Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Hello! Hope you all had a lovely father's day. We had a nice visit from my folks (our garden certainly looks a lot better for it), though the kids did go through a little bit of attention detox the morning they left. I believe Claire Helen thought they were going to live here now, and was very disappointed to learn that 2 adult's full attention at all times as well as cake and juice breakfasts were not now going to be par for the course. They also brought their camera, and I am thrilled to share some pictures with you all! Isn't Claire Helen huge? All the sudden she is so tall.




I am, ah, just lookin' at this cake. Just, you know, watching it. Nevermind me.



Ack! Kids are up. I will post more substantively again soon. For now, it is good grandparent reinforcements are coming soon, as it a lack of cake snack turns out to be wildly disappointing.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Hello from lovely gray Seattle. I don't think there are too many ways it's clear I'm genetically British, but a love of cold and gray is certainly one of them. After all that heat it's so nice to have a break. Possibly also this is a sign of not having air conditioning.

As Mat was taking the kids up to bed tonight, he said to me, "Simon can snap! He just did it! Can you believe it?" Simon having been able to snap for a month or so now reminds me I really should get an update in, if only for his parents' sake.

Simon, at 18 months, can:
snap, loudly and intentionally. Hip little guy.
Jump, and catch a couple inches.
say his name (zee-zye)
and a bunch of other things. Is past the "I can list out the words he knows" hump.
some phrases, usually with stock words at the beginning- more, mine, no, dada/mama. Just on the edge of more complicated sentences, I think.
use some pronouns correctly. Mostly "I," as in "I share," or "I turn." Actually, only "I" now that I think about it.
follow directions of the "go get babydoll and put her in the stroller" variety.

Pretty toddler-y. I think 18 month olds are irrisistible. They speak a language only you understand, are delighted by basically anything you do while looking at them, and you can still fool yourself into thinking they just didn't understand you when you told them to stop drawing on the walls, otherwise they would have cheerfully complied. I had pneumonia last week, and was housebound and bored so half potty trained him. I suppose most people would have done crosswords, but most people probably don't mind diapers as much as I do. It's not true progress or anything, but we're that much closer to being a zero diaper pail household.

Claire Helen is turning 3 next month, and her Grandma Margaret is coming out at the end of the month to help celebrate(Claire Helen has been planning this party for MONTHS- guest list, who will sit near who, whether or not to have cupcakes- a resounding yes, you'll be happy to know). At least she probably thinks that's why she's coming; Mat and I secretly think it's so we can go out to dinner on our fifth wedding anniversary a couple days before, if you can believe that. Five years!

I would make a list of what she can do, but really, what can't she? A couple weeks ago at the park she hopped on a tricycle and started pedaling, making me realize I have been duped for QUITE some time, pushing her with the parent bar on her little tricycle all the way to the grocery store and back. We've had a couple little parent swimming lessons, and now I'm giving her over to her favorite babysitter, who as it happens is also a lifeguard and swim instructor at a local private pool. I think it's better this way- my biggest blind spot is surely fear of the water. What's to fear? It's so great! Oh well. She's getting me back with her new defiant thing when she's mad- getting right up in my face and yelling "Jop!!" before turning around and flopping on the couch/a cushion/a chair and hiding her face. I am pretty sure I am supposed to be Highly Offended, but mostly I just cock my eyebrows and re-explain about the no paint on the rug policy.

The other night we turned on PBS so I could give her a haircut, and The Winged Migration was on, a documentary about a bunch of different birds and their migratory patterns. She can already name so many different kinds of birds(and any other animal, really, bugs too)- different species of puffins, terns, and herons, and always very thoughtfully absorbs more. I don't think it will be too long before she's teaching us species names. She's a little biologist.