Keeping up with Alette and Abria: June 2007

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Playground Fun

Alette is definitely gaining confidence on her feet as she now tears over any surface and over any obstacle. Her time at the park consisted mostly of her running around and under the playground equipment with me in hot pursuit.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Watch out Lance, here we come....

Alette has made several trips out in her new burley bike trailer. As long as she has juice, crackers and a book, she's happy (until we hit a bump). Our trips have been relatively short, mostly around the waterfront here in Camden, so I think we'll start training for the yellow jersey next year.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Celebrating Dads

Alette had the chance to hang out with two of her favorite guys over the weekend. She also had the chance to show off some of her new skills: drinking from a cup, throwing things in the trash, and wiping her face. Alette loves an audience and made sure we joined in clapping for each accomplishment.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Some Favorite Activities

The weekend brought the unexpected delight of a visit with Auntie Laura as she stopped by Philly on her way back to DC. Since Alette is the focus of every family visit, she wishes they happened more often!
In the meantime, Alette is honing her drawing and reading skills. So far we have managed to avoid her drawing on anything but paper. Our fridge is rapidly being covered with some of her finer masterpieces-however, she enjoys crinkling up and tearing the paper as much as drawing on it, so few actually survive the creative process.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Summer is here and it is time for.....

chasing seagulls at the beach. The gulls were way more interesting than any sandcastle I could make.

catching up on some good books. A fun afternoon at the Camden Children's Garden.

being silly! The packaging is always so much more fun than the toys inside.

seesaws at the park. The time on the seesaw was cut short when Alette spotted some geese and took off after them.

enjoying our new backyard. Thanks to Andy's hard work, we now have a fabulous play area!

playing in the 'pool'. No need for a real pool yet, Alette is still not convinced that she should actually sit in water.

Recent Words of Wisdom

18months

At 18months, Abria weighs a whopping 28 1/2 lbs and is 34" tall. She is a bundle of energy-she loves dancing and clapping to music, scribbling (unfortunatley not always on paper), chasing her sister, and playing with her toys. She's using more and more words but still communicates primarily by pointing and making the sign for 'more'. She's had a continual cold for the past few weeks, I've never used so much tissue in my life. Morning naps are a thing of the past :( but thankfully she is still taking a long afternoon nap.

Okay, it's not a REAL gingerbread house...

Our attempts at a gingerbread house was a fiasco this year. We mixed the dough, rolled it out, cut the patterns, put it together...only to have it fall apart. So we put it together again....only to have it fall apart again. I even tried to use duct tape and the glue gun. Finally we ditched it. I was determined to have a house for Alette to decorate so we built a cardboard house, then 'glued' on graham crackers with icing. So far it is till standing although the candy decorations are slowly disappearing.

Abria

Our last dr. appointment was not fun. Abria had a major fever and was feeling rather rotten. So the immunizations were put off a week...nothing like procrastinating the awful stuff. She's dropped to the 90th percentile for weight (although with her puffy winter fleece on-below-she looks huge!) and is off the chart for height. Not a huge suprise with a 6ft. tall mom! She loves her books, turning on and off the lights, climbing onto tables, and petting the cat. She's walking....abit. She's still pretty convinced that walking should only be done when holding onto someone's hand.

Abria

Politics According to a 3year Old

I was listening to B.Obama on NPR last week and decided to further Alette's awareness of politics by engaging her in discussion. This is how it went:
me: Alette, Barak Obama was on the radio, he's going to be our new president. Isn't that good?
alette: Obama's good?
me: yes, he is. Mommy and Daddy like him a lot. We think he's good.
alette: he listens to God?
me: I think so. We're excited that he's going to be the president.
alette: I want duck for president.
I think we have a ways to go before she's up to speed on her political saviness. Who can blame her for wanting a fun loving, mischevious duck for president though?

Introducing Abria Hope

During pregnancy I prayed for a quick delivery and a nonfussy eater. Abria came into this world on Friday, July 18 at 9:00pm, half an hour after we arrived at the hospital. With a full head of dark hair, and a voracious appetite, she behaved nothing like her older sister. Abria's now nearly 18lbs, and is a happy, content baby. She loves chewing on her hands, squealing, shrieking, and taking baths. We are still waiting for her to sleep through the night! She doesn't always need to get fed, but seems to delight in babbling and squealing at all hours. Somehow her big drooly smile makes it all worthwhile.