A Family Dinner Out

We do not go out to eat often, but when we do the kids eat for free.

Josie was unimpressed with the dinner conversation so read the book she brought along.

There was a football game on but Hannah's team wasn't playing.

Tripping Over Milestones

Hannah's first birthday is fast approaching and she is working hard on standing and cruising. I think her goal is to walk into her party. Wouldn't that be impressive? All of the guests would be standing around asking "Where is the birthday girl?" and in saunters Hannah. She would need theme music, though.

On Friday I caught Hannah experiencing several new firsts. She realized that the curio cabinet has a door that can open. Fortunately, I was there and she did not actually get into any of the breakables. I slid the couch over to block the door as a temporary solution. Chris made a slightly more permanent solution by tying a string around the curio cabinet.

Next, Hannah realized that she can take off her own bib. And she did so with much enthusiasm. Repeatedly. With velcro bibs and snap bibs. And would then quickly throw the bib on the floor. I was rather exasperated  at the time but have since figured out that if she is really hungry, she will be distracted with food. 

Also on Friday, Hannah figured out how to unzip jackets. Namely, the jacket she was wearing. I kept finding her with the jacket of her outfit hanging open. I hoped it was a fluke at first but finally caught her ripping it open. It's not a big deal over all, she was just so persistent with keeping it unzipped!

Today we had the fun of opening the file cabinets. Except it was followed by the agony of closing the cabinets on her little fingers. She never closed it hard, but it was still enough for her to get a look of surprise followed by a wilted expression and then tears and sobbing. The solution to that was to stick a dowel rod down through the handles. Which reminds me, we need about three more rods for other drawers that I am sure will catch her attention soon.

Finally, I realized today that she has more teeth than I thought. Hannah's front four teeth have been in for a while. The top and bottom to the left have come in. The ones on the right are popping through. But earlier I had to fish something out of her mouth (seriously, where does she find all of this dirt to eat?) and wondered what she had further back in her mouth. Yeah, it was a molar. No wonder she keeps trying to chew on all of her toys.

The Outtakes

We managed to salvage a couple decent pictures during our 'holiday shoot' for the children earlier in December. Besides the whole lighting and focus and composition problem, we were trying to organize three young children in nice clothes. I have no idea how professional photographers do it (you know, besides the years of training).

One thing that helped was taking a large, open box and wrapping paper around it. Hannah was able to sit and stand in that without getting away or grabbing her siblings. Though it wasn't perfect....

Chris tried making them laugh but I kept catching him in the shot.

The box didn't work so well on the bed. Hannah never actually fell over but it did not look good.

9 Months Old Already

Yesterday it was officially 10 months. Hannah is growing so fast. I know mothers are always saying "Enjoy her, time goes by so fast." And I try to enjoy her, I really do. I try so hard, in fact, that I am always telling her to sit down and stop trying to walk. She laughs at me. Then hugs me. Then yells "At!" and takes off crawling at top speed to pet the cat.

Hannah's well check went great, as always.

Weight: 19 lbs., 8.5 oz. (65th percentile)
Height: 29 in. (92nd percentile)

Hannah had a big of a cold, so her vaccinations were put on hold at my request. Even with the cough and drippy nose, she handled the examination really well.

As I mentioned, she seems to be growing so much faster than I remember her brother or sister growing. She has no problem crawling and easily gets into 'second gear', as we call it, when she sees something she wants. Hannah's hand to mouth coordination is great, which is why I am always prying her mouth open to dig out bits of paper or Christmas tree pieces. She pulls herself up on everything and has attempted to stand in the middle of the room. Hannah loves to crawl up to me and either pull herself up or sit and wave her arms in the air until I pick her up.

Hannah's vocabulary consists of "Da-da", "Dander" (Xander), "At" (Cat) and the occasional "Jogie" (Josie). I think she is starting with "Ba-Ba" and "Otl" (bottle). When she forgets herself, she will say "Ma-ma" but it is rare and usually when I am gone. Doesn't that figure?

Wait, there was a 5-year-old post around here somewhere...

I'm not saying there is a post that is 5 years old, I'm saying there was a post about a 5-year-old. Did you blink and miss it? Xander is 5! And has been for two and a half months!

Part of the deal that I don't have a post for it yet is that it was a low-key birthday. A neighbor has two children with birthdays within a couple weeks of Xander, so she was kind enough to host a neighbor get-together for the birthday children. There was a round of "Happy Birthday" sung, cupcakes were passed out, and all the children ran amuck.

The next weekend we had family visit for a small party. Xander did keep asking when the other kids would come, so I was a little sad I didn't do a huge party with every kid he knows. Then Xander blew out the candles on his cake and all was well.

It might not have been the prettiest Captain America cake, but he loved it. I don't know where the Captain America love came from but I heartily approve of his choice in super hero.

Xander did have his 5 year well check with the doctor.
Weight: 54 lbs  (98th percentile)
Height: 44.5 in  (84th percentile)

He has had comments about being a big kid and, despite being the youngest, he is definitely not the smallest kid in his class. However, he eats healthy and is active, so the doctor was not concerned.

Speaking of being active, did I tell you about Xander playing soccer?

This was Xander's first time playing in an organized sport. I use 'organized' loosely. The team would get together and practice for a half hour and then play against the other team. It was basically a mass of boys chasing the ball up and down the field. At times it was hilarious. Other times it was frustrating because the other team would be super competitive or the parents would get a little harsh.

Xander loved playing soccer so much that he now insists on playing every time he is in the back yard. Despite not having any goalie in the league games, that seems to be Xander's favorite position to practice. He gets his gloves on and waits for me to kick the ball and then kicks it away or falls on it. I think he's good at it but that might be motherly love talking.

What else is new in Xander's world? It's hard to keep up. In the past year he has gone through things he loves like board games, Legos and Pokemon. The big thing right now is reading. He brought home a chapter book from school to read. He's four months into kindergarten and reading a chapter book! I love that he loves reading and is good at it but it does make me nervous for the future. I recall a certain brother who was reading Stephen King in high school (hi, Lee) and I've seen 8th graders reading the Song of Fire and Ice series and I don't want to worry about censoring material I find inappropriate for that age. I guess we will deal with that when we come to it.

Artistic Interpretation

Josie loves to draw and color right now. She learns most of what she knows by watching and listening to Xander. For instance, Xander learned to draw Mat Man last year in Pre-K. Josie was there for all of the practice and seems to remember most of it. Lately, at least once a day she will walk up to me with her hands behind her back and say, in a sing-song voice, "Mom, I have a surprise for you..." and she'll pull out a picture.

Here is yesterday's picture.

When I questioned Josie about the picture she explained that it was Mommy in the center and Daddy on the right. And everything else is where Daddy is running around.

Maybe I'll post the picture she made last week of Mommy the Monster.

I'm sure there are nooooo subtle messages in her pictures, right?

A Day in the Park

I can not get my kids to smile nicely for anything.

Except Hannah, she's our happy baby.

Show off!

The tickle bug attacks!

Poor Josie had the wind blowing her hair all day.

This is where Josie starts yelling "No! No pictures!"

And this is where Xander says "I think this was a bad idea" and asks for help to get down.

Required leaf throwing picture. Hannah did not enjoy it.

Funny story time! When we pulled into the park I pointed out a tree with beautiful fall foliage on the tree and below it. The weather was overcast but just bright enough to light up the spot. After 'hiking' the path and playing on the playground, we headed to the tree for a few more pictures only to find a professional photographer was set up in almost the exact spot. It made me feel like I was doing something right! After trying a few pictures and quickly realizing the kids were over it, I gave up. But the photographer was nice enough to offer a quick family shot while he waited. We'll see how it turned out when Chris emails him.