Cousin Love

I've been meaning to post these photos from our week in Florida.  Cousin Hilary and Inga drove down to Naples to spend some time with us, and the kids had a great time playing together.  Ada and Inga were like two peas in a pod, trying on each other's shoes, swimming together, and sharing snacks.


I love this photo of the two girls on the raft in the pool.


Jude and Inga bonded over their love of iPhone games.  Jude taught Marie and Inga how to play Cookie Maker.


The Dollar Store water shooters were also popular.  Inga borrowed Jude's blue floaty suit since Jude didn't need it anymore.


We got a few shots with all three kids.  One in the pool...


... and one on the lounge chairs.


Here's Ada enjoying some ice cream poolside at the club.


And Jude lounging with Mama, pointing out an airplane in the sky.

Little Fish

We just got home from an action-packed week in Florida.  The main activity was swimming.  Jude basically learned to swim on his own in one day.  He went from playing on the steps, to using a "poodle-noodle" for flotation, to, well, you have to see it to appreciate it...



Ada also made great strides.  She learned to swim unassisted while wearing her floaty suit, and also had a lot of fun swimming "wifout wearing anyfing", just like her brother.



Cousin Inga drove down from Asheville to play with us.  This game is awesome!

Easter Weekend

Now that the kids have recovered from The March Plague, we were able to celebrate Easter with a few egg hunts and social gatherings.


We started off the weekend with the neighborhood egg hunt.  The kids filled their baskets and then found a suitably dangerous place to hang out until it was time to leave.  At least they enjoyed the hammock together.


The Easter Bunny showed some restraint at this egg hunt.  Most of the eggs had stickers, or goldfish crackers, or other art supplies.  The coolest thing was a pen that had a dozen different colors.


Ada never passes up a chance to eat fishes.


The weather was beautiful, and the garden is blooming.  We had friends over for dinner and all of the kids took turns watering the vegetables with spray bottles.


By the end of Easter weekend, Jude had 43 pieces of candy in his basket.  We were able to talk him into putting most of it away for later, but he remembers the Switch Witch from Halloween and is very reluctant to let the candy out of sight.  Somehow there was less the next morning when he woke up, though.


Jude took this blurry picture that captures what the Easter Bunny left in the baskets at our house.  The kids loved their puzzles and water toys.  We can't wait to use them on vacation next week!

Would you eat it on your head?

Ada spends a lot of time dancing, singing, and listening to music.  A few weeks ago, she was quite sick and awake for most of several nights running.  The only thing that could keep her happy, other than chocolate milk, was listening to music in her room.  Since then, we've started playing music for her every night as she falls asleep.  "My want Raffi!  Raffi louder! Raffi again!  My like guitar better!"

Here is a selection of Ada singing her favorites, at age 23 months...

1) Veggie Tales
2) Itsy-Bitsy Spider
3) Pitter-Patter
4) Ravioli, Sloppy Ravioli

March Madness

This video is about as close as you can get to living in our house these days...


Ada loves to be all wrapped up in blankets, the sun lighting up her hair...


Jude loves to fish in the couch...


And I am (hopefully) back from my blogging hiatus.  xoxo

Happy Love-Day

Dump-Tings

We borrowed a book from the library last week about Ling and Ting, twin girls who are Not Exactly The Same.  Jude is loving this book, especially the chapter on making dumplings.  Ling makes smooth Dump-Lings and Ting makes fat Dump-Tings...:)  He has been asking to make dumplings for a few days now, so last night we broke out the pelmeni recipe and went to work.

Jude enjoyed playing with the dough and smooshing it together.


Ada's job was putting the assembled pelmeni on the tray.


I made most of them.


Here is the finished product.  Note the little dough-balls in the corners courtesy of Jude and Ada.


Here's a short video to give you a taste of the dumpling-making scene...

See Doctor Jack!

I took Ada in for her 18M appointment with Dr. Jack yesterday.  Here are her stats:

• Weight: 24 pounds, 6 ounces (51st percentile)
• Height: 33.75 inches (94th percentile)

Ada charmed everyone in the doctor's office, starting with the pharmaceutical rep who rode up the escalators with us.  She helped me "draw" on the autism assessment, played with the kids in the waiting room, and insisted on reading every book in the play area.  When they called us back to the office, I said "It's time to go see Dr. Jack!", and Ada marched back to the exam room chanting "See Doctor Jack! See Doctor Jack!".  There were a lot of affectionate smiles directed her way.

Ada was once again a little bit wary of Dr. Jack, and didn't display her full range of communication skills, but he still seemed pretty impressed by her verbal abilities and insistence on eye contact at all times.  I had Ada up on the table, with my head turned towards the doctor while we were talking, and Ada several times reached over and turned my head so that I was facing her and looking at her.  She really likes to look people in the eye whenever possible.  Not surprisingly, she passed her autism screen with flying colors.

In general, we think Ada is doing really well and don't have any concerns about her.  The only thing that seems a little bit out-of-the-ordinary is that the second toe on each of her feet tends to cross over and lie on top of the big toe instead of touching the ground.  Dr. Jack said that there's really nothing to do about that, and it doesn't seem to be affecting her ability to move, run, or do anything, but we'll keep an eye on it to see what happens as she gets bigger.

Dr. Jack did recommend that we wean her from bottles sooner rather than later, for the sake of her teeth.  I admitted that we're mostly just lazy and that she'd probably be fine with the switch to cups, and he said that this is common with the last child in a family.  She's our baby, so we're not all that eager to push her through the milestones, but this one is pretty important.  We also need to make sure to brush her teeth before bedtime.

Ada has been exposed to chickenpox recently, so we decided to give her the second chickenpox vaccine as well as a few others.  She did not like the shots at all, but recovered pretty quickly and was happy to pick out a few stickers as a reward for a job well done.  She was also very upset by the mouth examination once again.  I think we need to start looking at her teeth a little more often so that she isn't so insulted when the doctor or dentist does it.

It turns out that there is actually one photo of the kids dressed up for Halloween this year.  Our neighbors up the street snapped this photo after giving Jude two full-sized candy bars ("I need one for me and one for my mom").  No wonder his smile is so big!

Ada: Eighteen Months

Our little girl is not so little anymore. She is growing and developing in leaps and bounds. She wants to read books all the time. She likes to wash dishes. She speaks in multiple-word sentences. She loves to make us laugh. She runs instead of walking. She dances every time she hears music. Her blond hair is growing longer and developing ringlets. I can't call her a baby any longer. She is a toddler.

One of Ada's favorite games right now is SURPRISE EYES. She makes a face like the zookeeper's wife in Good Night Gorilla when she realizes her bedroom is full of animals, eyes wide, eyebrows raised, and mouth open, and yells PIZE EYES! It took Jude a while to figure out how to make that face, but now SURPRISE EYES is a common dinnertime game. Ada points, DAT! PIZE EYES, and he complies. Then MOM, PIZE EYES, etc. Eventually we all make the face, and then everyone collapses into giggles. We have got to get a picture or video of that.

Another favorite is "On your mark, get set, GO!". Jude made up this game a couple of years ago. At the bottom of our stairs, there's a wall at the start of a long hallway. We're not allowed to just walk down the stairs, turn the corner, and walk down to the bedrooms. Instead, we back up to the wall, look at each other expectantly, and wait for someone to say the magic words. With Jude, he wanted to race, and would usually take off a second or two before the GO. Ada wants to be the one to say GO. She'll wait for someone else to say "On your mark... Get set..." and then she'll yell GO and take off running. This is one of the (few) games that the kids play together pretty well without adult supervision. While we're getting everything ready for bedtime, they will run up and down the hall together, mostly laughing and shrieking and getting along and not pushing each other. It's a fun part of every day.

Ada still drinks most of her milk from a bottle. She loves her BOP and it is a sure way to soothe her when she's tired or upset. She actually drinks really well from a sippy cup, and I don't think it would be too hard for us to convince her to make the switch, but we're just not that motivated. I'm guessing we'll do it in the next few months.

Ada loves to play outdoors. She'll bring over her shoes and socks, ask for a jacket, and stand longingly at the door. OUTSIDE, she says, and it's hard to turn her down. Once she's out there, she loves to run up and down the sidewalk, climb in and out of the raised areas in front of our house, and play in the sandbox. It seems like her hair is permanently dusted with Oregon Dune sand.

Ada just started calling me "MOM-MEE" instead of "MOM", and this has coincided with wanting more of my attention. She gets upset when I leave her presence, and when I'm around I have to hold her or pay attention to her much of the time. Luckily, playing with an eighteen-month-old Ada is pretty fun, between reading books, pretending that it hurts when she jumps on me, and chasing her around the house. We are having a great time these days!

Ada knows all of the names of face parts and some body parts. She loves the game where we point to eyes, ears, nose, hair, neck. She has started using qualifiers: ADA HAIR, MOM NECK. She is especially drawn to Jude's hair and takes every opportunity to touch it or grab it. He doesn't like that much, but is unusually tolerant most of the time.

Ada loves her brother. Every morning, her first question is WHERE JUDE? She usually gets up before he does, so she gets to accompany mom or dad into Jude's room to wake him up in the morning. She runs to his bed and tries to climb all over him. She follows him around and wants to do what he does most of the time, although lately she has started taking the lead and he will imitate her. For example, when Jude is hungry, he'll use Ada-speak, making the "eat" sign and saying JU TEE EAT. It is a very effective way of communicating. Jude is always watching Ada, and will often tell us what she wants or what she is saying. "Ada wants some more cheese." These two are very in tune with each other, and I think that once Jude gets over his aggression towards Ada, they are going to play together really well. This aggression has diminished somewhat in the past few months, but we still can't leave them alone together for long without expecting some bad behavior.

Ada and Jude both love to crawl around and pretend to be kittens. They MEOW over and over again, and want to be petted and cuddled. Ada, what do YOU say? MEOW.

A few details: Ada is wearing 18-24M clothing as well as some 2T, uses size 4 diapers, and size 6 shoes. She naps once a day in the afternoon, for about 2 hours, give or take an hour. At night, she sleeps really well, going to bed sometime between 7 and 8 and sleeping peacefully until 7 or 8 in the morning. I don't remember the last time we had to go to her at night once she was asleep. She will occasionally resist bedtime, but a few extra stories or sips of milk usually does the trick. I'll post an update on her height and weight in a couple of weeks after her next appointment with Dr. Jack.

We're having technical difficulties with posting photos from Picasa. Will update later. Here is a video from the past week.

Ada can save herself.

Clear Lake

We decided to head for the hills this weekend.  We reserved two "rustic cabins" and found some partners in crime.  Tommy and Julia are several years older than Jude, but the three kids bonded over a love of fishing.  They spent countless hours casting from this picnic table into the road, trees, and anyone unlucky enough to walk in their path...  It was a little challenging to share two fishing poles among three kids, but they worked it out.


Meanwhile, the dads and Ada worked on their ringers at the horseshoe pit, conveniently located right between our cabin and the lake.


Our "two bedroom cabin" consisted of one room with an open loft and a hospital curtain partitioning off a small area of the main floor.  Surprisingly, we all slept really well.  Jude LOVED sleeping in the loft by himself, and especially loved climbing up and down the ladder and throwing things at us from his perch ten feet up in the air.  We only had a few heart attacks when he got careless too close to the edge.


I managed to get a few good close-ups of the kids this weekend.


Ada is loving her George these days.


Jude and Tommy disappeared for a while this morning, and when we found them they were playing in the greenery between our cabins.


Clear Lake itself is gorgeous, with blue and aquamarine water so clear and cold that you can see ancient preserved trees haunting the bottom of the lake.  We were sorry not to have any real fishing gear, as the lake is stocked and the fish seemed to be biting.  One afternoon during nap time, the dads took Tommy up to the Great Spring to see the source of the lake.  Getting there is a bit tricky, as you have to paddle the canoe up a short set of rapids (they were too much of a barrier for us when we tried it again the next day).  We also went on a hike around the lake while the kids slept on our backs.  The trail was beautifully maintained and we were passed by several mountain bikers.

Another highlight was roasting marshmallows over the campfire.  Curious George roasts marshmallows when he goes camping, so Jude knew what to expect.  He was the talk of the camp with his forked stick and contagious excitement.  Luckily for us, Jude vastly prefers roasting marshmallows to eating them.  In the end, I think he ate one and roasted about twenty.  A perfect ratio.

Ada: Sixteen Months

Ada is now a few days past sixteen months, and I've been remiss in posting photos and an update.

Our girl is quite a character these days. She talks nonstop and she's in the middle of all the action. She runs and walks, climbs up and slides down. We can't even count the number of words she's saying. 40? 50? Here are a few photos from the past week.

Giantess

Ada had her fifteen month appointment with Dr. Jack this week. Here are her stats:

• Weight: 23 pounds, 4 ounces (55th percentile)
• Height: 32.75 inches (97th percentile)

We have another large child on our hands. The doctor didn't actually believe that this was the right length measurement after looking at her, so he remeasured her and got about the same number. Ada always seems so small to us, compared with her big brother, but I guess we can expect her to be tall compared with other girls her age.

Ada had a few shots, which she did not like at all, and she also complained vigorously when the doctor examined her mouth.

Developmentally, it seems like Ada is doing just fine. She's saying more words than average. Dr. Jack said that her habit of intentionally pestering her brother shows very advanced social skills...:) We are supposed to "put her in time out" when she does things like that so that Jude feels like the rules apply to her as well as him. Of course, the time out is mainly for Jude's benefit at this point.

Here are a few cute photos of Ada from our anniversary evening at the park.

And a short video of Ada kicking the soccer ball and practicing her favorite word...

Little Things: Ada, Fourteen Months

Ada is fourteen months old today!  This post is going to be pretty photo-heavy.  Ada is such a cutie these days, but developmentally she hasn't made any dramatic shifts in the past month.  The word I would use to describe her these days is insistent.  She is starting to want things much more passionately than in the past, and she gets irritated when she can't have what she wants.  She'll give a loud cry of frustration when she is spurned.  She does recover pretty quickly, so I can't really call them tantrums yet.  I think if we hadn't just been through Jude's tantrums from hell, though, we might be singing a different tune.

Here is a cute close-up from dinner tonight.


Pensive.


She is teething, by the way.  She has three molars coming in at the same time, and that can't be fun.


Doing some gardening on the back porch.


Ada loves to pull the leaves off of the sage plant and eat them.


Ada and Daddy have the same eyes, exactly.


Ada has this funny mannerism when she walks.  Her hands are up at shoulder level with bent arms and it's really cute.  I'm going to miss that walk when she gets more steady on her feet.  Here's a shot from behind.


At the park.


Mischievous.


So Big!


Ada is doing really well.  She gets better at walking every day.  Her language continues to improve.  Today she saw a dog walking past our house, pointed, and said "Dog".  Clear as day.  I'd never even heard her try that word before.  She does have a heart-stopping habit of making a run for it, often towards the street or oncoming traffic.  We have to be really vigilant or she will end up in the middle of the street or halfway up the stairs with no spotter.

Ada seems to understand much of what we say these days.  She can follow simple commands like fetching a certain toy or dropping something.  She also likes to throw food from her tray during mealtime, and then if we don't clean it up right away she'll come back later and eat it.  One very endearing trick:  if we're in the living room and ask "Do you want a bottle of milk?", she'll lead us over to the fridge and show us where to find the milk she wants.

Ada continues to eat well and sleep well.  She goes to sleep easily at night, and sleeps 11-12 hours.  She also takes an afternoon nap of 1-3 hours, usually closer to two.  She's still in size four diapers and size 12-18M clothing.  She has grown out of the 6-12 month Robeez and is now wearing the 12-18 month size soft shoes.

Here's a short video of Ada's speed walking to finish out this month.