So, Evangeline refuses to believe she is a baby. Conan was kind enough to help her climb the stairs one day and by the next she was a pro. We’re still working on going down, but let’s face it, there’s nothing cool to do downstairs. Unless you count eating dirt out of all the houseplants.
She has also started talking. It is surreal. I tried to convince myself it was a coincidence, but I really think she’s getting it. Besides Mommom and Daddad and Bruhbruh which she’s been saying for awhile, she has said cat/kiki in proper context several times. When we change diapers I often have to put my foot on her tummy to keep her from crawling away so we play the toes game: I wiggle my toes and say “toes,” then ask where her toes are and she lifts her foot and I kiss her toes and say “toes.” Yesterday she reached for my toes and said “toes.” Clear as day. What!? At a friend’s house she learned about dogs as she chased their sweet-tempered collie-mix kind of dog around, loving it, she said “dog!” More than once! Then, the real kicker, while at another friend’s house she started to climb the stairs. I said “Where do you think you’re going?” She simply replied, “up.”
She is still a dainty little peanut, but she is LONG. The other day I bought warmer jammies, theoretically for this upcoming fall/winter. 12 month size seemed like a good bet for a tiny 10 month old. “She’ll grow into it,” I figured. She already fits it REALLY well. We’ll need to upgrade before the winter’s over for sure!
About 3 days before we went on vacation, Keane decided the potty was a good thing.
Mom: *sigh* Ok Keane, underwear or diaper this morning?
Keane: Um, underwear.
Mom: Are you going to go pee in the toilet then? You know pee and poop belong in the toilet and not anywhere else, right?
Keane: Yeah, I’m big.
I was more than a little apprehensive about what this would mean for our travel plans and immediately began plotting whether we would be doing the pull-ups gig (which I hate, it’s a total cop out and kids know it) or whether I would be bringing every pair of pants/ underpants he owns and lots of spare grocery bags.
To my surprise, he had very few accidents the first day, one the next, and none after that. He’s got it. He went pee in every potty the entire week and a half we were gone, including on the airplane! He had one or two accidents the entire vacation. That, I can handle.
Eve is officially 8 months old and counting, and I figure I really oughtta do an update. Again, sans pictures
She is:
crawling on hands and knees
pulling up on everything and anything
cruising (clumsily but determinedly)
talking constantly (momom, brubuh, baba, dada)
such a happy little cutie!
She has:
8 teeth
auburn hair (peach fuzz)
hazel eyes
eyelashes up to her eyebrows
the sweetest baby laugh ever!
I have a picture I’ve been trying to post for way WAY too long, but Conan has already completed his goal for the year to compete in a race! Way to go Conan! He ran the 5K Race for the [Ronald McDonald] House and finished with a better time than he expected, being so old and decrepit as he is
So, I know, a million apologies for various reasons, but here’s the scoop:
Our baby girl remains the most cheerful little cherub ever. She loves to giggle and be a part of the conversation. In fact, the #1 reason for fussiness? Being ignored.
As soon as Eve turned 5 months old she started teething. By a week into it she had her first tooth, and a week later got her second! She’s following Neils’ general pattern in nearly everything to date, and Neils had a full set of teeth (including his 2 yr old molars!) at 12 months. We’ll see what happens.
She’s been rolling side to side for several weeks now, and just yesterday she rolled from her back to her tummy! Way to go Cheerio!
She is little miss independent. She will yell at you if you don’t let her “help” with the spoon at cereal time.
She LOVES to jump. If I hold her on my lap she wants to be standing up. If she’s standing up she’s bouncing. If she’s bouncing the world knows it ‘cuz she’s so happy about it! She LOVES her jumpy toy, and now treats her exersaucer as a jumper too.
She is growing so fast! We got several 12 month items at The Children’s Place Outlet’s great winter clearance sale… she already fits half of it. But I think some of that must just be the brand. We have some 6 months things that fit perfectly and 9 mos sized Carter’s gift items that she’s still swimming in. *shrug* She’s getting bigger, anyway, and cuter every day! Wish I could show you.
So I’m not sure why, but although we finally did get our blog up and running, WordPress is having issues with posting photos. Then again, my entire computer is feeling a bit tired, so we are backing everything up in preparation for a reinstall. Point being: it will be awhile before you have pictured updates. Should I wait to give updates until photos are attached, or just blog about our happenings anyway and add pics when we can?
No, this is not a political diatribe on capitalism or our consumerist culture. This is an introduction to the most effective tool we have ever seen in parenting. And no, I’m not talking about allowance as bribery, either! The Family Dollar system has transformed my family with four children from being resigned to never EVER going shopping with the boys again (even with 3 adults present I felt they were out of control!) to constantly receiving compliments on how well-behaved my boys are in public. Read on if you’re curious.
I’m cleaning up my first blogs that I kept while going to grad school. Here are some keeper posts about the 2 year-old version of Neils:
January 13, 2004
Growing lots
Man, is Neils growing! Every day I look at him in amazement. His speech is getting so much clearing and he is able to express himself very well.
Today, I was home for lunch, and was just watching him talk about a book while sitting on Melissa’s lap. He was talking about the different pictures and using his imagination very well. My eyes got all wet just thinking about what a handsome, smart, and loving boy we have.
