my "studio" in the entry way and was reminded of several unfinished projects including an alphabet book I stared a while back with photos of the girls.

more words from Claire

2011-03-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

(A Little stream of consciousness from Claire)
I am CLaire and I love you
and I love my daddy
I'm wearing my daddy's long sleeved shirt
I have a printerbox slide and I like to slide down it.
I can swing on my swing and hang on my bar
I am playing with a hanger and the hanger is on it's side
I'm just doing a trick

buttons

2011-03-22T11:48:00.001-07:00

Thankfully my foot is feeling much better. I still feel the occasional twinge but nothing worrisome.

We are starting a button collection for math games, sewing and craft projects if you have any buttons of any size shape and color you want to part with we would love to add some buttons from your co0llection to ours. Thanks

We also need some small and large matchboxes to make doll house furniture if any one wants to send some our way Claire will be extatic.

Claire's poems

2011-03-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I asked Claire if she wanted to make up a poem for Papa's birthday.
She told me the title should be "Home Sweet Home" and dictated the following.

Home Sweet Home
My Mommy, my Daddy, My Sister
My rocking chair
Three bedrooms, three beds
So sweet because it has
lots of books
and a printerbox slide.

Her second one is about our cat.

Cupcake
He's a tiger tabby cat
he likes to catch mice
and eat catfood
he loves to chase his jingly ball
he loves Frankie
he and Frankie sleep together and
lick each other's heads
lick, lick, lick

Sis
She likes to play games
she's small and cute
and loves her Mommy
She loves to be with her Dad too
We like to walk on pillows and pretend
we're stuck on an island
We hop on the pillows, on the floor,
on the trampoline
We like to read books and play on my bed
We have tea parties and paint.
We like to hug our Mommy and Daddy

Claire
I'm growing and I like to eat and read my books
I like to stretch my arms and my legs
I can stretch my feet
and I can push up backwards
I can jump high and jump low
I can count alll the way up to 60
I love my Mommy and Daddy to take me to Alette's ballet class

daily grind

2011-03-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

There are some new photos on Flickr as of Friday Mar 18.
Claire is jumping on the trampoline saying the alphabet in Spanish. Emily is carrying her babies around.
Other things we did
wrap up in blankets and roll around on the trampoline
Claire gave Emily her first haircut.
math with unifix cubes:
patterns and counting and one-to-one correspondence and building towers with 10-1 cubes
crafts: collage with lots of glue and paper strips and magazine photos.
deal with major ant infestation a la Jim Hudson...go after them with the vacuum.
talk to Beth about mi foot injury...a 7 oz can of salsa fell on top of my foot yesterday, ouch!
tea party at the kid's table

Photos

2011-03-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

Couldn't post photos to flickr so here are a couple more

Chums

2011-03-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

The girls are becoming quite chummy these days. They play together a lot and really enjoy each other's company most of the time. We still have episodes where Claire snatches things from Emily or is overbearing, but instead of every 5 minutes these occur a few times a day. This morning they did a puzzle, splashed in some water outside, and danced and got dizzy in the kitchen.

ballerina girl

2011-02-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

I joined the YMCA a couple weeks ago and have been enjoying it.The girls love the mommy and me music and movement class. Claire is also taking ballet and arts and crafts.

I just uploaded new photos to Flickr.

The girls have been requesting pigtails lately. So cute.
Emily now likes her apples whole. See photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hudsonthego/5411855528/

Emily only naps two days a week though she does rest in her crib each day during nap time just in case...

Claire continues to enjoy sewing. She is working on stitching some Valentines. Emily has een working on felt collages while Claire sews. She loves to squeeze out the glue.

morning activities

2011-01-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

Morning activities were as follows:
Write a letter to Nona Beth, Claire wrote her name fairly legibly for the first time. I only helped with the "e".
do a science experiment involving straws and blowing small objects.
using magnets to make a dangling chain of washers.
bouncing and catching/chasing a small ball
coloring the doll house with colored chalk
snacking on dry cheerios

The other day Claire sewed the eye and flippers onto this fish and started sewing it onto a pink felt bag. I helped her finish it. Click to enlarge and see Claire's writing.

sisterly love

2011-01-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

We were reading a book about a boy who planted seeds and earned $5.00. I asked Claire what she would do if she had $5.00 and she said she would buy a toy for Emily. A little while later we were doing math with unifix cubes and Claire made a long train and said it was a surprise for Emily when she wakes up.

tiny tea cups

2011-01-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

The Girls are inaugurating their new tea cups ad saucers with roobois tea and jam on toast. A couple of small angels are joining the tea party on a blanket on the kitchen floor. Most of the tea parties at our house are "pic-nics" which means sitting on blankets on the floor.

Thanks for the new cups, Nana, they are very pretty.

Happy New Year toddler quotes

2011-01-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Emily quotes:

"I'm learning how to do preschooler." As she and Claire try to jump rope and make up games to do with the jump ropes.

"Little Mama is brushing your hair to get the tangles out." (11 words for those counting --her previous high was 9 word sentences.) I let her brush my hair after my shower this morning. She must've spent at least ten minutes brushing.

In church, we are all lined up kneeling reverently at the communion rail, which gives us a good view of the altar decorations --this time of year including poinsettia flowers and conical fir trees. Emily shouts out, "Christmast Trees!" then launches into an off-key toddler rendition of "Oh Tannenbaum" before we can shush her, barely restraining our own giggles.

Holiday fun

2010-12-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

The girls have enjoyed decorating the tree making and decorating bread dough ornaments, learning a memory verse and song for the creche liturgy tomorrow... licking the glittery ornaments (Claire mostly), eating gingerbread cookies, seeing friends, playing with the bear and angel ornaments.

chalk art

2010-11-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

I went into Claire's room an noticed she had drawn a little person on her chalkboard and asked her about it. Claire told me that she drew an angel. Then Emily went in and stood on the little red chair and started drawing an arch above the person and said. "I'm drawing a rainbow for the people." A few minutes later Emily says, "I'm drawing a dinosaur." and Claire says, "I drew a dinosaur. Mom, I made a dinosaur."

Also see new vids on Flickr.

YMCA

2010-11-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

The girls and I visited the Hollywood YMCA together for the first time today. We went to a Mommy and me movement class then the kids went to the "Clubhouse" and I used the exercise machines. We all had a good time. I got a 7 day pass so if we keep it up I think I'll join at the end of the week. I exercised by myself on Saturday and am still sore. They have a lot of classes for kids Claire's age.

Preschool activities

2010-11-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

We actually did some preschool activities during the past two weeks. Veggie collage, math using buttons for counters and pennies on the hundreds chart, stringing beads, washing pumpkins, bathtub science projects. Making a mailbox and writing/ reading the letters in it. I have some photos of this on Flickr.

habits

2010-11-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

recent habits:
Claire
1. emptying things onto the floor from table tops, drawers, baskets--mostly mom's stuff. Argh!
2. playing mermaids-- she pretends that she is swimming all over the place and always is talking about the color of her tail (Very sweet.) Mom and Emily are also mermaids and today I have a pink tail. Claire has pantyhose braids and a shirt of mine and said that she is wearing her best mermaid clothes.
3. eating lots of good food including her favorite ground beef cooked with veggies mixed in served with ketchup.
4. arguing with her sister.

Emily
1. laying down on a pretend bed and being covered up with lots of small blankets by Claire.
2. sitting next to Claire looking at books and reciting the parts that she remembers.
3. closing all the doors in the house.
4. not a habit but interesting: she learned how to open the car door from the outside. (Claire has never done this...only Emily)

Emily likes

2010-11-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Emily likes...
to jump, take all her clothes off, look at books, play with sissy, play with flashlights, stack blocks, do puzzles, string beads onto pipe cleaners, put on dress up clothes, dress up her dollies and animals, sand play, water play and baths and hand washing, stirring the dough/ batter, playing outside, singing, story time at the library, kids concerts, cuddling with lots of blankets and pillows on the floor.
more fotos on flickr

cute animals

2010-10-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

went to the pumpkin patch and enjoyed the petting zoo. see new flickr picts.

garden

2010-10-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying using the last of our garden produce lately. Cherry tomatoes in salads. Chard and onions in soup and baked up some winter squash.

Has anyone read Nourishing Traditions y Sally Fallon? If so I'm curious to know what you think of it. There are some good recipes and information, but one could really go to extremes in terms of time and money spent preparing food if one did everything she suggests.

The girls are doing well and playing so nicely together much of the time. Emily is becoming quite fluent in her speech. "Hello Mommy. I'm sitting in the bathtub." I wish I could think of some of the more amusing things she says. Claire said, "Emily tell me a story." And Emily replied, "Once upon a time there was a peacock crying. The end."

random kids pics

2010-10-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

experimenting with different ways to post short link

Emily vids: reading, towers

2010-09-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

Monday morning

2010-09-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying weekly outdoor kids concerts at the Grove and or Americana shopping centers. Our two favorite groups are Jambo (Jambojam.com) and the Hollow Trees.
Speaking of trees. Our morning activities consisted of a quick overview of a set of laminated icons I'm borrowing from Father Stephen, swinging and tree climbing in the front yard, building castles with mega blocks, sand play and water play in the backyard.

Claire surprised us by turnning on her light and looking at a big stack of books instead of coming directly into our room at 6:15. This was after wetting the bed at 5:30 and then going back to sleep after I took the wet things off her bed.

I've been working on teaching Emily patience and taught her the have patience song last week. Today while I was inside taking care of something she was standing at the back door singing "Have patience, have patience." So sweet. (She has been doing a lot of fussing if she can't have what she wants immediately.)

Claire has been sharing toys with Emily on here own initiative lately. Claire still takes things from her just to hear Emily scream, but I am thrilled to see that she is also learning to be kind.

See new posts on planner blog re food for small kids.

preschool activities/ kitchen tricks

2010-09-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in ages. Sorry grandparents and other friends and family.
I posted some of our activities on my homeschooling and general planning blog.

http://my-planz.blogspot.com

I also just started doing something to help organize our kitchen which I highly recommend. I put up a sheet on the fridge listing all the ready to eat foods in one column and the needs to be prepared foods in another so that I don't forget what is in there and end up wasting food. I first cleared out the too old leftovers. Then made the list. Just making the list inspired me to grill the big bag of muliti-colored bell peppers I got for a dollar a pound at farmer's market.

Another thing I started doing is having Claire put all the breakfast dishes into the dish pan and rinse them.

monologues

2010-07-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

more quotes from Emily
"Here's the nuts" (Pretending to offer me nuts to eat.)
"I have the seal and sock. I don't have any babies here."
Sleepy head sleepyhead. I want to give her a blanky. I am making a boat.
Lullaby and sleepyhead. Sing Sleepyhead." At this point Claire joins in singing sleepyhead over and over.

Emily speaks

2010-07-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

Emily quotes
"I live in the house."

"The puppy going potty. Tinkle tinkle."
"I'm giving her a jacket, if you don't mind." (referring to the puppy)

"Is daddy driving car?
"I lost it."
"are you eating cabbage Sissy?"

Claire in a boat

2010-06-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

After Claire got in the box and sang "row row row your boat," Emily had to try it too. Then Emily grabbed a book and started looking at it and said that the box was her house.

Chatty Emily at the basket

2010-06-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

Emily plays basketball. Sort of.

Emily jumps

2010-06-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Emily just keeps getting more and more personality by the day.I really enjoy observing her. She loves to imitate Claire. Today she and Claire were taking turns jumping around in the wading pool and falling onto their bottoms which they both found uproariously funny. She does a hundreds funny or cute things everyday and of course when I finally decide to blog I can't think of them. She loves reciting 'ring around the rosie'. This is how the all the falling down started.

art update

2010-06-14T10:40:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I posted about doing the 12 week workshop in The Artistic Mother and you haven't heard anything about it since. I've been so busy working on art and trying to find some discipline in other areas off my life that I haven't spent much time blogging.
I have been working on some poetry and decorated the cover of my poetry journal and have been working on some collages. (I also do not plan to finish all the projects in 12 weeks. Maybe 24 weeks is more realistic for my current schedule.)

R-A-G-G M-O-P-P

2010-06-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

On the heels of helping make pizza dough note flour on face and clothes. laire sings a song from a kids jazz CD we checked out from the library.

library books

2010-06-03T09:30:00.001-07:00

We checked out some fun children's books from the library. Claire has poured over them for hours and Emily has a new favorite author, Ezra Jack Keats.
Emily fell in love with Peter in the board book version of The Snowy Day so I checked out two more Keats books, A Letter to Amy, and Whistle for Willie.
Claire loves the illustrations in Big Book of Little Children by Catherine and Laurence Anholt and Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell.
Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin have teamed up to write several hilaorios books about farm animals the one we chose this time was, Thump Quack Moo A Whacky Adventure. Claire's favorite of the bunch has been When Sophie Gets Angry-- Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang.

I also forgot to mention that we are about 2/3 through Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Claire likes it but not as much as she liked Little House in The Big Woods.

Bathtime quotes from Claire and Emily

2010-06-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

Claire and Emily were bathing with a baby doll this evening and this is what they said.

Use a tin spoon or a tablespoon or a glass spoon
wishy washy
put the baby in
put the soap in
want it hair clip
I'm shaving the hairs off
now you have a bubbly soap
I put some soap in now you can have it
this is for you
it has sudzies zudzies wudzies
baby's floating
that's mine baby
washy baby
please turn it on
soap off
I'm a boat
I'm a boat
you can sail me
I am a boat
I'm a boat row row row
I see toes

You can guess who said what and what they were talking about.

Emily wishes Claire a Happy Birthday

2010-05-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Emily wishes Claire a Happy Birthday.

Sounds to me like she said, "Happy birth-cake!"

Then at the end she says, "Cheese" because it is what you say when a camera is pointed at you.

inspiration

2010-05-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Emily is fascinated with feeding everyone... she feeds her stuffed animals, dollies, parents, sister, and grandparents. This morning she was feeding her dolly using a preemie bottle. She is also teaching her dollies how to play the guitar. Another current interest is dancing. Anytime we hear music she will stop and dance even if its me tapping on a table and humming. Saturday she was pushing Claire in the stroller (all the way home from the pocket park) and had to stop and dance when she heard music coming from the rental hall we were passing.

The girls and I had a great time in Arizona while Mark was doing marksmanship training. My mom got me a book called The Artistic Mother: A practical Guide for fitting Creativity into your Life. I am inspired to do the 12 week workshop that the book suggests and had time to shop for all the supplies while I was in AZ. I also did some other preparations gessoed and painted some backgrounds to use in collages and other projects, tried out some new rubber stamps and did some rubbings and resists. Claire had fun with this last project too. Emily painted a beautiful watercolor which I have yet to photograph. I hope to keep you all posted with my progress through the workshop. The three areas covered in the book are poetry, photography and mixed media (collage). One thing she suggests is reading poetry each day to inspire. I have been enjoying this aspect a lot. I also had a chance to take a bunch of pictures of the girls and print them.

bachelor weekend extraordinaire

2010-05-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

I just finished this 2-day training program offered by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association. Fun doesn't begin to describe it... [click on the title or picture to read my longer write-up.] Learning marksmanship was only part of it. I also learned some personal perspectives on Revolutionary War history, and I learned about myself.

Ever since I read this Appleseeds of Life & Precision article, I'd been burning to go. It was everything I hoped for, and I'm pretty enthused about re-upping. I think this would be a great part of home-schooling curriculum, and also a great way to earn a merit badge for a Boy Scout or Girl Scout.

I think my wife could sense my intensity as I prepared for the weekend, so she took off with the girls for a weekend with the grand parents.

dizzy

2010-05-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

tickle kiss trick

2010-05-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Tickle me one
Tickle me two
Tickle me when you take off my shoe

Kiss me three
Kiss me four
Kiss me before you close the door

Toss me up 5
Catch me down 6
Let me show you all my tricks

Bumpy ride 7
Upside down 8
Higgly Piggly hurry don't wait

Read to me 9
Lots of books 10
Now lets do it all over again

Energetic Claire

2010-05-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

About Emily

2010-05-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

About Emily...
1. she can put her sister's shoes and some of her own shoes on her feet all by herself
2. she can unzip and take off her pyjamas
3. she is obsessed with shoes and tried on all the kids shoes during Claire's "My Gym" class
4. her favorite item of clothing is her overalls.
5. she likes to paint with a paint brush but not with her fingers.
6. she uses some 3 and 4 word sentences.
7. she enjoyed bonding time with Daddy on Saturday while Jen met with some mom friends
8. she has renewed interest in feeding other members of the family
9. she has been letting Claire wash her hair when they take a bath together
10. she likes to dance and even makes her dollies dance

the morning

2010-04-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

6:25 wake up to the sound of Emily fussing.
6:30 get up and nurse Emily
6:40 greet a groggy Claire as she stumbles out of her room
7:05 wake up Mark
7:10 make whole wheat oatmeal pancakes and eat them. Emily has just come to love pancakes and can't get enough of them quick enough and was also impatient to help make the batter.
8:00 Claire hops into the shower with her daddy
8:05 apply lotion to Claire and help her get her slightly damp body into her clothes.
8:10 costume change for Claire from green princess dress and leggings into a flowered swim suit.
8:30 Claire adds rain boots and a sweatshirt to her costume so we can go outside and see daddy off. We stay outside and play freeze tag, run races, throw the ball and pick a bouquet of lavender geraniums.
9:10 we come in and put the flowers in a vase and the girls look at books in Claire's room while I put the cats out and make myself a cup of coffee and blog.

(The photos are from the Saturday after Easter when we went to spend the day at Crystal Cove (between Newport and Laguna) I originally wanted to spend the weekend but I didn't book a cabin soon enough.)

woes

2010-04-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a week of Claire being sick followed by a week of me being sick followed by a week of me not feeling like blogging. I can't get flickr to upload photos which
I've been trying off and on for the past week or so to do. I can't remember how to access our desktop computer from this laptop which is running some version of Linux called Ubuntu. Whatever flavor of Linux we had before, I liked better.
The girls are well Claire is at art class and Emily is napping so it's time to tackle sorting papers on the dining room table.

Easter Monday

2010-04-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. We are enjoying the Pascal season.

Science day. Today for preschool we read about tapirs and gorillas and talked about what they eat. We did a project from bathtub science and learned about cohesion "water is sticky." We also did our Spanish rhymes and counting and quiet time. We poked holes in the cup watered the carrot seeds she planted at the zoo.

We are most of the way through the first Laura Ingalls Wilder book. Claire loves it. It is doing wonders for her attention span. She listens so quietly. Thank you Katie for the suggestion.

pretend-o-bo

2010-03-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

Jen: What do you like to pretend?
Claire: I like to pretend that my name is Charlie. (pause) Tell me a story about Charlie when he was a little boy.
Jen: Charlie liked to swim. He loved to dive to the bottom of the pond with no goggles to look for smooth stones. He would grab them and take them to shore and skip them across the pond.
Claire: Tell me the story about Charlie and the wolf.

Yesterday Emily said, "This is Mama's book." and, "That is my shoe." It is so fun and amazing to observe a child acquiring language.

pre-school activities

2010-03-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

Emily's communications are getting more and more sophisticated. It is not uncommon for her to use 3 word phrases and she has been known to mimic 4 word sentences. The two word sentence is the most common ie: Sissy sad. Dolly sleeping. More bread. Mommy back (which means come back). Daddy work. Emily happy. Mommy dress. Big shoes. She and Claire have been playing together more and more lately. Claire likes to quiz her and tells her, "Say doctor, say spider, say monkey..." Emily is only too happy to repeat the requested words. Lately Claire has been heard to say to Emily, "Emily do you want to do couch time with sissy?" "Do you want to go swimming with sissy?"

Pre-school activities have mostly consisted of learning Spanish rhymes and numbers while jumping on the ball as well as counting by twos in English and working on counting 14-20 one of which always gets skipped. We also do an alphabet song in which she supplies a word beginning with each letter of the alphabet and we do rhyming. In addition we do dexterity work like sewing kits, puzzles, drawing with markers and chalk, or other craft projects. We also do a couple baking sessions--- She has recently become much more competent at stirring dough and she likes to name each of the ingredients when I ask her what I should get out in order to make muffins or scones. We sometimes do a card game or board game too. She is getting much better at taking turns, but sometimes dilly dallies when it is her turn We check out library books and read from our own collection including Bible stories and her Ladybug and High Five magazines. We also have a digital clock made from card stock which we talk about and she likes to manipulate the dials and aks waht time it is. We try to go to play group two days a week but she still doesn't play with the other kids very much. I think part of it is that she doesn't have the mental picture for some of the things they pretend since she doesn't watch TV. Friday they were pretending to be pegasus and unicorns or sometimes it's some specific Disney princess etc. At other times she is more interested in checking out their toys than playing with the kids. (Maybe we should start reading fairy tales.) The one thing we try to do 5 days a week is have a 45 minute quiet time while Emily is napping.
This makes it sound like we do a lot but we cover this in a two week time period.

2010-03-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

We have had to change our rain gear for swim wear this week. I moved the inflateable pool outside and filled it with water after seeing that yesterday would turn into the third 80-90 degree day in a row. The girls had a blast splashing around yesterday. They had their swim shirts on and sunscreen but Claire got a little pink on her arm and it became itchy. After spending some time in the shade eating popsicles playing in the sand box and the bean box the pool was in shade and the went back to splashing. We finished up with an oatmeal bath and early to bed.

Today Claire is at the zoo with Linda. I took a nap when Emily napped. Then I got a few chores done. When Emily awoke, we dressed a bunch of dollies and stuffed toys. Right now she is collecting small items from various rooms and putting them into a Christmasy gift bag.

I am trying to teach Emily how to sit quietly and how to whisper. I wish I had started this sooner. Church has suddenly become increasingly difficult. Emily wants to be constantly talking and/or moving. Claire thinks she can be noisy because Emily is noisy. I think Mark and I are going to try the divide and conquer technique. Each of us sits with one of them in separate pews. Any other tips?

pretend play

2010-03-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

Emily was just rocking her dolly in our extra infant car seat and singing part of Row Row row your boat to her after she covered her with a little blanket.

A bit ago she has fun trying on my sandal and clomping around. Yesterday she held my cell phone to her ear and said,
"hello, hello."

Emily had also discovered the joys of pockets...when she runs out of room in her pocket she stuffs her onesie full of interesting objects...magnet letters, blocks etc.

sticky finger

2010-03-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

Check out the new photos. (Small box on right)

Emily devised a new way of picking up Cheerios.
she licks her finger and touches a Cheeerio which sticks her wet finger then she pops it in her mouth and repeats the process.
She loves playing peek-a-boo and will initiate by covering her face with her hands.

the list

2010-03-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend we read Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad story, "A List." Then, at Church, Claire asked, "Where are we going next?" Dad ambitiously replied, "the mountains." Hours later, Claire and Dad were doodling with pencil and paper. Claire was heard to mutter, "On my list:
-brush teeth
-go to the mountains
-take a walk with dad
-go to bed:"

food

2010-03-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

We went to farmer's market yesterday for the first time in a while. We are enjoying our first strawberries of the season. My favorite way to enjoy them is on toast with peanut butter. We also enjoyed our fist summer squash of the season sauteed with olive oil and thyme.

zoo day

2010-03-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

Claire says, "Hi. I went to the zoo yesterday. I liked the giraffes and the flamingos."

My favorite part was the gorillas. We got to watch a young gorilla named Glenda interacting with a group of 5 and six year old boys. She would run back and forth and make noise and put her mouth on the glass and smack the glass with her hand. She was very playful and the boys were running back and forth with her laughing and talking to her.

Claire is gaining weight and enjoying hearty dinners on a regular basis. She is up to 27 lbs.

Emily in toddling around with confidence. She didn't want to hold my hand at the zoo yesterday and did quite a bit of walking. (Grandpa and I carried her some too.)

Antiques

2010-02-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

Emily is getting so independent.
she walks from room to room going from one activity to another. She'll play at the music table for a little while then pick up a doll and take it to another room. Then she'll find a bag and fill it with toys and carry it around. She has started "couch time" and is able to sit for 10 minutes looking at books on the couch. She isn't totally quiet, but she doesn't know how to whisper yet.

Church has been a challenge lately now that Emily wants to walk a lot. Thankfully her godmother, Joy helps us with her during the service. We hadn't been doing quiet time with Claire lately because of travels. I am determined to get back to some kind of routine around here because when we have structure at home the girls can handle structure at church.

Conversation with Claire:
"Mommy, what's an antique?"
"Something that's old but really nice."
pause
"Is Grandma an antique?"

Inside

2010-02-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

Emily loves to put things "inside." Right now she is putting jar lids in a slot in the top of a can. She loves to put things in bags and boxes and suitcases too. On Sunday she had fun stuffing toys into my purse to take to church.

Today while Emily was napping Claire and I did some weeding in my garden only to discover several yellow tomatoes from last year's plants. They didn't taste very good raw so I cooked them with a little olive oil and basil. I ate them over open faced grilled cheese. Mmmm so tangy and tasty. Claire also helped me dip green tomato slices in cornmeal for fried green tomatoes.

home again

2010-02-23T19:22:00.000-08:00

We are back home.
Parenting is exhausting. I really appreciated being around other family members the past two weeks. Thanks to all who helped entertain the girls during our travels. I tried to catch up on chores today. I made a lot of progress but still there is so much to do. I still haven't finished unpacking. I took the girls to the park today and yesterday. Claire was suffering from park withdrawal after 5 weeks banishment (due to her surgery and recovery.) Emily is now able to toddle all around the park... so cute. She had a lot of fun exploring. She loves both the swings and the slide.

Emily hugs Claire

2010-02-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

Emily hugged Claire at my suggestion. Usually it is Claire giving big bear hugs to Emily and Emily fussing and pushing her away. Emily's favorite vegetable is broccoli and she has learned to say "broc-li." She is interested in doing the things that Claire does including making pictures with markers and she has learned all the related vocab: pen, marker, lid, paper, picture, write.

Claire got to watch a bit of Olympic skiing last night and asked, "Can I do that too?" We said, "someday" and she said "can I do it now?".

We all enjoyed our time in Oklahoma. Claire was thrilled to get to see all her second cousins. (Will post picts to Flickr soon.) We were all glad to visit with Grammy who in spite of terminal illness seemed very peaceful and joyful (What an example of rock solid faith). Nanna and Poppa also thoroughly enjoyed the girls. We are all thankful that we were able to make the trip.

Mark went home Wed. to go back to work. The girls and I stayed in Prescott to visit with Nanu, Papa and Grandma for a few days. Claire and I went to the park yesterday and got to throw sticks for a dog named 'Charlie' Claire has chosen a new nickname for herself... she insisted on being called Charlie all yesterday evening.

stacking Emily

2010-02-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Last week Emily discovered the joys of stacking cat food cans...

Travels

2010-02-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

We arrived safely in OK yesterday evening in time to enjoy turkey soup for dinner. The girls were absolute angels in the car. Both napped well, snacked a lot, entertained themselves and were a joy to travel with. Thanks be to God. The two days before we left I was stressed out about the prospect of so much time in the car and I gathered lots of snacks, activities, toys and books to keep them busy. I think the girls liked having their parents close at hand even if we weren't always directly interacting with them. My favorite part of the trip was driving while it was snowing between williams and Flagstaff Arizona. There was no snow on the road and the snow didn't even touch the windshield but seemed to part and go around us... it was a very surreal experience. We drove through rain at several points but none of it was as bad as the rain I drove through in Pasadena before the trip (after Claire's last Dr. Burke visit.) Even with the recent storms, we didn't find any snowy or icy roads. It is sunny but cold here today. Mark and Claire just walked over to Grammy's while Emily is napping sweetly. I just started a new knitting project, a hat for Emily.

our kind hosts: http://penniev.blogspot.com/

last cardio followup, then on the road

2010-02-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

all is well with Claire's heart. no more fluid.
we are off on a road trip to see Grammy in OK

EKG aplomb

2010-02-04T15:35:00.000-08:00

This is Claire getting an EKG at Dr. Burke's office last week. We go again tomorrow. She loves Dr. Burke who seems to have a great rapport with kids.

Emily's interests include throwing her ball, opening and closing containers, taking off shoes and socks, hats, dancing to music and using shakers and doing drumming and talking about everything she has a word for. Today she learned how to open and close her snack container, and she ate a good hearty meal with the aid of a princess-themed compartmented food tray. Both girls have been enjoying bubbles this week. Emily asks for bubbles at least twice a day by pointing and saying, "bubbles, bubbles!" Today she made the blowing pucker so we put the wand by her mouth and she actually did blow some bubbles.

fieldtrip and painting

2010-02-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

Claire got to visit Dr.Burke again today. He said the fluid under her heart has already decreased by 2/3 and he is decreasing her IB. He wants to see her 2 or 3 more times.

Claire quotes

2010-01-31T21:15:00.000-08:00

Claire says the cutest things. (I wish I could remember more of them to add to the blog right now.)

She'll ask in the mornings, "Where shall we go today?"

After we brush teeth she says, "What smells minty?"

Others...

"Can I topple on you?"

"Does Daddy have two princesses?"

"Are you happy with your daughter?"

Emily videos

2010-01-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

Here is Emily popping packing bubbles and eating soup with a spoon.

Other news:
Emily is now walking 20 or more steps on her own and walking from one room to another. Nanu showed her how to wrap up her dolly and put it to sleep and how to offer it a cup to drink. She says "night night baby" and "Baby's sleeping" and "yum yum." She will also hold the doll and rock back and forth... such a good little mama.
Claire visited the cardiologist today. He is pleased with the results of the surgery but is prescribing a course of Ibuprofen for some possible inflammation and fluid build up under the heart. He said it will probably go away on its own but he wants to see her again a couple times in the next week of two.

video

2010-01-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

Got some cute footage of the girls recently.

This one is a big one so I better not add any more to this post.
I plan to post some more in the coming week

running and jumping

2010-01-23T19:22:00.000-08:00

Claire is running and jumping again. She isn't quite as exuberant and enthusiastic as she was before, but she is feeling better and better. She had nightmares last night and couldn't stay asleep. I finally at around 3:00am (After 4 or 5 wakings) put her in bed with Mark and went to sleep in her bed.

Emily stood up on her own with something in each hand and walked 7 or 8 steps. Go Emily go. Claire is very excited about Emily walking.

Hail storm

2010-01-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

We just experienced 4 minutes of pea sized hail. That was exciting.
Emily has her first curl at the back of her head now. She has been having fun feeding herself thick soup with a spoon... and doing about as well as Claire at it. Emily launched out on her own with one step today for the first time.

Claire is becoming more like her old self every day. Yesterday evening and today brought tears and fussing when things didn't go her way. She spat her morning Tylenol all over Nanu. She thinks of any excuse to avoid naptime, bathtime and bedtime. (She used to love the bath.

Emily walking

2010-01-20T14:43:00.001-08:00

Emily has finally decided to practice walking again. She's up to 10 steps. She is also able to stand still in the middle of the room for maybe 10 seconds and is also practicing turning around to walk the other way. Pushing her car was instrumental in helping her learn this.

Claire is getting stronger all the time. She can get into her trip trap chair with just a tiny bit of support now. She helped measure ingredients for soup this morning. She didn't nap till 1:30 today and it took a while to get her to sleep. Emily got her laughing for the first time since her surgery. Claire has been a bit stoic and a lot more still.

The girls are happy with their new books. Claire has been decorating the house with reuseable fairy stickers. They look especially nice on her mirror. (Thanks Uncle Jerry and Pat. The package arrived today.) Thanks also to Gam, Grandma Bowers, Beth and Joan. It has been fun for Claire to have packages to open during this restless time.

24 hours at home

2010-01-19T19:29:00.000-08:00

Claire was pretty mellow today but basically happy. She didn't seem to be in any pain. She seemed a little bit bored. She did enjoy doing some painting this afternoon.

I am totally exhausted.

home sweet home

2010-01-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Claire came home this evening at about 5. Thanks be to God! She is tired and mellow and slept a lot today. She smiled today for the first time since Friday. She smiled a lot today. She is able to walk around. It is good to have our family re-united. Emily is such a sweet mellow baby-- she didn't seemed to mind having so many different caregivers this week. She even slept through the night several times in spite of all the chaos. She did ask me for sissy and daddy several times--she definitely knew they were missing. She seemed quite happy to see me each time I came home-especially today. She was thrilled to see Daddy and Claire this evening too.

We are grateful for all your prayers and especially for help from Fr. Stephen, Nina, Beth and Mary, Nanu and Papa, Tiffany and Luke. Thank you.

out of ICU

2010-01-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

Our good friend Nina from Church called this evening for an update, and I was rambling about Claire feeling so much better with fewer wires/tubes sticking out. But then I casually let drop that she had moved out of Intensive Care and was having fun upstairs in the regular kids recovery section. Nina's joyful response reminded me what an important milestone this is, so I thought I better post.

Mark got to take a few hours rest at home this afternoon after being at the hospital for 16 hours straight. With some sleep: thankfully they have little bunk rooms for parents near the ICU. Tonight will be interesting: a foldout bed/chair in Claire's room (and a shared room at that.)

more tubes and wires gone

2010-01-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today Claire had the chest tube and wires for temporary pace maker removed (apparently installing one of these for use in the first couple days after surgery is standard procedure She is waiting for a bed to become available in order to be moved from ICU to the 6th floor. Her grandparents are with her this afternoon reading and telling her stories in between naps to distract her from her discomfort and frustration. She still has an IV in her left (dominant) hand which makes it hard for her to feed herself and frustrates her.

Yesterday afternoon and evening she spent several hours on end whining fussing complaining and crying. She couldn't settle down and get to sleep even after Benadryl for an itchy face and Tylenol for a slight fever. Finally they gave her something stronger and she conked out.

Claire doing better

2010-01-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Claire had the breathing tube removed this morning. Has no more sign of allergic reaction. She woke up briefly right before they took it out and held my hand as they took off the tape. She said "mama." She went right back to sleep once the tube was out.
I am relieved. It was hard waiting so long to see some reaction from Claire.

allergic reaction

2010-01-15T17:14:00.000-08:00

Claire has had a successful surgery, thanks be to God. I was able to see her briefly and speak with the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Right now they are treating her for an anaphylactic reaction--she was allergic something used during the operation. The reaction was severe: her blood pressure dropped and she was having trouble breathing; she is swollen and red. They said it usually passes in a couple of hours and are giving meds to counteract. She will need to see an allergist to determine what caused the reaction.

6 pm update: she has recovered from the anaphylaxis, but that episode delayed removal of the breathing tube until tomorrow. She will also be sedated a little longer than normal, so she won't wake up until tomorrow. The nurses are doing a great job, and even asked me about her favorite ways of being soothed. I said the "Wheels on the Bus" song, and stories about the exploits of mice or squirrels. Though, honestly, she prefers coyote stories.

the day before the big day

2010-01-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

What an exhausting day. We were at the hospital from 9 to 1 this morning doing all the pre-op processing, exams, orientation, tours, etc. She was quite brave while they drew blood samples, though she did cry. I almost cried myself. Emily took a nap "in the pack" for about 30 minutes while Claire received a chest x-ray. After that, Emily was in such great spirits, she charmed the entire waiting room, pushing around an out-sized red wagon.
Part of the orientation was viewing a notebook full of pictures of previous patients, and explanations about what to expect. Basically a maze of tubes and wires, the scariest being the chest cavity drainage tubes.
No sooner had we arrived home and put the girls down for naps, then the hospital called with our schedule for tomorrow morning: check in at 8:30 for a 10:00 procedure. I'm glad we got the morning slot since that makes the "no food for 8 hours prior" a bit easier.

Home life

2010-01-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

We resumed preschool activities with a vengeance today... this was mostly to keep Claire occupied and happy since we stayed home all day. (we are staying home in an effort to stay healthy for Friday's surgery.) It amazing what you can pack into a single day for me the highlights were quiet time and gardening. Both girls were snacking on swiss chard and both tasted some tomatoes right off the vine. They also played in the sand box and Claire helped toss out rotting oranges. It was at this point that I realized that one of the things Claire needs during these days at home is a good dose of chores to give her a sense of purpose.

This Friday

2010-01-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

Well, if all goes according to plans, Claire will have surgery to repair congenital heart defects on Jan 15th. Dr. Wells and attending surgeons will close one small and one large hole and repair a cleft in one of her valves.

My main concerns are:

1. There is a possibility of disturbing the body's natural pacemaker when working on the right atrium (the area they will be working on in Claire) this would result in Claire needing an artificial pacemaker.

2. Negative side effects of medications ie. nausea, vomiting, itchiness. (Claire had nausea and dry heaves after being sedated her MRI at one year.)

3. Possible allergic reactions to hospital foods. (Of course we have already listed out for them all the things she is allergic to.)

4. Infection at the incision site.

5. Other complications related to open heart surgery.

more info:
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/atrial-septal-defect.html

Please keep Claire in your prayers.

walking progress

2010-01-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

Emily is making very slow progress with walking unassisted. Today I stood her up in front of me as far as my arms will reach and let go and she took 4 or 5 steps to me standing up nice and tall (Instead of lunging forward.) Mark and I have tried together to walk back and forth between us in the mornings but she has refused.
Her vocabulary however, is multiplying rapidly. Some new words are: "did it" as in I did it, meow, woof, peep, cat, kitty, cookie, pee pee, outside, no, yeah, that, snap, sissy

Stand up

2010-01-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

Today Emily practiced standing up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything. She did it over and over again while holding onto a half empty package of wipes.

Claire is a little scientist at work. She is trying to find answers to some of life's most interesting questions:
What can I see or reach if I sit or stand on the washing machine?
What will happen if I bop Emily on the head with a feather duster?
What do dried onion flakes taste like?
What does vanilla extract taste like?
What happens if you keep spinning the toilet paper dispenser?
What happens if I use the scissors on my T-shirt?
What is all this fluffy stuff in the attic? (It sure is fun to throw around.)
Why is my new calendar stapled together at the top? What happens if I take it apart?

I have to be ever vigilant... it is exhausting.

rain

2009-12-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Claire tried out her new umbrella and rain boots today with lots of puddle stomping. I started sorting through toys organizing the keepers and bagging up those to giveaway.I also emptied several bags full of things I took out of our car before the trip.

first steps

2009-12-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

Go Emily, Go!
Emily took her first steps (unassisted) on Dec. 26. With her grandmother, great grandmother and great aunt looking on she walked back and forth between uncle Steve and
I. Thanks for the Christmas present little Emily. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Jan and Steve's near Big Pine in the Owen's valley. The snow covered Eastern Sierra is breathtakingly beautiful.

Emily is also cutting her 8th tooth. No wonder she had such a hard time sleeping during our trip.

vocab explosion

2009-12-22T16:31:00.000-08:00

Papa asked for a list of the words Emily uses. The ones I can remember hearing her use in context - not just repeating are as follows:
mama
dada
hi
bye
uh-oh
more
where is it? (sign only)
baby
bath
ducky
ball
num-num
boo
boom
happy
milk (sign only)
down
up
hat
bubble
pop
ta-dah
hot
mommy
daddy
shoe
sock
poo-poo
no
car
cracker
burger
wawa (water)
apple
open
puppy
a-choo
bravo
rub
wow
all done
out
outside
no (nose)
eye
ear
cereal
push
pull
light
bubble
hello

sweet sleep

2009-12-13T08:37:00.000-08:00

Emily is sleeping through the night again. Two nights this week I had no interruptions from children during the night. This was very welcome since I've been fighting a cold. We moved Emily's crib to the den which will be her room until both girls are sleeping through the night on a regular basis at which point they will share Claire's room.

Emily walker toy

2009-12-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

Emily is on the verge of walking (Claire gives commentary).

She still wants to hold two hands when I walk her around.

little bit of news

2009-12-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything on this blog. Partly its because the space bar on our old notebook computer only works about half the time making it very frustrating to type. We were away for about a week. First we went to Santa Barbara and Buellton to visit Mark's side of the family. The girls sure had a good time with their cousins and grandpa. The adventure included a day of sailing for Mark and the two older nephews and a trip to the zoo for the rest of us. Claire also had really good bonding time with her aunt Jill and wanted to be held by her lots. Next we went to Prescott to spend Thanksgiving with my family. We were having so much fun we didn't want to come back, but Emily's worsening sleep patterns dictated that we must.

Emily constantly wants to grab my fingers so I can help her walk around the house. She can now walk pushing her cart with no assistance so I think she will be walking on her own before long. (will try to post video soon.) She is coming up with new words all the time. The other day I was putting a bunch of shoes on a shelf and she picks one up and tries to put in on and says, "shoe." She also says sock, boom, mommy, daddy, poo-poo among other things.

Rowing

2009-11-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

Emily loves music and nursery rhymes. Emily says "row, row, row" when we sing Row,Row, Row Your Boat. She clicks her tongue like Claire and I do during Hickory Dickory Dock and says "down" at approximately the right place.

Emily likes to hold lots of things in one hand. It seems sometimes as if she is trying to see just how many things will fit in her tiny little fist. she also likes to carry something in her hand as she crawls along even if it is quite large like a purse.

She is very interested in paper and turning pages. The baby bug pages are just the right thickness for her to turn independently.

She is developing strong opinions and a firm agenda and will let us know when we are not following her plan. Her main goal for each day seems to be to spend as much time with someone walking her around as possible. (Try doing this with someone who is a mere 2 feet tall and you'll see why I am eager to avoid doing this for any length of time.

It is so interesting to see the differences in how our girls are developing. Their being together seems to reinforce learning certain thinga. They both learned to kiss last month, and we had tried to teach Claire by herself for over a year before that. Emily learned to drink from a straw the first time she tried it (today) while Claire tried it for a couple of months before she could do it. Emily is able to push small buttons on a phone or toy at 13 months that I'm sure took Claire much longer.

cat food stacker

2009-11-15T16:11:00.000-08:00

Claire likes to :
stack cans of cat food whenever we bring home the 24 pack.
jump up and down
climb
say rhymes and sing songs
ask questions
look at books
listen to stories
take a bath
wear costumes
go to play group

Emily likes to:
Open and close doors
pet the cat
walk while holding mom's hands
play with balls
eat crunchy foods
go outside
listen to music
click her tongue
play in the bath
repeat favorite words: mama, dada, baby
put on bracelets (or canning lid rings, etc.)

other news:

Sometime in October Emily grew two new teeth bringing the total to 6 teeth. She has another on the way.

We have an appointment with the pediatric cardiac surgeon at Children's Hospital this Wed. Nov 18. This will be his first time meeting Claire. It will be interesting to see what he recommends for Claire.